Wich academy, school in china for shaolin?

[brandondeneve]

Hey all!

im a 22 year old boy from begium, im into zen-buddhism , Qigong & taekwondo for a little year now.

im looking for a Shaolin academy / school in china but i cant find anything.
can someone help me out with a academy/school, where i can also sleep / eat ?
the more traditional the better, im in no need for all the luxury.
just a basic school up in the mountains is also fine for me!

i hope someone can help me on my search.

 

[mograph]

What do you think of this one? (I know nothing about it.) Qufu Shaolin Kung fu school learn Kung Fu in China

 

[brandondeneve]

i already found that one, i also found one in kunyu mountains. but they al ask 100$ to pay before, but i dont know if they are real & trustable?

 

[Flying Crane]

The truth is, if you find a place it is most likely to be a government-run institution teaching modern performance wushu and not traditional fighting methods, shaolin or otherwise. And what's more, it'll be a program aimed at foreigners who are not expected to excel, so the quality of the instruction is less than first-rate.

Because that is what is going on in China these days.

I'm sorry to rain on your parade, but what you are looking for is largely a fantasy. You can probably find high quality instruction more easily in other parts of the world, for traditional Chinese methods, but you will still need to sift through a bunch of crap in order to find a teacher worth studying under. But you won't find an all-inclusive live-in situation. You will need to get a job and pay your way and find an apartment and do all that stuff that simply comes with being alive.

 

[Tez3]

The truth is, if you find a place it is most likely to be a government-run institution teaching modern performance wushu and not traditional fighting methods, shaolin or otherwise. And what's more, it'll be a program aimed at foreigners who are not expected to excel, so the quality of the instruction is less than first-rate.

Because that is what is going on in China these days.

I'm sorry to rain on your parade, but what you are looking for is largely a fantasy. You can probably find high quality instruction more easily in other parts of the world, for traditional Chinese methods, but you will still need to sift through a bunch of crap in order to find a teacher worth studying under. But you won't find an all-inclusive live-in situation. You will need to get a job and pay your way and find an apartment and do all that stuff that simply comes with being alive.

Would he be able to find good instruction in Belgium? I know it's always a more exciting thought travelling somewhere 'exotic' to learn the style native to the country but learning a style properly is important, once he have a decent amount of knowledge under his belt and some information from the instructors he could then travel.
It's a pity he didn't want Muay Thai in Thailand, there I could help!

 

[Flying Crane]

Would he be able to find good instruction in Belgium? I know it's always a more exciting thought travelling somewhere 'exotic' to learn the style native to the country but learning a style properly is important, once he have a decent amount of knowledge under his belt and some information from the instructors he could then travel.
It's a pity he didn't want Muay Thai in Thailand, there I could help!

I don't know who is teaching in Belgium and can't make any recommendations. There is a program, or at least was, I don't know if it is still going on, here in Northern California. Yang, jwing-Ming had an all inclusive live in program, but it'll cost ya because, well, California is expensive and he is not giving it away for free. I don't know the quality of the training, but he wanted students to give a ten year commitment. His is a reputable name, but I don't know how well that translates into a full-time training situation.

 

[brandondeneve]

hey thanks for the answers!


i know there is no school like the movie's, but im looking for a retrait, a couple months practicing and focusing on kungfu, taichi, Qigong & buddhism/meditation in all calmness all day long, to find some rest in my regular life.
i know it wil cost me some money, but im prepared to pay max price around 500-750eur / month.
the only thing i dont want is it to be in a capital city, i rather like the nature.
but it can also be in america, russia, asia, africa

 

[clfsean]

The late Mike Martello was in Brussels. I don't know the status of his students there, but that'd be a better place to start than has been described above.

 

[tigercrane]

Master Yang of YMAA (publishing association) has retreat in Northern California, USA. They teach neigong, chi kung, taiji, bagua amongst other things. This is traditional training. On his site master Yang stresses that today even in China there are a lot of fakes. You have much better chance learning traditional style while in the USA or in Europe. I have found that there is a good Pak Mei master in France. If interested, Iet me know and I'll tell you where he is.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Master Yang of YMAA (publishing association) has retreat in Northern California, USA. They teach neigong, chi kung, taiji, bagua amongst other things. This is traditional training. On his site master Yang stresses that today even in China there are a lot of fakes. You have much better chance learning traditional style while in the USA or in Europe. I have found that there is a good Pak Mei master in France. If interested, Iet me know and I'll tell you where he is.

Yang is by applicatation only, an application does not garauntee acceptance, you have to be accepted. And the classes are real small. But it appears to be good training

 

[Xue Sheng]

hey thanks for the answers!


i know there is no school like the movie's, but im looking for a retrait, a couple months practicing and focusing on kungfu, taichi, Qigong & buddhism/meditation in all calmness all day long, to find some rest in my regular life.
i know it wil cost me some money, but im prepared to pay max price around 500-750eur / month.
the only thing i dont want is it to be in a capital city, i rather like the nature.
but it can also be in america, russia, asia, africa

If you are set on China you could also look into Wudang (wudangquan, xingyi, bagua, taichi, Qigong & Taoism/meditation), but again it will cost you, and it is not what it once was, it is also government controlled. And in either case an understanding of Mandarin would be a good thing to have, or if they offer mandarin training, and many do, take it

 

[Tez3]

One thing for Europeans wanting to train/work/study etc in the States is that you need a visa which can be difficult to get if you aren't clear on what you are doing. A holiday visa is easy to get online and doesn't cost much but you can't train or study with it. You need to sort out where you are going and how you are paying for it as a working visa that is for longer than a few weeks can be difficult to get.
My daughter got a visa for a few months working in Florida for a race horse trainer who had a lot of paperwork to do to get UK work riders to come over. The horses are brought down from New York to over winter in Florida except the year she was due to go, Hurricane Katrina happened and she didn't go as the New York trainers didn't move that year. There was more work to cancel the visa, the US embassies/consulates are very careful about such things.

 

[mograph]

I guess that the US authorities would need a letter of acceptance from the US school as documentation before you were allowed a visa. You'd probably have to do two trips: a holiday to visit the school and try to get accepted, then after going back home and applying for the visa (armed with the acceptance letter), you'd come back (once you got the visa) to actually study at the school. The visa might be conditional on studying at the school -- if that fell through, you'd have to head home. And the US authorities would have to recognize the legitimacy of the school through all that.

This is all conjecture, by the way.

 

[Tez3]

You have no idea the joy of working through the visa applications lol, takes a long time just to work out what one you need!
U.S. Visa

 

[tigercrane]

One thing for Europeans wanting to train/work/study etc in the States is that you need a visa which can be difficult to get if you aren't clear on what you are doing. A holiday visa is easy to get online and doesn't cost much but you can't train or study with it. You need to sort out where you are going and how you are paying for it as a working visa that is for longer than a few weeks can be difficult to get.
My daughter got a visa for a few months working in Florida for a race horse trainer who had a lot of paperwork to do to get UK work riders to come over. The horses are brought down from New York to over winter in Florida except the year she was due to go, Hurricane Katrina happened and she didn't go as the New York trainers didn't move that year. There was more work to cancel the visa, the US embassies/consulates are very careful about such things.

This guy is from Belgium, which is EU member country. Most Europe is EU countries are part of visa waiver program, which means citizens of respective EU countries can visit and stay in the US for up to 90 days without visa. Only a valid passport is required. After 90 days EU citizen can exit to go to Canada for one day and then re-enter and stay in the US for another 90 days. Alternatively B1/B2 visitor/tourist visa is available to apply for and is easy to get for EU country citizen. B1/B2 visa can be extended up to 1 year. Training in MA is not traditional college/university type education is therefore does not require any special permits. F1 type visa is what US colleges and universities help arrange for.

Work is of course a different matter and requires H1/H2 type visa that is difficult to obtain and the application process is tedious.

 

[tigercrane]

I guess that the US authorities would need a letter of acceptance from the US school as documentation before you were allowed a visa. You'd probably have to do two trips: a holiday to visit the school and try to get accepted, then after going back home and applying for the visa (armed with the acceptance letter), you'd come back (once you got the visa) to actually study at the school. The visa might be conditional on studying at the school -- if that fell through, you'd have to head home. And the US authorities would have to recognize the legitimacy of the school through all that.

This is all conjecture, by the way.

This is all true in the case of traditional and accredited US college or university. An F1 visa is granted based on I-20 form that is filled out by accepting university upon admission. That is something not needed for someone to come train in martial arts.

Likewise, China requires EU citizens and US citizens to apply for visa. No doubt that China scrutinizes all applicants as it is one of the only two Communist countries left in the world.

 

[Xue Sheng]

This is all true in the case of traditional and accredited US college or university. An F1 visa is granted based on I-20 form that is filled out by accepting university upon admission. That is something not needed for someone to come train in martial arts.

Likewise, China requires EU citizens and US citizens to apply for visa. No doubt that China scrutinizes all applicants as it is one of the only two Communist countries left in the world.

China does not really scrutinize them all that much. It is just that they are a real pain to get because it is a rather inefficient system IMO and yet incredibly picky too. For school (I-20) they are big on originals and do not like or accept copies. The US will accept a copy of some documents.

 

[Tez3]

This guy is from Belgium, which is EU member country. Most Europe is EU countries are part of visa waiver program, which means citizens of respective EU countries can visit and stay in the US for up to 90 days without visa. Only a valid passport is required. After 90 days EU citizen can exit to go to Canada for one day and then re-enter and stay in the US for another 90 days. Alternatively B1/B2 visitor/tourist visa is available to apply for and is easy to get for EU country citizen. B1/B2 visa can be extended up to 1 year. Training in MA is not traditional college/university type education is therefore does not require any special permits. F1 type visa is what US colleges and universities help arrange for.

Work is of course a different matter and requires H1/H2 type visa that is difficult to obtain and the application process is tedious.

I know all that, I even posted up the link that said that....................however trust me, you need to know exactly what visa you are applying for and if it's for study there are certain conditions as there is for work. Getting in for a holiday is relatively easy, getting in for anything else isn't. As an EU citizen I know what is needed because as I said we sorted out my daughter's visa, he husband has laso worked in the US and knows about visas. He also travels there regularly with racehorses which is another interesting way to travel.

 

[greytowhite]

If you're not averse to staying in Europe than this may be a good option for you.

Daoist Retreat Centre |