Tibetan Bak Hok Pai Form

[lkfmdc]

Legit Pak Hok guy, no doubt...

but

He claims to be head instructor of Pak Hok (White Crane) system worldwide

http://www.angelfire.com/bc/whitecrane/

uh, no........

[htowndragon]

reportedly senior student of kwong ben fu

[diego]

reportedly senior student of kwong ben fu

You still training?

[htowndragon]

on my own, yes. being a full time sushi chef is time consuming.

[4 Dragons]

Thanks for the replies! Did a bunch of searching but not a lot of info on lineage.
Who is the Grandmaster of Pak Hok?

Thanks, 4D

[Gru Bianca]

Thanks for the replies! Did a bunch of searching but not a lot of info on lineage.
Who is the Grandmaster of Pak Hok?

Thanks, 4D

There is no Cheung Mun Yan in the Pak Hok family at least not since the late Ng Siu Chung died. To many his late wife was held as head of the "family" but she just passed away last month. Now, nothing,...just different branches with not always good relations between them.

Another dying style......

[friday]

Gru Bianca - ???

I just came back from HK a couple of months ago...was not aware this happened.

Hows things? PM me.

Cheers
F

[jdhowland]

A bit off topic but... Does anyone know if Vincent Chow is the real deal?

Yep. He's authentic insofar as he is a recognized teacher of TWC.

His status as head instructor only applies to his own lineage and seems to be based upon his claim that his teacher (I believe it was Kwong Bun Fu) was selected to head the system by grandmaster Ng. Other lineages dispute this and say that there was no successor. At any rate Kwong was probably the oldest living teacher of the system when he died a couple of years ago. But it's a moot point because longevity does not equal political seniority and Bak Hok had already split into several independent lineages after the death of grandmaster Ng.

[jdhowland]

Wasn't Tibetan crane filtered through shaolin at some point?...

Hard to say. There were probably influences going both ways between Shaolin-associated systems and possibly related methods in northwestern China during it's developmental period. Some of the names of sets in TWC have been influenced by "Shaolin" traditions (e.g. lohan, ting gong, ng ying, gam gong, etc.,) but the movements and series are totally independent.

TWC people generally deny any connection and like to emphasize that theirs is a unique branch of Chinese gongfu. It really can't be disputed because there is no history of its origins earlier than the 19th century.

On the other hand, many TWC teachers were known to have trained in other systems that did have a claim of some connection to the Shaolin tradition.

Mechanically and philosopically it is a different species from what I have seen of both schools but it's all still Chinese gongfu.

[4 Dragons]

Thanks for the information!

Does TWC have any animals represented other than Crane?

4D

[jdhowland]

Thanks for the information!

Does TWC have any animals represented other than Crane?

4D

There are elements of monkey, sometimes translated as "ape" (there are macaques in Tibet and China). There are also techniques named for animals common to many systems, e.g., panther fist. But the system does not imitate animals, not even cranes.

Some of the footwork looks like a monkey's bow-legged shuffle and some of the arm moves and kicks may suggest a crane but the system, as I learned it, is based on purely human movements.

The crane and monkey are "sky and earth." A kind of yam-yeung duality. One of the key concepts of the system is to learn to be comfortable with or without a rooted stance, in the air, tumbling on the ground, whatever.

jd

[4 Dragons]

Very interesting, thanks for your reply. Kind of reminds me of Wu Mui.

[Gru Bianca]

Very interesting, thanks for your reply. Kind of reminds me of Wu Mui.

Meaning?

Mind to be more specific in what it does remind you of Wu Mui?

Thanks