April 27, 2007, 11:58AM
Kung fu masters translate a Chinese tradition in the U.S.
By TARA DOOLEY
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
SHOW OF FORCE
What: The Shaolin Kung Fu Spectacular
Who: 21 Shaolin monks from China
Where: The WAMU Center Stage at the Houston International Festival
When: 2, 3:30, 5, 6:15 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 2, 3:30, 5 and 6:15 p.m. Sunday
Cost: $13; children 4-11, $3.
Info:
www.ifest.org
SOME HOUSTON SHAOLIN TEACHERS:
• Charles Graham of Shaolin Houston,
www.shaolinhouston.com
• Shi Xing Ying of International Shaolin Wushu Center,
www.internationalshaolin.com
• Shi Xing Hao of Shaolin Kung Fu Academy,
www.houstonshaolin.com
Translating a Chinese tradition for American students requires that a Shaolin kung fu master learn the art of positive encouragement.
"The American teacher mostly says, 'You are very good already, but if you do it this way you will be better,' " said Shi Xing Hao of the Shaolin Kung Fu Academy in Houston.
Chinese-style feedback — or the kind that came with training sessions that left Hao so exhausted that even his fingers were sore — tended more toward 'You are bad. Get better now.' "
Then again, Hao's American students don't practice eight hours a day. And the Chinese Civic Center near Beltway 8 on Houston's west side is not exactly the old Shaolin Temple in China's Henan Province, where Hao studied martial arts starting at age 13.
But in the civic center backroom, behind the pingpong tables and sequestered from the sounds of beginning violin players, Hao tries to instill the basics of the historical martial-arts tradition.
"We teach them how to really know to be a kung fu person," Hao said.
The kung fu person has been vivid in the imaginations of many an American, at least since the days David Carradine wandered the television West as Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine. Distilled from the television show and reels of Chinese films, the Shaolin monk is a noble warrior guided by values and attacking only in defense.
The tradition will be on display at the Houston International Festival when 21 monks from the Shaolin Temple in China perform today, Saturday and Sunday in the Shaolin Kung Fu Spectacular.
"People say, 'What is kung fu?' " Hao said. "It is very difficult to explain. It's a lifestyle."
The words "kung fu" have a double meaning, said Shi Xing Ying, master of the International Shaolin Wushu Center in Houston and former Chinese national Shaolin champion.
The word can mean hard work, performed with determination and diligence. It also means martial arts, he said.
The classical Shaolin tradition goes back at least 1,500 years to the founding of the Shaolin Temple in the Song Mountains. To some, the temple is the birthplace of Ch'an Buddhism, the Chinese tradition of Zen Buddhism.
But most know it for the form of martial arts the monks developed over the centuries. It is now considered the classical or traditional form of kung fu. Many Shaolin practitioners consider it the form from which modern Chinese martial arts such as wushu and tai chi developed. Others see traces of Shaolin in martial-arts traditions such as karate, tae kwon do or muay tai.
Shaolin kung fu is characterized by its choreographed sequences, which are "almost like dance moves," said Charles Graham, master of Shaolin Houston. Many of the moves mimic those of animals such as tigers, monkeys, praying mantises or white cranes, he said. The tradition also uses 18 weapons ranging from a staff to swords.
Interest in Shaolin kung fu surged in China after martial-arts film successes of the 1970s, especially Jet Li's The Shaolin Temple. Now the temple is surrounded by kung fu schools and is a tourist attraction both for its Buddhist and kung fu histories.
Kung fu and film seem entwined for many a couch-potato scholar of the Shaolin tradition, and practitioners often mention films and television as inspiration.
For 37-year-old Mark Brimm, the TV series Kung Fu was his introduction "for better or for worse," he said.
The Jackie Chan film Drunken Fist or Drunken Master inspired 17-year-old Simon Wu.
Melanie Kwok, 14, pointed to Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle and, recently, Jet Li's Fearless.
"Jet Li did this one move, and I said, 'I can do that,' " she said. Of course, Kwok said he also did other moves that she hopes to add to her repertoire.
Li also influenced Hao's decision to board a train for a two-day ride from his home in Liaoning Province to study at the Shaolin Temple.
Since arriving in the United States in 1998, Hao has had to adapt, though his style has not exactly evolved to touchy-feely:
"Kick faster; use your breath; breathe; go; now you turn around; turn; you turn too slow, that's why; turn; turn; good," he almost barks out as a teenage student kicks, flips and twists through a roughly two-minute routine.
With 6-year-old Vega Shah, his softer side comes out as he guides her backbend practice:
"Wow, so good, tuck in; perfect; good job; sit down, please."
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