Shaolin Temple Documentaries
I’m currently editing a documentary about the Shaolin Temple and have been searching for any good documentaries that has footage of the Shaolin Temple pre-1990's. Most of the docs I've seen were made fairly recently, it seems like the most "old school" doc I've seen is “Shaolin Kung Fu” (Shaolin Zhen Gongfu) with monk Shi De Yang. I'm particularly interested in finding footage during the period before and after the Jet Li Shaolin Temple movie came out.
So far, the documentaries I have watched are:
-Shaolin Kungfu (Shaolin Zhen gongfu)- doc. with Jet Li and Shaolin monks. Memorable scene of Shi Xing Cheng doing iron palm slapping 4 bricks, which only cracks the top one, but actually all 4 are broken down the middle.
-This is Kung Fu- doc. of gongfu throughout China
-Secrets of the Warrior's Power- good general doc about gongfu
-Myths and Logic of Shaolin Kungfu- Recent National Geographic doc.
-The Empty Mind- Good doc. Recently made about training at Shaolin, Wudang & Japan.
-Shaolin Ulysses- Zhang Li Peng's dad’s section has a bit of info.
-Shaolin Wheel of Life- short doc in extras section.
-French doc- “Mysterious powers of the Shaolin monk”, has footage of young Shi De Cheng and Wan Heng europe performance tour.
-Discovery Channel- “Ancient warriors” episode about Shaolin.
-Shaolin Temple w/Jet Li- not a doc but useful nonetheless.
-Dragons of the Orient- no comment
-Real Chinese Kung Fu- 1964 b/w footage of masters in Taiwan.
If you know of any other docs dealing with Shaolin, Especially pre-90’s please let me know.
Thanks,
Alexander
Hai Deng makes me think it was faked...
Hai Deng came to the US for a short stint to promote the documentary, even though it wasn't really being shown here anywhere. It was before there was much of a market for such videos. I've talked with a Buddhism professor who was there. Unfortunately, all though he gave me plenty of leads, that professor didn't really want to publish anything - I'm not sure why. I've followed up on a few of those leads, but they've all panned out unfortunately. Anyway, that professor told me in confidence that Hai Deng was none to happy with the way the whole doc went - remember that it was shot in more oppressive times in PRC, especially for Buddhists. He alluded that the finger handstand was faked. I think if you look at it in the doc, it's just too weird. The way his shoulder is bent, it really doesn't look very convincing to me, especially after workin g on handstands in yoga... but who knows? I believe he could do it at one time, maybe even at that time, but I don't think he did it for that doc.
I too would be interested in seeing other photos of the handstand. Can you hook us up here?
You know, I have another doc VCD or DVD (not sure which yet) on Yujian Shaolin, by networld zeenji. I haven't watched it yet - I suppose I should. I also have a VCD of Dejian's doc that was CCTV - That's the one where they are doing these crazy qinna things on the eddge of this big cliff on Songshan. I'm not sure what I did with that. For more on Dejian and Zeenji - check out the Shaolin special 2005.
There's also that Empty mind doc that you mentioned on email, which I really like, except the Shaolin section is...well...questionable... ;)