Sal Canzonieri:
Fine, I'll admit that the whole thing about Da Mo creating the 18 lines fighting set is a legend. Albeit, a popular one.
I do, however, believe you are wrong about the history of Bak Siu Lum. First of all, Kuo Yu Chang did not create Bak Siu Lum. It's been recorded that he learned Tam Tui, the ten sets of Northern Shaolin, the 18 weapons, as well as flying knives, flying darts, Raise Blocking Spear, 24 Technique Spear, Plum Blossom Double Sabers, Chi Gung, and Iron Palm from master Yim Shi Wen in Shantung Province. It was long accepted that these were the sets directly passed down from Monk Chih Yuan. The fact that there were so many traditional weapon sets can be used as ample proof that this style came directly from Shaolin. Weapons training was always a big part of Shaolin. Are the weapon sets in Hong Chuan, Rou Chuan, Pao Chui, and Tong Bi as extensive and varied? I think not. I also think it would be wrong to assume that Yim Shi Wen or one of the sifus before him made up all or any of those sets? There is no proof of that and anyone who claims that is probably completely wrong.
Secondly, Northern Shaolin was not developed from Kan Jia Chuan. The official history behind the style propagated by Kuo Yu Chang is quite different. It's always gone something like this: During the Song Dynasty (960-1279) there was a group of monks at the main temple who utilized their knowledge and experience to combine the best techniques from what they considered to be the top fighting styles of their time. As I mentioned earlier, these were the Ch'a, Wah, Hua, P'ao, and Hung Styles. The monks named their new style in honor or the five northern mother styles and the Shaolin Monastery. The complete name was recorded as being "Northern Shaolin Style of Shaolin Gate", which was subsequently shortened to "Northern Shaolin Style". This was the style known as Song Shaolin style during the Ming Dynasty and the fact that the techniques in the ten sets of Northern Shaolin are so obviously related (and in many cases exactly the same) to the five mother styles is ample proof that this is the correct history. Sorry, but there is no proof behind these claims about Kuo Yu Chang and how it was developed from Kan Jia Chuan. It all sounds like legends and conjecture to me.
And...I don't have to be old and learned to know that any so-called historical proofs that were uncovered after a PRC endorsed group of monks reopened the temple in 1981 are suspect. Supposedly, there were senior monks who left Shaolin Temple as early as 1901 when the country was ravaged by war. Why do they have nothing to do with todays current temple?
http://www.shaolintemple.org/text_backcover.htm
You know why they didn't invite Bak Siu Lum stylists to the temple to help bring back the old Shaolin sets? Because they were all in Hong Kong and elsewhere. They were very distrusting of the PRC. Who wouldn't be after the Red Guard went around shooting sifus during The Cultural Revolution? Of course, after Jet Li's, "The Shaolin Temple" came out, there were bound to be countless monks and families within the PRC coming forth claiming to have the "real" Shaolin sets. Why do I need to know all of their names? Just like the famed "Long March" and other tall tales about Mao, many claims about Shaolin Wushu's history are likely embellished and fabricated. The library was supposedly completely burned out in 1925. Where did all of these records come from all of a sudden? We're talking about a regime that, at one time, practically tried to destroy the country's history. How are you going to trust the official PRC sanctioned history over what was accepted as the official history before The Cultural Revolution? The sifus who left the country during that tumultuous time weren't invited back to help rebuild the temple so how could they have gotten a complete representation of the oldest styles? I know things are different there now, but, in my view, the Chinese government still has a ways to go before their motives can be completely trusted. They just executed their own Ex-Food and Drug Chief by shooting him in the back of the head!! And I won't even get into the whole Falun Gong controversy.
I still maintain that Northern Shaolin was the "crown jewel" of Shaolin Wushu all the way up until the temple was almost completely destroyed in 1732. Sure, there were monks practicing all sorts of other styles, but the "Northern Shaolin of Shaolin Gate" is the most comprehensive and complete system from Shaolin's heyday that has survived the ages.
Pk_StyLeZ:
I'm confused, are you selling beauty supplies?
Originally Posted by Siu Lum Fighter
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