Wen Hsiu Quan

I loved learning Kung Fu. Having learnt Karate and Japanese martial arts before I got into Kung Fu I was very interested in seeing what made Kung Fu different from them. My chance came in 2002. While some may feel that it takes long enough to learn one style well enough to be able to fight with it  I was interested in knowing what approach the Chinese had to fighting and training. Well- apart from the Qigong and Force Training exercises I found these two training tools to be a very good way to see what basics Shaolin Kung Fu had. In Wong Kiew Kit's book on Shaolin Kung Fu you get introduced to some basic Shaolin techniques and given the tools with which to develop them for efficient use in combat. The first training tool is very familiar to a lot of us. A set, known in Chinese as taolu  is quite familiar with students of Karate and Taekwondo as well. In Karate these sets are called kata. In Taekwondo it is known as poomse.  The techniques in this basic form do not l...

Hello again, everyone. Thank you for joining me. I am at the last chapter on moves found in forms of Karate and Kung Fu that are similar or even exactly the same. This particular movement called "Single Tiger Emerges from Cave" consists of three elements that I will analyse separately. Firstly- the stance being adopted may be known to even a lot of kyu-level students of styles like Shito and Goju Ryu as Cat Stance. In Chinese martial arts we find it being referred to as Tiger Stance. While I have not yet seen any Karate katas showing it, one of the functions of this stance is to enable you to shoot into Bow (forward) Stance while attacking with a move like Black Tiger Steals Heart (which is a fancy Chinese name for Gyaku Zuki to put it simply). The second element is the hand form called "Tiger Claw" that sweeps forward and outwards to deflect a straight attack. Hand forms are an integral part of Shaolin Kungfu and the Tiger Claw is ...

So- after much happening here (mainly my PC going out of action, me fretting about entering the post- Windows 8- world of computer purchase and then being delighted to find that this old workhorse was still reparable after all...) I am finally able to write this post. As I have expected we were asked not to use flash photography. Because I do not trust my phone I have decided not to risk any monks' lives and rather bought this photobook after the show.  (Please- don't smirk. Yes. They sell merchandise, but I for one would have been really let down if I could not take anything home from this show.)  Well- if you haven't seen Shaolin demonstrations yet your martial arts experience is at a huge disadvantage.  For one thing- we who have seen these monks in action know they do stuff like this: https://youtu.be/w0rhBAlUimw Then there's also this: https://youtu.be/Y4Kjk1-Kh4Q Well- the demonstrations were only part of the whole story. The...

  You all know that there are monks from Northern Shaolin who travel the world to present arguably the best martial arts demonstration in the world. I am not exaggerating. Sure- Wudang has Pushing Hands and the movies tell us they walk on water etc, but what have they actually demonstrated thus far? We have even seen tile breaking and Iron Shirt demonstrations from Karate and related arts. Shaolin, however, has demontrated amazing feats of strength and resilience off the silver screen. These amazing skills include: - One Finger Zen: Having so much strength in the index finger that it can support the whole body; - Iron Shirt: Being able to withstand percussive blows, but wait- there is more! - Golden Bell Cover: BEING IMPERVIOUS TO SHARP OBJECTS! The saying goes: "Every martial art under the sun comes from Shaolin". To some of us this will not hold true. I know that the custodians of the Rajput traditions in India will be quick to shake their heads. ...

A long time dream of mine to visit China became reality after this last Christmas of 2013. On New Year's Eve I was treated to a visit to this historical Temple- Nan Shaolin! I was disappointed not finding any monks there, but still enjoyed being able to get the feel of real monkey poles and the wing chun dummy.  I really hope that kung fu will stay alive and well in China- as well as the rest of the world.