Topic: Shaolin Kung Fu
A few weeks back I started a martial class in town dedicated to the practice of Shaolin Kung Fu.
It's been an amazing experience, I've already had a chance to do a special class taught by the Grandmaster.
Which was Entwine the Dragon Straightsword, in a hot gym for twelve hours.
At the moment I'm a yellow belt. Someone is going to say it so I should mention that if you were to train in Mainland China it would either be Wushu-a flowery art that's purely performance based and devoid of martial intent-or Sanda which is Chinese kickboxing. Tai Chi is technically a martial art but it's meditational for many Chinese.
This is the real deal as far as I can tell, and the use of the Japanese belt system is because the martial artists of China fled to Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan because of the Communist party. In Indonesia it was illegal to practice Chinese martial arts so they adopted Japanese habits to avoid all that. Such as uniform and belt levels.
If you get a chance train at a Chinese Shaolin Center, which only has one school outside of the States in Ireland.
Along with the standard Kung Fu it also includes a Tai Chi class including the martial application.
(BFFC Moderator)