Old Praying Mantis Master-Applications

[Captain McNugget]

Master Gao Daosheng demonstrating some great applications from his Tang Lang system:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w8B__zA6KM&NR=1


Some of the apps in this vid astound me, especially some of the ones at the end where he utilises knees, leg trapping and reaps. Unbeliavable he can move with such precision and authority at his advanced age, a real pleasure to watch.

Enjoy!

Luke

[WongYing]

Ken fish knew Master Gao, maybe Ken can shed more light on Master Gao

[RobP2]

Looked to me like he was struggling a bit TBH

[alexsuffolk]

Here Master Gao is very old, when i first met him in Taiwan around 1983 he was leading a class of young students through a very demanding series of - i think - Northern Shaolin tornado kicks , sweeps, leaps and striking combos. He was very open and friendly, demonstrated good skill with various weapons which were hanging there in a rack (if memory serves it was in a park in downtown Taipei) and offered some kind of wine at the end which i i think was to disperse stagnant qi. Left me with a memory of a good man and excellent teacher.

Alex

[kenneth fish]

Master Gao is one of the nicest people I have ever met. He is also one of the best Praying Mantis teachers I have known - very humble, straight forward, gentle yet demanding at the same time. He used to teach large groups of children with incredible patience.

Master Gao was the only real inheritor of Wang Songting's Praying Mantis skills. Many in Taiwan who are teaching Praying Mantis learned from Master Gao at one time or another. His teaching was always very clear and very practical - he is one of the few teachers of any art that I have know who can show a practical, no nonsense application for just about every move in the system ( and his applications are often quite different from much of what passes for Mantis elsewhere).

When I knew him he was poor as a church mouse, living in a basement apartment, sparsely furnished. Still, he was always in good spirits, lively and fun to be around. He was a good friend of my teacher (they were both from Shandong) and they spent a fair amouont of time together socially.

It is great to see him in this video - he must be in his eighties there. I am told that when he was in his 50's or so he learned Ground Boxing (di gong chuan) from master Su Kegang - incredible for anyone past their 20's! I think it was something he had always wanted to learn, and perhaps he needed a challenge.

Sadly, for all the hundreds of students and teachers who have benefited from his instruction, master Gao has never really had much of an income. It is unconscionable that in his later years none of his students has taken it upon themselves to organize his students and grand students and provide him with some support.

If he is still around I hope to see him when I am back in Taiwan this November - and if anyone is in Taipei and has the chance to learn from him or benefit from his advice and correction, I strongly urge you to take advantage of the chance while he is still present.

[Ron Panunto]

It looked like he was having the time of his life. Great footwork at any age.

[kenneth fish]

I just did the math - I think he was closer to 90 when this was filmed - he was born in 1915. Genetics aside, it reminds me that most of the healthy, spry older martial artists I have seen were practitioners of some form of Northern Shaolin.

[Robert Young]

The film was taken in 1993 (it showed on the background banner), so master Gao was 78 then.

Master Gao is over 90 now. I think he is still teaching, but not very active. Last time I saw him about 4 or 5 years back when he came to our yearly performance tournament. He had hard time to hear by then.

Last 2 decades, master Gao has much better life then he used to. There are a few other GM Wang SongTing's students actually, master Gao is a younger one. But, he is the one who teach CMA for a living. I don't think others taught at all. About 7 or 8 years ago GM Wang's most senior student Ma ZuoQi came to visit my teacher. master Ma also has hearing problem and he was 80+ year old then. GM Wong's students and my GM Han's students called each other Shi Xiong-Di(CMA brothers), because they pretty much trained together in 50s.

In early 50s, master Gao used to hang out in my GM Han's house when he got out of militaty in Taiwan. They were from the same city. He lived a very hard life then. It was my GM Han introduced master Gao to GM Wong in GM Han's house. My LF uncle Shen Mao-Hui was there when that happened.

In 50s or 60s (don't remember the year), master Gao won a champion on the empty hand combat tournament in adult division. After that, he started his CMA school to teacher in public.

[kenneth fish]

Thanks Robert - I hadn't notice the left hand side of the banner - I thought it was filmed a bit later. I am glad to hear his life is a bit better now - he was living a spartan existence when I knew him. Yes, there were many other students of Wang Songting . Prior to learning from Master Wang Songting Master Gao had learned Praying Mantis at the Qingdao Guoshu Academy. Master Gao began his studies with Master Wang in Fushan, Shandong and learned from him for 8 years, until the war interrupted his training. He continued in Taiwan, and later taught with Wang Songting's blessing.

If you would happen to know how to find him, please PM me - I would love to see him again.