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Pei Mei belongs to those schools issued forth from Southern Shaolin, developed in certain Southern provinces of China. Southern schools have a number of common characteristics: the critical focus on Nei Kung (internal practice) to develop power; a tendency to use short movements, working heavily on enemy’s bridge, elbows always in front of body, feet kept flat on the ground at all times etc…
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are 11 variants of Southern Shaolin. |
During the 18the century, there existed 7 great religious centers linked to the martial arts world |
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These centres
of power actively participated in the politics of the politics of the
country under the Chings, sometimes allies sometimes enemies of the Emperor.
The 11 variants of Southern Shaolin, less openly implicated in these political
struggles, were the source of such illustrious Martial Arts schools such
as Choy Lee Fut and Hong Gar.
It is during these troubled periods that were born the Pei Mei, Vinh Xuan (Wing Chun) and Duong Long (Southern Praying mantis) lineages.
In the 19th
century, these power struggles were transposed into a now classic novel,
gathering all the events of the period into a great heroic saga which
forms the basis of many popular stories on Chinese martial arts today.
