Lo all

[ibluemonkey]

Hello all just setting this thread to say hi and introduce myself. with that said im ted, im 18 years old and im planning on a training trip to china in maybe 18 months for one to three years (depending on funds) im currently thinking of going to the songshan international training centre so if anyone has been there feel free to tell me something about your stay, it would be most appreciated. Oh and i like martial arts, especially the internal stuff since i started feeling chi, flying and blue monkeys.

[Chicken]

Welcome

Welcome ibluemonkey / Ted!

Please tell me what is a "blue monkey", if it is not a monkey that had an altercation with a can of blue spraypaint?

Cheers
Chicken

[doc]

Why did you choose that school? And, for so long?

[ibluemonkey]

OKay, a blue monkey is preciesly what you thought it was, and said altercation was one of the most amusing things i have ever seen. second i havent chosen that school for sure, i'm just looking for a place to train in traditional kung fu with a more martial slant and with as much of the internal stuff as i can. As for why so long, i'm passionate about martial arts have been since i discovered them about 5 or 6 years but have been to busy with exams and to short of funds to train heavily while at school and i move around to much to get to any sort of level in any individual style. I want to get to a high level in a martial art, any would do, and from what i've read assuming i can believe it, i could do that faster in china than anywhere else possibly getting to a teaching level in 3 years or so (as im pretty much a complete novice in gung fu).

Oyyy, what a marathon paragraph and it doesant really sum up why i want to do this, it just feels like one of those things i have to do, you know?

[onesp1ng]

have u been to china before?

[Maestro]

hes right about getting away and just training for a long period of time. its the easiest way to elevate your skill.

but, if you dont already understand gung fu you wont really progress that fast, unless you have a really good teacher. and that isnt neccesarily at shaolin.

the masters say it should take a novice 3 to 4 years to understand the basics and master control of the body to the point where you should be able to duplicate a move or a combo or even a form after having been shown it once

this isnt a hard thing to do. infact anyone can mimick a move or a form etc espcially if your talented to begin with, but thats not what im saying...

anyway, its funny how so many want what he wants. i know i want it, and so doesnt everyone else. but no one really considers what they are getting into, or that they might not become what they think they will after so long a time

for sure, a year training full time should give you great flexibility, strength, stamina etc but 1-3 years and being in a position to teach? i dont think so...

maybe instruct some people but you could only take them to a certain point. most who train in the arts want to know how to fight, 1-3 years isnt going to give you want you need, my teacher in china has been training for almost his whole life and at 39 or so i think he still doesnt even feel the right to call himself sifu

maybe thats just a him...then again like ive said before ive never witnessed more speed power and skill from anyone..but then again who am i....

lolo

anyhow, i say he should go but make sure you find somewhere better then what your looking at, i suggest you ask doc for help. if i were going to shaolin, id want to train with de cheng or de yang or someone of their calibre only because they have experience and their skills are very good

[baiwanxi]

I love how everyone decides, before ever living in China, that they're going to go train for numerous years on end. I have yet to read anyone posts that say "I've been or went to Shaolin for 3 years ! It's been a lovely time"...

I suggest you go check it out for a month or two with enough funds to support youself there for an extended period, however long is up to you. That way, if your not happy at whatever school you choose you can go to another. They're all next door to each other there in Dengfeng so it's super easy to find another school. And if you do a year and want to stay longer, well you already have the funds to do it.

THat's what I would do in your shoes. I'm sure most anyone on this site would agree with me. WHat you shouldn't do is go to a school outside Dengfeng if you're interested in Shaolin Gongfu / Wushu. (Jilin or Yantai) Maybe you could get a good training there, maybe not, but theres no reason not to go to the source, Dengfeng. THeres too many decent schools there to choose anywhere else. Plus, where else in the world can you go train somewhere and if you don't like the training you can just go nextdoor for another teacher and training. Not to mention that Dengfeng is a city built around Shaolin's fame. Examples are "Shaolin Road", or the fact that EVERY school there is a Shaolin this or that Wushu school. AWESOME !!!!

Also, the Taoist's belive Songshan is the center of earth, perfectly aligned under heaven. So that'a a plus, right ???? Ha.... It is really beautiful there though. All the raw shugar cane you could want or need.

[ibluemonkey]

no i havent been to china before. ok the three years before instructing was something a shaolin monk told me when i went to talk to one after i went to the chinese state circus, and it surprised the hell out of me to be honest, and i get what you're saying about never "mastering" an art because ive seen martial artists who make every other black belt in the room look like infants when they move who dont think they've mastered the style (a seventh dan who periodically came to take lessons at my karate class) so my take had always been that you keed learning till you die or quit training. my point is that i want to train up to a reasonable level of skill in the fastest time possible, which from what i see comes from training day in day out in china.

as regards where id go, im looking at training with decheng now as i've heard he's very good but i've yet to see a monthly training price(I was never planning on paying longterm upfront) that includes accomodation so if anyone wants to save me the effort of traweling around the site id be most appreciative. Oh and If people would post a list of teachers/schools that teach tradional kung fu and taiji and are worth going to (and prices if possible) you'll have my undying gratititude.

Price is an issue though as i'm stuck with whatever i can earn in 18 months in Britain before going (which as i dont have a degree isint much) maybe 6500 to 10000 dollars depending on where ill be living come the summer. I may well go use up all my money and come back just to earn so more and go again tho depending on how it went.

Thanks for they help guys (and gals)
bluemonkey

[onesp1ng]

why don't u just go, check it out, visit the various schools to get a feel for them before commiting to anything, and then take it a few feeks at a time? or, just go visit for a while first?

[ibluemonkey]

Well I want to find (ideally) a good place to train before i leave so i've got somewhere to go as soon as i arrive. If i dont like it i can hunt down something else as i dont intend to pay for much upfront (a few weeks at most). But like i say my funds are limited so the more time i spend traveling around looking for somewhere to train means the less money ill have to spend on training. so yeah worst case scenario, i dont like whatever i choose to go to and try one of the other places i've lined up instead. but as long as the training is good and accomodation is survivable i doubt i'll want to as in the end i'm going out there for the training, not for the food, the sights, the women or anything else. i just wanna train hard for as long as i possibly can on the funds i've got.

though all of the above are a plus .

[azz]

Ibluemonkey im in the exact same position that your in. Im planing a trip too china at the end of the year to train around Dengfeng and shaolin and im just checking out the schools atm. From what i hear the 2 top schools are the taguo school and the shaolin wushu guan however i think im be going to the International Kung Fu Training Center first because its cheep and seems very foreigner friendly. The question is how dose one know what a good school in china is? How do we know what where learning is genuine?

[ibluemonkey]

hang on isint the shaolin wushu guan the "official" one, i thought the training there wasent supposed to be very good or is that something else?

[ibluemonkey]

And whats the tongo school?

[azz]

Oopsee
sorry mate i ment the "Taguo" school not tongo. lol
anyway this school is the biggest one in henan and i belive u can actually purcahse there textbook heer -> http://www.wle.com//products/b027a.html
if u whant to know more of what they teach.
And yes the wushu guan is the official one and i was under the impression that it was qwite a good school? I mite be wrong one this one tho.

[baiwanxi]

He might not want me to tell you to do this (because all the info is already in this site), and he might not answer right away if he's already in Thailand, but just ask Doc.... He's the man. He know's monks who are associated with the temple. He know's plenty of info on the Wushu guan. Not to mention he's personal friends with Shi Decheng. Doc. highly recomends if you want to go to Dengfeng, you go to De Cheng's school. If you talk to Doc. he can even set you up with a special price. No Shit.

The Wushu Guan is on the Shaolin monastary grouds. If you go to Shaolin you get to see a Wushu performance (included in sales price of ticket) at the wushu guan. Most likely, if you train there, you will be learning from one of these monks. I've been in the practice rooms of the Wushu guan. It's not a bad place to practice, however, if your looking to learn "traditional" this is not the place.

Tagou is the largest schools in the area. They are used to meeting foreigners needs from what I understand. They have two schools, one in the entrance to Dengfeng (if comming from Luoyang or Shaolin) and the only school that still stands on the grounds of Shaolin besides the Wushu guan. I know nothing of the training there. Again, I doubt you could learn anything "traditional". Both of these schools will be expensive, about as pricy as it gets.

Then there is the many other schools in the area, Dengfeng. And I do mean MANY, of which Shi De Cheng's is one of. I you search around on this site you will hear about them eventually. But if you must have one to go to straight off the bat, I would get in touch with Doc. and have him set up things for you with De Cheng. At least with him you don't have to worry about getting taken advantage of, and that's saying a lot !!!

And like I said before, if you don't like it, you can always go to the next school down the block. When I was there three weeks ago I asked a girl in a Wushu supplies shop where most of the foriegners se meets are training. She said "Tagou" and "Xiao Long". Xiao Long is "Little Dragon". It's also located at the entrance to Dengfeng from Shaolin. Walking distance from Tagou, Songshan Shaolin Wushu Xuexiao, and some of the other large schools.

I just finished a trip through 6 cities in China, and Dengfeng is the one city I didn't book a room in ahead of time. It's a small city and easy to walk around in and find a hotel. I found one for 90 yuan a nite. Thats not bad, but you can find better. It's a really easy city to be in as far as China is concerned so don't worry about not having a place to spend the night.

Good food, cheap girls (oops, did I just say that), and good times can be easily found there.

Hope that helped.. Just do yourself a favor and spend some time with the site. Oh Yeah, and say Hi to Doc. He's the man !