Fukien White Crane and Lohan – what’s the deal?

White Crane, Saolim Lohan and Southern Fukien Grand Ancestor are, more or less, the mainstay of my KF training.

So you’ll excuse me if I keep coming back to these; do have some degree of introduction to Zhou Jia, Saolim monkey and Hung Gar but seriously I know too little about those to say anything important…

Still, I will try – so DON”T SHOOT ME, yada yada yada …..

White Crane, we all know the prevalent story.

Founder Fang Chi Niang, daughter of Fang Hui Shi, a Northern Lohan boxer and was reportedly caught up with fighting the Ching rulers. So father and daughter were moving form places to places, to evade detection maybe, but finally settled in the South in Fukien province.

Then we have the story of Miss Fang, trained by her father in Lohan, encountering a flock of cranes, mimicking and adding crane movements into her kung fu. This later developed into what we all recognize as “Fang Chi Niang White Crane Kung Fu”.

Or Yong Chun White Crane, named after the place where she founded the art – something like that.

She married “Chen Shi” – another Shaolin boxer but this time, a “tiger” boxer.

White Crane is very multifaceted; believe me, I’ve been doing this sh*t for about 40 years and still trying to get to the bottom…

Talking to elders, one thing keep coming through though and that is Fang’s White Crane has constantly been aligned to Shaolin.

So older White Crane folks have always refer to it as “Shaolin White Crane”, not to be mistaken with “Shaolin crane” which is a component of the “5 Animals” system.

Why Shaolin?

Because of her dad status? Perhaps it was the custom – all that “Overturn Ching Restore Ming”, “Heaven Earth Society”, “White Lotus”, “Red Boat” blah blah blah…

The rationalization given is that White Crane fighting is, more or less, based on Shaolin Lohan rudiments and that early White Crane all feature some form of noticeable “Lohan” training.

Okay, this I concur, we do Lohan in both Fuzhou Ancestral and Whooping Crane and I’ve seen many peers, in other lines, doing “long limb” Northern flavored techniques.

Got a clip here of another version of “San Zhan” or “3 fights/battles” – I think you’ll agree with the “Lohan” flavor. Will be posting more of various San Zhan later…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Kiasu” and CNY Song.

For those not from Singapore or unfamiliar with things Singapore, here’s some info concerning “Kiasu” from Wikipedia – jeez they got everything don’t they?

 

 

Kiasu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kiasu (Traditional Chinese: 驚輸) is a Hokkien (a Chinese spoken variant) word that literally means ‘fear of losing’ (Mandarin Chinese: 怕输). However its actual usage would imply a meaning more approaching that of “dog in a manger”, and yet not quite. Examples of kiasu behaviour includes accumulating too much food on one’s plate during a buffet lunch in case there is no more later, or joining a queue many days in advance just to ensure that one successfully gets hold of the limited free tickets to events, promotions and shows such as Singapore’s annual National Day Parade.

This word is so widely used by Singaporeans and Malaysians that it is incorporated into their English vocabulary (in the form of Singlish). It is often used in describing the social attitudes of people, especially about South East Asian society and its values. Its widespread use is often because these attitudes are common—to not lose out in a highly competitive society (e.g. by above-cited examples), or to the extent of parents imposing heavy study labor on their children in their wish to make them at the very top of all other students. Growing up with this attitude, these students often become ambitious businesspeople, with the desire to be on top in wealth and prestige regardless of whether the most prestigious careers are aligned with their true capabilities.

So what has this “Kiasu-ism”  to do with my entry here?

See I posted a “Chinese New Year Song” sung by a Singaporean, for the year of the Rat over at youtude and I’ve checked; mine is the first CNY Song for next year…….

I am first, I am first ……

So, to all of you, “Kong Xi Fa Chai” – 57 days in advance…

From Zhejiang to Sichuan.

Popular in the southern parts of Sichuan Province, the Zhao-style boxing resembles that of the Shaolin style with its extended frame, high stance and diversified leg techniques.

A typical example is heihuquan (black-tiger boxing), so named because it consists of many movements suggestive of tiger pouncing on their preys although most of its techniques are used for close-in fighting.

Seventy-six-year-old Ma Zhendai, a native of Sichuan Province who received his early training at the National Wushu Institute in Nanjing late in the 1920s, is an expert at this kind of boxing. Here he is seen performing some typical movements in heihuquan.

 

 

 

“Du” means “repel” in Chinese and the name of Du-style boxing was derived from its value in repelling attacks in open hand fight. In this kind of boxing, palms are used more frequently than fists in putting up watertight defence. The most commonly used techniques include parries, holds, falls and butting with the shoulder in close-range fighting. This style of boxing enjoys much favour in the northern parts of Sichuan Province.

Representative of the Du-style is wenjin boxing – “weijin” meaning “ask the way” in Chinese – so named because a boxer of this style constantly seeks to get at this adversary sideways or from behind his back rather than move straight in. Meanwhile, he has to know how to meet a vigorous attack with a gentle move, so as to “overcome a weight of 1,000 pounds with four ounces.

Wenjin boxing was created by Chin Xiaodong, a pugilist who lived in Nanchong, Sichuan Province, during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and has been handed down to his grandson Chen Ruifeng, who has now just turned 60. Pictures here show Chen Ruifeng practicing wenjin boxing with his student Liao Xianzhi, an accomplished martial artist in his own right.

(info extracted from : Martial Arts of China) 

 

 

 

 

Hakka Suppressing Tiger Boxing.

Aha, another fine day out and again complying with my philosophy of “staying cooped in on a day like this is a sin”, I decided to drive out to the outskirt of Kuching to pay Sifu Kong Su Ming, Hakka Suppressing Tiger, another visit.

Left out of our Penang’s event because of an injured leg, I also wanted to present him with some souvenirs from the event; a couple of commemorative tee shirts.

Sifu Kong had just moved into his new house completed recently and we spend the afternoon, at his verandah, talking about Hakka boxing.

About masters from the past and descendants, who are scattered all over Sarawak and not easily tracked down; this is a vast country for a population of just over 3 millions.

You lose a contact; you wait for chance ….. And hearing, again, from Kong Sifu about the many Hakka art forms that have slowly disappeared is hurtful, for me.

We talked about a Hakka style call “Short Limb Praying Mantis” and how in its heydays, was very highly sought after and now, some 20 years later, is so difficult to locate …. What more can I say?

Even his own “Suppressing Tiger” is facing the imminent danger of becoming extinct, now that he is no longer actively teaching and most of his earlier students have ceased training.

When I left, I was thinking, maybe I should take up this style of kung fu but then I decided that I am too old to start anything new…

What I could do is to spend more time with this master to record his art and to convince him to come out of retirement and revive his teaching in our centralized TCMA training facilities.

Yup, that makes more sense.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hung Gar, Fukien Shaolin and Zhejiang Kung Fu….

Started this discussion, a while back, over at “MYMA” forum; continuing the subject here…

The topic of “Hung Gar and Fukien Shaolin association”.

I am sure you must heard it enough times; Jhee Sim, one of the 5 escapees trained Hung Hey Koon and the latter went on to originate “Hung Kuen”, of course, this story comes in scores of shades.

The one invariable is that it started in Fukien and after the sacking of temple by the Manchurian army. So the style proliferated outside temple walls.

Regardless of whether you believe the 5 Ancestors to be five individuals or escapees fleeing in 5 directions, probing the arts must hold some clues, right?

So taking Fukien as the starting point, you got Canton to the south and Zhejiang to the north and if we contrast Canton and Zhejiang expressions, we should see some congruence, again, right?

That was my “argument” at that point in that forum and I promise to put up some representative Zhejiang art forms for all to view and decide.

All I want to say is this, most of the Zhejiang stuffs look like a cross between Fukien and Cantonese arts and they have styles like Hung Gar, Black Tiger and Jin Kang (Diamond) Quan.

Here’s one of their forms:-

 

 

 

 

Sawadee kup!

You know the “my friend went to ___________ and all I got is this lousy tee-shirt” quip; my colleague, Dianne, just came back from Thailand on a company’s project trip and I got, viola, tank tops…. 

But but, I really love them. The one with the Muay Thai motif is brilliant, the other is vague…. 

I just hope the Thai writing means “Carlsberg” and not something I’ll get arrested for …. 

Anyway, cheers. 

The Carlsberg way!

One form, many many manifestations.

Folks,

When White Crane elders sit around and talk about the “3 treasures” of White Crane, they are, ahem, not talking about “family jewels” or anything close…

Regarded by many Whooping Crane old timers (I am too young to be included here!), San Chin, Ba Bu and Shi Men, the 3 entry forms are paramount to every Whooping Crane practitioner.

You just don’t stop doing them.

In fact, Sanchin is thought of as the start and the finish as reflected in these words “Begin training with San Chin and do it until death. All Kung Fu is found within”.

Those of you familiar with throat contraction, expanding/collapsing of Dantien and “Tiao Gung”, digging with the toes and “bouncing” off the heels will know what I mean.

BaBu takes Sanchin a little deeper and in Whooping Crane, this is where you learn“fa shen” or “sound triggers”.

Shi Men or “4 doors”, personally, is the bedrock of Whopping Crane fighting.

“Greet the opponent at the main doors, take him at the side doors” is self-explanatory.

Got here a clip of folks from different lineage doing BaBu; currently working on compiling all my materials pertaining to this form.

And please, the “bobbing” that you see many of the demonstrators display is one uniqueness of Whooping Crane “fajing”.

Done in varying degrees depending on lineage …..

Elders tell me, the more advanced you get, the less noticeable this becomes.

Well, I bob quite a bit when I do SanChin and Babu.

All because I am just but a beginner.

But that’s okay, I am still young.

 

Wing Chun Kuen and White Crane.

1 attack 3 strikes is the law.

1 pull 1 push to disrupt ying yang.

Keep arriving and send outgoing, using your swiftness to devastate.

When the bridging is gone, strike out straight.

Use firmness to beat sloppiness.

3 ying and 3 yang, generate power from changes in stances (waist).

 

A section of the handwritten “kuen kuit” or “fists poem” from Ku Sifu of Ban Chung Wing Chun. 

What is it doing here?

To give you a concept of how Ku Sifu and I compare notes.

Almost all of the above theories are found in the White Crane that I do. 

Take the 2^nd line for instance, 1 pull and 1 push is one of our primary principles used to offset opponent balance for control or throwing or to use the old tongue; disrupting opponent’s ying yang.

A technique to demonstrate this push/pull principle. (pics above).

The attacker’s jab is deflected by a “wing hand”. The defender moves in, pushes with the right hand and pulls with the left. This “twist” the spine of the attacker and the defender uses his right elbow to smash down. 

Again, like I stated before, to look for connection, we got to go deeper than “common” techniques and look for special markers.

Spending time work together with Ku Sifu is so rewarding; his knowledge, both theoretical and practical, of WCK is really excellent. 

Touching hands with him is a total revelation.

So when he advocates that Wing Chun and White Crane could plausibly spring from the same source, I tend to be really swayed….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hood Chew Pak Hok – Fuzhou White Crane.

Grew up with this style of Kung Fu – Fuzhou White Crane Boxing.

First my dad and uncles, who are all Minghe exponents and then with my other teachers Sia Mok Tai, Li Wen Shi and Sia Choon Cheok. From them, I got Ancestral and Whooping Crane – both, at one time, were never taught outside immediate clan and family circles.

Times have changed and these days, I am introducing these arts to students here in Sarawak. In fact, I was already teaching these arts in the US before 9/11.

And with the setting up of a proper training center by the company, I am planning to propagate these 2 styles “proper”.

Some pics illustrating basic techniques from both Ancestral and Whooping Crane.

 

A posture from Fuzhou Ancestral “Flying Crane”.

Application of “slapping hand” with thumbs digging into eyes of the opponent after the slap.

Taken from “Babulien” – Whooping Crane.

Another technique from Babulien.

Why block when you can break? After the elbow smash into opponent’s forearm, drop to “opening wings” technique. (pic below).

First a stomp kick and followed immediately by a lifting kick to opponent’s face.

A low wing block turned into a “locking” hand technique.

Nunchukus.

Just so you know that I am not all “oldies” … here a young artist that I spoke about when I was talking shop over at KFO.

 

Jay Chou doing “Nanchukus”; read someplace that he’s a big fan of Bruce Lee; well, must be if you write songs like “Nanchukus”.

 

Hmmm…”sink  chi to dantien to open the heart of the palms”…..hmmmm