Plum Flower School’s Crane.

I recall in the days leading up to the event in Penang, some of us were already assembled in town and during one breakfast session, Sifu Liu Chang I (Feeding Crane Taiwan), Sifu Ruan Dong (Ming He China), Sifu Xiong De Lu (WuZu Sarawak) and myself were talking about the art of Southern White Crane.

We each spoke about our individual style and I mentioned an old book listing some 20 different streams of Fukien/Fuzhou Crane.

And how many lines are broken, in the last 50 – 100 years and we all agreed that to fully appreciate the whole picture, co-operation is seriously required. We each hold a piece of the puzzle, so to speak.

The crane has flown in many directions and to be able to work with all these White Crane elders is something that I am excitedly looking forward to.

Later when I was talking to Russ Smith (Goju Karate USA), the idea of getting Okinawa Karates, Fukien/Fuzhou Cranes, Wuzu and Tai Zu together for a “research” conference was broached – now that’s the kind of meeting that I will attend gladly…..

Here’s a clip taken from a “National Geographic Channel” documentary; Plum Flower School and the kind of Crane that they do in that system.

Hmmm, the way the Sifu moves in the footage reminds me so much of “Uncle Bill” in Colorado… all relaxed and then “bam!”.