The Disciples of Tibetan White Crane

Tibetan White Crane is a style of Southern Traditional Wushu, most popular nowadays in Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Singapore.........and while popular in San Francisco Chinatown....the White Crane School here is better known for their lion dancing not their Wushu.  In this day and age...............it is getting more and more difficult to preserve the martial arts from the past............

an art that traces it's history hundreds of years into  the past and represents the creation of the people of China.......more importantly, it waas not just a fighting art, but a way to heal, an aesthetic art form, and is some cases a way of seeking self realization and enlightment.  Modern wushu has gottten rid of many of those aspects...and has reduced it only to an excercise........often without any roots to the past.  Traditional wushu also delves into traditional literature, martial arts techniques and strategies, calligaphy, philosophy, and utilizes the princples of TCM.  Modern wushu has been written about extensively and rules and materials to teach made available to the public.....but the traditional Wushu is still past down from generation to generation by word of mouth and thru the family.  My uncle returned from Malaysia and Hong Kong, and found that many of the schools in Asia teach form but don't do much correcting.....so lot of the forms are now incorrect........or missing techniques...........so he felt it was his duty to preserve the teachings of his Master Luk Ji Fu.  So this last Sunday, he held a ceremony to accept a new generation of sifus to teach the next generation.......the students would become the 4th generation of Tibetan White Crane.  This will help past on his teacher's teachings..................and preserve the tradition of White Crane.   Too much of Chinese Martial Arts has already been lost.......during the Cultural Revollution....many traditional Wushu Teachers were persecuted and killed for teaching the old and feudal arts............they even burned many of the ancient manuscrpts and manuals.....modern wushu has also drawn away many of the best athletes.........who want the excitment and challenge of competition  Some masters would just let it die out.........that would be too bad, it would be loosing part of our history and culture.........sort of like throwing away your past and not caring where you came from.................Modern wushu is taking this path instead of reaching into it's rich past for techniques to perform it has  instead borrowed  heavily from gymnastics and acrobatics.............while traditional wushu has these aspects too....they are not the main feature of Martial Arts..................techniques were meant to preserve life..........and today it's to look good and most likely tear your ACL!!  So four of my classmates decided to take up the call to committ their lives to learning and preserving the White Crane System.  As I have said before this style originally came from the monks of Tibet.......but it has already been lost to the people of Tibet.......the current monks know nothing of this style and that at one time they were the priest kings of Central China.....engaged in constant battle and strife.  John, I call him da shi hsiung.......is the most senior of my classmates.......I always thought he would be my uncle's main disciple....................he was a thinker constantly analyzing and reading....and encouraged us to learn as much as we could.  The others that my uncle accepted were Rudy. Geoffery, and Kennedy..........all of them have devoted their time and energy to study this style.

Congratulations to all of you...............and may you past the White Crane system on to the next generation!!  For those of you not familiar with what this entails I thought I would give you a brief descrīption............to become a disciple is not your choice but your teachers....... who chooses a student with ability and the proper attitude.......once accepted you become part of his family....and must follow his instructions and take care of him and his family.  To announced to the public your discipleship....you must have a banquet for the Master's family.......at which time he will have each disciple candidate do a Tea Ceremony and swear allegiance not only to Master's Family but also to the style.  Each disciple will give the Master a Red Envelope........showing that they will take care of the Master in his time of need.....then the Master will give them a new name one  that designates what generation they represent.....this then completes the disciple ceremony.  Certainly, quite different from modern Wushu where you just pay your coach and they will teach you.......in traditional wushu you will get taught but the special features of the style and the counter techniques and strategies are only taught to disciples......At the end of the Banquet and after the Ceremiony was over my Uncle toasted everyone and then reminded the other Senior students that if they wanted to help preserve the White Crane Style ...they should not wait too long.......as he is not getting any younger.  As always lots of work......................even for myself I have not spent as much time studying our family style.......and I have several styles that have been left me by my other teachers......including Shaolin, Li and Fu BaguaZhang, as well as Hun Yan Chen Taiji........probably at some point when  I stop teaching contemporary Wushu I can devote time to continuing our family tradition.

My Uncle Master Quentin Fong, accepts the fourth generation of White Crane Masters. From the left is Geoffery, John( Da HsiHsiung), Rudy and Kennedy.

My Uncle with the senior students and disciples of our White Crane Style.

Ok, I am off to watch some more of the Paralympics.............which by the way did you know it does not refer to the fact that the participants are disabled....but in fact that this event is parallel to the regular Olympics....and in the future all countries hosting the Olympics must also host the Paralympics.  There are some incredible athletes overcoming some real handicaps to perform at world level....just amazing!  Cya, all!!