Greater 8 Step Community

[EarthDragon]

fork in the road, I think we have covered that...........Mighty mungbean was simply going by what he had read on james shyun's website. While some of the history is true much is embelished.

[K.Brazier]

Taiwan, which is where the ROC now resides, is covered in mountains.
There is a flat plain in the southwest where I live though.

The tallest mountains require a permit to enter and they are somewhat dangerous.
Though south of FL it snows there and there is a bit of skiing.
Some areas in the mountains are off limits to taiwanese as they are reserves for aborigines.
Generally these areas are not very large. To enter you need another permit.

When the mainlanders came to Taiwan they were housed in newly built military housing.
To this day the housing is still there and still filled with mainlanders.
It was free or close to free, military housing.

The higher your station in the military the better your housing.
It is extremely unlikely that a mainlander from the north of China would want to live anywhere but his designated military housing.

Why?
They had been in an extremely bitter war with the Japanese until 1945.
From 1895 until 1945 all Taiwanese were Japanese, not quite citizen's, but definetly not Chinese, with the exception of their culture.

The school systems only taught in Japanese so the 2 common languages were Japanese and Taiwanese.
When the mainlanders came to Taiwan there were many problems resulting in some riots, torture and deaths.

After the country was united in a common economic purpose the cross cultural hatred faded away, or dissenters were jailed, since Taiwan was under Martial Law until the 80's.

My shifu traveled to the different military housing units to search out different styles of kung fu.

Many other Taiwanese went there to taste "foriegn" food.
The other day I went there for a Shandong steamed bun.
About the size of a softball, but the weight of a basketball. Real tradional food.

When he searched the mountains of Taiwan most, if not all the masters were native Taiwanese.

Mike, where did you meet Shyun's father?

Kevin

[EarthDragon]

Thanks for the information Kevin. I have heard from my qigong teacher and others as well as you have said before that the mountains were not liveable in taipei in the same respect like they are in China.

I met James Shyun father at his house for dinner in the SF bay are shortly before I left SF in 1996 and unfortunaly was there again at his fathers passing and attended the funeral. My fist shrfu Dean was one of the pallbearers.

[Mighty Mungbean]

Hmm, I just don't get to post as often as I would like. Pesky things like work and family seem to get in the way.

Earth Dragon, it seems I am incapable of keeping to my own claims. In class I was the first to point out that I didn't really care whether the claims addressed here were true or not. I had not joined a cult of Shyun but a kung fu school and as long as I was learning and improving, what did I care. I tried to convey as much in my posts, pointing out possible explanations and asking what I thought were appropriate questions.

I have no answer to the claims of falsehood you put forth about Master James Shyun. I don't know him and therefore can't ask him. I will talk to my sifu about those claims, but regardless how they are answered I have no intentions of leaving my school at this point or over this particular matter.

As a point of persnicketiness I will note that I think you do "diss" my style when you speak maliciously of Master Shyun. Master Shyun is the head of this particular system. His reputation sets the tone or is the focal point to which others look. The claims you make are rather damming and I hope you can support them as falsehoods repeated in this manner are often seen as slander.

I would ask, however, why it is that you repeat these same "falsehoods" on your own site. The story of Shyun's recovery is repeated not just on his website but in several of the books he has published. As I said before there is an entire chapter in _Ancient Ways for Modern Times_. I believe that this page on your site (http://www.eightstep.com/kungfu.php) is taken directly from Master Shyun's site. At any rate you seem to have failed to correct the "inaccuracies" contained there. Here are a few quotes:

"Wei Hsiao Tang took the young child with him to his home. There, around his home in the mountains, Wei Hsiao Tang busied himself gathering herbs and preparing medicines. Taking one full year Wei Hsiao Tang was able to completely cure the boy...Shyun Kwong Long was six when he began training in martial arts. Twelve years later he was a strong, young man ready for his first big fight...Once he had completed his training under Wei Hsiao Tang and inherited the Eight Step Praying Mantis system at the age of 26...In 1990 Grandmaster James Sun (the sole inheritor of the Eight Step Praying Mantis System) made the decision to further protect the system..."

If this information is so patently false why have you not bothered to correct it on your site? I have no wish to devolve this into a flamewar (if it's not already too late). I wish for a community in which all practitioners can flourish and sincerely hope that this discussion does not preclude that wish.

As a student of kung fu truth is important to me. No one wants to waste his time chances false promises and false ideals. I bring up these questions in light of that search for truth, but I will also point out, my children beleive in Santa Claus. Hell, I believe in Santa Claus, even if I do know it to be a lie. So you can see, there are some lies worth having around. Sometimes they make greater truths easier to see.

With respect,
Dave

[EarthDragon]

Mighty munbean,
No worries...... I truley understand where you coming from and you sound like a great guy, and am in no way upset or mad about anything you have said.

I would like to point out however when you said..............
As a point of persnicketiness I will note that I think you do "diss" my style when you speak maliciously of Master Shyun.

Please realize this is no one's style... just because he copy righted the name Shyun 8 step does not make 8 step owned by him nor any one individual.
Just as Donald Trump copy righted the words YOUR FIRED! Does this mean he owns those words of the English language?

I have been in 8 step since 1989. And I have to right to voice my opinon and attempt to set the record straight about what is the truth and what is not.
8 step is the style in which I have spent the last 16 years of my life learning, teaching and loving so please dont say I dissed "YOUR" style.

I have left the federation for the politics and problems in it. And wish to reamain out of the fireing line and out fo the BS that surrounds it from its unevidable karma. This is the very reason 8 sifus have left james shyun and his federation and one of them has been a student for almost 20 years who now learns from John Chang. the same guys who actually taught YOUR sifu..........

I teach out of love for the art and the system and my students.... for it is them I truley care about not what he said or she said stuff.
This is why I could not tell 5 of my students every year they had to enroll in a 5,000 program in order to be ranked as a sifu in 8 step. This is perposterous! do i sell out now? or charge them 450.00 for thier uniform? what next 200.00 sifu shoes?

Hard work dedication and practice will make you become a sifu not buying your rank. Hell if we sucome to this then we are no better than the tae kwon do school down the street with a little tigers black belt program for 3-5 year olds....

However I will, knowing the truth step up and tell people. And the newbies with the wool over thier eyes and 5,000 poorer who just recently joined the ACMAF can be mad if they want to but realize they are trying to justify why they spent 5 grand to learn something that shouldnt cost more than any other lesson.........

be well and train from peter, he is a great teacher and a great guy . Go to class learn a lot but keep your school small and your money in your pocket.

[Pilot]

Isn’t it amazing what palatable sounding steaming piles of ambrosia can be crafted when mixed with a little truth?