Question for Gene & or Shaolin followers?

[firepalm]

Does any the Shaolin followers or possibly Gene Ching know the proper Chinese name (preferably Pin Yin & English) for the Tumbling Over Flags act that the Shaolin performers can frequently be seen doing? It's also seen in Chinese Opera a lot.

Just wondering if there is a specific name for it. Thanks for any help...

:)

[GeneChing]

OK, I asked around since I have no idea wtf that might be called. I'm not a big fan of Chinese opera. The best term anyone here could come up with was yao zi fan shen which roughtly translates into, well, yao zi is some reference to a bird, a swallow I think, and fan shen means turning the body. I think I've heard a similar term in kung fu form lyrics.

I've enver seen flag jumping in a Shaolin demo, except maybe one of the opening Shaolin Festival ceremonies, but you see everything in those from pop stars to chinese chess, but that doesn't really count because those are so absurd - I describe the last one in Chapter 2 of my most recent Shaolin Trips piece. (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=580)

[firepalm]

:rolleyes: Thanks Gene, seems to becoming more common place. I have seen the 'Flag Tumbling?' in Wheel of Life, the Terracotta Warriors that came to Canada last year(several were in Wheel of Life and most were Deng Feng folk) also did a lot of the Flag Tumbling. Then CCTV had a Chinese New Year celebration broadcast with several shaved head fellows flipping over flags...

Was just wondering, friend here did it in Hong Kong with an Opera coach, incorporates it into his Wushu shows sometimes and he didn't even know the name?!?!?!

Thanks!

[GeneChing]

You're right. I stand corrected. I had forgotten about Wheel of Life.

Remember, shaved heads do not a monk make...

[norther practitioner]

Terracotta Warriors was a cool show, I remember what you are talking about.. but no idea the name.

[Roc Doc]

it depends on who is using it!
i like to hear john scofield or john mclaughlin use the pentatonic scale. they can wield it like a weapon or a summer breeze
masterful, really...

~doc

[GeneChing]

You're right. I stand corrected. I had forgotten about Scofield and Mclaughlin

Remember, music critics do not a publisher make...

[Ravenshaw]

You know Gene, Led Zep used pentatonic/blues scales almost exclusively ;)

More on topic, I didn't know Wheel of Life wasn't actually performed by monks.

[GeneChing]

Pulled that one out from the past, eh? niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice. You HAVE completed the 10 and are well into the next chamber of Shaolin! For those of you who don't know, Ravenshaw and I have been having a longstanding argument about the Mighty Zep and Black Sabbath for years now. Zep's work does make me wince, but in a pleasurable Lord-of-the-Rings sort of way. If only they had done the soundtrack instead of Enya, I would have loved it.

As for Shaolin Wheel of Life, that was an 'official tour' sanctioned by Abbot Shi Yongxin. There were several monks involved - all the performers were direct disciples. If you check out our latest Shaolin Special (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=590), there's an article on Shi Yanling, who was behind a lot of the production of Wheel (and I gotta give props again to Ravenshaw for the assist on that second-intention plug). Wheel is produced by a UK team, but the rumor is that their contract for Wheel is about to expire....

BTW, RVS, I totally forgot to hook up with you for a photo for Berkeley tournament review. You know, we have this thing going with snaps of forum members in reviews. I got a nice shot of NorthernShaolin when he wasn't looking... ;)

[Fen]

I got a nice shot of NorthernShaolin when he wasn't looking...

Sweet!!! Being sneaky just like the paparazzi! If I new you where going to be doing that, then I would have gone... But something came up at the last min... So I could not make it.... :( Let us all know when the pic will be in the mag.....

~Jason

[Ravenshaw]

BTW, RVS, I totally forgot to hook up with you for a photo for Berkeley tournament review.

****, I would have liked that. Unfortunately, during that tournament I was pretty tired from a lack of sleep and once everyone from our school competed, we all took off (maybe around 7:30 or 8). I guessed I'd assumed that since I talked to you right before one of my competitions, you might have taken some pictures. Oh well, maybe next year :cool:

[GeneChing]

tow: Well, I did annouce it on the main forum (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36106).

rvs: Yeah, that was my bad. My apologies. I watched some of your sword form out of the corner of my eye whilst someone was talking to me about something, but I didn't shoot it. I have a small blind spot for Wing Lam students - something I learned from Sifu. He always gave all his own students the worst scores (until we begged him to stop judging). I guess I do the same sometimes. Congrats on placing 3rd on the all-around traditional, btw - that's great! Remind me about the pic next year - or perhaps you'll travel to another event this year. So far, I'm scheduled for Taiji Legacy and Zhang San Feng Festival. Most of the forum guys hunt me down for the pic now and sometimes it'll be someone who I don't know. I'll get back and find out they have a post record of 4 or less, and that's no fun. Sometimes I'll hunt down people, like NorthernShaolin, who I must give mad props too - he's one of the great contributors on this forum when it comes to BSL and a longstanding judge in the SF area, so he really deserves it.

[Fen]

Sorry!!! I do not go to the main anymore.

~Jason

[Ravenshaw]

Congrats on placing 3rd on the all-around traditional, btw - that's great!

I didn't even know that :eek: . Haha shows how much I paid attention. This was my first time in Advanced, so I wasn't expecting anything. Thanks a lot, though. I hear you on the "blind spot" thing... Sifu gave me terrible scores when he was a judge there in 2002. :(

I'll be sure to remind you about the pic next time, and I'll see if any of those tournaments you mentioned are do-able for me.

[GeneChing]

Now that's kinda funny. 1st was Michael Schaefer of San Francisco Wushu; 2nd was Will Jackson of Jiang Weilin Wuguan.