Shaolin Pao Quan - what a mess

[Sal Canzonieri]

@sal.

Its been a while since I saw the LiuZhenHai videos....

I seem to remember there being a set with lots of xu bu bai fo, rest stance with prayer hands. This is from a different pao quan. Perhaps he has even more than 3 (he has a lot of stuff). I'll take your word on that, I'll try to watch them again soon.

Yes, one of the 6 Pao Quan VCDs does show that, I think it is the Xiao Pao Quan one? I wonder where his Xiao Pao Quan comes from? Or his Zhuo Shou Pao Quan and Ying Zhuo Pao Quan as well?

Ok, so Liu zhen hai is simply the full Pao quan that we are aware of, Tagous books are a good frame of reference. There are always small inconsistencies between forms, SO lets say with Tagou as reference Liuzhen hai does the full Xiao and Da pao quan.

Pretty much. His Pao Quan Yi, Er, and San Lu, we know now is Tagou's Da Pao Quan going into Tagou's Xiao Pao Quan. His Er and San Lu are not exactly the same as Xiao Pao Quan, but really close. I'd like to see them get together and confer these sets.

I don't have access to my encyclopedia, but I do remember looking at the Pao quan in it before and being bewildered (as with many forms in that encyclopedia, no idea where that big luohan quan comes from).

What do you mean here by "encyclopedia"? The Shaolin one or the Tagou one?
The Shaolin one, I have no idea where they got their Xiao Pao Quan Yi Lu and Er Lu sets from?

The Tagou book's Da Luohan Quan is authentic, I have other books with the same set, from Liu Zhenhai lineage, and the set is very similar. As I said elsewhere, if you put the two versions together, you have a complete set, each one is missing one section, but two different ones.

Deyang; I spent time at his school The video of deyang is Da pao quan, same as in tagous books (almost). He doesn't have a xiao pao quan video that I am aware of, but the xiao pao quan they practice in his school is the same as the one we are talking about (2/3, last section omitted as usual). The main difference I remember is that they emphasize the elbows when using hammers, makes it look a bit different.

LFJ answered that one well/

Pao quan is one of those famous forms that every style has a version of. It usually shares the 'explosive' characteristics. If you watch the video above by yongwen he lists many styles of pao quan, it is entirely possible the form coud be of the same style at e'mei. I was at wudang earlier this year and even they have an explosive pao quan, not wudang character at all.

Well, it is well documented that San Huang Pao Chui comes from Emei, AND that there was a Shaolin influence brought into them, hence they share some postures (and Chen Taiji Quan shares the same ones in their Pao Chui set)

As to YongXins little yellow book... I am planning to go to Shaolin next week if i have time. Can't go on the weekend because its too busy (shame, the weather is perfect today). I'll try and pick up all the books while I am there and have a look. I'll let you know if there are any new ones out. 23 postures? Are you sure its not a reiteration of Da pao quan, it can vary quite a lot, the things to look out for is some sort of claw at the begining and a xu bu with 'tiger comes out of cave' like hands in the middle. Plus some strange ma bu footwork, usually a 360 spin, but sometimes just stepping backward several times.

Ah, last night I found a video on the internet of Shi Yongxin's Pao Quan as in his book.
Only it was a horribly mangled modern version of the set in the book. And the video cuts off early, so I can't see the end.
They called it Da Pao Quan in the video! AHHHHH, another Da set!
Wish I could see a nice clean copy of the set. I didn't bother saving a copy it was so bad. But since the set does some very unique movements, I could see that it was indeed the same set, just done with modern wushu body mechanics unfortunately.