REVISED Shaolin Encyclopedia!

[Sal Canzonieri]

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!

[Shaolin Wookie]

Is it still only in Chinese, or is there an English language version?

[jason.]

how / where can i buy one?

[Sal Canzonieri]

Is it still only in Chinese, or is there an English language version?

Still in Chinese.

Alas.

[Sal Canzonieri]

how / where can i buy one?

There are various places selling them for over $300 a set, which is too much.

The cheapest and fastest place to get them from is direct from the source:
http://www.shaolins.com/2encyclopedia/

You can use paypal to order from that site.

[Shaolin Wookie]

don't have that kind of cash right now......but if I cannot read chinese (working on that soon), would the investment be worth it?

[ngokfei]

Don't you think its time to learn? If its important to your training/research.

Got the 4 volume set and it contains a plethora of information. Still haven't gotten through 1/3 of it yet.

Sal. How clear are the photos (who's demonstrating)

[Shaolin Wookie]

Waitin' to learn, waitin' for grad school/scholarships/fellowships/assistantships .... see if I can learn for free. Otherwise, I'll just buy the college textbooks off an online seller and learn it myself. Taught myself level 3/4 French in independent study during my last two years of college......I figure it's not that much harder, just without hte grades. But the whole writing thing......that's different. No alphabet....and pictographs get me all fudged up.....

[Sal Canzonieri]

Don't you think its time to learn? If its important to your training/research.

Got the 4 volume set and it contains a plethora of information. Still haven't gotten through 1/3 of it yet.

Sal. How clear are the photos (who's demonstrating)

If you are just interested in the forms and qi gong stuff, and the monk's history this new two volume set is best for you to get.

The photos are very clear and they are all revisions of the forms in the previous editions. They spent a lot of time and energy to compare how the forms were being done by descendants of Shaolin monks (from the 1928 diaspora) from around the country and they corrected the forms.
I think it is really worth it getting this edition, if you are going to use it to research the forms and so on.

Not all the forms are now photos but they are a major part.

Also, the forms have been rearranged in a more logical order, AND knew ones were added.

What's a strange thing to me is that a while back I made a long comparison list between all the books and videos and vcds out of Shaolin forms and I compared all the Louhan and related forms and shows how they were ALL wrong in some way or another. I posted this long comparison here and at many other Shaolin discussion groups.
Well, coincidence(?) but all the ones I mentioned have been revised!
And, new ones have been added.
The Luohan section is worth the price of the book itself!
I've never seen a complete set like this before in such books from China.

I dont know who is doing the forms, it is 3 different people.

I've seen one of them before in either the vcds by Liu Zhen Hai and Si Yan Ci (Liu Zhen Hai learned Shaolin styles from Shi Degen (1914-1968), one of the last old generation warrior monks of Shaolin Temple.

[Royal Dragon]

Are the Tai Tzu 1,2 & 3 all in there?

[Sal Canzonieri]

Are the Tai Tzu 1,2 & 3 all in there?

Nope, unfortunately.

There must be a reason they are keeping that under wraps.
It's still listed in the "lost forms" section.

[jason.]

There are various places selling them for over $300 a set, which is too much.

The cheapest and fastest place to get them from is direct from the source:
http://www.shaolins.com/2encyclopedia/

You can use paypal to order from that site.

Thanks a lot!

[GeneChing]

That's very interesting. I'll have to pick up a copy. Thanks for the heads up, Sal.

[Shaolin Wookie]

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?

[GeneChing]

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.