|
|
White Eyebrow
Bak Mei / Baimei quan / Pak Mei / BokMei Pai
One
of the styles placing it's origins from the shaolin temple by the Monk Bak Mei.
This art is often considered a traitors art because of the supposed actions of
the monk that is said to cause the destruction of the shaolin temple. Bak Mei
was said to have killed monk Jee Shim in some stories and was him self killed by
one of the remain shaolin monks. Some do not believe this story and feel the
story is altered from the truth. As most martial arts history the legends are
often twisted or even entirely made up. What is passed down as history in Bak
Mei is that master Cheung Lai Chun brought this art to the public after learning
it from monk Chuk Fat Wan who had been a Daoist
disciple
at Kwang Wai temple at Sze Chuan where Bak Mei him self is said to have taught.
He moved to Canton and came across Cheung Lai Chun who was already a master of
Lee gar, Dragon(Lung Ying), and Gypsy style. After Being bested by a monk in a
restaurant, Cheung followed the monk to his master and was able to persuade monk Chuk Fat Wan to teach him Bak Mei.
In any case Bak Mei is a very effective style that uses powerful strikes and a triangular foot work common to many southern arts like Dragon style and Wing Chun. Although Bak Mei seems very external and powerful, it is not a truly hard style. The principle use both yin and yang to combine soft and hard. Power release is executed upon contact only. Much of Bak Mei's power comes from the back and is often utilized by their famous phoenix eye punch. Strikes are often aimed for softer areas or pressure points instead of smashing style blows that can be found in Hung Gar and other styles This system uses a combination of straight and circular attacks but the circular attacks are not as great as those of choy lee fut but can come from various angles. Training can be very intense utilizing body conditioning and weight training in the version I have seen. Strikes are fast and lethal and launched from a solid even weight distributed stance which is a wider than wing chun and utilizes a 50/50 stance work.
I am slightly confused about the forms which are authentic Bak Mei and what sifu Cheung may have taught form his past training if anything. I have heard that they teach over 40 different forms by one source and I have visited another site that only lists about 20. In HB Un's Book Pak Mei Fung Fu, he says master Cheung learned several forms previously from Lee gar, Dragon Style, and Gypsy Style that have the same name as traditional Bak Mei. I don't know if they are the same or just have the same names. But some of the basic forms include Sup Jee (Cross pattern), Kou Bo Teaw (nine step push), Fancy Panther, Sup Bat Mor Kiu (18 ghost bridge), 7 point plum flower, and Tiger step movements. Sub Jee is usually considered a basic form that contains many of Bak Mei's key principles. Weapons include spear, staff, broad swords, bench, chain and various other weapons.