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View Full Version : Help required with tracing a rare system from Taiwan



Keboh
12-07-2007, 03:16 PM
Hi,

I have been learning a kung fu style called Splashing Hands ... a really amazing and demanding art ... very aggressive, economical and with great footwork. Only a couple of people teach it in the US.
I've learned that the style is actually a synthesis of material taught by the late great GM Ark Y Wong .... and some material from a rare style learned in Taiwan in the 1950s.
The forms from GM Ark Wong are easy to identify .... but the part coming from Taiwan is less easy.
I would like to ask anyone living in Taiwan or China or anyone who is knowlegable about CMA history if they could identify it?

The Chinese characters for this art are: 闪手

I cannot speak Chinese at all .... but I believe they *MAY* be pronounced as zan shoo .... but I could be mistaken.

The system coming from Taiwan has very few forms .... it's mostly made of short drills as well as a lot of shuffling exercises done while doing punches, blocks, kicks etc. In a way, it seems more like western boxing than the "stereotypical" CMA.

There is an incredible speed and power generation created through the very relaxed arms and hands moving like whips .... together with the shuffling footwork. I've never seen anything like it ..... very scary to be on the receiving end of !

Here you can see the basic shuffle techniques demonstrated ... as well as one of the drills called Browns.

http://hem.passagen.se/sifu1/splashing.html

Sorry that I can't provide more footage .... but hopefully someone would recognize some of those movements shown ..... it looks a little bit like Wing Chun I guess ... but it's not!

I'd love to find any remnant of this rare style in China .... or hopefully even other people who keep it alive in China ...... unfortunately we don't know if it is still being practiced in China :-(

Mas Judt
12-07-2007, 03:40 PM
People argue over this system all the time. When I first saw it on video, I was singularly unimpressed. Later I met some guys who played it very well, and came to appreciate it for what it was - a quick, simple, direct method. It has limitations, but it doesn't seem like it was designed to be super-sophisticated, just a quick path to some free-fighting skill.

I have come across a similar system - similar enough for me to think they are related, but different enough that are certainly different lines. Although some aspects of this other system might demonstrate some truth in the Splashing Hands legend.

Some say SP is just not CMA. But before people saw Hakka styles here, some they weren't Chinese methods either. So, I am open to the story.

In the worst case scenario, Tiny Lefiti made it up. In which case he did a much better job than a lot of others in the US.

PM and I'll send you some info, as these guys are kinda private.

Lama Pai Sifu
12-07-2007, 04:07 PM
闪手

I'm going to say 'Dodging Hand'. There might be a better synonym for 'dodging'. Not sure.