I learned a form tonight from the system called little mantis and i was alright, not that great i thought. and my kwan do form i have is wah lum which i like.
There are a lot of schools around here that teach the wah lum system and my school was one of the first just to do shaolin. maybe its because of the bad rep’s of the wah lum schools around here, they taight forms without any power or spirit. eh :(. now they are all going to shaolin. plus there is a big wah lum school in boston.
There has been extensive discussion on this board regarding Wah Lum. I suggest you do a search and read some of the past threads. As someone who has been there and done that, I’ll put my two cents in (again) now:
WL has GREAT froms, especially weapon sets. I have the utmost respect for MC and his skill and accomplishments. However, most current WL students (and teachers) would rather do wushu and call it WL…That’s the reason behind the dissatisfaction that you are referring to.
Grandmaster Chan Poi is definitely an electrifying performer.
Does anyone know of any fights Master Chan was in? Was he ever challenged or had to fight for his life? Or you think Master Chan keeps these things to himself and avoids telling anyone?
Well, sigung keeps most of those things to himself. From what I understand, traditionally when masters challenged each other to trade hands they did so with little fanfare, in a neutral place, and did not talk about the results afterward. (My source on this is from an article about Jack Man Wong’s challenge match with Bruce Lee, it’s on the Internet somewhere, if I can find a link I’ll post it.)
The only challenge match I can tell you about is a well-known (among WL students) story. In the 1970s a TKD stylist walked into MC’s original school (across the street from my office BTW) and challenged him to a match. MC said, “OK, but only if you follow me onto the street.” The challenger agreed, only to watch as MC jumped out the open 2nd-story window onto the sidewalk. MC then turned and beckoned the challenger to come down. The TKD stylist immediately withdrew his challenge and left – by the stairs.
A 2nd-story window isn’t much by Oom Yung Doe standards, but MC did have to gauge the outward distance of the jump since the steel support beams of the green line el are less than a sidewalk’s width from that window.
He joined Wah Lum just before I left there. We used to train together at Wah Lum. He came from a wrestling and Long Fist background in Russia. Yeah, Taras is very good. And a real good guy. We still hang out every now and then.
The form “little mantis” is a fun form to practice, packed with explosive energy. You didnt learn this whole form in one night did you? Anyway, MC must have liked it also. Alot of times when called out, he would do this form. Big Mantis is my favorite WL hand form. Tainan Mantis says this is Wah Lums (Bung Bu). Can anyone comment on this? Also I have seen (3) versions of Big Mantis. One was Chan Wan Chings version, the other was Lee Kwan Shans and I cannot remember the third. With a little research, could answer this.
I heard MC created forms 1-6 and am pretty sure this is accurate.
Can does anyone know what other forms he created and which ones he was taught by Chan Wan Ching or LKS?
Also, What are Tam tui form sets that are listed in the curriculum?
Thanks,
Yu Shan, good to hear you back on board. HOpe all is well.
The direction and general movement the same, handwork was the differance. LKS had more knife hand like tech. I`ll get back to you on this, seeing the differant versions was fascinating to me.
Two other WL forms that need notoriety, Fan Cha and 5th Form. WL 5th form is brutal, just my opinion…
Not to get anyone mad here, but Chan Wan Ching made up 1 thru 6th form. Does anyone else know of this? Not that making up these forms is a bad thing. These forms are fantastic!
Tan Tui sets and the relation with Mantis and the Southern influence… has always made my head spin. Wonder why tan tui exercises were never incorporated into training?
God Bless Celia Cruz…an Angel flying too close to the ground!
I’ve heard people say that Say Lok was created by MC,don’t know for sure. since were talking about forms did Lee Kwan Shan teach any pure JutSow forms to anyone?Iam asking because acording to Fernado’s mantis cave he had students in Guang Dong & in Vietnam mabey he combined the two systems after this time?does anyone know of these students?
yu shan,
Good to see you back online. I haven’t researched it much but I don’t believe Big Mantis is Wah Lum’s Beng Bu. I just don’t see it. Little Mantis is cool, I like it. I developed it into a 2 man set where you switch after the first run. IOW, I would do Little Mantis on the first run and you do it coming back.
Also, 7 Kicks is a Tan Tui exercise. It makes a good line drill. We used to have to do it 5 times back to back. That will get you in shape!
