KUNG FU MAGAZINE - THUNDER POWER OF FEEDING CRANE

   Feeding Crane Gung Fu is very old and comes from Fuchow in Southern China. It’s actually part of a line of progressively more complex set of styles which make up the White Crane Gung Fu family. 

   The history of White Crane Gung Fu was said to have started when the Shaolin Temple was burned down by the Ching regime. The monks then fled and went into hiding anywhere they could. One of them, Fang Wai Shi, who was a master of the Shaolin Lohan Fist Style, took refuge in the Sand Lotus Temple near Fuchow, and it was here that the style developed.  Fang Wai Shi’s daughter, Qi-Niang was a very good boxer herself but was not allowed to have formal training. She learned by watching her father train and teach others. 

   One day, in the temple compound, while she was hanging out the washing on a bamboo pole as was the custom, she was became concerned about a large white crane perched on an adjacent roof. Fearing the bird would dirty the freshly laundered clothes she attempted to drive it away with a pole and by throwing stones at it with no success.  When she attacked its head it dodged to the side, spread its wings and trapped the pole. When she hit at the crane’s wings it parried vertically and attacked her with its claws. When she thrust at its body, the crane shrank back, pulled its wings around its body, and counter-attacked with its beak.  Realizing that the crane was in fact her superior in some ways she studied its method closely and came to marvel at its effectiveness. At this moment the concepts that underpin our style were realized. By adding to them what she had learned from her father, and then adding the stepping method known as "kunyanpu" she created Pai Fu, later known as White Crane Kenpo.  

   Now, flash forward a few hundred years to the early 1920's, where a man by the name of Shifu Rei was teaching Gung Fu in Taiwan. When he returned to the mainland he told others of the desire of the Taiwanese to learn Gung Fu. Consequently four instructors arrived from the mainland to work and also to teach. All were from Fuchow and all were students of Tsai Gong Son. One was a carpenter, another builder, the third a goldsmith and the fourth was unsure.  In 1927 Master Liu Chang I’s grandfather, Liu Gou, heard that the carpenter, Lin Toku-Jun (aka Lin De Shun), who was working at that time in a sugar refinery in Kaginanjo, Tainan Province, was a very expert boxer and asked him to become his personal teacher. He paid him a considerable sum of money wrapped in crimson paper to show his respect for the master. So that they could concentrate exclusively on training, Liu Gou also provided him with a house and servants—in fact he made him wealthy. For about eight years they trained together very intensely.  At that time Taiwan was a prefecture of Japan and as the war against China had already started, the Japanese authorities were wary of anyone from the mainland. The Japanese military and police suspected Master Lin Toku-jun of plotting against the Japanese government. As an act of revenge incurred from being undefeated, rival stylists reported Master Lin as a spy to the Japanese officials. 

   They tried to capture Master Lin several times. However, since his martial skills were extremely well developed, they could not subdue him. Finally, he was captured at gunpoint and was later administered a large dose of anesthesia to facilitate sending him back to Fuchow. However, he was given far too much sedative and as a result, this famous master never recovered consciousness fully and died onboard ship.  

   Subsequently, Liu Gou became well known as a teacher. Later, his son, Liu Yin Shan and grandson (Liu Chang-I) followed in his footsteps. In fact the family name is so closely associated with the Feeding Crane style now that in Taiwan it is referred to as the Liu family Feeding Crane system.  

   It was believed that Feeding Crane had died out in mainland China. Li Yi Duan the chairman of the Fuchow martial arts association originally asked Liu Yin Shan (Master Liu Chang I’s father) to re-introduce Feeding Crane to the mainland, but instead he sent his brother. From 1989 he has taught in Fouchow for three months at a time. He was the only Feeding Crane instructor in Fuchow at this time.  

   Grandmaster Liu Chang-I (Shifu, or teacher) is the lineage head (#12) of the Feeding Crane system. Currently he lives in Taiwan where he is a renowned martial arts master and teacher, with the incredible ability to create power from simple movements. Grandmaster Liu travels around the world to both demonstrate and teach others how to develop the ability to deliver the incredible kinetic power (Thunder) that is characteristic of  our Feeding Crane techniques.
  Shifu has students all over the world including China, Canada, USA, France, Puerto Rico and more. He has been the subject of a Radio Television Hong Kong documentary, Kung Fu Quest , a DVD series, books, and  taught at a  3000 person seminar at Disneyland, California.
  Because he is only one man, Shifu Liu has agreed to the creation of Feeding Crane International to help provide structure and a governing body to his martial art. As of right now there are certain people (Representatives) who have been given permission from Shifu Liu to speak on his behalf on all matter related to Feeding Crane Kung Fu.
  Grandmaster Liu currently lives in Kaohsiung, Taiwan with his wife and 3 children. He also works with the Taiwanese government as a combat instructor for their military police.
  To have Grandmaster Liu visit your location or to host a seminar with Grandmaster Liu, please contact us. We will be glad to help you with all the details.