Bak Mei
From Karate, Kungfu, Wrestling, Mixed Fighting Information Source
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Bak Mei ("White Eyebrows") is a Chinese martial art that is both an internal and external style. This art combines Shaolin (Buddhist) and Daoist fighting techniques into one style. Bak Mei's forms can be practiced at either full speed and power or in slow motion to emphasize its beauty and relaxed, fluid movements.
It features short and mid-range hand-strikes that are so fast that opponents are given little time to react. Its techniques are based not on physical power but on fast and accurate attacks that are delivered to the vital pressure points of the body (Dim Mak). Bak Mei's many techniques also include jumps and a wide variety of kicks.
The style is named after its creator, Bak Mei. Old man White Eyebrows was a Daoist monk at the Henan Shaolin Temple, one of the five elders who survived the destruction of the temples.
According to legend, after the overthrow of the Ming Dynasty by the invading Manchus, the Shaolin Monks led the effort to restore the Ming. Bak Mei, however, realizing they were doomed to failure against the mighty Manchu army, dropped out of the conspiracy. For this, the other monks branded him a traitor and sought to punish him. The result was that after the destruction of the Henan and other Shaolin temples, Bak Mei killed many other Shaolin monks, including two of the other five elders, Fong Do Duk and Ji Shin, in single combat using both weapons and unarmed fighting.
These legends are most likely entirely apocryphal, perhaps invented by Chinese writers of later centuries. Nevertheless, many Kung Fu practitioners believe them, and they are a source of friction between Bak Mei students and other Chinese stylists to this day.
