Shaolin Hung Mei Kung Fu Association’s
Shaolin Hung Mei Kung Fu
Traditional arts lead unto a path or way that allows people, at the cost of a long and arduous apprenticeship, to deepen their experience of reality and themselves. The apprentice... learns that the quality of one’s work depends upon whether one can master oneself. One’s outer work becomes the prop of an inner metamorphosis.
“Martial Arts Teaching Tales of Power and Paradox”
~Pascal Fauliot
Activities of "Shaolin Hung Mei Kung Fu" include: Traditional Shaolin Kung Fu Training; Chinese Lion and Dragon Performance Training; Lion, Dragon and Kung Fu Performances; Satellite Programs (presently teach Shaolin Kung Fu at Boulder, Colorado’s Bohua Chinese Language and Culture School); and a wide variety of workshops, lectures, and more - all concerned with various aspects of traditional Chinese culture.
Per the Teacher, Vincent Chu, traditional Kung Fu skills are built on three pillars: forms training, applications training and Gong Fa (foundation) training. Further, it is his belief that the main reason why the martial artists of today are not, in general, as skilled as those from the past is the elimination of the repetitive, boring and arduous foundation training. Shaolin Hung Mei Kung Fu is an avid proponent of the critical nature of foundation training and has gone to great lengths to ensure that such training is available for our students’ practice.
KUNG FU Training
Although defining “traditional” versus more modernized martial arts is often difficult, Shaolin Hung Mei Kung Fu strictly adheres to the structure and content of its art as taught by our past Masters to our Tai Shifu and which he, in turn, brought to the U.S. and taught us (for additional detail, go to our history). We parallel the thoughts of Teacher Vincent Chu who has stated, “Chinese martial arts have developed into many styles with many different approaches to training. Although they appear to have considerable information to offer, the curriculum or programs are actually composed of just three types of training: 1) forms training, 2) simulation [or “applications”] training, and 3) supplementary training exercises commonly known as Gōng training (Gōng Lì Xùn Liàn – skill training)”.
Further, Teacher Chu states, “Many practitioners today do not pay sufficient attention to the Gōng exercises training or have no access to a teacher to acquire these exercises. With different objectives or neglect of the martial objective, these people may assume that forms training and simulation training are the entire Chinese martial arts curriculum. This is why the contemporary Chinese martial arts practitioners are typically not as skillful as in the past.”
A Few Examples of Gōng Lì Xùn Liàn (Foundational) Training
Forearm Conditioning – Cylinders filled with concrete
Zuò Mă Bù (坐馬步 – Sitting Horse Stance) – The rope wraps around a pully. Pulling the rope lifts the weight, training the “rooting” of the stance.
More Zuò Mă Bù (坐馬步 – Sitting Horse Stance) Training
Arm Speed Training – Accelerating a medicine (weighted) ball.
Wrist Strength Training – Winding the rope of the shaft, lifting the weight.
More Forearm Conditioning
Fist Training
Wooden Dummy Training
Hand Conditioning
Traditional Shaolin Kung Fu Training
Lion, Dragon and Kung Fu Performances
Examples of notable performances in which SHMKF has participated:
Workshops, Lectures, Presentations
This function differs from the variety of Chinese culture related workshops and other presentations which the Shaolin Hung Mei Kung Fu Association hosts at its Academy of Chinese Martial and Cultural Art. Rather, the few examples of events included below, are those for which the Kung Fu school was asked to offer instruction in Kung Fu or Lion Dance for specific communities, the sessions held at either the Academy or at the facility chosen by the respective, sponsoring organization.
Shaolin Hung Mei Kung Fu has conducted workshops and other presentations for a wide range of audiences ranging from pre-school children to children attending the Casey Middle school in Boulder to seniors living at the Carillon Senior Center also in Boulder. In 2020, as a result of the pandemic, we conducted our first on-line workshop for a group of students participating in the Asian Studies Program at the University of Denver.
Kung Fu workshop for children attending camp hosted by Chinese Children Adoption International.
Kung Fu workshop for adopted Chinese children attending the annual, national Chinese Heritage Camp. SHMKF has been working with the children and families attending both the national and local Chinese Heritage Camps for more than 18 years.
Kung Fu workshop for children attending Peak-to-Peak High School – event held at the Academy of Chinese Martial and Cultural Arts
Lion Dance lecture/presentation for children attending the Primrose Pre-School. The presentation at Primrose has become an annual event having been offered every year for the past 8 years.
Kung Fu workshop for the children attending a local Chinese Heritage Camp (called “Chinese Heritage Camp Too”).
Lion Dance workshop for the children attending the WOW Children’s Museum. The workshop at the WOW museum is an annual event having occurred around Chinese New Year, every year for more than 10 years.
