Kung Fu in Taiwan

[Yum Cha]

Not to hijack another thread that touched on this topic...

I was wondering, which martial arts are more highly represented in Taiwan?

Traditional or MMA? Northern or southern?

Also, there is a story that Pak Mei is well represented in the old guard of the Taiwaneese Military dating back to CKS's people and their escape to the Island.

Perhaps SPJ might have something to say?

[WanderingMonk]

Not to hijack another thread that touched on this topic...

I was wondering, which martial arts are more highly represented in Taiwan?

Traditional or MMA? Northern or southern?

Also, there is a story that Pak Mei is well represented in the old guard of the Taiwaneese Military dating back to CKS's people and their escape to the Island.

Perhaps SPJ might have something to say?


Long fist, baji, bagua, northern praying mantis, taiji, shuai jiao are well represented in the northern part of the island. this is resulted of the KMT migration to TW.

In the central, it was the strong hold of fujian crane, zhong he (another crane), basically, a lot of cranes. some southern shaolin like "hung ga" (tw's version), and various southern style.

the hakka art ("wanderer fist") was taught to the ROC's special forces according to the TW's Hakka culture org. their representatives supposedly won China's world sanshou competition in the early 1990s. I am just spewing the stuff they put in their documentary, don't ask me to fact check.

don't know about pakmei stories.

karate and tkd are popular because the government helped push it in the early 60s to 80s. It will help bring good relations with japan and korea (so, the logics went).

MMA are starting to take roots. unless cma guys in TW starting to fight more often in these comp, expect TW to lean heavily toward mma in the future.

[Lau]

Yam Cha,

I believe grandmaster Cheung Lai Chuen trained Cheng Kai Check's army at one point in time. So that would explain Pak Mei in Taiwan.

Regards, Lau

[fiercest tiger]

Unless the Traditional Chinese Martial arts start to train their ground fighting and clinche work i dont think most TCM will cut it with these MMA guys especially in Japan.

Most Traditional kung fu systems have the shaui chaio (sp) within the forms i know YKM and Bak Mei does and the Day Sut Kuen has the key elements to train ground if u need too.

FT

[SPJ]

I can not speak for all, I was exposed to mostly northern styles.

In the 50's and early 60's, China had great leap forward and culture revolution and many people were in starvation. Chiang tried to go back to mainland.

However, US decided to take a stand in Vietnam. After 1965, the plan to go back to China was stopped.

so in the 50's, and early 60's, everything was temporary in Taiwan.

After 1965, the government started to take root in Taiwan.

The most significant event in the public would be master Liu Yun Qiao started Wu Tan to promote CMA in colleges in the late 60's. There was also CMA Wu Tan promotion center in Taipei and opened the door to non Chinese, too.

In short, as pointed out earlier by others, many styles north or south were represented and moved to TW along with KMT after 1949.

On March 1, 1950, CKS came out and reasummed the presidency of ROC.

He said at the moment of the life and death; the surviving and trying time of the country, I assume the duty and affairs of the presidency.

US "Time" magazine picked him as the man of the year.

Southern Shaolin temple in the Fu Jiang province was burned down by Qing. There were only 5 monks escaped. The famous Wu Tzu. There are many southern boxing including the southern Shaolin boxing popular in Taiwan as people from Fu Jiang and kakka from Guang Dong province migrated and settled in Taiwan for over 400 years.

Again, I was only exposed to some northern styles.

I cannot speak for all.

:p

[norther practitioner]

The most significant event in the public would be master Liu Yun Qiao started Wu Tan to promote CMA in colleges in the late 60's. There was also CMA Wu Tan promotion center in Taipei and opened the door to non Chinese, too.


Is this what Shifu Hsu is head of now?

[mantis108]

I thought this day would never come. This is the first time ever that I absolutely agreed with FT. :eek:

Regards

Mantis108

[SPJ]

NP;

Yes. Adam Hsu is the leader.

But you have to ask more info from Wu Tan people about it.

;)

[Mr Punch]

Lo Man Kam, Yip Man's nephew, has a kwoon in Taipei.

I've never trained under him but the two training partners of mine who have have very good hands. Of course he's mainly wing chun, but I've heard he is proficient in choy li fut too, and had a lot of beimo experience.

[Yum Cha]

Thanks guys for all the background.

Lau, that would explain how there could be a cadre of senior officers in the ROC Army that are Pak Mei players.

I'm told its the old guys, not the young ones...or only rarely...

[chessman71]

The most common arts here in Taipei are bajiquan, baguazhang, and taijiquan. Various forms of mantis, xingyiquan, changquan, hong quan, etc. are also around if someone looks for them.

More interesting than what is available is what is not readily available. For instance, shuai chiao is quickly dying out because of a lack of promotion. It's actually more popular in the US than it is here.

Hong Yi Xiang's tangshoudao and xingyi systems are rapidly vanishing as well.

Finally, Cheng Man Qing's style is less popular than in the past and many people are taking up Chen style or other mainland imports.

This is really a shame because Taiwan martial arts are really great. They developed without the inevitable mainland wushu taint. Therefore, they are often closer to the original forms than you would find on the mainland, at least in my opinion.

Dave C.

[Buddy]

Luo Dexiu teaches Yizong Gao style baguazhang and Hong's Hebei xingyiquan in Taipei.

[chessman71]

Buddy,
Luo laoshi teaches bagua but not the complete system of xingyi. He only teaches the five elements regularly and teaches anshenpao about every four years.

Dave C.

[Kristoffer]

Shuai Chiao dying out? How can that be if it's still an integral part of the police acadamy?

[chessman71]

Kristofer,
You're correct about shuai chiao in the police academy but outside of that, shuai chiao seems to be on the decline. Judo is more popular than shuai chiao (has been for a long time) and BJJ has now caught on with the grappling crowd here. Foreign arts are really cutting into the Taiwanese MA base of support. They attract more and more people every year. It's too bad.

Dave C.

[Kristoffer]

That's too bad..
Maybe a case of bad marketing