tparkerkfo
05-01-2003, 01:49 PM
Hi Rene and other "Historians",
I was looking over an Adam Hsu book, "The sword polishers Record" I think was the title, and he mentioned a book calledcalled "the Study of Shaolin and Wu Tang". He says the stories of the southern temple were created and romanticized by the swordman novels. He claims that many people would attach their style to shaolin to gain respect after the temple gained popularity. He goes on to say that the NanKing Martial Arts Institute played up the role of the temple until Tang Ho wrote the book "the Study of Shaolin and Wu Tang" where he apparently dispellse the myth of the southern shaolin. Apparently it is well researched and accepted, but it is not well known. It is written in Classical Chinese, which he says makes it difficult to translate. Has any one come across this book and sum up what it said and what official research was done?
Also, durring the Ming Dynasty, General Che Chi Kwon was apparently sent on a mission to document famous martial arts of the era. No mention of Shaolin was included in his book. Adam seemed to imply that Shaolin was relativly obscure until the Qing dynasty.
Leung Ting also has some interesting theories on the Shaolin Temple just being a made up place used by the Triads. But maybe that is best left for a later discussion.
Tom
________
SYNTHETIC WEED (http://syntheticweed.org)
I was looking over an Adam Hsu book, "The sword polishers Record" I think was the title, and he mentioned a book calledcalled "the Study of Shaolin and Wu Tang". He says the stories of the southern temple were created and romanticized by the swordman novels. He claims that many people would attach their style to shaolin to gain respect after the temple gained popularity. He goes on to say that the NanKing Martial Arts Institute played up the role of the temple until Tang Ho wrote the book "the Study of Shaolin and Wu Tang" where he apparently dispellse the myth of the southern shaolin. Apparently it is well researched and accepted, but it is not well known. It is written in Classical Chinese, which he says makes it difficult to translate. Has any one come across this book and sum up what it said and what official research was done?
Also, durring the Ming Dynasty, General Che Chi Kwon was apparently sent on a mission to document famous martial arts of the era. No mention of Shaolin was included in his book. Adam seemed to imply that Shaolin was relativly obscure until the Qing dynasty.
Leung Ting also has some interesting theories on the Shaolin Temple just being a made up place used by the Triads. But maybe that is best left for a later discussion.
Tom
________
SYNTHETIC WEED (http://syntheticweed.org)