Seriously, I mean I couldn’t do what he was doing, even if I had assistance getting into that position, but I still say the vid is fake.
There’s supposed to be more video out there somewhere of the same guy puncturing a sandbag with that finger, but I’ve yet to find it.
There’s an entire feature length film aout Hai Deng.
It shows him doing a lot of things.
He was one of the first of the former shaolin monks to return to the temple following the Cultuiral Revolution.
I really don’t doubt he had mastery in a chamber or two of shaolin kung fu. One finger Ch’an being one of thoise things, but he was also supposed to have very good iron body and could withstand pretty good strikes into his autumn years.
anyway, an interesting person in teh grand scheme of kungfu from shaolin.
But I think that for the purpose of the movie as shown in the clip, it was faked for whatever reason.
Age? When you see him walking around, or doing a form, it’s pretty obvious he wasn’t in the best physical condition anymore.
Anyway, from what I’ve been told, Hai Deng was a great master in China who was forced to be kind of the new Shaolin Temple’s honorary abbot (to lend the new lineage more credibility. He was supposedly from Emei shan and is a graduate of Chengdu university. Heard a few variations of the story… that he was never a monk, or he was a monk and/or abbot of a monastary in Emei for a time, and was a master of an Emei-Shaolin system.
No doubt…Fake all the way.
As has been mentioned, the give away is that they do not show how he got there.
So many fakes of this kind of thing. I don’t believe any picture, video, watercolor painting, or story about such nonsense.
Do it right in front of me and I’ll buy you a beer, but no “I knew this guy once” story will ever even remotely sell me on that fish tale.
Haideng
We discussed Haideng and his documentary a little on a thread in our Shaolin forum. I’ve seen two-finger handstands in person up close. There’s some footage of such handstands on our Extreme Kung Fu Qigong. We also offer a training DVD in this technique, see Fingertip Handstands: The One-Finger Zen Training Method. It’s acheivable for some, but not everyone.
There’s a very interesting article by Zhu Tianxi in vol.2 no.4 of Chinese Traditional Kung Fu, where Zhu disses Haideng. He says his master, Shi Degen, kicked Haideng out of Shaolin for being a ‘bilker’. Haideng was very controversial, that’s for sure. I’ve met Zhu (aka Xingzhen). He’s quite skillful. His team performed in our Shaolin Kung Fu 2000 video and there’s a bonus track of him demonstrating some techniques. I did an article on him and his team back in our July 2000 issue - the SEX issue: When Mountains Meet-San Francisco Hosts Shaolin Kungfu 2000
I’m moving this from the main forum to the Shaolin forum because I think it might get more discussion there, especially about Haideng.
Why is it only achievable for some?
I’ve seen the two finger on one hand handstand, and two hand/one finger each handstands in person. Also seen someone almost get the one finger handstand, but not quite. It’s allways done with a wall, or someone holding a board or string for balance just in case someone thinks it’s supposed to be done with no support at all 
At least that’s how I’ve allways seen it done, lol.
This is hilarious. Obviously someone was holding his feet. If he was actually doing this, why did they do that godfrey ho type of cut and then not even show his feet???
Jethro, you amateur, nobody was holding his feet. They show his feet, and it would take quite a bit lot of editing to remove someone from the frame, even on a still shot. too much work.
Now, if I, clever minx that I am, was going to fake a one finger handstand, I’d do it just like they did it in that video. I’d hang from a rope with my free hand, then erase the rope. His upper arm is straight and locked out, and his supporting arm is slightly bent. Plus the rope would be easy to edit out. They zoom to his upper hand and it looks altered.
Found this in a thread from last year, and although this is a shot from a movie of some sort, and IMHO his thumb was edited out, his free hand is against his body this time, and a three finger handstand ain’t too shabby. It was pretty widely acknowledged that the guy had the skill.
http://www.davidjamieson.com/kunglek/images/haideng2fc.jpg
Betcha forgot you had that, huh David?
nope. 
I knew i still had it.
Not sure i agree on the thumb being edited out, could be a shadow thing, but even so, yes, two fingers and a thumb is a skill. This is obviously when he was younger, possibly still learning the skill.
what you can acheive
One of the first things you learn about advanced skills in the martial arts is that only a few can get it. The martial arts are not democratic that way. You can train to a point of excellence but you also have to be gifted, not just in terms of physical attributes, but also in terms of determination, dedication, vision, etc. However, I beleive the fingertip handstands has a lot to do with straight up physicality. Just like with competition gymnastics, you don’t see any one with a large-framed body doing this. You also don’t see anyone with bad fingers. There are surely more attributes.
O/t
How nice it is to see Ming Yue post again.
I always say one of the great things about martial arts is that its mostly about the time and work you put in. However, I can see how fingertip handstands would have something to do with what you are born with. As you stated, I’d imagine a small frame would be necessary, amongst other things. Still, even if someone can’t do fingertip handstands that doesn’t rule out all fingertip conditioning (and that has to do with actual combat).
Well, I have my doubts that anyone can actually do this. I would like to see it in person or even a video from start to finish.
However I have little doubt that the video in this case is fake.
Well, if you refuse to leave the house to go find someone who is capable, then it will have to be a video.
anyone? I can’t do it, so don’t even ask.
Well, the guy I saw almost do it was with a Chinese wushu group that had been performing here in Columbus anually at the local Asian festival. They’d do a lot of the usual “qigong” tricks, then have one guy do the handstand trick. I haven’t been there in a couple years, so he may have gotten it down by now (he was fairly young) 
I’ll take a video camera next summer and see if he can do it yet (if they’re still coming back). Hopefully someone will have found a good video of someone else before then, lol.
Well I’m doing it right now on my bird finger!!! I would send a video but I can’t do the exercise and run the camera at the same time!:eek:
Sorry to interupt again but you did force me to watch this video again. If you watch close, you will see they don’t actually show anything above his feet. Zooming out another foot or two would be how hard? :rolleyes: