Shantung Shaolin/La Me Kah

[pilgrimsunwukun]

Curious about the history of Shantung Shaolin. from Gao Tou Sheng(SP?) Being a Chinese who escapes communism, Master Gao took a Northern form to a southern community(Taiwan) Wonder if he changed the flavor as he lived in Taiwan. It seems that Tai Chi has evolved, there seems to be a difference between Honk Kong 7* and what's played on the mainland, and the silat I do seems to be played differently depending on who teaches you.

A friend back there taught m e Shao Fu Yin, part of a trio of tokens/forms. It's interesting because it has a similar flavor to other Northern Shaolin forms I've seen played in the NW that are from different lineages. Yet what I was taught is a little different from what was on a buddy's GD tape. Eagle Claw people do their forms slightly different (Master Leung Shum, the Bak Shaolin Ying Jow Pai people).

So I wonder what causes forms to change besides the," that teacher is no good," or ,"he seems to have forgotten a section."

Steve

[Li Ma-Keh]

Steve, In my opinion,...ALL forms/styles/movements change a little/alot, depending on the rigid teaching structure from school to school,... the 'talent' of the student to anylize and/or try to 'keep' the movements the 'exact' same way as they were taught,(which normally morphs'/changes a little anyway given 10 to 20yrs.'),...if the form is written down,on video, or etched in bamboo,...lol', the student might have an easier time of keeping it the same. It's kind of like the game' "Tell a story, pass it on to ten people, when it gets back to you , what has changed". Now, it doesn't matter if it was meant to be changed or not,...just like Yin heh' Yang',..everything changes through the balance of time. The positive example is; "if you do your form/stances exactlly the same everyday,...do you stay the same or do you improve,...either way,..how do you change it? We 'change' the out-come by increasing time spent, intensity of the action, or mentally a deeper understanding. The BEST change that has come about for ALL Chinese martial arts is the increase of joint line-up knowledge since aprx.' 1949. So,..it could be "the teacher stinks", or they forgot/added a movement or section, or a student/teacher might like some movment better than another, and include/exclude it If ALL martial arts were to be/stay the same,..lol' THEN why do we have ALL of the thousands of different styles of movement to begin with? Because,..(in my opinion), someone, (in the Han.Ching,Ming Dynesty,..etc.'), ... 'liked' another style of movement/stance better then the last one they saw or experianced,..or it was more efficient for 'Their' body type or style of moveing,..so, they 'changed ' it just enough, 'Blammo',..you have a 'new' style,..lol'. (ie; all of the different styles of Tai-Ji Chwen,Southern Hand, Northern Fist,.etc.'). Li Ma-Keh