Fujian White Crane

[PQS]

Could anyone give me information on this style?
I'm 46 and very unfit but there is a school very close to where I work.
So I could train every day,
I do not want to do a style with lots of high kicks, (I'm to old) would this be suitable
thanx for any replies
Pete

[Sharky]

http://www.kungfu-taichi.com/ is a school and there is info there.

it is a southern style (fukien is on the souther shore) and does not have very high kicks etc.

i have only seen bad examples of it, so i don't want to expand on what i have seen, i'm sure it is a good style. but stupidly long 2man drills which look like stupid dances where there are guys standing round doing spins on one foot etc doesn't seem overly pracical.

there is a stance similar to the wing chun stance in there, they have sticky hands like in wing chun, but they use the drill differently.

i dunno man, i hated what i saw, but like i say, it was an aweful teacher from a well respected school though.

[PQS]

Cheers Sharky,
That was the school Iwas thinking of, it's close to work so I could train the odd lunchtime as well as afterwork 5 days a week, Ijust don't know much about White Crane, apart from the fact it is a Southern? style, and at my advanced age I am possibly looking at a more internal style (they teach something called SUNG YUNG?) what I was asking is it a style not to disssimilat to Wing Chun,
thanks for your reply tho
Pete

[Sharky]

hmm... on the site there is 2 links - the "soft style" and "hard style" - i went to a place that taught something like white eyebrow (?!?!) which was the internal style.

AFAIK, it is an EXTERNAL style, which has things such has hard qi gong, and shaolin er, body toughening methods, like iron this and iron that, and there's a lot of conditioning such as banging your arms against your partners to firm up the forearm bones etc - the (arguably) top instructor in the uk iain armstrong has a (or used to when i used to buy it) section in combat magazine every month where he has these methods - such as smashing your limbs with bamboo shoots etc... safe to say i drew the conclusion that it is not a soft style.

i am biased towards wign chun, which i prefered to what i saw and learned. wing chun is a LOT more internal, usually. this seems to be an external style. however there is an internal section on that site maybe you should check it out.

Good luck

[Sharky]

And don't jump into doing 2x 5days a week cos you'll burn out and give up. trust me ou will, regardless of how eager you are now. start off going 1-2 times a week and when your fitness is up to scratch judge how many times you would like to go. you'll be best off setting yourself a goal that is realistic.

Cheers

[PQS]

Thanks again for your reply,
I've looked at their website and it looks quite interesting.I'm just not that sure what White Crane is, I know they have a vresion of Chi Sau and it is supposed to be a "southern style" so I assume there is no high kicks, I also couldnt see on there site what the syllabus is and what it entails e.g. wing chun slt,ck.bj. dummy and weapns etc. Although they seem to train in China on a regular basis and they also have a school in Ibiza (another place that I frequent) so If it is a style I could be comfortable with it would be ideal, I will proberbly check it out this week , it's just the internal side seems a bit wishy washy (accordingl to the website, my interpretation) but it is only just down the road which makes it better than nothing
cheers
Pete

[Sharky]

if you can get to epsom you can go train with ian armstrong.

there are basically LOADS of forms - i asked the instructor how many and he was like "uh loads... like 17 i dunno maybe more... then there are weapons forms" :rolleyes:

so basically he didn't know. the first one is called something like sum chen (i know that is wrong but it's similar). it's quite short. it looks a tiny bit like the first part of slt, if you know that.

there are 2 man forms where you and your partner do a set routine. i think these are stupid - sorry to anyone who does them.

http://www.namyang.co.uk/ has info on the style - tiger crane is the same thing as white crane by the way.

please do NOT get confused with hung gar, they have a tiger crane form, and it is nothing to do with this.

there is some useful info on there but i in no way can vouch for the quality of the schools - i went to the kingston branch and it was the most aweful thing i have ever seen - one of the lesser violations was the instructor eating peanuts and drinking fanta during the lesson. then you should have seen the quality of the students (all 3 of them) that bothered to stroll in late.

it was terrible.

where abouts in london are you? i will be able to sort you out, i know where most schools are.

[Sharky]

There. I now reserve trolling rights for at least 3 months for that.

[PQS]

Thanks again,
I live in Staines but I have no transport, but I work up by the Angel in Islington, and they have some classes that start around 17:00 so it wouldn't be late getting back, and alternative is Zhong Ding Tai Chi in Teddington I'm just seeing what is going to get to on a regular basis.
Thanks again
Pete

[Sharky]

Teddington? Jesus christ. There is wing chun in richmond and houslow and chiswick if you like. www.kamonwingchun.com - and other places.

There are LOADS of places you can potentially go to - if you are prepared to goto teddington from staines. There area loads of places in inner london too.

Teddington is so bleh :)

[Former castleva]

Hi PQS!
A famous martial artist Dr.Yang Jwing Ming (practitioner of fujian and many other arts) has written a book called "Essence of White Crane kung-fu".It is a large book with lots of theory,work out,forms,techniques and information.
He has been doing this kung-fu for a long time under a master.
He has also done other books which display white crane techniques,like "How to defend yourself".
I can´t say that I would know very much about it,but as there are different kinds of white crane,there are white crane styles created by both men and women.
I know there are/is style(s) that teach VERY high kicks (which seem crazy to me) and which aren´t considered good for self-defense (but I guess that is not your major concern).
At the end of the day,I guess you should go check out that school,ask some questions that concern you and they may possibly let you join a class for free for some "practical" experience (or at least watch).


:)
Good luck!

[PQS]

Cheers again
you were not overly complimentry about Kamon, a few months ago.
Thats one reason I havent tried there, Victor Kan I would like to go back to but he only teaches a couple of times a week and I can't always make training the same time every week, that's why I liked the white crane school as I could train virtually every day at about 17:00, and then get home at a reasonable time.
I have been also to wing tsun but have heard bad things about them, i.e. you have to be at least a 5th grade technichan to know the whole system and the top guy's in the U.K. are only 4th grade.
I quite fancy an internal style and the zhong ding school seem o.k. but I would also like to do wing chun also but so many choices so little time.
my original point was I know very little about White Crane and what is the system like?
I take it you have been there and was not impressed?
cheers
Pete

[HighNoon]

I am posting this on behalf of one of the instructors of Fujian White Crane Kung fu, Dave Courtney Jones.



PQS,

I am an instructor from the Fujian White Crane organisation. Information about our club is on the website www.kungfu-taichi.com. Some of the replies you have received might cause confusion, so I thought I should clarify some points for you.

Sharky appears to have visited classes run by the Nam Yam Pugilistic Association, and I want to make it clear that this is a completely separate organisation. Iain Armstrong is an instructor from Nam Yang, and is not in any way connected to our school. I do not know who Sharky is, or how well qualified he is to make judgments about any martial arts school, but he appears to have confused two schools which incidentally happen to teach the same style.

My advice to you is to turn up to the class that you have been thinking about and trust your own judgment. You appear to know a little about martial arts and should know if what you see is worth learning or not.

I hope this helps.

Dave Courtney Jones

[Rolling Elbow]

The Cranes are afta' you! Well at least sharky was giving him info.....nobody else responded.

In my experience, ihave seen two schools.

1. Good instructor- crapstudents
2. Trained with a guy who used to do Crane. Showed me some, looked good to me. kinda likelong range wing chun lol.

[PQS]

Thanks Dave
one of the reasons why I was interested in your school,
Is that I work in Islington (by the Angel tube) and I was looking for somewhere to train at a reasonbly early time so I can get home before it get's to late.
The schools around there seemed ideal BUT I was looking for a more internal style and noticed there was a "SOFT" style taught but was unsure what that was, nor was I sure about White Crane and that compared with other styles ie wing chun tai chi etc
thanks for your reply
also thanks Sharky at least you gave some pointers
Pete

[Sharky]

I did not confuse the schools you stupid fool.