Tainan Mantis
06-17-2004, 04:50 AM
I called Wei Xiaotang's famous student Zuo Xianfu, the man in charge of 8 Step in Taiwan, to ask some questions about GM Wei's history.
Zuo Xianfu was happy to answer my questions and we had a productive conversation.
The two main questions of mine were:
1. Were the sonnets of 8 STep Mantis written by GM Wei?
2. How many shrfu's did he have?
The sonnets of 8 Step Mantis were definetly penned by GM Wei himself.
These sonnets speak of fighting, theory forms and GM Wei's personal history.
About his shrfu.
GM Wei had one and he is the well known Feng Huanyi.
In GM Wei's sonnet of visiting other MArtists, I previously took it to mean that those he visited were his teachers. This was a mistake on my part.
In his sonnet of visiting friends the first name he mentions is Yuan Jindong.
Zuo Xianfu recalled that over the years as GM Wei taught in Taipei he would talk of his meeting with Yuan Jindong.
GM Wei was only 23 when he crossed hands with this master and he was soundly defeated.
Master Zuo was quick to point out that at the time GM Wei was only 23 and his skills had not fully ripened.
Part of his "ripening" process was visiting other MA schools to test his skills against other masters and this he did many times.
He kept himself fit and healthy through a constant diet of practice. Into his 60's he was still performoing the difficult ditang moves that are characteristic of some of the 8 Step Zhai Yao sets.
Zuo Xianfu was happy to answer my questions and we had a productive conversation.
The two main questions of mine were:
1. Were the sonnets of 8 STep Mantis written by GM Wei?
2. How many shrfu's did he have?
The sonnets of 8 Step Mantis were definetly penned by GM Wei himself.
These sonnets speak of fighting, theory forms and GM Wei's personal history.
About his shrfu.
GM Wei had one and he is the well known Feng Huanyi.
In GM Wei's sonnet of visiting other MArtists, I previously took it to mean that those he visited were his teachers. This was a mistake on my part.
In his sonnet of visiting friends the first name he mentions is Yuan Jindong.
Zuo Xianfu recalled that over the years as GM Wei taught in Taipei he would talk of his meeting with Yuan Jindong.
GM Wei was only 23 when he crossed hands with this master and he was soundly defeated.
Master Zuo was quick to point out that at the time GM Wei was only 23 and his skills had not fully ripened.
Part of his "ripening" process was visiting other MA schools to test his skills against other masters and this he did many times.
He kept himself fit and healthy through a constant diet of practice. Into his 60's he was still performoing the difficult ditang moves that are characteristic of some of the 8 Step Zhai Yao sets.