Bajifan

From what I know of his school (and someone can correct me if I'm wrong), he teaches modern wushu forms, and some Shaolin forms, but doesn't believe in teaching applications to individual techniques. Instead, application is basically taught through kick boxing. On his personal background, he is definitely from the Shaolin area, and spent at least some time in/around the temple. He was part of the first Shaolin performing group sent over by the Chinese government, and he defected. He left a wife behind back in Shaolin (you might be able to find an article about it through a google search), has a wife and kid here in the U.S., and he parties pretty hard on occasion (which you can also read about). So his legitimacy as a monk really depends on how liberal your opinion is in regards to what qualifies someone as a monk. Some people think monks should really stick to their vows like glue, others really could care less and think they shouldn't be held to higher standards than anyone else, and that's not taking into account the fact that Shaolin is currently a communist endorsed religous institution, and conflicting opinions on how thoroughly the monks were wiped out previously. So as you can imagine, he's pretty controversial, and there's a lot of different angles you can view the subject from. A good place to get better info would be http://www.kungfumagazine.com 's Shaolin forum as there's a number of discussions about him in the archive there. Also, a he has a couple students posting there, and other people who've had personal contact with him and the school.

Basically, it was kind of like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Permz2Uz6L0&mode=related&search= Except he hit harder, got in closer, and didn't play around so much with the hands. It was kind of deflect, get inside, and BAM knock him down. Clip of a form (from a movie... one of my favorite clips on the net ):

My classmates Hung Gar teacher also taught Southern Mantis, but I'm afraid I don't know much about it. I did see a Southern Mantis guy spar before in a competition, and he was probably the most impressive there, though he didn't win. He really stood out, fought with both arms turned over (inside of arms facing up) just like in the forms. I was really impressed with how much power he could generate from that position, as he knocked his opponent for a loop a few times. Came in second though, because he had a hard time defending against the sacrifice head bop You know how in point sparring sometimes the refs will give points for a tap on the top of the head despite leaving the rest of the body wide open... Anyway, couldn't see anything of sweeping, throwing, or chin na techniques of course because of the format.

Other than that, you might just have to save up and travel when you're old enough. Some people just find something that they really feel they're suited for and have to travel to another teacher... in the meantime, you can continue to research Wing Chun. There's different branches, Yip Man, Pan Nam, etc. though I don't know what the differences would be between the various groups are.

What kind of kungfu schools do you have around you? There might be something with some similarities that you haven't thought of.

Why do you want to practice Wing Chun more than anything else?

He's really bad. Basically a forms collector. Gets people to exchange forms with him, memorizes it, then sticks on video to make money off it. So, you can see some rare authentic styles from his vids... but they're really poorly done.

I forget the monks name... one of 'em down in Houston, I think. There was a good discussion on the http://www.jiayo.com message boards about it a while back full of details (and semi-confirmation that this wasn't choreographed from someone who's sparred him before... apparently he likes to play around with his opponents a bit).

Wutang is just another way of writing Wudang in English letters. Though Wutang can also refer to a martial arts organization from Taiwan also called "Wutan". In Chinese though, the characters are different. Wudang is a general term for a number of different schools and styles from the Wudang mountain region. You have variations (Wudang interpretations) on several generally non-Wudang styles (like taiji, bagua, and baji for example) and some more unique to Wudang systems like Wudang Taiyi Quan (Great Spirit Boxing), Xiao Yao Quan (not sure of a proper translation of this), 8 Drunken Immortals, and a number of others. And of course Wudang is famous for the sword work too. All this Shaolin vs. Wudang rivalry stuff though is myth born mostly of kungfu movies Emei has a mix of Taoist and Buddhist styles, and there was even an "Emei-Shaolin" system. It also has its own unique systems (like Fire Dragon Boxing) and it's own takes on more well known styles. Example: Emei Bagua Zhang (from 100+yo master Lu Zijian): He was in his 90's when he performed, and I think he's still alive and kicking today.