i was active in chinese martial art for some years in the past.
so do happens to know a bit of singapore chinese shaolin history.
not really on shaolin side, but a side branch call wing chun. i
stop martial art totally for sometimes now after start practicing
seriously.
anyway singapore shaolin kungfu fed in singapore. can trace its
origin back to an old shaolin monk who is long gone. i think he was
the abbort of shuang lin shi. he was from shaolin in china. he was
the first head chief of that fed. 2nd generation onwards the chief
are lay disciple. he started teaching shaolin kunfu in singapore
because there are a lot of gang members distrubing the temple in
the past. he one person chase all of them out and really defeated
them. thus making a name of himself.
anyway just to correct a misunderstanding that bodhidharma teaches
any kungfu. he did not. all he teaches is nei chi gong which
enables the monks to stays away. over the generations later, the
monks for purpose of defending themselves, uses the knowledge of
chikung and developed different fighting style from observations of
animals.
wing chun itself bares a lot of similarities to, present crane,
mantis style which has a close links to shaolin. these are mere
evidence that they all shares the same roots. e.g wing chun famous
chi shao, is very much similar to mantis sensitivity training if
one observe carefully. although to the eyes of none martial artist
its totally different. one who knows wing chun/ mantis, upon seeing
the practice of the other party will realise immediately with ease
what the purpose.
