Shaolin Monkey

[David Weatherly]

Shaolin Monkey Staff form:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G79Ql1ig4n0&feature=related

David

 

[arnisador]

Neat! I was fascinated by the monkey material when I was younger, but have never seen it live.

 

[David Weatherly]

Neat! I was fascinated by the monkey material when I was younger, but have never seen it live.

If you ever get a chance to see Paulie Zink, don't pass it up. He's THE master of Monkey style.

David

 

[arnisador]

I have a book by him! I also read about him in Black Belt. Very interesting!

 

[ArmorOfGod]

Crab Kung Fu is still better....
;-)

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Cool.

 

[Taijiman]

The "Shaolin" monkey style is actually modern wushu monkey which, to me, seems more inspired by Emei monkey style (going by a little bit that I've seen before). Emei monkies are pretty agressive and well known for mugging tourists

Paulie Zink is very talented, but has some character issues. Unfortunately, he plagarised a book by a kungfu teacher in Hong Kong and likely fabricated his background as his Tai Shing Pek Kwar is very different from anyone else in the lineage, among other things. He's a good performer though, and very very bendy, lol.

 

[Taijiman]

Here's an interview that shows some authentic Tai Sheng Pek Kwar (the most famous traditional monkey style from Hong Kong). Tai Sheng Pek Kwar is a combination of monkey boxing (Tai Sheng) and Axe boxing (PeK Kwar or Pigua in mandarin). Their Pek Kwar portion of the system is itself a combination of things containing various other styles like black tiger, lost track, wusong breaks manacles, and other forms. If I remember correctly, they require 10 years of Pek Kwar training before learning the 5 monkey styles... stone, drunken, wood... and I forget the other two . Happy and sad? Maybe I remember that from a movie, lol. I've got a little training manual around here somewhere that explains it. I'll have to see if I can find it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPfYApv7gzU&feature=related

 

[David Weatherly]

The "Shaolin" monkey style is actually modern wushu monkey which, to me, seems more inspired by Emei monkey style (going by a little bit that I've seen before). Emei monkies are pretty agressive and well known for mugging tourists

Paulie Zink is very talented, but has some character issues. Unfortunately, he plagarised a book by a kungfu teacher in Hong Kong and likely fabricated his background as his Tai Shing Pek Kwar is very different from anyone else in the lineage, among other things. He's a good performer though, and very very bendy, lol.

Thanks for posting. I'm aware of the controversy surrounding Paulie Zink. It's become even more complex with Mr. Zink's former student Michael Matsuda.
That being said, Paulie Zink is truly amazing to watch and I know several people who had good training experiences at workshops hosted by him.

Like many Chinese styles, it's very difficult to find good teachers with the proper background to convey the art in the United States.

David

 

[David Weatherly]

Here's an interview that shows some authentic Tai Sheng Pek Kwar (the most famous traditional monkey style from Hong Kong). Tai Sheng Pek Kwar is a combination of monkey boxing (Tai Sheng) and Axe boxing (PeK Kwar or Pigua in mandarin). Their Pek Kwar portion of the system is itself a combination of things containing various other styles like black tiger, lost track, wusong breaks manacles, and other forms. If I remember correctly, they require 10 years of Pek Kwar training before learning the 5 monkey styles... stone, drunken, wood... and I forget the other two . Happy and sad? Maybe I remember that from a movie, lol. I've got a little training manual around here somewhere that explains it. I'll have to see if I can find it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPfYApv7gzU&feature=related

Nice link, thanks for posting it.
I've encountered the same information regarding five monkey forms. The two you're missing are Tall Monkey and Lost Monkey.

If you find the book, let me know what it is. There are very few texts in english on Monkey style and I think I've tracked them all down at this point.

David