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  • More commercialization: Shaolin Temple Idol, reality TV, movie studio...



    A real kick in the face

    Beijing: China's martial arts monks are hoping to kick and punch the likes of American Idol / The Apprentice into touch. At least that's what the creators of a new reality TV show are hoping.

    The Shaolin Temple, considered the cradle of Chinese martial arts, teamed up with a Chinese television station to launch a global kung fu reality show which will pick a kicking and punching equivalent of Idol champion Kelly Clarkson.

    Any male age 18 or older with basic training in martial arts will be able to compete in competitions to be held in China and several other countries from May until September 30, when the winner will be picked in an internationally televised event in southern China's Shenzhen city.

    "We hope foreigners will actively participate", (because we want their money: doc) Shi Yongxin, the temple abbot told reporters. "If a foreigner is selected as the winner, that will of course be good. That's even better. That means Chinese kung fu has become internationalized." (and we will get more of their money:doc).

    Chinese kung fu has already been made popular around the world by stars such as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

    But that's not enough, said the organisers, which include Shenzhen Media Group, operators of a TV station. The goal, they said, is to increase the appeal of kung fu by taking it to household viewers around the world." (and, then we can get their money too:doc).

    "We lack a new generation of people to represent Chinese Kung Fu" (that's for sure:doc) said Fu Min, chief executive of Shaolin Temple Culture and Communications (Dengfeng), one of the show's creators. Organisers were quick to point out that they are not looking for an expert in the martial arts. The temple monks, who are trained in kung fu, are not allowed to participate.

    "We want to choose a star that the public likes", Fu said. "His martial arts skills have to be at a certain level, but most importantly, people must like him".

    Preliminary competitions will be held in countries including the US, Germany, and Australia.

    Bangkok Post
    A real kick in the face. The newspaper couldn't have titled this one better.

    As opposed to some of the other stuff you've seen recently, during our April Fools marathon, this one is for real. However, they are not telling you everything.

    The purpose of this television reality show, other than the obvious, in my opinion, of advertising the hell out of Shaolin for commercial purposes, is at this time, a bit of a secret.

    If you read the article carefully, you'll notice a few things.

    First, Shaolin has, for lack of better terms, a marketing department.

    Second, Yongxin, who has already gone through the trademark nonsense, that we've discussed previously, now wants to attack the televsion market. The success of things such as the Apprentice, and, American Idol, no doubt is very appealing to him.

    Third, and ironically, notice how Shaolin is being promoted as the cradle of martial arts, and not the birthplace of Chan Buddhism, which, as you probably don't remember, was one of Yongxin's main concerns when he appropriated the abbotship. Bringing Buddhism back to Shaolin, and getting rid of the older real martial arts masters, was his prime concern. I guess he figured out that Buddhism doesn't make as much money as martial arts in today's socieity.

    Lastly, and most importantly, they're not looking for a martial arts expert. They make that pretty clear. They want someone, a male, and a foreigner, that the public finds to be "likeable". Interesting.


    Well, I found it curious, so I investigated. My sources tell me that this is just a front for something far more expansive.

    Shaolin Temple is in the process of making its own movie. And, they're looking for a person, a foreigner, to star in it. This is how they're doing it.


    What depths Yongxin will bring the temple and its sacred history to in the next few years, in his quest for the almighty dollar, remains to be seen. But, this, well, this I personally find to be, repulsive and disgraceful. Yongxin is already not looked upon highly among his own people, because of his rather successful and sometimes brutal entrepreneurship. But, this, brings his infamy worldwide.

    It will get more interesting. It always does.

    doc
    Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

    "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

    (more comments in my User Profile)
    russbo.com



  • #2
    this disappoints me so much. Oh well! When approxiamately can we date the death of shaolin?
    "What is barely legal?" - Ali G

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    • #3
      http://www.laufamilyhunggar.com/



      KWOK SUET

      We teach kwok Suet, which was taught to the ancient chinese armies. Kwok Suet is real kung fu fighting Opposed to Wu Shu, which is a performance art Shaolin teach Wu Shu - lot of the monks there are not real monks, only Wu Shu performers dressed up as monks to make money for the govt At Shaolin some of the real monks do know Kung Fu but do not teach, others there to pray.

      The fake monks or Wu Shu performers (Jet Li is a Wu Shu performer), dress like monks to teach SHAOLIN WUSHU.

      Many Westerners are impressed by the performance but amazed to find out that when fighting with the monks, the monks lose !!
      LAU KAR LEUNG

      90% OF THE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD LEARNED Kung Fu because of watching a Lau Kar Leung Movie.



      LEARN FROM THE STARS


      Mark Houghton
      Lau Ka Yung


      On arrival and whilst training students will get the chance to meet the movie stars from the old Shaw Brothers movies. Real Kung Fu Stars.
      Get to take pictures with their heroes.

      The chance to have dinner with Lau Ka Leung, Lau Ka Fei and Siu Ho

      TRAIN ON MOVIE SET ENVIRONMENT

      Training takes place in a fighting arena made by the HK cinema movie set production team Real life traditional movie environment.

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      • #4
        So...the Shaolin Temple is going to make a remake of "Kung-Fu"? LOL
        Becoming what I've dreamed about.

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        • #5
          90% OF THE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD LEARNED Kung Fu because of watching a Lau Kar Leung Movie.
          Who? What? Huh?

          Personally I had never seen a kung fu movie before I started training.. not even bruce lee.. a fact that seemed to amaze my (chinese/malaysian) instructor so much that he decided to bring a TV and VCR to class one time to 'fix' that..

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          • #6
            i dont see anything wrong woth the oldskool chinese folks adopting a few western techniques of advertisement and allure, we gotta keep this stuff going somehow, right?
            "Life is a run. In attack we run, in defense we run. When you can no longer run, time to die" - Shichiroji "Seven samurai"

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            • #7
              it depends on the field, industry, market, etc. there's an obvious price tag attached to these new adaptations. but, then again, that's what makes it such a hot topic....
              ZhongwenMovies.com

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              • #8
                If im not mistaken than this must be the recent competition that my shifu was told to enter in last saturday. He received a fax or something from some fat cats in china telling him he had to compete, representing Shaolin for australia. It was some kind of "Search for an International Kung Fu Star" competition and alot of Australias top masters were invited to it aswell as a few top ranking masters from China. My shifu had been retired from tournaments for 8 years and didnt have much time to prepare for it. Around 3 days or so infact.
                There were two sorts of areas you could compete in, one was traditional free hand fighting (no pads) and the other was for displaying form/hard qi gong and (something else my shifu wasnt expecting) acting skills. After performing his hard qi gong, iron knuckle special skills and empty hand and weapon routines they asked him to try out a little acting (my shifu says himself that he cant act for quids), specifically like Charlie Chaplin....So all I could think was that theyre wanting a new kind of jackie chan star or something along those lines. Anyway due to his poor acting performance he ended up coming 4th over all in that category, but ended up blitzing the free hand fighting and coming first in that. Unfortuneatly for the other chinese martial arts masters, they were knocked out, leaving a karate and kempo master as 1st and 2nd runner up. Hung gar, Jow gar and wing chun were all knocked out, not that that says much about the styles, but more so of the lack of any decent australian masters in these arts. Id love to see the retransmitted broadcast of the competition however, the traditional free hand fighting with no pads would be something special to watch....brutal.....yet ultimately special. Anyway enough from me....anyone else know of any participants?

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                • #9
                  Just to clear some things up, I wasnt making out my shifu to be some real bad ass here. The way I had worded that last post might have been interpreted abit differently than I had intended. My shifu has had very good traditional shaolin training from a very traditionally trained 31st generation monk. For this reason he is quite respected in both the Australian & Chinese kung fu communities, and because he is a recognised teaching disciple of shaolin he was asked to represent shaolin kung fu for australia at the competition.
                  I can see how I might have sounded abit like a prick in the last post, but twas entirely unintentional. However if youd still like to punch my face in tets than by all means fly on down to Sydney. I havent issued a challenge on russbo yet, so its about time I throw one down. So yes, please do fly down and maybe we can even call up BTL, if shes in the country, and we can all do lunch.

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                  • #10
                    Apparently Jackie Chan has been making a movie at Shaolin. Not sure what the title is.
                    chanmovie.jpg
                    Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

                    "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

                    (more comments in my User Profile)
                    russbo.com


                    Comment


                    • #11
                      its called new shaolin temple. completely different storyline to jet li's movie.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Abbot defends foreign ventures

                        From a Shanghai newspaper:

                        THE controversial abbot of Shaolin Temple says he will continue to concentrate on the overseas market even after the world famous temple has opened more than 40 centers around the world to teach foreigners kung fu and Zen Buddhism.

                        "Only if the temple grows stronger abroad will it have a bigger influence at home," Shi Yongxin, the temple's 30th abbot, told a cultural industry forum at Peking University over the weekend.

                        Shi said the ancient temple in central China's Henan Province came up with a convenient foreign development method - firstly renting houses to teach kung fu and then using the tuition fees to buy the premises.

                        "We almost do not need money, but only need to send out young monks (as trainers), rent a local house, decorate it and then start enrollment," he said.

                        The abbot said the temple did not aim to make money but to promote the Shaolin culture around the world.

                        Since taking up his post in 1999, the abbot's commercial activities - opening pharmacies, kung fu schools and online stores - have come under fire, with critics saying a temple should not engage in so many money-generating and publicity-gaining activities.

                        But Shi said he is determined to continue with commercial development to revitalize the 1,500-year-old temple and conserve its rich Buddhist and cultural heritage.

                        The temple had set up "culture centers" in cities such as London and Berlin where monks could teach in foreign languages, the abbot told the forum.

                        He said each center could enrol more than 1,000 students every year, mostly adults curious about kung fu and Zen.

                        Shi goes to some centers once every two years to test foreign students on kung fu.

                        The centers also taught the Chinese language and lifestyles of monks to introduce Shaolin culture to foreigners.

                        "I hope other temples in China can also send monks to world cities, because it has become an ideal way to promote Buddhism across the world," Shi said.

                        The temple also sends monks to perform kung fu shows around the world.

                        Shi said more than 400 martial monks performed abroad last year. They performed in 56 cities in 29 countries in the past three years and won many prizes.
                        One gets the feeling that the Chinese are not too happy with the way this guy is behaving, which I find comical.
                        Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

                        "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

                        (more comments in my User Profile)
                        russbo.com


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                        • #13
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                          • #14
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