Designed for the flash and dazzle of a champion competitor! Trimmed with mylar metallic and glitter tape, with a no-slip center grip. Breaks down into two pieces for easy transport. Comes with fitted nylon carr ying case.
Carrying case included
Red 27-R (48”, 54”) $49.99 - (60”, 66” & 72”) $53.79 Blue 27-U (48”, 54”) $49.99 - (60”, 66” & 72”) $53.79 Black 27-K (48”, 54”) $49.99 - (60”, 66” & 72”) $53.79
Please Note: Do not expose weapon under the sun too long. Contact during combat may
create dents in Staff. (Any STAFF 60” or longer , extra shipping charges apply).
Our Jo and Bo staffs are imported directly from China, the only source for authentic quality
waxwood staffs.
Shaolin Monk Shi Decheng
FEBRUARY 2018 KUNG FUTAI CHI 47
T
original Shaolin Temple in Henan, China, as it stands today, is magnificent. With the support of countless patrons, the Chinese government, and a steady stream of tourist income, Shaolin has been restored to a world class historic site with the glory and majesty that such a venerated institution deserves. But it wasn’t always so. With over 1500 years of history, Shaolin Temple has been ravaged many times, most recently in the late sixties by the Cultural Revolution.Less than four decades ago, Shaolin Temple lay in ruins.
In 1978, Deng Xiaoping launched the Open Door Policy, reintroducing China to the world market after being closed off for nearly three decades under communist rule. As part of the campaign, historic sites across the nation were restored. It was an effort to honor their cultural legacies, as well as a ploy to g rab foreign money through tourism. Through this program Shaolin Temple began its first 20th century repairs, although the initial restoration effort leaned towards gaudy.
Master Ye Xinglie () remembers a time when Shaolin Temple was far less opulent. “No statue, no gate, no Wushuguan,” recalls Ye in Mandarin and English. “T here were only dirt roads. You could tell where they were because they were outlined with coal that spilled from the carts of passing miners. There was only a small market where Tagou was located.” Master Ye first went to Shaolin in 1987 when he was just a child.
He bore eyewitness to the dramatic rebirth of Shaolin Temple and stood among the first generation of Shaolin monks to be indoctrinated into the order in the wake of
the Open Door Policy.
Shaolin i t i i
Today, there’s a highway leading to Shaolin from Zhengzhou, the capital city of Henan province.
Zhengzhou has a population well over 9 million and is a traffic hub where the major railroads cross and home to an international airport. The highway was built as one of many redevelopment projects launched by the Abbot, Venerable Shi Yongxin (), after he was inaugurated in 1999. The Abbot also had the earlier lackluster Temple reconstruction demolished so it could be rebuilt more accurately. An archive of photos of Shaolin emerged from the Republic of China period (1912–1949) and the temple was rebuilt once more, but this time in accordance to photographic records. Throughout the nineties, numerous privately-owned tourist traps arose around Shaolin, ironically looking to capitalize on the growing influx of travelers and pilgrims. Much of it was tasteless, completely unrelated to Shaolin or her sacred legacy. The Abbot orchestrated a forced relocation, cleaning up Shaolin enough that the region earned recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
However when Master Ye first arrived at Shaolin, prior to the big tourist boom, Venerable Shi Xing Zheng ( 1913–1987) was still Abbot. “Master Yongxin was always his assistant,”
he recalls, but Ye was only around 10 at the time. Shi Xingzheng was the first officially inaugurated Abbot
that Shaolin Temple had for three centuries. Previous to him, Venerable Shi Haikuan ( 1639–1666) was Abbot, but details of his life are muddy. There were several interim “honorary” Abbots in between, including some during the period between Xing Zheng’s death and Yongxin’s inauguration, but none were officially installed through the traditional Buddhist ceremonies of abbacy progression until Yongxin. Like many of the present generation of Shaolin monks abroad, Master Ye took his disciple vows under Shi Yongxin and bears the Shaolin name Shi Yanxing ().
Ye’s roots were humble. He was born to a farming family in Xi’an, the capital city of Shaanxi Province which has a current population of over 13.5 million. Farmers want a martial artist in the family to protect their land. Ye’s brother
was sent to learn martial arts and a neighbor’s daughter was sent to Shaolin for the same reason, so his grandfather took him there too. He had never left home before, so it was shocking and overwhelming. “I remember seeing the ground. The dirt had dark lines and light lines. The light lines were practice lines, made from students practicing in a row. Now it reminds me of the Shaolin saying, ‘Fist strike one line (quan da yi tiao xian ).’”
He was enrolled in one of the surrounding private schools, the one that eventually became the biggest martial arts school in the world, the Shaolin Temple Tagou Martial Arts School (). Tagou has claims to have 38,000 students enrolled now, but back in 1987 it was just starting to grow. According to Ye, Tagou offered a three-year program then. There were thirteen levels, level one being the highest. Each level had about 30 to 50 students, so he guesses enrollment was around 450 to 650 at that time. That was huge back then (it’s huge for anywhere outside of China now) but nowhere near what it has become today. Each level has been expanded so there are now many more classes on each level as well as divisions within each level like 1.2, 1.3 and so on. Additionally, back in those days, all Tagou offered was martial arts. Today, students get a complete regular education as well.
48 KUNG FUTAI CHI FEBRUARY 2018
Ye remembers that there were only two schools near Shaolin Temple at that time, Tagou and the