WHF Version, CCM Version, Mainland Tanglang
Bai Lung,
As Mantis 108 has said, the set presented in the pictures is identical to the CCM Kune Po for the Second Route of CCM's Bai Yuan Tou Tao.
Are you familar with the Second Route of this form? If so, then it would seem that what we have is a departure from CCM's curriculum by LKW. We have discussed this set before on this forum and Master Chiu Leung, also a student of CCM has a version of this Second Route that is very similar to the WHF version, even though Master Chiu's Tanglang was influenced by the Gongfu of the Yip Ming Duk monks and his sets preserve this influence through variances form the CCM Kunepo.
Development in the Gongfu of persons as they practice is inevidable. When these developments are significant and viewed to be of sufficient value to bear preservation for future generations, they are often preserved in the sets of that master. If LKW's Bak Yuen Tao Toe has been altered, one can be certain that there are developments in his Gongfu that necessitated this.
I, for one, would be facinated to find out what they were, if indeed the set has been changed.
Thanks for your input on this Bai Lung, it could be the beginning of a facinating study into the development of the Gongfu of Lee Kam Wing.
Steve Cottrell
Mainland Tanglang White Ape Steals Peach
Mantis Cool,
My research on the mainland indicates that the mainland version of White Ape Steals the Peach very likely existed before Master Luo's version of the set that we all share.
If one looks at the mainland version of "white ape steals the peach" and the HK set "Mantis steals the peach", they are nearly identical.
Also on the mainland they have no set called "mantis steals the peach". As I inquired about this difference they said that master Luo created the two White Ape sets that he taught in HK and renamed the mainland White Ape sets, calling them Mantis Steals the Peach and Mantis Exits the Cave.
The reason he did this, as far as I can tell from histories written at the time, is that Master Luo was combining his Qixing Tanglang with Meihua and Guangbang Tanglang. As such, his unique version that we now call HK Tanglang has a different arrangement of sets. It is no longer pure Qixing. This is why, for example, WHF used the name Northern Mantis to describe his style. It was no longer Qixing when these other influences were added.
Hope I haven't been too confusing.
Steve Cottrell