We are sad to announce the passing of Northern Shaolin Sifu Wong Jack Man. Known long before his famous fight with Bruce Lee, Wong Sifu had become a major proponent of Bak Sil Lum, Iron Body, and Golden Bell skills. With the death last year of Kwong Wing Lam, Gu Ru Zhang’s lineage has lost […]
Jan
2
2019
2
2019
Dec
28
2018
28
2018
Five of Five: New Books
We welcome five new texts, three of them in both Chinese and English. Among the lot we have a nicely done 5 Animals routine. We also have something very unusual: a duet set where spear battles…another spear. Do not try this at home. Happy New Year to all of you from all of us—Ted, Linda […]
Oct
21
2018
21
2018
Bak Sil Lum Sash Event
Today there are nine new Black sashes in the martial art of Bak Sil Lum (Northern Shaolin) style. At an event hosted by Sifu Scott Jensen a contingent of his senior students were awarded black sashes, a solid rank requiring years of training. Each candidate demonstrated skills, starting with a set from the empty-handed division […]
Oct
3
2018
3
2018
New Bak Sil Lum (Bei Shaolin) DVDs
Bak Sil Lum (or Bak Siu Lim) is the Cantonese pronunciation of Bei Shaolin, or Northern Shaolin style. It is recognized by experts as an extension of the real Shaolin Heritage. Its most famous exponent was Gu Ru Zhang, known as a master of Iron Palm (striking arts) and Golden Bell (body conditioning arts). In […]
Aug
28
2018
28
2018
Listening to the Wind: On Internal Practice
About a week ago I asked my Tai Chi class if they ever get bored doing the form. They unanimously answered “No,” their explanation being that the form always provides new material to concentrate on, things to master. This suggests that the act of repetition can be either boring or freeing, and leads me to […]
Jul
11
2018
11
2018
Celebrating Skill and Friendship
Last week, we wrote about Sifu Donald Hamby’s Gathering of the Masters kung fu exhibition, showcasing some of the best traditional kung fu teachers and performers. This week, we have some video footage that we shot while there. These three videos feature a smapling of the rare and unique forms we saw there—many of which […]
May
26
2018
26
2018
May
22
2018
22
2018
Sunday, After the Tournament
Packing up over a hundred books and DVDs, we departed the Convention Center Sunday, about noon. The two-day spread of the TC Media Kung Fu tournament had allowed us to schmooze with a lot of teachers, students and fans. We felt like we’d been talking continually for two days, but then again, conversations spin off […]
May
16
2018
16
2018
Family Resemblance
I’ve been asked to judge at the annual Tiger Claw tournament this coming weekend. One of the things unique at this event is that it will feature, in its traditional column, not one, but TWO, Shaolin divisions. This is particularly significant because, for the first time, these two competitions will offer double examples of true […]
May
7
2018
7
2018
The Gift of a Teacher
Yesterday we attended the memorial for Wing Lam, my teacher for a number of years. Over a hundred students and family gathered in the chapel to pay last respects. Many people crowded the middle aisle, most of them dressed in black or white, as per the formal instructions for a Daoist ceremony. The middle aisle […]
Mar
5
2018
5
2018
What’s Old is New: 3 Traditional DVDs
Despite the fact that Plum has built a catalogue containing almost 4000 books, dvds and vcds (!) we are actually quite picky about our products. We review a lot of material, choosing only what we believe will add to the martial conversation. So imagine how pleased we are when we are able to offer three […]
Jan
28
2018
28
2018
Review: Essence of Lien Bu Chuan
We want to congratulate Artie Aviles, James Man Chin and Nelson Tsou on two excellent reviews they have received for their book “The Essence of Lien Bu Chuan.” We are especially grateful to both Nick Scrima at The Journal of Chinese Martial Arts, and Nancy Fiano, from the Xinyi Dao Academy and the World Fighting […]
Oct
31
2014
31
2014
Face-to-face translations
What are “en face” editions?
Jun
4
2014
4
2014
Favorites, Southern this time…
“Any favorites among the Southern styles?” This question followed my last piece on some of the style less-represented in VCD format. Of course, in the over 1500 VCDs (video compact disks) we offer there are bound to be some gems. I just wrote about some lesser-known Northern styles so, as Stan Meador suggests, I now […]
Apr
12
2014
12
2014
Restocked: Chinese/English Books with VCDs
Back in stock: We (and many customers) have been enjoying this new series out of China: nicely photographed books of various routines in both Chinese and English, with accompanying VCDs in Chinese with English subtitles. An excellent price for these well designed packages…click each to go to page to view and order.
Jan
30
2014
30
2014
Shaolin and TongBei
We add to our ever-increasing selection of Shaolin style forms with a Shaolin Six Harmonies Partner Staff set. As we’ve said before, the Six Harmonies division of Shaolin seems dedicated to very solid and reasonably simple partner sets. This one, with its frenetic energy, would be a perfect companion form for young people; it moves […]
Dec
16
2013
16
2013
Oct
5
2013
5
2013
The Kung Fu Staff
This is all you get to see of Plum’s newest book and DVD arriving (next?) Thursday. You have heard us say before that every book and dvd we produce at Plum is a labor of love; the word “labor” is particularly pertinent to this set, in that it took us much longer than we had […]
