Green Gang Kung Fu

[The Xia]

No, I don't think that. However, it is safe to assume that the Green Gang members that studied martial arts probably studied stuff that would be found in and around Shanghai. And although more then one martial art would be represented, there might be a few that are particularly popular with them.

[neilhytholt]

No, I don't think that. However, it is safe to assume that the Green Gang members that studied martial arts probably studied stuff that would be found in and around Shanghai. And although more then one martial art would be represented, there might be a few that are particularly popular with them.

Yeah, unfortunately Shanghai is one city that I have never found very much information about in terms of martial arts.

The people I've met from there seemed to be some of the most clueless in terms of older Chinese culture I've ever met. They seemed to really like the modern Shanghai social life. Perhaps this is because Shanghai is one Chinese city that has had Western influence the longest. Supposedly the British had a settlement there since 1845.

[The Xia]

Yeah, unfortunately Shanghai is one city that I have never found very much information about in terms of martial arts.

Beyond Jing Woo stuff, ditto.

The people I've met from there seemed to be some of the most clueless in terms of older Chinese culture I've ever met. They seemed to really like the modern Shanghai social life. Perhaps this is because Shanghai is one Chinese city that has had Western influence the longest. Supposedly the British had a settlement there since 1845.

The Old Shanghai and the modern PRC Shanghai are not the same place. But I guess that goes without saying.

[neilhytholt]

Beyond Jing Woo stuff, ditto.

The Old Shanghai and the modern PRC Shanghai are not the same place. But I guess that goes without saying.

What you're doing looking up on the Internet and books it seems like in terms of history and stuff it probably will only take you so far.

At least from the searching I've done there aren't too many people around anymore that were lineages from Shanghai from that period and the ones that are around don't seem to post much about what they're doing on the Internet, assuming they exist and are still practicing someplace.

If you really want to find out more about the old stories, you're probably going to have to start pounding on the doors of Chinatowns and old age homes, and unless you're Chinese you're probably not going to get very far with that. I've gotten doors slammed onto my fingers enough times to attest to that.

Chinese don't really trust guai lo, and the Green Gang were criminals and outlaws and so even more secretive.

Maybe if you travel around to schools and ask questions you could find some more modern people who will tell you something about the Green Gang. I don't know.

[The Xia]

So anyone know anything?

[The Xia]

ttt........

[buddhapalm]

There is a book called "Policing old Shanghai" or something like that. Talks a lot about the period you mention.

Cheers

[bredmond812]

I read a book series that was rereleased later as a compilation work called: Chronicles of Dao. It was a story whose authenticity i cannot verify. anyway, in it, a young monk named Guan Saihong who was a daoist from Huashan travelled to Shanghai with two other monks. They were going to bring in a rogue monk who had ties to organized crime. Specifically, his girlfriend was some martial arts badass who had wicked palms. Anyway, I read this like ten years or so ago, but i think the party of monks went to see Du. Some interesting things here, which either attests to the ability of any lunatic to write, or just how strange the truth may be:

The author, through the character of Guan Saihung, claimed that Du was a transvestite, and he gave Guan Saihung a mediocre demonstration of Bagua Double swords of some kind (which may have been invented by Du himself based on his experiences with Bagua single sword.)

Im not telling, im just saying. Look it up for yourself to see if it is there, it is about 2/3 of the way into the book.

B Red

[buddhapalm]

That was actually good reading.... the Wandering Taoist Trilogies. Seemed pretty farfetched, but great metaphorical wisdom within. Outlandish episodes such as the Frog immortal in the cave etc. Great wisdom, but in my humble opinion, I think that anyone who really had ANYTHING to do with the Ching Bang Wui (Green Gang) would never talk much about it, and definitely never write about its leader as being a transvestite lol. Think Salomon Rushdie but in Chinese. Hilarious if you ask me.

[buddhapalm]

Side note: I was told that Big Eared Tu was originally a pear pealer. He was such a master of peeling pears with his chopper, he could peel a giant pear in one continious rapid cut. A leader of Ching Bang met him selling his pears and peeling them on the street. The leader was so enthralled by his zen-like cutting style, that he thought, if he can cut pears like that, my god, then what couldn't he cut with his chopper. So he was recruited into the Ching Bang Wui. From there the pear peeler made his rise to fame.

[mickey]

Greetings,

bredmond812,

You are fusing two people together from the "Chronicles" series. The transvestite was called Grey Swan. Du was a separate presence in the book.


mickey

[bredmond812]

Greetings,

bredmond812,

You are fusing two people together from the "Chronicles" series. The transvestite was called Grey Swan. Du was a separate presence in the book.


mickey

haha,

ok, i goofed. i read it so long ago. Thanks for clearing the confusion.

B Red

[buddhapalm]

I guess me too :-o

[The Xia]

What about the Qing Bang and Lohan Men?

[The Xia]

One thing I've never found out much about in reading is the origins of the Green Gang. Anyone know anything about that? I remember reading somewhere that it has something to do with Fong Do Duk.