shaolin monks

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbqZrWdr8FM"]Shaolin Monks Kung Fu Masters - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=481kjcgP7mg"]Shaolin metal - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnxt6hDA3E8&feature=PlayList&p=0B5ED856C2D8E5DF&index=34"]Shaolin Monk Demonstration - YouTube[/ame]

Are shaolin monks so good that they put other martial artist to shame? I know they have to be celibate and they can do amazing things. It seems they have done every physical skill known to humans. I like to know more about them. Or are they just over rated?

 

Those are monks, but they are Wushu (modern) not real monks, hired actors is essentially what they are.

 

Well that last video cannot be modern wushu.. He's too damn old... I don't know many modern wushu performers demostrating that skill.

But everything else.. yeah thats modern wushu.. Yay for gymnastics with weapons!

 

They are mainly for show nowadays, still very entertaining to watch though.

 

I heard there's not a lot of shaolin monks anymore because of Mao Ze Dong or something. How do you identify actors from real monks then?

 

98% of the current monks are not traditional monks, the traditional monks do not reside much at Shaolin as during the cultural revolution and before they were ostrocized and hunted, many went into hiding and continued teaching to layman, thus the skills and arts survived, after Jet Li's Shaolin Temple made Shaolin famous world wide, the PRC hired actors to take their place for money making, so many of today's monks while skilled and athletic are modern wushu monks, not traditional. Though there are a small few of those left at the temple, they do not show themselves much to outsiders...

 

So you're saying that the small percentage of true monks wouldn't bother to show off their skills.

 

Unless invited into their midst, pretty much yea.

There are those who are layman who have not taken the official vows as such, are still considered traditonal who show things, but there is a fine line as such things go.

 

No mainly only kicks the crap out of ninjutsu!

 

The authentic wu seng tradition at Shaolin is gone.

 

Even as a performance wushu guy, I find Shaolin pretty sad. Lots of tricking and flashy breaks. You can find all that in XMA, and at least they have point fighting.

However, we do know of at least two people at Shaolin with some kind of fighting ability. Not nescessarily a whole lot, but some. Unless both these clips are of the same person, in which case there's only one .

This guy:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2081264493779407503&q=shaolin

And this guy:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR7YvOp1O4o"]SHAOLIN VS taekwondo - YouTube[/ame]

Now, neither of those are really terribly impressive - I'm sure you could find dozens of videos of karateka, or hapkido people, or any other martial artists fighting in competitions or demonstrating combat applications. The fact that we only have two for Shaolin 'monks' shows what kind of issues the Shaolin temple has.

IMHO, if you want to see the best martial artists in China, look at their national San Shou team.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6MnGc2sAtk"]YouTube[/ame]
They like to rumble with Thai boxers, which I find pretty impressive.

 

That San Shou vs Muay Thai is clip is great stuff. I know that at the Shaolin Temple in London (which I assume is affiliated to the one in China), they teach San Shou alongside the acrobatics. They also do full contact sparring (with gloves); they have got there own boxuing ring and take the San Shou very seriously.

 

Which one was the Shaolin guy the one getting the crap beat out of him?

Oh , could not make it out the first time thru sorry about that. That is how it should be applied if the ppl you fight take weight of front leg shoot grab throw even in real fight. It has to be instantly though for real fight you have to be more sensitive to the move off opponent.

P.S. I was just messing when i wrote earlier but most shaolin does not fight any more. And the Ninjutsu is actually a very effective fighting method againts large number of ppl that is really how Japan looks at figthing a large number of ppl cause there real enemy is China. Most Jujutsu based system are first for that.

 

Ummm... right?

 

actually i was thinking about authentic shaolin monks not a school with the name shaolin in it. A temple in the mountains,shaved heads, celibacy the whole 9 yards.

 

And that's what we're talking about as well. The actual temple is mostly flash and little combat.

 

so i'm going to assume a straight forward martial artist can easily beat them.

 

What do you think of this guy:
www.shifuyanlei.co.uk/press.html

Is he the whole 9 yards?

 

Dunno but £8 per lesson is pretty steep? You can't tell from a website though,best to go try it out

 

that was what i was talking about.