Emei , between myth and reality

Emei mountain , one of four holy Buddhist mountains and third most significant kung place, right after Shaolin and Wudang . According to some “sources” Emei kung fu is more than 2000 years old , first styles emerged before fist Chinese dynasty and actually , Emei kung fu is the oldest kung fu in whole China.

Other “sources” put creation of Emei styles in different time periods , from prehistory to 17^th century and many of these “histories” include various legendary figures who can be found in better known Shaolin and Wudang  “histories”.

Emei kung fu styles are described as efficient as Shaolin styles but also have internal component developed as much as it is in Wudang styles if not more .

Some older sources are talking about only one , single Emei style , while today there are undefined number of different styles

When we give closer look at Emei kung fu history one thing soon becomes pretty  obvious. Creation myths(“histories”) about Wudang and Shaolin are really detailed, there are large number of books that cover this specific subject and at first glance these books leave an impression they are written after serious historical and archeological research . Today we know that classification to Wudang and Shaolin styles was invented in Goshu academy during Republican period in China . Also it is very well known fact  Wudang and Shaolin were not places for research and development of  kung fu . Kung fu was never practiced in Wudang before early 1930’s while in Shaolin martial arts were practiced by individuals who brought them there , there was no Shaolin kung fu .

Myth , actually group of stories about origin of Emei kung fu are comparing to  wudang and shaolin stories very short ,with scant information , often contradict each other although these stories share some common characteristics

This situation is not a surprise , just as it is a case with Wudang and Shaolin creation stories , Emei creation stories are pure fiction , with one significant difference , development time . While stories about Wudang and Shaolin had almost a century to evolve ( first Shaolin storiy can be found  in 1905, wudang stories are from early 1930’s ) and these places were and still are very popular if not the most popular kung fu places , interest about Emei didn’t exist until recently , although there are some mention about styles practiced on Emei in republican period. No one talked about Emei until “kung fu craze” in the late 1970”s and beginning of the 1980’s.

China was closed until recently and travel to Emei was almost impossible and there were no practitioners of Emei kung fu outside China (which is very peculiar). For these reasons there was no interest for this styles therefore there was no need for any “histories”.  Situation changed in last couple of decades, China is open now and great number of people hurried and still hurry to find and learn some exotic and still undiscovered styles hidden in inner China .Now , when interest started to raise there was a need for “histories” because that is very important for many people . On the other hand , there was not enough time to developed “histories” in such detail like it was the case with other two kung fu ‘centers”. Crude stories , with very little information and no details , but with very clear message about what style is superior to all others show that development time was short , most likely these stories were written by single individuals to promote their styles and there was no time (nor will) for information exchange , that is why stories are so different from one another. Lack of details clearly shows that stories cannot be older than one generation.

This , of course doesn’t mean that no kung fu was practiced on Emei  mountain . Styles practiced  there were common styles for northen China like Pi Gua , long Fist, Tai Chi and many others but we cannot talk about some specific group of Emei styles .

The truth is , until decade ago there were not more than 10 kung fu practitioners on Emei mountain . During cultural revolution, communist government killed a great number of kung fu masters and few lucky survived but they couldn’t practice openly nor have students so whatever they knew it was not passed to new generations.

It is also a truth that today new “old” , original , secret styles are discovered almost daily , together with new grandmasters , masters ect. I think the rate of style discovering is proportional to a number of foreign visitors. Closer look on that “old, original, secret” styles clearly show that these styles are nothing more than modern wushu , sometimes mixed with some of the traditional styles . Also it is obvious that all these Emei masters, grandmasters and couches are professional wu shu performance artists.  

In the future it is highly possible that some new “old, original:” center if kung fu will be discovered , when Emei fashion pass and people start to search for something new and more exotic

Kung fu in schools 2

Teaching kids is a big challenge , especially when we talk a out kung fu . Young practitioners are not quite interested in complicated theories neither they are eager to spend hours practicing basic techniques over and over again. If it is not interesting , constantly  changing , fun , if it doesn't keep their attention all the time , kids will not engage kung fu training. The point is to  develop kid's physical attributes , strength , speed , reflexes using a wide range of drills and exercises in a form of games which will keep kids attention occupied constantly . Games must change quickly and not suppose to be longer than 4-5 minutes . Although , drills (games) do not look like traditional kung fu drills they develop same attributes as  drills used in traditional kung fu training .Here are some of the exercises i use in my class

Introduction to Snake Crane Wing Chun Hand techniques

Snake Crane Wing Chun is one of the oldest Wing Chun styles today . Kept in secret until recently this style still preserves original teachings and techniques of the first generation of  masters and creators of the art . Being a family style , known to only handful of people over the years , style was preserved in its original form , kept from any outside influences . All techniques , concepts and principles are exactly the same as they were in 1850 , when the style was created in Red Boat opera company . 

One of Snake Crane Wing Chun basic concepts is ‘snake reel and crane withstand’.  Just as the snake suddenly attack and in the moment of contact curls around the victim completely disabling any movement in SCWC this concept is used in hand and leg techniques to stick and\or trap the opponents bridge hands and make their attacks or defense activities completely  blocked.  “Crane withstand “ represents the concept of resistance to the  opponent’s violent and powerful attacks by the momentum built up on hand bridge or foot. This force is generated using the proper SCWC body structure and sent throughout the body to the bridges to meet and resist incoming force by neutralizing it several different ways . Sake Crane Wing Chun demonstrates both , the snake and crane motions in three hand forms . What is interesting , while morphologically  we can clearly divide movements on snake movements and crane movements  ,one movement can have snake or crane characteristics , which depends of the situation and the quality , characteristic and type of the force used for that particular movement .Of course this requires a lot of training and it is not a skill which beginners can completely understand .

Like in most of the other Wing Chun styles , in Snake Crane Wing Chun is believed that moves come from the "Snake and Crane competing to their  best” 「蛇鶴爭暉」.   What does really "Snake and Crane competing to their  best” mean?   Snake and crane movements have distinct characteristic and are built upon specific concepts and principles , physical ,that determine specific ways of force generation and structural alignment , and fighting concepts and principles , that determine the technology of using the specific movement in a fighting situation .  Snake Crane Wing Chun combines the best features of snake and crane movements into a simple , yet extremely efficient and effective fighting style .  Morphologically , snake techniques are Tan Sau, Lan Sau, Fok Sau , LapSau etc, while the crane techniques are  Ton Kiu, Guan Sau and Bong Sau etc.   The following briefly describes several techniques of the snake and crane motions of Snake Crane Wing Chun.

Snake’s hand techniques:

Tan Sau(Palm side up):  The” palm up block “(snake head reversed) moves from the side of waist to the center of the body.  Then moves and extends outwards to block the opponent’s bridge along the centerline.

Lan Sau(Blocking hand): The palm like a snake head moves from the side of the waist to the centerline of the body and extends outwards to block directly the opponent’s bridge hand along the centerline.

Fok Sau(Lying hand): the palm moves out from the centerline, such as the snake head going  quickly outwards, blocking and lying on the opponent’s bridge hand.

Lap Sau(Grabbing hand): Tan Sau ,when the palm is turned around or LanSau can be easily changed into a lap sau. The fingers are open and they pointing forward  whiled the thumb pointing to the ground reminding on a snake’s open  mouth.  Fingers grab and hold the target, and then pull back.  This technique look just like the snake head  attacking  the victim with wildly open mouth while fingertips looks like a fangs. After biting the victim snake will pull back her body quickly ,  that’s why the last motion of the techniques is pulling back. 

Crane’s hand techniques:

Ton Kiu(Swallow bridge hand):  Upper arm is ideally parallel with the ground , but necessarily , and forearm and arm make 135 degrees angle . This block is usually used to cover upper gates. 

Guan Sau(Cultivating hand): Lower  block usually used to protect lower gates from various attacks. It is performed just like a crane’s wing lowered down in a sweeping movement ,”cleaning “ and “picking up” everything that coms toward the lower gates

 

Bong Sau(Crane’s wing hand): It is performed by rolling the forearm out and the raising the elbow up, the fingertips are moving forward toward the center of the opponent . Bong sau can be performed to cover lower, middle and upper gates.