Martial Arts can be classified into Internal and External martial arts. Martial arts is the art of combat either with or without any weapons (excluding guns and etc). External martial arts can be classified as overcoming your opponents with your aggression, speed, techniques and tactics. Internal martial arts can be classified as overcoming your opponent through maneuvering, balance, momentum, techniques and tactics. Of-course there is the spiritual martial arts where the master invoke a spirit (as in a trance). In many cases the master will be able to access to martial arts abilities even if he had never learn or practice martial arts. I had the privilege to see my former housemate (fellow disciple of a temple) with no martial art background invoking a spirit to help him do some demonstrations.
You can be good in external martial art inside 2 years of painful training like the Shaolin and Muay Thai students. Of course there is Silat (the Malay and Indonesian martial art), Taekwondo, Karate and etc. Internal martial arts is harder to master. It take around 20 years for someone to be good at it. To really reached the top level many well known Tai Chi Chuan masters would confessed, it might have to take more than a life time. Knowing the moves is one thing. Using Yi to move Qi and visualization is another. To be able to go another level up the spiritual path is yet another. It required lots of focusing, concentration, visualization and meditation. You cannot hurry up things. If you do not master qi, there is no way you can master internal martial arts.
The Taoists Priests have been practicing internal martial arts even before the legendary Chang San Feng founded Wudang around the end of the Sung Dynasty (around 1200 AD). There were Chuan Chern Pai under Grandmaster Wang Chung Yang and other lesser known Taoist sects. Later they were integrated into Wudang Pai. Even today you still find martial arts in the Youtube aligning to Chuan Chern Pai and Chung Yang Pai under Wudang. There is also claims from Emei Pai to be the earliest form of Chinese Martial Arts. Contrary to previously known sources such as Jin Yong (author of many well accepted Wu Hiash /martial arts tales) always depicting Emei Pai as being a female/amazon Taoist sect which is opposite to Wudang Pai (which was depicted as male only). Recent sources however have changed such perception as we are now able to see there are female as well as male Taoist priests in both Wudang and Emei Pai. Wudang Pai is currently led by Grandmaster You Xuan De with lineage directly link to the founder GM Chang San Feng.. The Emei Pai is currently led by a male grandmaster.
Previously you need martial arts for self defense and also for military purposes. With the invention of modern weapons such as guns, the importance of martial arts for military purposes has diminished though still important at close range encounter. The military of many countries still use martial arts training for their soldiers. Likewise it can be useful for the police too.
The legendary master Huo Yuan Jia (Fok Yeen Kap in Cantonese), the father of modern Wushu started Chin Woo Physical Training School in Shanghai in 1909 (with the help of Nong Jin Sun) as the first registered martial arts school in China, to allow all Chinese the opportunity to learn Chinese martial arts and strengthen themselves in order to defend the country (against foreign oppression). China was labeled "the Sick Man of Asia" and there were many places for foreigners with signs such as "Chinese and Dogs not allowed". The foreigners came with their western boxing and Japanese martial arts such as karate and judo. They tried to challenge the traditional Chinese Wushu Schools which were declining in quality and quantity. This was not helped by the traditions among Wushu masters to teach their skills to a selected few. These students may then pass their skills to one or two students. Wushu was therefore limited to a selected few. The skills would be lost if the selected ones did not pass their skills down to anyone. On top of that, many do not teach the weak and female (Hou Yuan Jia was not allowed to learn Wushu because he was often sick). Some masters would keep some secret techniques for themselves as protection just in case the next in line were to rebel. He realized that if each master were to keep a few moves to themselves, very soon there would be not much left to learn. Hence, the standard of Wushu skills in China were steadily deteriorating over the years.
He named his school "Chin Woo" - "Chin" meaning "high spirit" and "Woo" meaning "martial art". His objective was to provide the people of China with the essence of Chinese martial arts with the aim of cultivating knowledge, benevolence and courage and improving the health of the people, in addition to continuing the spread and preservation of Wushu skills. He encourage the masters from other schools (such as Wudang, Shaolin and etc) to teach at Chin Woo where they contributed to make it great again. It become a melting pot for all kinds of Chinese martial arts. As martial artists from various sects/clans/schools meet and discuss about Wushu, they learn from each other. Huo Yuan Jia studied other martial arts moves and came out with his Mizhong Chuan which unlike previous wushu had no preset predictable moves.
So the real aim of Wushu is not to pick a fight. All martial arts have their own code of conducts. The Japanese and Westerners normally have a gung-ho attitude and love to pick a fight with others. The Japanese would commit harakiri (suicide) whenever they lose. That was the warrior (samurai) spirit which many Japanese were proud of. Now you do not need to take it that seriously. Martial arts is not for showing off. It is an art of self defense not offence. We respect all human beings regardless of creed, race or religion. We respect all martial arts and masters. We have no need to prove ourselves since sooner or later we will all grow old and die. Sooner or later there is bound to be someone better than us. We should admire Grandmaster Huo Yuan Jia for without him wushu would be restricted to a selected few and with each passing year, more and more secrets would be lost until it become a totally lost and useless art.
Even as a kid having learned a few years of Wing Chun, Bruce Lee was always involved in fights. The Hongkong police warned his father that if Bruce Lee was to get involved in another gang fight, they would have to place him behind bars. His father had no option but to send him to America when he was just 18. Bruce Lee studied at night and work in the day time. Later he befriended a Japanese, a Filipino and a Korean and learned Karate, Jujitsu and Tae kwondo kicks. He follow the nutrition and training the western way. He was more a westerner than an Asian which explain his arrogance and love for fighting.
It is well known in Chinese Martial Arts that Shaolin is the leader of External Wushu and Wudang is the master of Internal Wushu. It has always been that way since Chang San Feng (or Cheong Sam Foong in Cantonese) established Wudang Pai. This is not to say that Shaolin monks learn only external martial arts. There is Northern Shaolin Nei Gong, Southern Shaolin Iron Shirt Qigong, Shaolin Wu Chu Chuan (Five Ancestors) Qigong and etc. Grandmaster Anthony Wee's root is more on the Shaolin Wushu, Shaolin Nei Gong and Qigong plus other systems. Therefore he was able to go under the wheel of a 9.3 ton bus at the age of 45.
When a person get older he obviously cannot be as fast or powerful as before. He need to refine his techniques where he uses less physical/muscular movements and conserve energy. Notice most good soccer players would be in excellent form from late teen to early thirties. The same hold for tennis and badminton. Not everyone can be like Bruce Lee who was awesome at 32years old. Even Bruce Lee succumbed to taking pain killers to withstand the pain of "over training" (or how else could he had the body of an eighteen years old as confirmed by his doctor when he was actually in his thirties?).
Tai Chi Chuan is quite a sly martial art. The master conserve his energy and use it in the most efficient way. Some of them are plain common sense. Internal martial arts like Tai Chi Chuan is about momentum and balance. You try to follow the Taoist idea of be like water or cloud. Water is soft yet able to break through rocks while cloud floats around slowly. When someone rushes at a Tai Chi Chuan master, the master just side step and follow the momentum by pushing him (off balance) toward the direction he was heading. Since he is already heading toward that direction (off balanced), a simple push would be enough to send him flying. Of course there are many variations such as stepping on the opponent's front leg and push him to the ground and etc. He can also just hit him at the private parts, throat and etc. In my Youtube channel is a video of Grandmaster Anthony Wee accepting a chop from a former world heavyweight champion. There is also some Ki masters taking kicks from an American Football player at the private parts. So if these masters are prepared for the attacks, it might not harm them. They somehow managed to cut off the pain (which is very real). However under normal circumstances it can easily kill most people so please do not try it.
In lot of videos in the Youtube regarding rooting, Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang's rooting is certainly on a very high level. He stand on one leg and drink water while being pushed by Master Shi Jia Ke (Taekwondo 6th dan black belt). Then the 8 taekwondo black belts experts tried to push him (still on one leg) but were instead themselves pushed to the floor. This is no ordinary task. You need to stand like a big tree (in a good stance) by grounding your qi. A sudden jerk from the master would be able to send the people to the ground since everyone is leaning forward (off balanced). Of course masters like Grandmaster Huang Hsin Shyan, Grandmaster Chern Man Ching, Grandmaster You Xuande and Lama Dondrup Dorje (Dr. Yeong) are all very good in their Tai Chi Chuan.
Do not think everyone who practice Tai Chi Chuan can do such things. They might have learn the techniques but because Tai Chi Chuan is an art not science, each individual reach different levels of abilities. For instance there are many people learning around 20 to 30 years of Tai Chi Chuan but can barely even feel qi. There are some people who can feel qi within minutes /hours of training training with me. The late grandmaster Chern Man Ching of Yang Tai Chi was reported as saying that it would be difficult to bring your qi to the Baihui (crown chakra). My late yoga master Swarmi Maharishi just took several minutes to initiate me and within hours the energies went straight up to the third eye and then to the crown more than 25 years ago.
Grandmaster Chern also said that it would be easy to bring the energy down from the baihui (crown). Apparently, it was not the case for me as I spend the next few years trying to bring the energy down. I had frequent nose bleeding, migraine, fever and the feeling like my head was going to burst. I cannot even eat peanut cream cake as I was prone to feeling unwell after consuming it. If given the chance I would have gladly not learn Kundalini Yoga and reversed the process (if it was possible). Fortunately, I did not follow my idol Bruce Lee. I had decided then that I would not take panaldo or aspirin (pain killers) to solve my pain problems. Each individual is differently constituted and has different reactions and achievements. My spiritual master helped me to stabilized the energies. Of-course years of meditations has enabled me to learn qigong faster than most people. Most people can only talk about being soong (loosened /relaxed) and using Yi to direct the Qi. But it is easy for people who have done lots of meditation. When I try to heal people with incurable diseases (which both the doctors and traditional healers has given up), most people will say that I am not God and it is impossible for anyone to do it in one session. When I successfully healed the person with a 4 hour qi therapy, most people will ask me why I am still relatively unknown. It is all karma.
Internal Martial art beside being used for fighting can also be use for health purposes. For instance qigong is normally structured to produce certain desired results. You can strengthened your immune system and help your internal organs function more effectively. Internal martial arts is also about proper breathing to strengthening your diaphragm. Many Wudang, Tai Chi and Qigong Masters have pot bellies as a result. They are different from the normal pot bellies. Try poking your finger into a master's belly and you will be able to feel the softness of the belly on the outside. When you really push your finger in, you will be able to feel the resistance from within without any effort from the master. It is normal for grandmaster to be as soft as cotton and yet as hard as steel. This is like someone punching into a bag of cotton and if the master so wish, he can make it as hard as steel.
Recently, a really muscular foreign security guard in his mid twenties from Nepal (claim to be a karate black belt and body builder) told me mockingly (Chinese soft soft, Nepalis strong strong) meaning my flesh and muscle were soft. I smilingly asked him to push at my soft tummy and then poke at the tiny soft fleshy area under my Adam's apple. He was surprised that the soft tissues suddenly hardened when he tried to push. The harder he pushed, the harder the flesh become. I wanted to push my index finger at his throat area but he quickly ran off. As I am always loosened and relaxed, my flesh will always be soft like a baby. When someone poke or push me, then only will there be resistance. A former senior of mine claim one should be stiff all the time like in hard qigong or martial arts, which I disagree. If you are hard, if I were to punch you, you will definitely be seriously injured. If you are loosened, my punch will not be able to harm you as you move with the momentum. It is like hitting a balloon. A punch will only make the balloon bounce away (unless the balloon is tie and fixed to a certain spot which will make it burst).
Obviously a lots of things are pure logic. When you punch a Shaolin monk he use hard qigong to withstand and cut off the pain. When the Shaolin monk put a spear to his throat, you would expect the wooden pole or metal rod to kill the person. The Shaolin monk use his neigong (internal strength at the throat) to cause the spear or iron rod to curve slightly and therefore able to break the wooden pole or bend the iron rod. It is pure logic. When you punch an internal martial artist, you will see him suck in his belly and which will caused the attack to be several inches short and off target (making the punch not as deadly as intended like hitting a bag of cotton). By the time your fist actually reached him, it is already waning and he can counter by pushing out his belly (with Yi and qi) sending the fist flying backward and the person off balanced thrown backward. Everything is about perfect timing (split seconds sucking and releasing the belly) and plain common sense. Just like if someone were to punch my palm very hard, definitely I will feel the pain if I hold my palm rigidly. But if I were to hold my palm loosely and follow the momentum withdraw my palm by 5- 6 inches which appear like being hit, the strength of the hit is lost and I can simply pushed him flying backward with my palm since he will be off balanced leaning forward (feeling the full impact of my push). Therefore if you are loosened, a punch will not cause any pain but if you are taking it head on, the full impact will definitely cause some damage/injury (even if you can use hard qigong). In front of audiences, they would pretend nothing happened. In reality, many would go behind close door to apply medication on the bruised areas.
Manipulation of qi is the domains of advanced qi practitioners. First you must be able to feel qi very strongly and use yi (mind/intent/will). It is no magic. Quantum theory talk about the electro-magnetic, strong and weak forces/waves. Qigong promotes 5 flows such as electromagnetic, vibratory, neuro chemical, heat and blood. The weak and strong forces are the Yin and Yang. Actually there are much things in common. Maybe they are talking about the same things from different perspectives. The history of the past would need to be rewrite since new discoveries and clues have produced different results. This goes to prove that what is fact today might turn out to be false sometime in the future. The Earth was once thought to be flat. The atom was once considered the smallest indivisible item like a ball bearing until they discovered the sub atomic particles such as proton, neutron and electron. Now they are talking about vibrating strings so small that normal people cannot see them. Ancient technologies such as the Pyramids have baffled scientists for ages. They do not have any clue how such big monuments could be build to such precision. Similarly science cannot prove the existence of a soul and qi. Scientists have no answer to what happen when a person die.
Theoretically, all Tai Chi Chuan practitioners should be using yi to move their qi and visualization of the desired outcome. Apparently many people just conveniently ignore the qi and yi part (as they cannot feel the qi) and the visualization is even harder. They just concentrate on their movements. Many instructors do not even bother to correct the mistakes of students under their care. Sometimes it becomes the blind leading the blind. Even in qigong, different people practice differently. Some really follow the breathing while others don't. Sometimes even instructors are doing it wrongly. Therefore there is always the disparity between practitioners. Most people would always assume someone who has practiced 20-30 years of Tai Chi Chuan / Qigong would be better than someone only with 2-3 years of training. In reality it does not always have to be the case. If someone is dedicated and put lots of efforts into learning and practicing there is no reason why he cannot progress faster. For instance I only started Qigong in November 2007, Theoretically, I might not be as well inform about certain things but what is most important is the ability to use Yi to move Qi and visualization. My training in Yoga meditation became really useful in aiding my progress. As I adhere strictly to the breathing methods used, I was able to heal myself of dermatitis induced psoriasis (which specialists say there is no cure), sweaty and cold limbs, nasal blockage and running nose
(doctor propose minor surgery) and a host of other health problems. For more details, please click here.
Martial arts has nothing to do with race or religion. It does not matter whether you are Chinese, Asian or Westerner. It does not matter whether you are Buddhist, Christian, Muslim or Taoist. Of-course being Taoist and being Chinese does have its advantages in understanding Yin Yang and the Chinese Medical sciences. There are some westerners who are more Chinese than most Chinese. They dressed in uniforms found only in Wudang and Shaolin. Their behaviors are affected by Taoist and Buddhist teachings. They have lots of knowledge of Chinese cultures and martial arts. Some of them can even do Chinese Calligraphy. Among them are disciples of Grandmaster You Xuande such as Master You Li Tai from Italy and Master You Li Han from Germany. Many of their students are like them.
There are many Chinese who would like to follow the modern ways and discard the ancient ways due to inferiority complex. They are afraid of people calling them old fashion or conservative. They have no interest in things Chinese but how to make more money and have fun. There are many Chinese who have no abilities in martial arts. It has nothing to do with race, creed or religion.
I am only asking everyone to be open-minded and look at possibilities. Part of becoming a good master is to remain humble and try to learn from others (even those who might not look likely to have more abilities than ourselves). Learning martial arts also involve cultivating the mind. According to many masters, half of the time in martial arts training should be used to cultivate the mind so that the students become better persons. Unfortunately, many masters who went over to the western countries are more westernized and money motivated. They have to prove their abilities by accepting challenges from other martial artists to get famous and therefore more students and income. Please refer to my article on Bruce Lee. They charge more than a thousand USD for 3-4 days Qigong seminars. They would spread the rumors that only they are genuine and that those under the communist rules are the fake masters and etc. There are real and fake masters all over the world.
In Youtube there are lots of videos for everyone to view. Some of these are from well known masters who are already famous and have no need to promote themselves. Wudang's Chief Priest Grandmaster You Xuande is indeed a powerful man and does not have problem throwing anyone 30-50 feet away. He is not a normal master, but the head of Wudang, (the long established clan that the Qing Dynasty make use of to hunt down Southern Shaolin masrers like Hung Shi Kuan). As explained above, most of the time he is only following the momentum and pushing someone who is already off-balance. Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang rooting against the Taekwondo masters is exceptional. There is no point for the Grandmaster to use everything he know on someone very low in skill. A tiny finger should be sufficient to kill an ant why bother using an atom bomb? Everything is only a tip of the iceberg as the gap between the top and an ordinary student is indeed very wide.. They only revealed what is sufficient to get you interested. There are lots of Tai Chi Chuan masters who get lots of challenges from their students. They do not have the time to "play" with everyone. Some of these masters have no alternative but to purposely injured some students as a warning to others with similar intentions. So know your limit and do not be disrespectful toward a sifu/master.
When it come to manipulating qi, there are many people using their qi to burn newspapers as in John Chang, Yin Yang Kung and Gathering Qi. The main point here is the masters had to do meditations to enable them to make use of the Yin energy at Hui Yin-perineum (between the anus and sex organ) and Yang energy at the Tan Tien (2-3 inches below the belly). The fusion of these two energies can possibly be used to create fire as claimed by John Chang. Obviously it is not something easy and need many years of meditations. The Mo Pai system supposedly teach by John Chang is misinterpreted by most westerners. Mo (no) pai (sect or group) means no alignment to any faction. Traditionally all the good martial arts would be from sect or martial arts organizations such as Wudang Pai, Shaolin Pai, Emei Pai, Kunlun Pai and etc. Mo Pai mean it does not have a brand name. For instance Rolex watches are well known and so is Shaolin and Wudang Pai (for martial arts). This means it is not originated directly from any known sect or martial art organization. This is common as many masters take something from here and there to be their martial art such as Jeet Kune Do (the art of the intercepting fist) by Bruce Lee.
Then there is Master James Chee of Shaolin Wu Chu Chuan (Five Ancestors Fist) Australia with his Qi manipulations. I have personally witnessed his abilities. Next is Master Shi Ming with his amazing abilities as shown in "Qigong Master Projecting his Qi energy".
This Qi Projection thing is very misleading. I do not think any qi is being projected. He said, "My thinking/mental force/mind/will (Yi Nen) is over there. See how it affects him". He visualizes in his mind of the outcome. He use his Yi (mind/intent/will) to direct his energy to affect his student's back or anywhere he wish to direct it to. As the qi is visualized and directed at the back of the student, the student become affected by it according to his visualization. So where is the qi projection? He can place his hand at your hand but his Yi (mind/intent/will) is on the leg and visualizing it being affected by the qi. So you see him jumping like a monkey because the Yi (direct the qi) to the leg not his hand. Similarly, when Master Shi placed his hand on top of the reporter's, his Yi is on his student's leg not the reporter's hand. That is why it affects the student's leg and not the reporter's hand. It is not easy to follow the logic. Previously, I couldn't understand how it was being done then. It doesn't make sense at all. Anybody would have thought it is fake. It took me quite awhile to figure it out. My abilities are nowhere near the master's. I have actually tried it on myself and found out it works. This is advanced stuff. Pertaining to Master Shi practicing in the park in Beijing, it clearly shows he have nothing to hide. People like me can easily get free lessons by having a few glances at what he did. He was gracious enough to allow people to film him. This show he is still not a money motivated or westernized master. Of course I expect him to teach the more advanced techniques at another location or he is a really selfless man. The American student clearly knows what he want and is willing to learn patiently. Learning to master Yi to direct Qi is not for people with no patience. Previously I used to get caned by my spiritual master for trivial mistakes. It is all part of character building. The opportunity cost of four years with Master Shi is time lost and can be used to learn Muay Thai, Shao Lin etc. He would have reached a very high level and have more measurable results. Apparently he chooses to study under Master Shi. If Master Shi is after the money like some of the other masters, he would not train in the public. He would charged the westerner thousand of USD for several days classes and market it as secret qigong seminars. At the more advanced level you might have to even pay double that. They always claim they are teaching some ancient secrets techniques known to very few.
More advanced user can even get you to hop around as if there is something in your pant or you have the kangaroo's genes. Please check out "Discourse with the Heart Sutra with Qigong Part 1-4" for a better explanations on what actually happened. This time Lama Dondrup Dorje (Dr. Yeong) invited some karate instructors from a local dojo to be his "monkeys". These karate instructors (among them a 3rd dan black belt) would explain what happened. Lama Dondrup Dorje was the former Dr. Yeong a martial arts expert before he became a Tibetan monk. He is well versed with most version of Tai Chi Chuan, Eagle Claws and etc. He is talking about merging his qi with his opponent and make his opponent unwittingly cooperate with him. He also talk about compassion and some Buddhist teachings on the Heart Sutra. This is even more unbelievable but it is achievable considering how long Dr. Yeong has been practicing Tai Chi Chuan.
It is common knowledge that sometime some people might not get affected by the masters. If a master is to push against 7 person, he will normally not put the strongest in front. He will put someone he is capable of affecting with his qi. The strongest will normally be in the center where he is render ineffective. When I started learning qigong, I was put in the center and managed to hold the line for a minute. The people in front were all falling backward would not have lasted 10 seconds without me trying my best to keep them on their feet. I was able to feel some static electricity when I try to prevent one of the student from falling as a result of being affected by the master's qi. I was however never affected by the master's qi. So if the master (is well known and powerful) cannot make a monkey out of me when I was just starting qigong, surely there might be some truth in the fact that only students programed by them are affected. Masters like John Chang and Master Zhou can focus and create heat up to boiling temperature and light up papers. So they can really make monkeys of of most people/ strangers.
Of course everyone know about the Kial master vs MMA. Ki/qi masters must be aware of their opponent's abilities. You can't accept the challenge from everyone. After a number of challenges, he could have depleted his ki/qi. Anyway you can't beat everyone by manipulating ki/qi alone. Surely there is someone more powerful than you in term of ki/qi. You wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of masters like Grandmaster You Xuande of Wudang. Beside this Japanese Kial master is not that exceptional. Any amateur martial art student would have the ability to block some punches or kicks of a karate man. Apparently this Kial master is more a ki master only (or a conman) and has no martial art ability (as he can neither block a simple punch or kick). If it was Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang or Grandmaster You Xuande or just Master Chen Shixing, the karate chap could most easily be injured.
Then there is famous Malaysian Faith Healer exposed. The famous Ustaz Arif (a silat master) used to demonstrate his "extraordinary" power on many TV shows. He used to show how a 4 feet long fluorescent light can be lighted up and off as he so wishes. Randy, a magician who became famous for exposing famous psychic/magician Uri Geller and lots of other celebrities explained that Ustaz Arif was wearing a slipper with an electrical switch inserted. He can trigger the switch to send a low voltage current flowing into his body to light up the lamp and later off it. Another trick is the use of eggs to roll over the patient body and when he opened it, there seemed to be blood in it. Color dye can be injected in the egg before hand and when he open the egg there will be either red or black dye in the egg. Another trick is the use of test pen with battery inserted, it only cost US 30 cents. Normal test pen will not light up when on contact with any part of your body. I have no doubt that Ustaz Arif is very good at some types of Yoga and martial arts. But trying to use some magic tricks to hoodwinked some unsuspecting victims who have incurable diseases is shameless and unforgivable. He not only cheat his victims of their money but also their valuable time to find a cure.
The intention of this article is to dispel uncertainty and give a balanced view of internal martial arts and qigong. Most people have not reached the level to know what exactly happened. In the action movies, you can hardly tell what the actors are doing. It is all about punching, elbowing, kneeing and kicking in attack. In defense, it is blocking and avoiding being hit. Most of the actors are not really martial artists. They are taught some simple basic moves to perform. Even if he/she cannot kick high, there is always the wire to pull the leg higher. When Michelle Yeoh acted in her first action movie, she was a dancer with no knowledge of martial arts. Jacky Chan has an army of stunt men to do whatever the actor/actress cannot do. Not many people will know the difference. Most people would not know the difference between real Shaolin moves and Karate moves. In kung fu movies, there are lots of karate, judo and taekwondo moves as most of the stars are not wushu masters. Wang Yu, the top action hero in Hong Kong before Bruce Lee was a Judo (4th Dan). Even Bruce Lee was using mixed martial arts (mma) Tae Kwondo kicks, Karate, jujitsu and boxing moves. Except for his pagoda T shirt and Kungfu pants, he was totally mma. Even his weapon was a Nun Chuck (used ocassionally in Okinawan Karate). Even his students are Karate champions. Yet Bruce Lee's name is mainly associated with Kungfu. Most movies are fake and use special effects to make it realistic. After his death most actors /actresses started to take Tae Kwondo lessons. So the Shaolin martial art become a Tae Kwondo club as actors and actress all start kicking from start to end thanks ro Bruce Lee's influence. You have Tam Tao Liang in the film, Burning of Shaolin Temple who started kicking from start to end. I was a Taekwondo student then and was wondering how come Shaolin martial arts look like Tae kwondo.
Many genuine Shaolin martial artist such as Lau Kar Weng (Liu Chia Yong), Lau Kar Leong (Liu Chia Liang) and their adopted brother Lau Kar Fai (Liu Chia Hui) were not as famous as they should. Their father was Lau Cham a disciple of Lam Sai Weng (disciple of Wong Fei Hung). So their Southern Shaolin and Hung Kuen would be the most authentic available. They were very good in the usage of Chinese weapons. Most Shaw Brothers action movies were choreographed by them. At first, Lau Kar Fai (Liu Chia Hui) was quite famous after Bruce Lee's death. His Shaolin 36th Chamber, Heroes of the East and etc were very successful at the box office, making him one of the successors to Bruce Lee. Maybe the fans got an overdose of his movies and look for something different like Jacky Chan. Jacky is more into stunts and comedies (as he was brought up in an opera troupe doing somersaults and clowning in live Chinese opera shows). Then came Jet Li who was a Northern Shaolin 18 weapons champion with the Once Upon A Time in China Part 1-3 showcasing his Northern Shaolin martial arts and Lion Dancing. He was however less successful in Hollywood where fewer people know how to appreciate the real martial arts. Movies like Rambo, Die Hard and etc where you have someone who against all odd (a million to one) is able to defeat the whole army of bad guys single handed are box office hits. Even Jacky Chan have to adapt and make his movies to suit the westerner's taste. He have to strike a balance as what sell in the west does not necessarily sell in the east. Therefore he have both successes and failures in both the east and west depending on who his target viewers are. For instance his Rumble in the Bronz was his first breakthrough in America but was a below par movie in Asia. Similarly, Jet Li's Kiss Of Death does not have the kind of moves we can expect from him and his Dim Mak (acupuncture like strike) look ridiculous to a martial artist. He was too fast for the camera. The Hongkong movies use multiple cameras from different angles to capture a single action but Hollywood was only using one.
The problem is most people thought they know about martial arts. In the movies world, actors/actresses with no knowledge of martial arts can quickly transformed into grandmasters by using special effects. In real life, only with many years of proper training under the guidance a master can one actually be good in any kind of martial arts. The requirement for internal martial arts will be even more. That is why some people with 20-30 years of Tai Chi Chuan is still pretty ordinary. You must be soong (loosened and relaxed), have proper breathing and direct qi with yi before you can claim to know anything. Meditation is the most important part of the training in internal martial arts. All the top masters of the past went into seclusion to meditate and level up on their martial arts. Grand Master Zhang San Feng came out with an extraordinary martial arts like Tai Chi Chuan.Labels: Chang San Feng, Chi Kung, Damo (Bodhidarma), Emei, External Martial Arts, Internal Martial Arts, meditation, Neigong, Qi Gong, Qigong, Shaolin, Tai Chi Chuan, Wu Chu Chuan, Wudang
