Interview ft. James Yang: Shaolin Temple (China), ONE C

[marvin8]

MMASucka
Apr 14, 2022

MMA Sucka's Nate Freeman sits down with James Yang ahead of his fight at ONE: Reloaded on April 22 against Keanu Subba. Yang discussed some of his favorite martial arts films, his time living in a Chinese Shaolin temple, and much more.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vW4JQXwgcs

"One Championship's James Yang Trained for Three Years in Shaolin Temple in Rural China:"

In a matter of days, one of James Yang’s life dreams will come true as he makes his mixed martial arts debut.

The life of the 32-year-old has been full of adventures so far. The One Championship lightweight traveled around the globe to pursue fulfillment as a person and a martial artist. Now, he is scheduled to take on Roel Rosauro at the upcoming One “Revolution.” Before switching to MMA and training under Matt Hume at AMC Pankration, Yang had a life-changing experience in a Shaolin temple in rural China.

“When I was 17, out of high school, my plan was, you know, I was going to take six months off in Northern Shaolin martial arts academy,” he said. “It’s near a city called Siping in Dongbei, North-eastern China. It actually bordered North Korea, it’s very high there. The closest city, Siping, is about an hour away. That’s the closest city. It’s an hour away by taxi car. I was in rural, rural China. Even the nearest village was like six, seven kilometers away. We had nothing up there, it was living on this hill. At the academy, it wasn’t just shallow martial arts. They had Shaolin, but they had ba-ji[quan], Chen-style tai chi and Sanda, which is like Chinese kickboxing. They had a big mix of martial artists.”

The recollection of what happened while staying in China resembles some kung fu movies from the 80s, in which the young apprentice has to go through a series of challenging tasks to subdue his ego and grow his patience.

“I planned to for six months, come back, go schooling, do the whole typical thing, right, get a job and all that, but what I ended up doing was staying there for three years in that academy. I got this opportunity as a foreigner to perform with the demo team, and that’s a huge opportunity, like not a lot of people get to do that. Just to get an idea, we trained like eight hours a day, right? You get like two hours of hot water at night to shower and there’s like moldy, crusty facilities and everyone crams in there at night. Bathrooms are like all squatters, you’re literally looking at somebody while they’re watching you taking number two or whatever. It’s just that kind of situation.”

Yang also talked his experience as a performer at Cirque du Soleil and commented on Demetrious Johnson’s loss to Adriano Moraes and the global ruleset that One adopts.

NGM RANDOMS
Sep 25, 2021

American Warrior James Yang THREW DOWN with Filipino veteran Roel Rosauro in an intense featherweight fight at ONE: REVOLUTION!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-akXEoWOcM4

Edit: At 14:57 of OP video, Sifu Tianyuan Li, Northwest Wushu Academy.

Wushu Live
Nov 24, 2020

Tianyuan Li @tianyuan_li_wushu visits Roger @rog3ee on @wushulive to discuss her career as a professional wushu athlete to China National Champion, her teaching in Japan and the US, Soul Caliber and her tips on Spear and Straightsword.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ncan8aUUuHY


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tDoe2vL_Yc

Sifu Li
Aug 9, 2008

Li Tian Yuan as model for Soul Caliber commercial


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td5W43Wwcd0


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnvCNkmq548

[nicklinjm]

V disingenuous by whoever thought up the video title....Siping is a well-known commercial cookie-cutter kungfu school in northern China (Jilin), although AFAIK the founder of the school did study at Shaolin Temple I doubt v much the quality of the other arts (baji / Chen taiji) which were taught there.

[marvin8]

V disingenuous by whoever thought up the video title....Siping is a well-known commercial cookie-cutter kungfu school in northern China (Jilin), although AFAIK the founder of the school did study at Shaolin Temple I doubt v much the quality of the other arts (baji / Chen taiji) which were taught there.

James says he attended "Northern Shaolin Martial arts Academy," not in Siping. "The closest city, Siping, is about an hour away. That’s the closest city. It’s an hour away by taxi car. I was in rural, rural China." James' MMA success may be attributed to his MA background and training with coach Matt Humes and Demetrius Johnson (arguably the best pound for pound MMA fighter).

Other references to Northern Shaolin Martial arts Academy:

LinkedIn "Alex Treadwell:"

Beijing ShiCha-Hai Sports School
Wushu
2013 年 - 至今

famed school of martial arts movie star Jet li (summer 2013)
Trained by top national coaches and athletes in Modern Wushu...

Northern Shaolin Martial arts Academy
Shaolin Wushu
2000 年 - 2003 年

3 year full-time study in Martial Arts
- Competed in Provincial Events
- Performed in local Shows

Excerpt from Origins of Chinese Martial Arts

For example, the Northern Shaolin Martial Arts Academy in northern China takes in both male and female lay students and teaches them traditional Shaolin qi gong and real gongfu. Though tobacco and alcohol are forbidden, the academy, in a bid to be modem and relevant, has tolerated laptop computers so long as students steer clear of undesirable sites, as well as unmoral or illegal activities.

Another "Shaolin Temple" fighter in One Championship is Xie Wei. Excerpt from "Shaolin Temple martial arts coach enters the MMA ring! A 100% finish rate in 2019!"

Xie Wei, born in 1996, was once a big fan of Kung Fu movies. In the early years, Xie Wei, with a dream of Kung Fu, entered the Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng, Henan Province to learn traditional martial arts and Sanda techniques. After three years of tempering, the ignorant boy has gradually grown into a victorious general in the ring! Later, Xie Wei began to serve as a coach at Shaolin Temple. Although stable, he was farther and farther away from the passionate rivers and lakes in his heart...

In order to realize his dream, Xie Wei resigned from his stable job and came to Qingdao Xinjiang. The team learns mixed martial arts. Although a good foundation has been laid in Shaolin Temple, for Xie Wei, who has never been exposed to mixed martial arts, it is tantamount to starting from scratch.

ONE Championship
Dec 24, 2021

Chinese knockout artist Xie Wei spent four years training under the tutelage of the Shaolin warrior monks before fulfilling his longtime dream of becoming a professional mixed martial artist! Relive "The Hunter's" WILDEST highlights in ONE, featuring his shocking KNOCKOUT of Cambodian Kun Khmer fighter Chan Rothana and MORE!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tNkfn1ZQvY


Fighting world carry the handle
Dec 2, 2021

ONE is a rising star in the round cage, Xie Wei fought against many world-famous players without a single defeat and maintained his eight-game winning streak


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3DbnSivf10

[marvin8]

May be someone can read the Chinese and identify the shaolin academy in the article picture. Google translates it as "Hunan corner five."

Excerpt from "Demetrious Johnson protégé James Yang details brutal Shaolin training ahead of ONE Championship debut:"

The American is no stranger to the less-trodden path and forged his martial arts identity with a hardening three-year stint at a Shaolin Martial Arts academy when he was a teenager....

Keanu Subba vs. James Yang (MMA – featherweight), Free 4/22/2022 at 5:00 am ET: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhAijSsYlac

[nicklinjm]

The situation with Xie Wei and James Yang is different. Xie Wei trained at the actual Shaolin temple in Dengfeng, Henan, presumably being trained by the Shaolin monks responsible for martial training (wuseng) - note that there are also monks who only practice Chan [Zen] at the temple.

A Google search for "Northern Shaolin Martial Arts Academy" leads to this website - http://www.shaolins.com/faq/ - which, lo and behold, is the commercial Siping kungfu school I was talking about. My point stands: the quality and depth of the material learnt at these commercial schools in other parts of China is very variable - often the founder has actually studied at Shaolin but the other arts which are taught at these academies (tanglang, baji, wing chun) tends to be purely forms oriented, with Sanda taught separately.

The plaque in the photo just says "5-cornered pavilion' which is just a generic pavilion name which can be found in parks all over China.

[marvin8]

The situation with Xie Wei and James Yang is different. Xie Wei trained at the actual Shaolin temple in Dengfeng, Henan, presumably being trained by the Shaolin monks responsible for martial training (wuseng) - note that there are also monks who only practice Chan [Zen] at the temple.

A Google search for "Northern Shaolin Martial Arts Academy" leads to this website - http://www.shaolins.com/faq/ - which, lo and behold, is the commercial Siping kungfu school I was talking about. My point stands: the quality and depth of the material learnt at these commercial schools in other parts of China is very variable - often the founder has actually studied at Shaolin but the other arts which are taught at these academies (tanglang, baji, wing chun) tends to be purely forms oriented, with Sanda taught separately.

The plaque in the photo just says "5-cornered pavilion' which is just a generic pavilion name which can be found in parks all over China.

Ok, thanks. I assumed Si Ping City Shaolin Martial Arts Academy was in the city of Si Ping. Now per their website, I assume the academy is in "the town of YeHe," an hour drive (per James in 2005) from downtown Si Ping. From their other website, https://fta25.wixsite.com/sipingshaolin/school:

The Northern China Si Ping City Shaolin Marital arts academy is located next to the Ye He Ancient Castle, approximately 5 kilometres (3 miles) from the Ancient Jai Lan Temple, in Ji Lin Province within the Chang Bai Mountains. The people of the area are quite friendly and have maintained a good sense of rural hospitality still to this day.

At 8:43, James loses via unanimous decision—maybe too much time spent in modern wushu.

[marvin8]

JunHong's Kung Fu Club
Apr 5, 2021

Spear with the Champ Tian Yuan Li


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6tSytcfbYc