Mantis 1

Sim, In regards to your questions about the 5 Animals Gung -Fu system. With respect to you and your system I have to say that there are some unfortunately incorrect statements. The 5 Animals system dates back to 5 masters that adopted the movements of animals in human fighting styles. The praying mantis, the white crane, the snake, the tiger, and the dragon were included in the system. I read you statements about the 5 animals form and wonder what exactly you were talking about. Since the Priests of the Hunan gung-fu systems, where the 5 animals system originates, were soft stylists and were against the use of staged forms. My Instructor, the Late Grandmaster Suk Lee, advised the use of the rigid form takes away from the fluidness offered by the each of the 5 animals. To briefly state we were required to spend one year on each animal and a lifetime allowing the 5 to flow together into a cogent whole. Your information, however, is not totally incorrect. There are some hard stylists that continue to utilize sections of the system and call them Shaolin. The very fact that I have seen black belts on so called Chinese Gung-Fu stylists is suspicious. I had to endure ritual combat with a man 12 years my senior to earn my Red Sash as a deciple of the Grandmaster. I could only earn it by Knockout, Submission, or Stealth.