MODERN HISTORY OF SHAOLIN
This is from a different thread on the forum but I found it so informative that I created a new thread just for it...... I talked to a Shaolin Monk the other day he said he trained in the traditional Shaolin way, he told me others train in the more modern Wu Shu style etc, Here is his remarks to me and his link,. I met him in Toronto.
"Hello Bruce,
Thank you for you inquiry.
To answer your question, there is some grain of truth to what Mr. Carver
is saying. However, his comments are skewed as someone who is not
intimately involved with the Chinese martial arts community and are
misleading.
The cultural revolution did occur where the government did try and wipe
out all forms of traditional Chinese martial arts (TCMA). They did this
by enslaving many great masters into working camps. The government
back-tracked realizing it had made a mistake and then tried to revive the
practice (it was rumored that Japan had challenged China to a friendly
martial arts competition and China lost). What occured afterwards greatly
impacted Chinese martial arts today.
The government tried to rally the remaining masters to work together and
revive the art, but what happened was 3 schools of thought emerged:
1) One group of masters were totally on board and decided to pool their
talents to create a new art, known today as wushu (Contemporary Chinese
Martial Arts - CCMA). It is characterized by lots of running, high
jumping, acrobatics. Think gymnastic floor routines intermingled with
martial arts. Everything was standardized and it's goal was primarily for
sport and performance to promote culture.
2) Opposite was a group of masters who were simply set in their ways and
didn't want anything to do with this collaboration; nor did they want to
share any of their information. They were absolutely traditional and
remained rooted in the old ways.
3) Another group of masters saw the benefit of sharing information to
broaden their horizons and saw the benefit of collaboration but still
recognized the importance of traditional values.
Our Master Lee was fortunte enough to have started training under his
grand-father in his own family's traditional style called Lee Family
Southern Way Fist. As his grand-father was well associated with other
masters in the 3rd school of thought that I outlined above, Master Lee
then went on to become the disciple of 9 different Masters of various
styles of TCMA. Through these masters, he went on to network and learn
from other influential masters of TCMA. One of those masters was the
honourable Master Shi Suxi (previous Grand Abbott of the Shaolin Temple).
Although Master Lee's physical training was under Master Shi Suxi's
disciples, he eventually was ordained 31st Generation Warrior Monk status
directly under Master Shi Suxi in 2000. Although many recent "monks" have
also received this title, many have been taught basic forms/CCMA in the
"public" training hall and have been given the title to act as
"ambassadors" to the Shaolin Temple for their respective country. Master
Lee however is one of the very few who was also granted exclusive TCMA
material and training in the Temple's "private" training hall.
Throughout Master Lee's years of education in Chinese martial arts, he has
adamantly sought out to train TCMA and purposely stayed away from CCMA as
he has come to the understanding that sport/performance is only a small
piece of what martial arts, as whole, has to offer.
Returning to Mr. Carvers comments:
The modern "Shaolin Temple", in my opinion, is setup as a tourist
attraction simply because in today's society, money is required for
everything. There is a lot of upkeep and costs tied to the operation and
they have been forced to follow modern economics in order to keep up the
promotion of their "art".
When travelling groups of monks visit and perform outside of China,
sometimes they are auditioned or taken from various Shaolin "feeder
schools". The Shaolin Temple holds "auditions" each year and accept only
a handful of individuals to become full Shaolin Monks. As a result,
"feeder schools" are prolific in the region and many students aspire to
become a monk via a "feeder school" by studying a regiment of either TCMA
or CCMA or both. What should be noted is that in many of these
performances, CCMA (wushu) is showcased. Why? Because to the untrained
eye, TCMA is not as exciting and flashy. The general public would rather
see a person doing 720 spinning jump kicks and back flips rather than a
properly delivered straight punch. The general public can't appreciate
the complexity of traditional martial arts, let alone Chinese martial
arts. The same problem occurs in Korean and Japanese martial arts.
Karate is divided among sport and traditional, so is Taekwondo. How can
you tell if a Shaolin monk knows TCMA or CCMA? In often cases, you can't
until you've trained under them for quite some time. Sometimes, they
purposely choose not to teach TCMA.
Due to Master Lee's background in TCMA, our Shaolin program only teaches
the TCMA embodied in the Shaolin style. It should also be noted that the
Chung Wah Kung Fu International System also embodies many other famous,
traditional styles such as Wing Chun, Preying Mantis, Hung Gar, etc. thus
we are not only commited to promoting Shaolin, but all the other styles
embodied in our program.
To better understand our program, unique training methodology and
philosophies, it's best to book an appointment with me so that we can
continue our discussion on the true nature of martial arts. Please
contact me if you are interested.
In summation, Shaolin style kung fu has not been wiped out and the
traditional knowledge is still available. Whether or not if someone is
qualified or willing to teach you the knowledge is really the question.
Regards,
Charles Chang
Chung Wah Kung Fu International System
General Manager"
http://www.chungwahkungfu.com/ga
I think this sounds reasonable, many monks and teachers would have went into hiding in the Cultural revolution, and style like Hung Gar, Cho Li Fut etc would have remained as they do today and they can also trace their history back to Shaolin.
This is from a different thread on the forum but I found it so informative that I created a new thread just for it...