REVISED Shaolin Encyclopedia!
Just got the Revised Shaolin Encyclopedia by Shi De Qian! 2volumes, over 2,000 pages. Conctrating on the forms and the history of the forms, rather than the other stuff that was in the 4 volume version.
Forms (most of them) are shown new with b&w Photos, very clear and many corrections were made to the forms from the previous edition.
Just got it in the mail today. Took less than a week to arrive here, though they said it would be 4-6 weeks! Came directly from Shi De Qian's school.
I'm very happy with they way they cleaned up the forms and made them much more comprehensible!
Co-authored by Shi De Yan?
That's very interesting. I'll have to pick up a copy. Thanks for the heads up, Sal.
Just out of curiosity....
Shaolin likes money.....they need it to fund their studies, lifestyle, schools, right?
Why in the hell wouldn't they contemplate a translation? I'm probably gonna get a Mandarin one anyway....as I learn foriegn languages better when I've got a goal (ex: learning French to read Dumas in his native tongue). Plus, there's pretty pictures, right?
Anyways......an English translation would probably get a large revenue, wouldn't it? And it would spark interest in Shaolin, right?
Because this isn't from Shaolin Temple officially
The Shaolin Encyclopedia is from Shi Deqian, who is a former monk of Shaolin. The profits from the Encyclopedias don't go to Shaolin Temple. They go to Deqian. Deqian now runs his own private school on the western edge of Dengfeng City.
I just did an article on him, The Shaolin Scribe: Shi Deqian and the Shaolin Encyclopedia, in our 2007 Shaolin Special. If you check out that article, Deqian discusses his issues with English translations of his work. He was ripped off a long time ago by an English translator and it has left him bitter and wary.