Originally Posted by
Shaolin Wookie
They're not done in the same way. I've watched some Shaolin Lohan sets, and done some Longfist, myself. When you watch some Lohan (although, the SD Lohan sets are really Tan Tui--[there's confusion as to the origin, depending on the source you tax for SD references]--and they look like someone took various sequences of tan tui, chopped them into small bits, and taught them as fighting training sequences in a series of small movements. They're almost exact--I can see them clearly in Tan Tui.) As for the Longfist and Shaolin Quan; you won't find those anywhere in SD in a format you'd recognize, unless they teach them above the 5th degree level. I've done some Shaolin Quan, and it's not like SD at all in terms of forms.
The Tan Tui, however, is very much the same. The sweeps, and combinations where you pull + punch (pull with left hand, which chambers, and straight or reverse punch with right), and kick (in SD, called a hit-kick, or a twist-hit-and-kick combo) are very prevalent. Also, the transitions are pretty much exact.
They're taught in short sequences (called short forms) in order to stress how to move from one stance to the next, and how to apply the principles in combat (one hand is always chambering while the other one is striking, and it heightens your awareness of what your weapons are based on your body posture). Some people do them more like karate; others more like Tan Tui. However, SD does not teach them as a single form....at least not anymore. They're considered the core of the system, and really do set one up for just about everything one's going to learn in the system, more or less.
Whenever I watch a chop-sockey flick and I see a group of guys in a courtyard arranged in rows with a teacher shouting out orders or move names, and the guys do a short sequence of movements (unlike the usual CMA forms)---that always reminds me of our short forms.
If I had the editing skills and a camera, I'd film myself doing the short forms, then place them side-by-side with small clips of a tan tui performance to show where they occur. (also, Ancestor's Fist has many of the same movements). I've seen them a bunch of times, but you'll just have to take my word for it, b/c I don't have the time or money to do so.