by Niall Keane on Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:57 pm
There is a Disney land around Wudang, which didn't exist until the 90's and is basically Wushu.
There are however real temples where daoist priests stay and also a daoist center in the village below. I've met some ofthose and they have real gung fu, not tai chi. HOWEVER... they are obviously not fighters. I wrestled and sparred with a few and they had a habit of "preempting" and so wrecking their own techniques. SO they would lead one way and then immediately go another, but the ting jin wasn't there, they didnt wait for a response, so there was no hua jin. Just fa one way and fa the opposite. A bit flat? The ideas are there but they really need to get off mother's lap and get some experience.
As for the wushu brigade, endless, endless, endless forms..... with gymnastic signature techniques. Zero martial practice, one of the main (state appointed, though his western students dont know that) sifu there was actually quite shocked when he was told that I practice TCC and I fought. He even went as far as to say TCC wasn't for fighting.
My own Sifu visited both Shaolin (Songshan temple) and Wudang in 1984, they were ruins, Shaolin totally empty, and Wudang had a few old priests only one of whom practiced a martial art - Tai He Chuan, and claimed only to do so for health not martially.
I've heard that the government brought a few old masters of various wudnag styles of gung fu together in the late 80's to teach some wushu athletes and these are now the coaches there. But they're dancers, there's no understanding of the practical application.
Interestingly of the genuine gung fu practiced in the region, none is TCC or Ba Gua or Hsing Yi etc.
The Emperor has no clothes on!