Welcome back, Sow Choy! How was your trip to China? What did you do over there?
Hey 123,
Thanks,
I had the greates time, it really had a great effect on me.
We visited Beijing and saw all the historical sites. We visited the Beijing Wei Hao Wu Shu school where Jet Li trained in his youth. That was fun, they put on a demonstration for us, and we showed some forms too.
Then we trained at Shaolin temple for 3 days. They welcomed us with fireworks and all the students (over 400) were lined up and applauding as we walked in. This was my 2nd time there and at this particular school, this time I really learned alot, not just Kung Fu but about their lifestyle, how they train, what they train, etc…
They want me to stay there for at least 6 months, offered me a job teaching english and everything, room, food and training.
Then we went to Guangzhou, alot like Florida, beautiful weather, the greatest food. We stayed in Futshan (Fuoshan), visited the Fut Shan Hung Sing School. That was alot of fun. They put on a lion dance for us, and we made a circle and took turns showing forms. I met an American from Fut Shan Hung Sing School in San Fran. He is doing very well, teaching english, training CLF and has a beautiful Chinese girlfriend. : )
Then Hong Kong where I got to spend time with my kung Fu brothers (Hong Kong Lee Koon Hung Choy Lay Fut). They took me around all day and night, and we talked hours drinking lai cha and discussing Kung Fu. We had a banquet together with the Monkey Crew (Tai Sing Pap Kar Moon) Chow Keung- I call him Charlie was there, Wong Chau Sun or in English Anthony Wong who is a famous movie star, and another guy Thomas I forgot his last name, another movie star.
It was funny walking down the street with them, everyone was stopping and looking freaking out when they saw the 2 actors.
We also visited Grandmaster Shek Kin (Mr Han from Enter the Dragon) and he was very excited to see us. He told us many old stories and answered alot of questions, talked about Bruce Lee and a sparring match they had, showed us some old pictures, talked alot about Lee Koon Hung, told many old stories about real masters and what happened in the old days. It was such an experience, beyond words.
There is alot more to tell, this post is kinda long, so ask me any questions.
How you doin? Hows the crew in Chicago?
Joe
hey sow choy !!!
welcome back to the forum !!! all you 'd tell us is fascinating and rich . traveling always open our minds and is great discovering see how think and live other people . is like discover the authentic meanning of the human nature . you can feel like a ant in the world and that is very shocking !!
i got some questions if you don’t mind :
hong kong change something after the britannic goverment lose the islands ? ( i am aspeaking about kung fu , i want to know if there is a special program to develop more modern wushu schools there )
you can write with a few of words what make special the native chinese people ?
you can told us some cool story about late grandmaster lee koon hung and master shek kin ?
thank you , firiend .
Excellent trip, you are really well connected there.
Rain,
How are you my friend? Looking forward to you coming here one day.
In Hong Kong I only stayed 3-4 days. I don’t think there are any Wu Shu camps there yet. My KF bro is trainging Wu Shu over there privately, he didnt mention any wu shu schools there. It’s so expensive there (rent), I believe most martial arts are practiced in the parks or youth centers.
The people in China were different than us westerners in 1 way I think of often. They give without expecting something in return. If they help you, they dont expect something, or complain, they just do there work the best they can. Even the waiters and other workers wont accept tips.
One story that Shek Kin told that comes to mind is when he taught Lee Koon Hung a form that hay day tong (falling and rolling). Shek Kin was already in his sixties and was having serious leg pains, so he verbally taught Lee Koon Hung the form. The way he explained was very funny, he had Lee Koon Hung rolling left, right all over the place. His family was present due to the fact they were training in Shek Kins house. The family thought they were nuts.
I’ll tell you more later, time to go teach.
Joe
Yutyee sam- Do I know you? In your profile it says you do CLF and Sow choy asked you how the crew in chicago. Do you go to Ng family martial arts school?
Hey Joe,
Sounds like you had a great time, sorry I couldn’t make it out there in time to meet up with you. I’m sure you had a lot of fun regardless;)…
I just got my ticket and it’ll be my turn to head off soon…
Talk to you soon bro.
Shaolin Dynasty-
I don’t think you know me. I trained CLF with Phil & Sifu Ng when Phil was a grad student at UIUC…and during the garage/driveway/Chinatown Cultural Center days. I’ve been to the Chicago school before, but I don’t think we’ve met.
Sow Choy-
What was training at the Shaolin temple like? Were there things you could take back and incorporate into your own teaching?
123
Thanks for the Plug, Joe!
Hey Joe… It’s Dan. The guy studying CLF in Futsan, with the beautiful Chinese girlfriend! My girlfriend turned all red when she read your note… She really is a shy gal, I don’t know why…
It seems that your trip, followed by Tat mua, has opened a few Questions. they are requesting official documents from Hong Kong, to verify lineage or something… then they will revise the current, official Chinese “hung sing” Family tree.
Thats the wonderful thing about studying here. The group here knows many local historians, and the government monitors and verifies any history published by a club. This puts a lot of squabbles like “my sefu this” or “he said your segung was that” quickly to death.
If anyone has a computer that reads chinese characters, you may visit www.hongshengguan.com(This is the real one), and learn the Futsan facts. Everything on the website is verified by the H-C-I-C (Head commie in charge, if you will). And they fully support the “Green grass monk” Part of the history. I find it strange that many people, who have never even stepped foot in Futsan, are all of a sudden “Kung-fu history experts” Oh well… people will be people…
It was good to meet your club though… And Leung Sefu says You got some loose shoulders… A healthy compliment…
Take Care
Dan
hello dan
is good to know about you . i am from argentina ( southamerica ) and i hope we’ll can see you here again . would be cool have your opinion and that you can tell you some stories .
good luck
Hey Dan,
Nice to hear from you! Tell your sifu I said thank you for the compliment and your school’s hospitality, I felt like I was with my family.
How’s it going over there? Yeah, there are some lineage issues in our family, mainly due to Poon Sing’s version of our history compared to the Lee Koon Hung Hong Kong version. You see, Lee Koon Hung really followed Chow Bing and Leung Sai, Poon Sings sihings who were running the school after Poon Dik died. Then he followed So Kam Fook, Poon Diks classmate, he learned the most from So Kam Fook. So now that Lee Koon Hung has passed away we are hearing different stories. But that will soon be fixed.
I am writing an article on behalf of my sifu and his classmates who continue to teach in Hong Kong on Lee Koon Hung for Kung Fu Magazine, and we are making a video on Lee Koon Hung and the story of our association. So when this work is finished, our family tree and history will be on our website settingthe record straight.
I hope to see you again, I probably will be back next year, maybe we can hang out more.
123,
I learned alot at shaolin. This was my second time training there, and even though the time was short, I was able to pick up on alot of things.
I noticed more on how they have many ways of generating power. For example in my style we use the waist and legs for power, keeping the back straight. They use many ways of the shoulders and waist leaning and interchanging to generate more power in their movements. I learned the geem (double edged sword), and was amazed by the advanced level of technique and movement.
It wasn’t jumping around and a bunch of flowers like most wushu sets, no offense to wushu. It had many techniques and dynamic movement.
i also spent alot of time talking with their sifu and their head master/principal. They were interested in Choy Lay Fut and how we train, and we talked for over 3 or so hours about Kung Fu. I saw alot of traditional forms performed by their students, very similar to Bak Siu Lum forms (Northern Shaolin). I asked them if they still train in the traditional styles, they said they do, but that everyone wants to see the flashy stuff, the kicks, flips, etc…
So they must practice the wushu to keep Shaolin in the spotlight, not many would think their shows exciting if all the sets were traditional, I could understand that. The sifu is a san shou champ and taught alot of san shou techniques to our students. And he enjoyed showing all the applications to the hand form he taught us.
We made a circle and showed forms to each other. That was fun.
Hey Phil, you are gonna laugh at this one:
Last time I was there, they tried to get me to do Day Tong with a chain whip, where you are on your back and kick your legs over and over. So I showed them the American version: “Windmill” from Breaking, lol.
Yes I am an old school B-Boy, ha ha ha. Anyways they remembered that from 2 years ago, and asked me to show more breakdancing, so…
I was flipping, spinning on my head, windmills, etc… They loved it, the kids wanted to learn, ha ha ha!
Back to Kung Fu…
I really think they are awesome regardless of the mixed views of Shaolin. I know that Kung Fu is just a skill, the person must figure out things on his own. Most of my development came from long practice and sensing things. They practice 8-10 hours a day, I am sure they are more on the ball than those of us who only get 2-4 a day if we are lucky.
One thing for sure is there basics are phenomenal!! There stances, kicks, power, and endurance is unreal.
I plan to go there and stay a period of time in the future. I really learned alot and made alot of friends over there. I recommend the school highly to anyone. I have seen a few other schools around there and wasn’t impressed with them much. The school I trained with not only were excellent in Kung Fu, but they were very humble and friendly. Check them out:
Juk lay ho wan si hing dai
Joe