CLF monkey form

[Ben Gash]

I have an issue of Black belt magazine from 20 years ago that has Doc Fai Wong demoing a monkey pole, which aside from the facial expressions he made in the pics was essentially the same as the double endded pole my sifu taugh me (which he learned from a northern mizong lohan sifu)

I don't know the CLF monkey staff, but I do know the Hung monkey staff and it is not monkey at all. Where single end staff is king in Guangdong styles it would appear that many double ended forms are just called monkey staff. Plus also there's the allusion to the monkey king from Journey to the West, which would make

while others translate it having to do with a pilgrimage of a monk

make a lot of sense. If the monkey in question is the monkey king, then monkey imitation is less important, and techniques that lengthen and shorten the effective area of staff come to the fore (the monkey king's staff was supposed to change length at will).
I think some of you are being a bit harsh about the video. For starters it's edited, and if you're going to edit a monkey form you're going to keep the OTT imitation and leave out the more subtle stuff, and there is some nice sweeping and low line kicking in the clip.
IMO there's nothing wrong with imitation, as long as it's functional.

[WhiteEarp]

Well, it looks nice, he acts like a little monkey but i really can't get it why it would be functional aside from the lowkicks and sweeps.
I once saw a shaolin demo with one of the kids performing a monkeyform. It looked very similar. Jumping about, weird facial expressions scratching etc.
Monkey's allways been a secretive and elusive art. Not openly taught. So perhaps the masters are keeping it to themselfs, only to teach it to a handfull

[chasincharpchui]

Well, it looks nice, he acts like a little monkey but i really can't get it why it would be functional aside from the lowkicks and sweeps.
I once saw a shaolin demo with one of the kids performing a monkeyform. It looked very similar. Jumping about, weird facial expressions scratching etc.
Monkey's allways been a secretive and elusive art. Not openly taught. So perhaps the masters are keeping it to themselfs, only to teach it to a handfull

dai sing pek gwa is a popular monkey style with axe fist
so i dont know wat you mean by secretive art