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...We
arrived by car... a little late... it'll probably be quiet !
NOT ! A long row of cars and a long row of people at the entrance of
the 'Zenith Sud' in Montpellier.
 The
show started straight away with one of the most spectacular Shaolin
forms, the 'Ditang Quan' (break fall form) with all the acrobatic
movements of the monkey style ('Hou Quan') and the drunkard style ('Zui
Quan'). Next was a fabulous 'Taiji Jian' form (Taiji straightsword),
executed by one of the nuns of the 'Yongtai' monastary. 'Ah, that must
be it', I thought... the monks do the hard breaking stuff, while the
nuns will take care of the softer styles...
It seemed like that for a while, until one of the nuns started to
perform the known 'Qi Gong' features (Inner power) breaking the iron
bar on her own head, breaking a stick on her back, the bent spear on
the throat while another person breaks a rock on her back with a
hammer, etc...
(I already start screaming like a pig that's being slaughtered when I
hit my leg against the table...)
A nice fight was the adaptation of the monk that fights the 18
guardians of the temple, performed by the nuns. For the rest I
especially enjoyed the 'frog' form, that followed the 'eagle' and the
'scorpion' form. One of the monks also performed one of the most
beautiful 'monkey-stick' forms ('Hou Gun') I've ever seen... (Which
was also very appreciated by the audience.)
What I found a bit of a pity, (But don't foget that I'ld
preferably watch forms for two hours...) was that exept for the stick
('Gun') and the broadsword ('Dao') there was relatively little
attention for the weapons.
Luckely however they performed a double chain form ('Shuang Jiujiebian').
Other highlights, and something that never misses in Shaolin
shows, were the old master showing his flexibility, followed by the
young diciple that showed a childrens-kungfu-form (Tong Zi Gong), with
for me the always spectacular part where he stands backwards in a
bridge on his head while turning around his body.
The 'human snake' demonstration hurt, even just watching.
All and all, a great night !
After
the show I of course completed my collection of Kung Fu / Shaolin, by
buying the new DVD of 'Le Lotus Et L'Epée' ('The lotus and the sword).
When I came home I hoped to be abe to see the same show once again,
especially to see the forms. But the DVD is a documentary of the
Yongtai Monastary, with great images... unfortunately too short, and
there are no bonuses on the DVD... (For the rest I don't care in what
language the DVD can be watched, but on the box it says Dutch as well,
but you won't find this language on the DVD...)
((If you want to have this DVD as well, but you can't find it in the
shop, send us an e-mail by clicking on 'cont@ct', or wait until the 'shop'
section on this site will be online.))
Just
quickly to make things clear;
A long time ago there was a woman that wanted to live and train
in Shaolin, but because she was a woman she wasn't allowed...
 In
521 AD. it was the 'Bei Wei' dynasty ('Wei' of the north) that ruled
in the northern Chinese province Henan. The emperor 'Yuan Ge' ruled
with force. It was a bloody period in which his army battled with the
other Chinese kingdoms and ´barbarians´. The daughter of he emperor,
princess 'Zhouffa' was called 'Yongtai'. ('eternal peace') Disapointed
by her family she decided to devote her life to Buddhism. She
abandoned her royal life and devoted her time to the 'Sutra's', the
sacred texts of Buddhism. Because of traveling through the 'Song Shan'
mountains when she was young, she remembered a temple at the foot of the mountain 'Taishi'.
At
first the temple was more of a hut then a temple, directed by 'Zhuan
Yun', the first nun of China.
Later, with the help of her brother, 'Yuan Yu', princess 'Ming Lian' (The
only female diciple of 'Bodidharma') changed the temple in a
beautiful temple, and she invited hundreds of women to teach them to
write, to read, the use of healing herbs, and 'wushu' (martial arts).
Soon more than a thousend women devoted to the martial arts lived in
the temple. They were just as good as the monks of Shaolin in the
fist- and weapon arts.
 At
her arrival in the temple de nun 'Yongtai' was quickly regarded as a
saint. When she died the temple was thus called 'Yongtai'. During the
'Tang' dynasty the temple was called 'Yongtai'. During the 'Yang'
dynasty the temple was called 'Yong Chan', and from the'Yuan' dynasty
until now the temple has been called 'Yongtai' again.
The temple, completely abandoned and turnt into a ruin, was
discovered in 1991 by a woman called 'Qu Yu Rong'. She decided to
spend all of her gained fortune in the restauration of the temple. She
was born in a farmers family of 9 children. She didn't learn how to
read, nor to write. Today (53 years old) she's a rich business woman,
that's made her fortune during China's indstrial politics of the '80's
that's allowed her start her own company.
Like on
almost all of the pictures of this site, click on the pictures to
enlarge...
Click here to read an article (in French) about
the Yongtai monastary and its nuns ((Ceinture
Noire)) |
