Other lines of Bak Mei Kung Fu

[kei lun]

Does anyone know of other lines of Bak Mei other than from Jeung Lai Cheun? There was an article in Inside Kung Fu way back talking about Bak Mei Fut Gar, claiming to be a separate line completely from Bak Mei monk. It was written I believe by Anthony Clark, anyone know him? Thoughts?

[TenTigers]

My Sifu always called it Ngoh Mei P'ai, and said that it was never referred to as Bak Mei until Cheung Lai Chen coined the phrase, but we were more than welcome to call it that. funny guy.

[LiLong]

Greetings. The Pak Mei lineage is well known. However, as in Ving Tsun and other arts there have been different systems and offshoots of pak Mei. My lineage stems from Greatgrandmaster Chen Meng Li in the Chen village. He was originally a Chen Taiji wtylist who sent his sons to learn pak Mei, Wing Chun and Hung Gar respectivelly, incorporating all four arts into Chen Gar a.k.a. Li Long Bai Mei. The art is mostly Bai Mei, icnorporating some footwork from wing chun and the stiffness of hung gar coupled with the jing of Chen Taiji. Our lineage has been confirmed by GM Chan Pui of Wah Lum fame for all that is worth. The system is complete with healing and Quigong. It is a family system so unless you stumbled upon the family who teaches it (to very few students currently only 10 of us), which luckly I did, no one would never learn it or know about it. It is effective in competition and real life situations.

[fiercest tiger]

ok so your pak mei isnt pure like ykm then hahahaha you better watch what you say around here, because if it aint clc's then its not good! :rolleyes:

you will classed as a ykm style, our grandmaster has added some hung gar also, i think its rounded off well! with a taiji infleuence sounds nice!

whats the names of the forms your school has if you dont mind me asking?

:)

come & visit us!
http://home.iprimus.com.au/ykm
yaukungmun@hotmail.com

[LiLong]

FT, yes I know the skeptic would allow the mixed nature of my art to be a matter of concern. The fact is, if it is effective and we know it is, then to study it and develop is what we owe to the lineage (which we also have). I too was very skeptic of its effectivenesss and history. It took me eight months of research to decide this was the art for me to learn. I even turn down an invitation to join the Wah Lum School to practice Li Long Bai Mei. I am serious about martial arts and respectful of all who also love and seek the development of it world wide. I know you weren't attacking me but it is a statement i though needed to be made.
I can only speak for the amount of training I have because forms are not dished out. If you have not reached the level of proficiency it takes for advance, then you will not get it.

So far the forms I have are:

Chen (the basis of the system)
Chen Kun (conditioning form)
Chen Tsu
Chen Mao
Single Stepping Crane (both empty hand and butterfly sword)
Li Long Staff
Chen Taiji Spear
Sil Lim Tao

Not counting the weapons forms and the honor forms we have (like SLT and Lau Gar to show our roots), the LLBM system has 13 empty hand forms which once you have mastered them all should be one long set.
If you guys are ineterested lets keep talking, because as I said, only about ten of us dedicated to the system. I don't think Florida is a breeding ground for MA. I would hate to see the system die out (of course when I am old enough to have kids they will have the system so I guess it would never die), but it is difficult to balance commercial appeal with a very very very traditional curriulum.

[fiercest tiger]

thanks for your answer sounds like a well rounded system especially with taiji chi kung etc.

all the best, also i wasnt having a go at you i also know some bak mei that isnt clc related! i cant talk about it here... ;)

come & visit us!
http://home.iprimus.com.au/ykm
yaukungmun@hotmail.com

[tnwingtsun]

Sounds like a system that incorporates

many high level concept based CMAs.

Plz don't take this the wrong way because I'm just

going off of your profile,6 months of study and

you already practice.............

Chen (the basis of the system)
Chen Kun (conditioning form)
Chen Tsu
Chen Mao
Single Stepping Crane (both empty hand and butterfly sword)
Li Long Staff
Chen Taiji Spear
Sil Lim Tao


Sil Lim Tao itself has enough info packed in to
fill volumes.

Jek-bo is another set that like SNT/SLT has many
doors not seen or felt from a small space in time as 6 months,let alone a lifetime.

But Salute to you and your training!

[feldor]

What's up man? :) Long time no talk to. I still need to call you when I get a chance to discuss some Jik Bo questions. Give me a write when you can!

I agree, 6 months is a very short time. Chom Bo Kuen in BFP is also similar. Easy to imitate, lifetime to understand. ;)

F.T.

How are things down under? Training is tedious, but moving forward.

Peace.
Charles :)

[fiercest tiger]

whassup? im training as usual lol, hows you bak mei studies and bfp going?

later

come & visit us!
http://home.iprimus.com.au/ykm
yaukungmun@hotmail.com

[feldor]

Slow but sure. Amazing how many concepts are the same. Definately a connection somewhere.

Take Care.
C

[LiLong]

tnwingtsun I actually should have specified that only the Chen, Chen Kun, as well as the staff and SLT are the ones I am required to know... The others I just have seen other students perform and "accidently memorized" the movements. I am only allowed to practice the ones listed above. I also will say that I dedicate over 20 hours each week to training, so my development has been faster than most. I also had previous MA training, in shotokan karate ( a few years), wing chun kuen (from students of sifu steve cottrell), judo from my father and jiu justsu from the Gracies (I grew up in brazil down the street from them, my dad was their barber).
I am taking it easy with my training but I do believe, and this is strictly personal, that the best way to teach MA is to consider MA a bucket of sand and have the teacher throw hands full of sand at the student. As much sand as the student catches the more he/she will learn. Again personal and sorry about the confusion.

FT thanx for the support as well as all others willing to promote the development of CMA world wide. :D

[lungyuil]

Lilong

If you don't mind my asking, and please don't take this the wrong way, but how can you classify your system as bak mei if there are different forms from different systems that have different expressions, applications and possibly power generation.

Are the higher levels Bak Mei forms?
I am just curious since none of the forms mentioned above are bak mei, but are Chen tai chi.

We have as our highest levels the 3 internal forms, yet i think from what i have seen, they somewhat relate to our external side of the system in techniques etc. :)

[LiLong]

lungyuil, greetings... lets start by saying that I am open to discussion at all times and would never take things the wrong way, especially due to the level of respect this forum has given me and that I have hopefully shown. I have been particularly lucky that there are open minded people in the world of martial arts willing to discuss and promote knowledge.
Enough about the disclaimers... Your concern about the forms being Chen Taiji only should not be a concern. The names of the forms all have Chen in them thus far because the system is a small family style and the names come from just honoring the family itself. I suspect another reason why the forms differ in names from Bak Mei as we know them is because it would be unfair to hybridize a system and keep the same names. of course I am still learning the basics, however from talking to sigung and sifu, once the red sash level is achieved is when the Bai Mei really shows up, and the true nature of Li Long Bai Mei materializes. Till then is prep time and learn about the systems that comprise our style time. We also have had the privilege to share tournies and seminars with CLC lineage Bak Mei students and teachers and to see the similarities at work is really a beautiful thing. The Bak Mei students and teachers may not agree with us but they have shown nothing but respect and interest in dialogue. I can also say that information is only shared a bit at a time, so the further I advance, the more I will know and my Bai Mei cousins here will be the first to know.
One thing we can all appreciate is the internal/external complexity of White Eyebrow Gung Fu, and perhaps the only real difference is that we concentrate on the internal even longer than most because of the Taiji influence(this is a very personal claim because as far as I know we are all internal freaks anyways). The Wing Chun influence is mostly seen in some stance work (thus far anyways). The Hung Gar is seen in a couple of the forms (again thus far). The rest is a ot of jing cultivation, developing the PE fist and basics, basics, basics.
From what I have seen kicks, punches and blocks are most similar this far to Bak Mei , but more to come on that as I develop.
I hope I have shown insight, but keep the questions coming.
Cheers :D

[lungyuil]

Lilong ,

Thanks for the reply. Which type of Hung Gar forms do you guys study and they are made up (in a sense) by your greatgrandmaster or the same as other HG.

I am interested in how your GGM was able to merge them into one flowing system. Sounds really good. I study YKM under FT and the HG influence works well in the form particularly our 3rd. It blends in with our YKM and i am just wondering if blends well for you.

I guess you guys can say you get the best of everything:)

[LiLong]

lungyuil, the two HG forms we learn are Lau Gar and Tiger Crane.
Some of the higher forms I have seen blend HG really well with a mix of tension and release to cultivate Chi. The Chen Kun form actually is very influenced by Bak Mei, but the tension of Hung Gar is used for muscle conditioning.
Yes, the mix of the systems does sound strange, and I was a skeptic as well until I began practicing. Now it feels very natural. If you think about it, each individual style complements Bai Mei in very significant ways, both in attack and defense, stances, and internal aspects. wish there were more of us in FL willing to learn this amazing system.
BTW I started reading about YKM and it sounds very very interesting. Great artcle in KF Quigong magazine a couple of months ago!!
Cheers