Tibetan White Crane

[jdhowland]

How many types of TWC is there and how does Lama Pai / LionsRoar fit into it?

One way to look at it is that there are versions that were taught to practitioners of other systems, and versions that used only lama style methods. This gives us at least a few major branches and lots of smaller offshoots.

Hong Kong Pak Hok Athletic Association style. These folks had the impossible task of trying to standardize and regulate the style while also trying to preserve it by modifying it.

Chan Hak Fu style. Reportedly different--his own style with a pared down syllabus.

Luk Chee Fu branch. His son, Luk Chung Mau (Michael Lok) continues to teach. I think there were schools influenced by them in Malaysia, Britain and the Philippines. Should be very close to Ngai Yoh Tong and the P.H.A.A. style.

Kwong Bun Fu style. He was one of the senior representatives of Pak Hok when he died a few years back. Left students in Asia and Canada. Some of them claim he should have been the gate keeper of the style but many in Hong Kong disagreed.

Au Wing Nin style. Learned lama style from at least four different teachers. Apparently became the senior disciple of Ng Siu Jung. Au went along with the name change to White Crane but seems to have taught the Lama system more or less as he learned it, without the tendency for expansion that happened in later decades.

Please add others to this list as you think of them.

In regards to the second part of sanjuro_ronin's question: In the past, some have suggested that White Crane resulted from a specialization in one aspect of the Lion Roar curriculum and that systems using the names Lion's Roar or Lama Paai must reflect older versions of the tradition. I don't see it this way at all.

If you look at the origins of systems now calling themselves Lion's Roar or Lama Pai you find that they stem from blends of White Crane and Hap Ga as much as anything else. White Crane and Hop Ga were established before most Lama Pai schools. This reflects political changes in China that allowed the older names to be used again. They were no longer so politically incorrect, and, as Gru Bianca mentioned in a previous post, allowed for a name brand recognition that set them apart from other Chinese arts.