Wutan??

[william]

Hi,

Does anyone here train at a Wutan school, founded by grandmaster Liu Yun Chiao?

Or know anything about the association?


Cheers

W.

[count]

Yes, I train with one of Grandmaster Liu's 1st. students. I know most of the teachers throughout the world. Not to familiar with who's in the UK but I'm clear on the material. What would you like to know?

[william]

The reason I ask is, well, I used to train wing chun, but then I moved away, and the only kung fu school in the area was a wutan one, Initially I was a little disapointed with the lack of a wing chun class, but I thought I would attend the wutan school anyway.

They did incorprate wing chun, but a long with a lot of other stuff, that has taken a bit to get used to.

At first I didn't know what to think, but now the more I train the more I have grown to love it.

I just wondered if any others on the forum trained with wutan, and how they're getting on with their journey to become a 'complete martial artist'!

Also if you had any thoughts on the fact that Wutan incorporates many styles, and the old 'jack of many trades king of none' theme.

Oh by the way my teacher was taught by Master They Soon Tuan who stuidies under Master Wu Song Fa

Cheers

W

[count]

Wu Song Fa from Malaysia? I haven't met him yet but I've heard good things about him.

There are at least 6 members of this forum who are learning from Wu Tan teachers around the world. Maybe more. All the teachers cover the material and bring their own backgrounds to the table. My feeling about the "jack of all trades" theme is there are a lot of common principles in all Northern Chinese martial arts. The differences in styles is more of a difference in flavor and not so much a difference of usage. Lately, several Wing Chun guys have joined our group and adapt to mantis pretty quickly.

I study from Jason Tsou in Los Angeles. I've been with him for a little more than 20 years now. It's been a good "journey" in what I consider a broad approach to martial arts. What are you working on with They Soon Tuan? Is he a baji guy or other specialty?

You should think about attending one of the annual Wu Tan tournaments/gatherings in Ohio that Tony Yang puts on every year. It's open to all, but Wu Tan schools from all over the world attend. They're always a blast.

[RAF]

http://www.yokiken.com/baji/index.html

I've had some correspondence with the owner of the website above and he lives, I believe, in Sheffield, England. Although his in not in the lineage line of Liu Yun Qiao, he seems very knowledgeable about baji and quite friendly. He travels to China frequently and seems to know his way around. Good website on baji.

Count mentioned the Wutang tournament and you certainly are most welcome to attend and/or compete. This year the tournament will be held on the campus of the University of Akron and the downtown area has a number of nice bars (pubs) and restaurants plus the college community. Kent State University is 12 miles away and is a residential campus with an interesting nightlife too.

Our website is: www.wutangcenter.com

Hope to see you all at the tournament and I hope we also plan some interesting seminars. Maybe someone can talk Master Su Yu Zhang into a 6 Harmony Mantis seminar?

[william]

Good to hear you are out there!

I may come to you with many questions! I have studied Tae Kwon Do when I was a younger, then I moved to wing chun, fell in love with chinese styles, and now I am learning the wutan style.

I have only been at the class for 7 months, so am very much a begginer, but I feel I have taken to it well, with my previous wing chun, have a competance in the amount of wing chun taught at the school and my old tae kwon do training has helped with some of the bigger stances and kicks etc.

Heres a bit of info on master they:

"The Founder of Wutan UK They Soon Tuan trained wholeheartedly in martial arts for five hours a day since the age of seven, learning many different systems of martial arts including Praying Mantis, Wing Chun, Choy Li Fut and traditional weapons systems to a high level before being accepted as a formal student of Master Wu Song Fa. When Master They arrived in the UK to learn business studies in 1977, he found martial arts greatly misrepresented in our country. At the time, of course, the UK was still suffering from a Bruce Lee fever, and even those same arts that Bruce Lee had learnt from his master Yip Man had been misinterpreted by UK teachers. Master They Soon Tuan set to teaching traditional Kung Fu styles and Tai Chi Chuan, and immediately earned the respect of many instructors who were teaching other forms of Chinese martial arts. Many students came to Master They to learn some of his skill, and then became teachers for Wutan UK."

Because of his specialisms, we do spend a lot of time training wing chun and mantis, and as I move up the grades I believe there is more emphasis on Choy lay fut. We do a lot of weapons training too.

There is a Tai chi class taught by my teacher before the kung fu, but being I student, attending that too becomes a little costly! And also I feel I need to develop a strong base in kung fu before I start doing something else, otherwise it might just be a bit to much info!

cheers

W

[RAF]

William:

I think you may find this website of great interest:

http://www.mywutan.com/index.htm

Good luck.

[scotty1]

Goddam. This is what forums were made for. :)

I'm not Wutan myself but I can feel the love. :D

[Shaolinlueb]

so its like one big Wutang family. or Wutang Clan :D;)

[Broslovski]

Hi guys!

Long time lurker, first time poster.
I've trained with Wutan for nearly 2 years in Bath, UK (I know, still a baby...)
Marick, my instructor, also learned under Master They, who comes up from Southampton to give seminars on occasion. He tends to focus mostly on Tai Chi.
I am learning the CLF Five Animals syllabus, and have recently started with the Tai Chi too.
Master Wu Song Fa tries to make it over to the UK every year or so for seminars (and I'd imagine to keep an eye on things), and he is a truly incredible teacher. I have been lucky enough to attend a few mantis seminars with him, and have never been around someone who knows so much and so well.
I can appreciate the 'jack of all trades' concerns, which was also a concern of mine, hence I try to stick with my main syllabus on the whole, and try to avoid becoming swamped in trying to learn too much!
Would love to hear some fellow Wutanian's views on stuff :)

Peace

Broslovski

PS - Would anyone know what family/strain of CLF ours actually is? (Almost) everyone on these forums tends to know their stuff, and I am ashamed to say, even though I am slowly learning Cantonese from my partner, I don't know the names of our forms in Chinese

[Ben Gash]

I was, we left, it was messy.