Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Shi YanZhang's School in China

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Okay ive read this entire thread and im not quite clear on one thing: Does the yan zhang school teach the traditional (read combat orientated) form of gunf fu if you ask for it to a high level. I have a small interest in wushu as it looks good fun but my main reason for training is to be able to defend myself and anyone around me. If this is the case would Yan Zhang's school be a good place to train or would i learn the combat applications better and drill them more/ do more sparring at say dechengs school or russboasia or whatever. sorry if this has already been answered but im just looking for the very best place to learn shaolin as a combat form so is this place as good as any for that?

    sorry for the somewhat cyclic nature of the post but im not paticuarly coherent writer

    Comment


    • In my opinion I don't think today there would be much school even (more?) in China suitable to learn traditonal Shaolin Kung Fu mostly as an effective style in real life combat.
      Today people learn martial art to add discipline and a better knowledge of themself.
      If one still wants to become an efficient fighter he better go the UFC way and train in cross external styles involving lots of ground technique read BJJ combined with Muay Thai ... or simply buy a gun its even more effective in life or death situation.

      Many go to China to live the experience of training in the martial arts birthplace, but Wushu is everywhere showing the flashy showcase type of Kung Fu with too many acrobatic useless and dangerous move (for oneself) if applied in actual combat.
      I have no doubt the experience can be great but one can find tradionnal Shaolin Gong Fu school outside China with a bit of luck.

      Traditional Shaolin was/is? powerful when combined with inner style but I doubt today's masters are up to what it once was when life or death matters occured every day. Who can now spend 8 hours a day for 30 or more years to "master" a style in a really efficient way? Okay the monks would if they would still train in their traditionnal skills as they are such athletes by today's standards...
      IMHO a trip to a genuine Shaolin school in China remains a potential great experience but one should really ask himself what he seeks in such a place at first, or deception could be great even more if one as almost no experience in strenous training before.

      Comment


      • ibluemonkey

        you know I spoke to one of the organisers of Seni 07 yesterday and he told me that before he got into the martial arts industry he worked in the pop music industry and that the martial arts industry could teach the pop industry a thing or two when it comes to bitchyness, rivalry & politics.

        Well, as a result, there are many individuals that do not have an association with Yan Zhang's school who try to detract from it by suggesting that they don't teach traditional.

        Well the debate is rubbish as far as I am concerned, traditional and modern shaolin both are quite different to wushu. And what is modern today will be traditional by the time your kids are discovering Shaolin for themselves.

        Anyway needless to say, they teach everything at Yan Zhangs, and basically whatever you want, as long as you are in a position to learn whatever it is you want to learn.

        Anyone one who tells you otherwise, take them to the school, get them to stand in the middle of it and stake their claim again and see what happens.

        By the way the school isn't in Dengfeng anymore, his wife has the school in Beijing. Outside China Yan Zhang is teaching in NY and there are 4 schools teaching Yan Zhang lineage Shaolin in London:
        1. Chinese Gongfu City
        2. Tang-long - Finchley & Bromley
        3. Shaolin Culture
        4. Amitoufu
        I suggest if you really want to find out what they can teach you, you work with one of the UK shifus... they will all be at Seni bar Shi Heng Wei Tang-long - Finchley, as he's back in China at that time.

        Chicken
        Last edited by Chicken; 03-20-2007, 03:27 PM.

        Comment


        • It sounds to me like you need to go take a mixed martial arts class. Because you are never going to get what your looking for out of shaolin. The only real fighter I have seen was Yan lei. Regardless if I were you I would either take wingchun with a highly qualified instructor or MMA.

          Problem solved.

          Comment


          • yeah but what i really want is to learn to use internal and external martial arts in a combat/defense situation and traditional shaolin plus taiji sounds utterly perfect IF i could find someone to actually teach me what im after. I just enjoy the internal stuff too much to be satisfied only learning external arts in a useful manner.

            Comment


            • Then I would train wingchun. It is both internal and external to be used in fighting situations.

              I'm sorry but taichi is the last thing that is going to help your fighting skills.

              I would try Xingyi or Baji instead. I am just trying to save you a lot of time heart ache and frustration.

              Comment


              • hmm, interesting i just looked up xingyi and baji and while i couldant find much on baji i did find baguazhang of which i would be very interested in learning with xingyi, do you know how easily i could find these arts in china and would i be likely to find a similar thing happening as with kung fu (everything developing iunto a performance art instead of a combat syle) and what exactly is baji?

                Comment


                • Mortal,

                  from what I've heard, from SHX students in competition situations, they throw the fights with taichi. I don't think its that its about striking, or kicking its about the explosive aspect of the chi.

                  These are guys that have like cross-trained everything and are running fight schools, and they think that the taichi, is the most divisive in a fight situation... so what you say, doesn't seem to tie in with this.

                  I also don't quite understand why you are making out that ibluemonkey can't get what he wants with a good Shaolin Shifu... what are they teaching over there? Its what they teach over here. Yes some of them don't like fighting / Sanda. But Sanda is all that SHX trains through choice. He might run through a form or two before a performance just so he doesn't have to think to hard about the order in practise, but otherwise its all kicking and punching at full strength until it hurts, and then again some for like an hour more.

                  If he ever finds anyone who can spar with him, he's happy as larry, but that only happens in the UK once in a blue moon unless he trains with the other shifus.

                  Chicken

                  Comment


                  • For the record I have trained chen style taichi. So I know a little about it. Plus I trained Shaolin for 6 years under 3 different monks. So it makes me kind of like an authority.

                    When you say they throw their fights I'm not sure what you mean. Are you saying they use taichi? Or they don't fight because they are afraid of taichi?

                    I have been taking kungfu long enough to know how to steer someone into what style they should train. When you get the guy that comes in and only asks about fighting and applications shaolin is not usually going to be the right road for them. I'm sure their is someone out there that can fight with taichi but it is NOT common.

                    ibluemonkey

                    You might know this but both of these style are considered kungfu. Both are not commonly taught at shaolin.

                    Xingyi is straight line full blast explosive style. Jet li uses it in the movie The One. My teacher does it under videos on this site www.nycwushu.com. I am doing it tomorrow in a demo in Jersey. In the last year that has become my main focus.

                    There are many styles of xingyi from different parts of China. I don't care for most of them. I find them to reliant on chi and too soft. My style from Xanxi is a more external explosive kind of xingyi.

                    Baji is a style that is considered to be both internal and external. It means rake fist. It is like a mix of paqua and xingyi. I train this style every class as well. This was the style used by the bodygaurds of the emperor.

                    These are not performance arts but done well they sure look fierce.

                    These arts are common in china just not at shaolin.

                    Comment


                    • Hi Mortal,
                      Originally posted by mortal
                      When you say they throw their fights I'm not sure what you mean. Are you saying they use taichi? Or they don't fight because they are afraid of taichi?

                      I have been taking kungfu long enough to know how to steer someone into what style they should train. When you get the guy that comes in and only asks about fighting and applications shaolin is not usually going to be the right road for them. I'm sure their is someone out there that can fight with taichi but it is NOT common.
                      Sorry, they use the taichi power forms to throw in the fights, then once the opponent is off balance... wham, end of fight.

                      I agree with you that its not common. But I think its a mistake to infer that is because its not an efficient fighting system. I think most westerners underrate Taichi and think that its for girlies and old folks. The warriors find this amusing, that we don't realise the power and how useful taichi is from a fighting perspective aside from the medatative, physical, health and stress relieving benefits.

                      I don't advise that you give up external forms to study taichi exclusively but I believe there's a lot of value from the fighting and self-defense applications to study at least some of the more external taichi forms alongside more renown Shaolin forms.

                      I don't usual have any reason to question your authority, only in comparison to your usual contributions this one falls short and seems ill-informed on taichi applicability. (that's all!)

                      Regards
                      Chicken

                      Comment


                      • innteresting. i had realised that there were few people that trained taichi as a combat art to much of a standard but i was still interested as id also heard some very positive things from a fighting perspective. though now i've seen information on xingyi and baguazhang i think i do want to learn them as well if possible. maybe i'll start at a shaolin school learn a bit of shaolin kung fu and taichi and see if i think im getting what i want out of them or if neccesary search for those styles from there, any thoughts on the best way to go about this? where do people think im likely to find good teachers in these styles in china?

                        Comment


                        • heres a thought, if im looking to become a strong fighter with both internal and external martial arts would it be a good approach to spend a few years training xingyi and bagua or baji then spend a couple of years training muay thai?

                          Comment


                          • After training those 2 complimentary styles for a while you won't want to train muay tai. It is a sport. A great sport. A violent sport but still a sport in the end. Basically if you want to supplement your training just hit pads and bags. That is mostly what you do in kickboxing training anyway. In kickboxing training you break down your body. Where as in kungfu you are cultivating it. Allowing you to continue training for the rest of your life. As you get older kickboxing will seem less and less appealing. Plus you will get arthritis.

                            As far as taichi. As I said very few people actually use it for fighting because there aren't ,any good teachers out there and it is not practical to learn. It takes years. So my point is if someones focus is just on fighting. Taichi would not be the first thing that comes to mind.

                            Comment


                            • There is actually a guy teaching tai chi in england who seems focused on combat.. his site had videos of him and his students training and his students competing in full contact competitions. The teacher himself was apparently a european full contact kickboxing champion or something like that.

                              Unfortunately I dont remember his name or his site but maybe you can dig it up on google.

                              Comment


                              • u guys have to check this out...

                                ZhongwenMovies.com

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X