Bak Mei

[Air Force One]

Does anyone know of any Bak Mei teachers who sell a complete set of videos on the Bak Mei style? I only found one that has one form that is sold by ESPY. Any help would be appreciated.

[Hakka Fist]

Brett,
As far as I now, that is the only video about Pak Mei. In Hongkong (by post) you can buy a VCD of the form Kou Bo Teui in their version. Maybe the clan of the fatshan Pak Mei sell video's? Pak Mei is to difficult to learn of video, tape's are nice to see. But to learn Pak Mei you better look for a sifu.
the url form the hongkong site:
http://cstang.www3.50megs.com/cpakmei.htm#forms%20of20pak%20mei

Hakka Fist
(www.packmeipai.nl (http://www.packmeipai.nl))

[fiercest tiger]

i have a video for sale on fighting techniques, drills etc. its 2 and bit hrs long, yau kung mun has the bak mei system in it, check my web page for details!

i think Dr WONG OF chattanooga sells the jik bo form talk to tnwingstun here on kfo!

all the best

come & visit us!
http://home.iprimus.com.au/ykm
yaukungmun@hotmail.com

[likuei]

I've seen a video of DR WONG that is not for sale. DOesnt seem like that of the great GM Cheuen or his son Bing Fat? I've seem them.

[fiercest tiger]

i havent seen the tape of dr wongs yet! cannot comment on that, what style do you do?

come & visit us!
http://home.iprimus.com.au/ykm
yaukungmun@hotmail.com

[Yum Cha]

HF,
I agree, you won't learn Pak Mei from a video. It takes a lot of training to learn the style, and a masterful Sifu.

FT
As there are so many similarities, there are many differences between YKM and PM too, don't you agree??

[fiercest tiger]

totally agree, although it depends on how you are taught it and who taught it, plus what you can understand of what you are taught. also each bak mei system i have seen are different but similar!

still cannot learn from just a form demonstation video, need to have indepth info on all theories and principles of the system. but to someone with bak mei experience it may be of value, so something is better than nothing at the end! :)

come & visit us!
http://home.iprimus.com.au/ykm
yaukungmun@hotmail.com

[strangecaptain]

Dr. Wong was taught directly by Ng Nam King and Chang Beng Fat. I am one of his students and find your critique of Dr. Wong's Kung Fu unmerited and inaccurate. What video of Dr. Wong do you have and, where did you get it? Pictures of Chang Lai Chuen are widespread. For example, there are the well known pictures of Chang Lai Chuen doing 9 Step Push in the book by H.B. Un. I am curious about about how you would have seen Chang Beng Fat though. Thanks.

************************** Strange Captain *
* Resident Napper, *
* Wielder of Mechanical *
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[strangecaptain]

:) Ignore my lame signature. The ancient mysteries of ASCII art still elude me. :confused:

[Yum Cha]

Gentlemen,
Before anybody gets their undies in a bundle, just remember that it would be totally acceptable for a Pak Mei Sifu to do a "whimpy" non-powerful version of a pattern, perhaps even incomplete, for a video if he knew that he could not control its distribution.

We've all heard about these.

FT,
you make a good point, and I'll pay that. There is as much difference between the different regional Pak Mei schools as there is between YKM and Pak Mei.

To be honest, I reckon the Vietnamese PM, Guangzhou PM and YKM are the closest to each other. I think that perhaps had to do with the early versus the later students of CLC. What you reckon?

[Shaolin Master]

Drink Tea,

prob is there are differences within Viet BM itself and within GuangZhou BM itself. In fact there are differences all over. There is even the Futshan BM, the hakka varieties(Differ from HK to the mainland ones).
Interesting to note a real old Hakka version, didn't have half the forms like Sei Mun, Dan/Seung Geng and Dai Sart Kuen etc.

Power developing methods, body alignment, and even conceptual differences also.

Vietnam, 8 door & 4 door Sup Ji differences amongst its own branches. Cannonfist would be best to know this.

and the differences go on.

Oh, re topic, videos are useless except for remembering the past (like photos :-) or even for appreciation sake as FT said, but never as a learning tool.

Regards
Bai Long Fei

[Yum Cha]

SM. (Hya N.) Yes, videos are most useful for remembering the past, and providing a tool to remember patterns you already know, but you just can't learn from them, any more than you can learn a language from a dictionary alone.

It seems we all agree on that one. Especially concerning Pak Mei.

For example, I've seen a video from a big dinner in Guangzhou, where many of the old fellows did patterns, as did some of the international visitors, and some of the young fellows as well. The differences were obvious, as were the challenges of advancing years. They all received applause, nevertheless. I believe Cheung Ping Lam was one of the guests, as was an old bearded Chinese sifu from England.

I simply attribute it to the fact that styles evolve, as do a student's abilities. Each Sifu also adds their mark to the totem.

You make a good point nevertheless, with all the closely held aspects of PM, the differentiation between "cells" has been significant. The price for keeping secrets, I suppose.

[Steven T. Richards]

Good posts, it's nice to see that you all accept that variations exist and are in themselves still authentic. I wish my own SPM art would be as open about their own variations. We could all then get along so much better for it.

About video's, it is of course a common put down to call someone a 'video student' so much so that maybe we have to over-amp the critique in order to avoid being seen to be someone who advocates video learning.

My own view, having grown up in martial arts in the pre video days of the 1960's and 1970's is that they are an invaluable tool, and give the potential for preservation and continuation of art like no other non-personal medium. beginners are unlikely to be able to learn from scratch thru video, but, accomplished students can do much with the visual information guided by preoper notes or the broader understanding gained through their long experience.

I regularly tape my teachings, and in fact insist that my students tape themselves, it is a wonderful thing to see your own proggression and also to see your own mistakes!

Also, I happily give tapes away to other people, I don't mind people seeing what I know (and what I don't know too!).

Thanks for an informative and open series of posts, very enjoyable.

[Buby]

I'm learning via video, and all though I would admit that it would be a lot easier learning off of sifu in person, I would not go out on the limb and say that one can not learn via video.

Sifu makes sure that the vid. is very detailed and any questions I might have, I can contact him 24hrs a day, 7 day a week. I get notes, a written test, a physical test, and I'm required to send a tape back demoing what I've learned. In responce sifu sends out a tape correcting my mistakes and the process continues from their. I know plenty of people who have studied personally with "top" masters and can't demo properly nor fight there way out of a paper bag.

Now that being said, I think it all depends on the student. It all comes down to, what you put into your Kung Fu is exactly what you'll get out of it.

I'm planning to go to Oz sometime in the near future and with Sifu's ok I have no problem in performing for any skeptics.

"ShaolinMaster" - "Oh, re topic, videos are useless except for remembering the past (like photos :-) or even for appreciation sake as FT said, but never as a learning tool." - funny..funny man! It's a pitty that your learning capability is limited, but I thought you were a ShaolinMaster. Didn't some Masters of the ol'days only have manuals to learn from? or maybe I've been watching to many shaw bros. vids. :rolleyes:


Buby

Yo Dogs ya bes chill
Cause I flip like sifu Gary and his Yau Kung Mun click, wit two kicks and three pheonix fists
Trust dukes, your gonna split from the ging running through the wrist

[Shaolin Master]

Buby,

your case is a different one. It is a "correspondance program" with feedback and the like dedicated to you.

I should correct my inference to video learning in terms of pre arranged mechanism without feedback or from those videos that are for demonstrative purposes.

anyways, enjoy your training.

Shi Chan Long

Yes my learning capabilities are minimal unfortunately. But I am happy and that is all that counts.

[This message was edited by Shaolin Master on 10-26-01 at 06:53 AM.]

[Buby]

Thank you for clarifying that for me.

I apologize for jumping the gun, it's been a crazy day for me.

I guess we are all limited in one way or the other. :)

Take care,

Buby

Yo Dogs ya bes chill
Cause I flip like sifu Gary and his Yau Kung Mun click, wit two kicks and three pheonix fists
Trust dukes
your gonna split from the ging running through the wrist.

[strangecaptain]

I also have seen some pretty widely varying differences in White Eyebrow kung fu. I have not seen much, but I have seen big differences even in between practicioners of similar lineages. I also find it interesting that there is considerable diversity in what forms different schools teach although it seems the basics are the same. As far as videos are concerned, I can say for myself that I do not have the prerequisite knowledge to learn from a video tape. I am starting to have an eye for body mechanics when watching others. With everything, I guess it takes time and practice.

[CannonFist]

Shaolin Master: Yes, even within Vietnamese Bak Mei there are differences depending on the teacher. As you correctly mentioned about the eight door and four door versions of Shek Si that exist in Vietnamese Bak Mei. The eight door version was created by my sigung Yip Kwok Leung (aka Tai Chek Cam), however his earlier students did the four door or sup ji version.

Also there are two main different lineages of Vietnamese Bak Mei anyway, one from Chang Wai Bok and another from Lai Kwai. Both are Hakka.

One difference that I can see between the Vietnam Bak Mei and Cheung Bing Lum's version is that the forms of the Vietnamese version seems longer with a lot more techniques whereas Cheung Bing Lum's version seems simpler (but not simplistic) but more emphasis is put on body mechanics to generate power.

[fiercest tiger]

really doesnt matter, even if you learnt a hakka version it can easily be f@cked up by the person learning it! so in the end its a f@cked up hakka version of bak mei.

know to versions we all say my school has a better version older, newer, shorter, longer again easily f@cked up by the person learning it!

what im saying is train what you have good and it will not fail you... :D

come & visit us!
http://home.iprimus.com.au/ykm
yaukungmun@hotmail.com

[fiercest tiger]

lol buby, you crack me up! hahaha **** thats a good dope lyrics son :D when you cd out? :cool:

shaolin master what can i say is he like me or what? :D he is correct too! sorry my man :eek:

come & visit us!
http://home.iprimus.com.au/ykm
yaukungmun@hotmail.com

[tnwingtsun]

>I am starting to have an eye for body mechanics when watching others.<

That you are my friend!!

Tell Sifu I said "Hi"

[sui-fuw]

f.t it depends on how you teach the hakka version too.don't you agree,and to whom you teach it to.even if your hakka still doen't mean some-one will teach you.
the first step is to perform "bai-si"and then you might be taught?say for instance the student keeps on having bad days then the k.f is cut off thats how strict it is.if you don't learn you can't be taught.so the choice is the student when he/she is in the circle.

your version,is safe,and not all k.f is good.
the cantonese version,well i'll just say,when you wake water will have a different taste :D

[strangecaptain]

tnwingtsun,
I will have you know that I am fully aware of your sordid past as a 1970's English punk rocker. If you ever run for political office, I will tell everyone!

[BIU JI]

You truly are strange , Captain !! :)

[tnwingtsun]

You should hear his table side jokes when Sifu
leaves to excuise himself!

And I thought Sid was nasty because he didn't wash his feet!! ;)

[feldor]

Rotten always was my favorite.... ;)

How's it going, everything good with you?


:cool:

[tnwingtsun]

Check e-mail mate

[feldor]

Welcome! Tnwingtsun speaks highly of you! I am just a newbie to Bei Mei myself (the real thing anyway). Feel free to email me sometime.

F.T. Greets Mate! Question, you do any bamboo rolling like the SPM guys? Just curious.

TN: letter is on the way, thanks! :D

Peace
Charles

[Buby]

We do roller bar work. YKM actually has two roller bar drills, atleast those are the only ones I know of.

One usually starts with a bar that weights around 10-15lbs. Sifu has a few cool ones that he's made, but I use a bench bar.

Sh*t really digs into your forearms, but it's an awesome exercise for building shoulder strength and a few other things. ;)

Anyway, I hope I was on your same page.

Take care,

Buby
"The YKM Gangsta"

Yo Dogs ya bes chill
Cause I flip like sifu Gary and his Yau Kung Mun click, wit two kicks and three pheonix fists
Trust dukes
your gonna split from the ging running through the wrist.

[feldor]

Exactly what I wanted to know, thanks ! :D

Take Care,
C