was that directed to me?
uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
“Originally Posted by Brad”
"Some PK teachers claim monkey and eagle as their animal symbol. The footwork is definatley monkey. "
uhh this line specifically. :rolleyes:
but I guess not.
sorry to drift this thread, but would you recommend the TSPK system to a newbie of CMA? I am a traditional Japanese martial artist; Genbukan (Though some of the systems within my art closely resemble chinese systems)
Are they teaching a legitimate style? (Not Paulie Zink). I understand that they teach some other type of system before you are introduced to the ‘REALLY good stuff’. But I also happen to live about an hour away from the address they give on their website, so…
The whole CMA world seems very large and it’s difficult for a newb like me to navigate it. Where in the Japanese arts community, you can prove you’re legitimate by not straying too far from the ‘traditional’ arts, in CMA it seems like the more variations the better. How do I know if these guys are teaching what they claim to teach?
TSPK is actually to systems in one. First comes the Pek Kwar, then the Tai Sheng(the actual monkey forms). I’ve got a video of one of their begining forms (Yuen Yang Fist) and I think it appears as newbie friendly as any other system. Their PK portion has a variety of different forms from some other styles (plenty of long fist type stuff from the little bit I’ve seen on the vid). It’s all defenitely legitimate though. You can see it in the forms (I’m a 9 year longfist guy and I think the longfist stuff in their system looks pretty good), plus some TSPK guys proved themselves in full contact competition back in the 70’s (SE Asia fighting championships or something like that). They’ve also been in Hong Kong a long time without being run out of town too 
I guess the best way for a newb to check up on a CMA school is to ask around about them and check out any other verifiable evidence of skill (like their fighting championships which they show photos of). Usually legit schools will have the respect of a nice variety of other styles teachers too… Then the final and best test is to check it out in person, ask some questions, and ask yourself if you think you’d benifit from the training 
No, Chin wasn’t what I was talking about.
cool was just wondering.
hi Sifu Abel i’m curious what kind of monkey do you take? can u give me a little background of it and where the place to learn is? can it also be used for street fighting? And is there only 1 or is there a few forms in your monkey? Thanks
I already gave the name. It has 5 forms. I learned from my teacher in florida. It would take you about 3-5 years before you got to that material in our school. So don’t hold your breath if you aren’t really serious.
As to my reference,
http://www.plumpub.com/info/knotebook/boxpigua.htm
“PiGua, also known as Long-Armed Ape Style, is truly unique in execution. The arms are move with such extreme looseness that practitioners often seem to have no bones. (In fact, for emphasis, many performers were their sleeves extra long to heighten the effect. Because of this PiGua is particularily appropriate to female players with high flexibility). PiGua is a popular style in China and sometimes mixed with other forms. The most famous marriage is that of PiGua and BaJi two styles which really seems to compliment each other. And, indeed, there are bridge forms such as PiGua/BaJi first which cross both styles. PiGua, due to its loose arm flapping and extremely sinuous appearance is often said to resemble the animal actions of the Snake and the Eagle.”
Me and couple of my kung fu brothers were lucky enough to get to hang out with Sifu Chan Sau Chung, his son and some of Sifu Chan’s long-time disciples, Chow Keung and Lei Fei Biu as well as well-known HK movie star Wong Chow San (Anthony Wong). Sifu Chan and my sifus, Lee Koon Hung and Li Siu Hung were good friends so when they came we gave him a lot of face. We got together for dinner and drinking during Sifu Chan Poi’s Tournament 2000 in Orlando and then we showed them around South Florida after the tournament for a few days.
After a few drinks we all got into discussing kung fu and inquired about the TSPK system. They explained to us that it takes quite a long time to learn of the the Pek Kwar stuff and very, very few students ever get into the monkey stuff. Also from what we gathered and from talks with our sifu, the TSPK stylists who were very successfule in the 1970s full contact tournaments and with the fight with the Muai Thai fighters in Hawaii primarily imploy pek kwar for their fighting.
If you really want to learn monkey you have to be dedicated and learn everything that comes first. This is the old way of doing things and Sifu Chan is quite traditional.
very well said Nole; I am dedicated.. i do have the time and patience but i need a place to learn it; and if i have to learn styles before monkey then so be it; but would you happent o know where i can learn? or what I can learn from? thanks
Sadly is Vancouver, Canada is where Sifu Chan Sau Chung’s school is. Other than that Hong Kong. You would likely have to follow someone for at least 10 years before you learned the monkey sets. I know for a fact they don’t teach them openly and that type of dedication is few and far between these days.
Since your in NY you might want to look into other styles more readily available like hung gar, mantis or dragon. I know NYC has quite a few styles available in the Chinatown area you just have to look around.
Good luck.
hey nole, does the videos help at all from their official website? if it does I would want to order them but I have a minor problem; everytime I even do try to order them a freemerchant.com thingy pops up; and none of the emails work to the administrators.. 
but i think its worth it; i can’t get good at something over night
The videos they offer are all Pek Kwar and will not really get you to the monkey forms you seek. Monkey is a difficult style to be able to learn. There are many good styles out there for fighting so if I were you I would find a real sifu and forget video tapes. Video tapes are nice for reference material but you can’t learn the subtleties of a style from them. You just copy movements from a 2-D source. There is no substitute for “live” teaching.
Again good luck.
guys is this school legitiment?? http://www.nykungfu.com/school/style.asp it claims it teaches tibetian lama pai; bok mei; and it also has tai shing pek kwar under others sounds a little 2 go0d 2 b true?? o.O
If that sifu is Michael Parella, then I think he trained w/ lkfmdc on this site. You might try and ask him.
that is sifu ross’ gung fu brother..
if he is anything like ross, he is legit…
Any tai shing pek kwar practioners on the board? I was wondering, on the website it says that Pek Kwar was the style for the bodyguards of the emperor and it goes on to say how deadly and advanced it is etc. So why does monkey come after that? What makes monkey more advanced? Is it just that it’s more difficult to practice and perform or are the actual techniques that much more advanced?
And from what I remember of reading this thread, is the consensus that Pek Kwar is one of a number of northern longfist styles and similar training could be found for example in northern shaolin? I’ve heard the claim of being the official style of the emperor’s bodyguards made about other styles, including hsing-i and Pi Qua. So is it just conjecture or did different emperors employ bodyguards with different training?
ttt
nice question GD…
ChinoXl, living in New York, I do not know why you think shaolin is hard to find, as there are quite a few schools in New York that teach shaolin? Anyway, another option you may want to consider is learning Ape Kung Fu, also known as Tong Bei. If you are a tall person, if may actually be more suitable for you to learn than monkey style. If you are willing to make the drive, I know of two schools in New Jersey that teach it. I do not know anything about the quality of instruction at those schools though, but at least I know that they come from a strong lineage, specifically Sifu Hsu Fun-Yuen"s. If you are interested, let me know, and I will look up their web addresses for you.