[QUOTE=RenDaHai;1203846]Just an addition;
What is a Shaolin Temple Kung Fu form and what is not?
There is this myth that Shaolin was this ISOLATED temple where no one was allowed to leave and secret kung fu was practiced within the walls only.
This probably never happened. Shaolin Kung fu was in constant flux crossing with the Kung fu of the local villages and absorbing the Kung fu from monks of all china who came there.
There is no way we can say whether a form was created inside the temple walls or not. Why? Because quite literally the walls were not always there. Think of Song Shan as a city and Shaolin as a district.
Where then do we draw the line? Kung Fu from all china pays homage to shaolin.
The line is SONG SHAN. Why? Because when Kung fu goes to another part of china it is influenced by the local styles. But in SOng Shan all the local styles are Shaolin. So things stay shaolin like. That is why all the Kung fu in SOng Shan has that Shaolin flavour.
SO when we see Shaolin Kung Fu from another part of China, it is not quite Shaolin. Even when it has a strong lineage it will be influenced by its local styles. So it looks less like Shaolin.
Kung Fu that comes from Song Shan keeps the influence of other SOng Shan styles and the SHaolin temple itself and so Song Shan Kung fu is the ancestral Shaolin.
You cannot seperate SOng Shan and Shaolin. Song Mountain is a breathing creature and the Shaolin temple is its heart.
(This reminds me of a wonderful local legend that ShaoShi Shan is hollow and inside lives a gigantic snake that is fed by the people of the mountian)[/QUOTE]
I’ve thought a lot about this. Here’s why in my opinion I think the boundaries of the temple were indeed the walls and why no villages were attached to the monastery at that time:
*I don’t think anybody off the street could, just, not only enter the temple, but also learn martial arts there.
*No visitors to the temple described having to pass through any villages on the outside of the temple with martial artists practising the same as what was taught inside the temple.
*The monks only seemed to entertain important visitors or those with a certain kind of reputation who had been granted special permission to study there.
*In 1828 a prominent Manchu official named Lin Qing visited the temple. At first the monks wouldn’t talk about Shaolin Kung Fu, but then they gave a demonstration. A woodblock illustration was published showing the demonstration from inside the temple.
*Numerous martial artists claimed to have learnt from the temple, as though it was special to get admittance and instruction there. If anyone could approach the Shaolin temple and learn their Kung Fu from the immediate surrounding villages then the claim to Shaolin would carry no significance.
*Again, I don’t believe these villages existed in ancient times. All villages would have been spread apart about 10-30 miles. Tai Chi was developed 35 miles north of the temple. Xingyi was created in Shanxi province.
*Shaolin hand combat had prospered in a region (Henan province) that had played a major role in the evolution of Chinese bare-handed fighting.
*By 1904 (probably early 19th century), Shaolin Kung Fu was no longer taught (easily) within 10 miles of the monastery, say. Many techniques were lost due to the fleeing of the fighting monks except Plum Flower Fist. Surviving laymen would have then turned their attention to Tai Chi and Xingyi in the nearest villages and re-developed Shaolin Kung Fu as Hong Quan?
BTW, Shahar says that Hong Fist (Hong Quan) is a southern style related to Shaolin by legend only, but he might be talking about a different style to the Hong Quan mentioned in this topic?
