(1) WHAT’S WU-SHU? LET A MASTER TEACH YOU.
San Jose Mercury News-Sports-Thursday, September 9, 1993STAR POWER: Sifu Sheng Meng brings unique martial art to Campbell studio. -- By George Malone

Martial Arts movies contain some of the most elaborate, extravagant fight scenes in cinema. Actors leap through the air to land crushing kicks and wield exotic weapons, battling several opponents at once.Now, anyone who has fantasized about imitating a kung-fu movie star can learn martial arts from one of the actors himself right here in the Bay Area. Sifu Sheng Meng, a martial arts champion from China and an actor in several Chinese and U.S. movies, including the just-released “Surf Ninjas,” is a teacher at the West Coast Tae Kwon Do studios in Campbell, Milpitas, Santa-Clara, and Saratoga.

Meng doesn’t look imposing. He’s about 5-foot-8 and his muscles don’t ripple, But when he demonstrates his proficiency with the nine-section whip chain, a segmented whip with spikes on its end, you can see he’s for real. Meng, who mainly teaches the Chinese martial art Wu-Shu, is one of the best Martial arts teachers in the United States, said Ernie Reyes, the owner of West Coast Tae Kwon Do and a well known Martial Arts teacher himself. 

Reyes, a former Tae Kwon Do national champion, hired Meng to teach Wu-Shu and weapons techniques to him and his advanced students. “He is one of the best,” Reyes said. “His level of proficiency is so high. He takes weaponry to a new level.” “Wu-Shu isn’t taught in very many places---people go to China and learn the style, then come back here and teach it,” Reyes added. “Sifu Meng learned it from childhood.” Wu-Shu is a Chinese form of karate, a “soft” art. The more well-known karate is a “hard” style, in which the martial artist stops his blow on contact. Wu-Shu is a “soft” method similar to tai-chi, in which the combatant follows through after a hit. Wu-Shu also incorporates tumbling and gymnastics.

“ I teach many different styles---Karate, Tae Kwon Do and more,” Meng said. “There is gymnastics and weapons, too. It’s a little bit of everything.” The greatest advantage of learning under Meng is his knowledge of many martial arts styles. His list of subjects taught is expansive: Tai Chi, Traditional Lion Dances, Chinese Boxing, and 11 different weapon techniques are just a few.

“Each style has different motions of the body, so different people can learn the style that’s good for them,” Meng said. “If I see good parts of other styles, I will use them.” Meng speaks with a heavy accent and he is not fluent in English, and that communication gap could be a problem for some students, but Reyes doesn’t think that should turn people away. “He’s just so excellent that people just waive that consideration,” Reyes said.

Meng, 30, grew up in Canton, China, and began learning martial arts from his father when Meng was 6 years old. He started with Hung-Gar, a traditional Chinese style of karate, and quickly moved into other, more difficult styles. At age 12 he was the national children’s champion in the Shao-lin and broadsword categories. Soon afterward, he was selected to the elite Canton professional team and began practicing with professionals and entering national tournaments. Making the Canton team “is like going to hollywood to try to be in a movie---it’s very hard to get in,” Meng said.

By age 20 he had won four national all-around competitions, mastering even more weapons and fighting styles, and had attended the Canton Sport College, a prestigious university for martial arts teachers. He also traveled to Hong Kong and made several movies and television shows. It was in Hong Kong that he learned to love movies and choreography. “It’s my hobby, and I have always wanted to make Chinese kung-fu famous,” Meng said. “I want to do that through movies.”

When Meng was 24, he went with the Canton team to Europe to perform exhibitions, and martial arts teams in Holland and Switzerland invited him to return to teach their classes. After teaching in Europe for three years, Meng came to the United States to teach and make movies. He came to San Jose because his sister, who married a U.S. citizen in 1986, lives in the area.

Soon Meng met Reyes and became his teacher. In May, 1992, Reyes, who has made movies with his son, Ernie Reyes Jr., helped Meng get a job with the crew of “Surf Ninjas.” Meng joined the Screen Actors’ Guild and hopes to work on another movie soon. Meng teaches students ages 5 to 70, but he doesn’t train just anyone off the street. “I want good people. I want to train a student so that he will become a good guy, too,” Meng said. “I want to teach respect.”

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(2) Tai Chi dates back to the third century
( Copy from San Jose Mercury News . Sports . Thursday, August 11 , 1994 ) Bill Sunderland - Venture Editor. 750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose CA 95190 “Kung Fu is like paper -- when it burns you see it. Tai Chi is like metal, you don’t realize how hot it is until it burns you.” 
--- Master Instructor Sifu Sheng Meng ---

Tai chi, or more properly, t’ai chi ch’uan, is Chinese for “grand ultimate fist” and is an ancient form of exercise or attack and defense. As an exercise, it provides relaxation while conditioning the body through flowing, rhythmic, deliberate movements with prescribed stances and positions. It also can be a method of attack and defense, a martial art form used with or without weapons. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, as an exercise it dates back to the third century. Different masters teach different forms of tai chi.

There are at least 108 forms, which are named for the image created by their execution. For example, there is “white stork displays its wings” and “fall back and twist like monkey.” Martial arts instructor Sifu Meng said there are five main styles of tai chi, with additional divisions within those styles. “It isn’t that one style is more difficult than the other, each has basic, intermediate, and advanced forms. It’s more a matter of taste. Some people like Chinese food, some people like French food, some people like American food. It’s the same way with tai chi-you choose the style you like.”

(3) Tai Chi is a martial art for mellow people
( Copy from San Jose Mercury News . Sports . Thursday, August 11 , 1994 ) Bill Sunderland - Venture Editor. 750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose CA 95190 “Kung Fu is like paper -- when it burns you see it. Tai Chi is like metal, you don’t realize how hot it is until it burns you.”--- Master Instructor Sifu Sheng Meng ---

When my elbow started acting up I had to give up racquetball, my main exercise. How to replace it was the problem.I hate running, so that was out. Working out on stair-steppers and other exercise machines is fine physically, but it’s boring and my brain turns to mush. Looking around for something within my physical capabilities that would require mental concentration I hit on Tai Chi. Maybe you’ve seen it on TV--slow , controlled motion of the body, sort of kung fu without the action. I recall seeing pictures of aging Chinese in Beijing parks doing tai chi as a morning exercise. Just my style.

Since it’s one of the numerous martial arts in the repertoire of Sifu Meng, who teaches in the Bay Area, I asked if I could try a couple of his classes. Certainly, he said. Come see if you like it. “We have several older students,” he added graciously. They certainly weren’t at my first lesson. A half-dozen young (and thin) men and women in the red and white uniforms of West Coast Karate, where Meng teaches, warmed up by doing stretches that reminded me of Mary Lou Retton.

In my worn jeans and T-shirt---Meng reminded me to take off my shoes and socks---I wasn’t the most dashing figure attempting warm-ups I couldn’t have accomplished even 30 years ago. Meng took me aside and patiently led me through the stages of the first exercise. Feet together, hands by the side, stand straight, breath in, breath out. Same thing again, but slowly step out with the left foot, touching the toe first, to stand with legs apart. On the next breath, raise the arms swiftly in front, then bring elbows back and push down, bending the knees.

Meng switched off with another teacher, peter Hoogduin. A half-hour later I had at least an idea of a series of moves that probably would take 15 seconds to accomplish if done smoothly. “Tai Chi is a series of forms,” explained Hoogduin. “They’re at different levels-24,48,88, and even 108 forms.” “So this is the form of level one?” I asked. “Oh, no,” was the answer. “This is only part of the first form.” Patti Mork of Sunnyvale started taking martial arts after “a couple of incidents that made me want to defend myself.” Then she switched to tai chi “because it is beautiful.” The 45-year-old company manager said “it is a real stress reliever” that has helped focus her mind and body.

Robin Fong of Fremont, said she’s been taking class for six weeks. She began to “keep in shape, but it really helps relieve stress. Already I can sleep better.” Meng was enthusiastic about tai chi, complaining that it is not well enough known in the United States, which emphasizes more active forms of martial arts such as kung fu and tae kwon do. “Tai chi is for everybody,” he said. “Although it is slow motion, it still is self defense. There is still power, both inside and outside the body.” He added that people who cannot kick or jump can benefit from tai chi because of the slow movements.

(4) Martial Arts champion opens kung fu academy in Cupertino
The Cupertino Courier July 5, 1995
By Michelle Gabriel

It’simpressive to watch a Wu-Shu master demonstrate a martial arts performance. Sifu Sheng Meng is indeed a master.

A martial arts champion from China, as well as an actor who has appeared in several Chinese kung fu movies and television shows, Meng, ,30, has opened four International Kung Fu academies in the Bar Area, his most recent one in Cupertino.

Meng, whose expertise is in the Chinese martial art known as Wu-Shu, which literally means martial arts, also teaches tai chi, gymnastics, weapons techniques, and all skill levels of kung fu techniques, including tae kwon do, karate, and kenpo.

Born in Canton, China, Meng learned martial arts when he was 6 years old from his father and older brother Qiang Meng. At the age of 12 he was selected from among the handful of China’s top martial artists to represent the nation in its national professional wu-shu team; Meng won the National Children’s Championship in both shaolin kung fu and the broadsword weapons event.

By the time Meng was 20, he had won four national all-around competitions, mastering weapons and fighting styles. He attended the Canton Sport College, well known for its martial arts teachers; traveled to Hong Kong, where he made several movies and television shows; and performed in Europe, Holland, and Switzerland for several years before coming to the United States to teach and to continue his acting career.

Meng also assisted behind the scenes choreographing fighting scenes for a Hollywood movie, Surf Ninjas. He joined the Screen Actors’ Guild, which he hopes will enable him to work on or in more Hollywood movies in the future.

Meng still travels to Hong Kong occasionally to perform in films, and would like to make a movie every year in Hong Kong and/or Hollywood. “I have always wanted to make Chinese kung fu famous through movies,” says Meng. Now with his older brother Qiang a partner in the Kung Fu Academy, Meng hopes to have the time to accomplish that goal.

Meng’s skill and expertise comes from his intense commitment and hours of rigorous training; during his childhood he trained a minimum of several hours per day. That kind of discipline is what Meng says he now tries to instill in his students, who range from 3-year-olds enrolled in “power ranger classes” to 70-year-olds, most of whom take the tai chi classes.

“It builds character,” he says. “By learning to pay attention to the teacher, you learn to concentrate. By concentrating hard, paying attention, and learning to be respectful to the teacher, you develop good qualities no matter what the age.”

The International Kung Fu Academy is located at 1265 Kentwood Avenue, Cupertino.

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(5) 兩大中文電視專訪

國際武聯主席李杰談武術走向奧運, 好萊塢武打設計孟全勝細說教武奧秘

中國武術協會主席, 國際武術聯合會秘書長, 當今中國武術最權 威領導李杰和享譽灣區的實力與聲望并重的全勝功夫學院總教練, 好萊塢影視武打設計的孟全勝師傅接受灣區中文電視廿六台四月三日星期六晚上十二點體育節目, 四月八日星期四晚九點中華電視節目及六十六台在四月五日晚星期一八時五十五分電視專訪.

李杰先生強調將中國武術推向二零零八年申辦奧運會成功, 武術必然成為奧運會比賽項目, 從此武術列入奧運比賽項目, 這是中國的炎黃子孫期待己久的盛事, 另外, 他強調, 武術應走兩條路. 第一, 競賽性, 武術作為一種精品的藝術, 不斷加工提高, 成為高尖端的武術藝術權威是很有必要的, 第二, 普及性, 將武術在民間推廣起來, 應有趣性, 娛樂性, 多元化的傳統武術, 李杰是隨北京武術隊來灣區柏克萊大學表演後,接受孟師傳邀請到孟師傳進行光臨及武術推廣交流, 李杰先生對孟師傅傳授武功, 深受美國人民喜愛及僑胞支持得到肯定性的讚賞, 并作為武術走向世界, 走向市場的一個最好典範, 孟師傳在接受訪問時也強調, 練武除了強身健體, 防身自衛外, 更需要培養學生尊師重道禮儀修養 的良好武德教育, 開發智力, 自強自主, 增強體質, 使得學生德智體全面發展, 更奇妙的是, 在孟師傳的傳授武術後, 怕羞內向的學生變得活潑可愛, 頑皮淘氣的學生變得聽話聽教, 文化課的成績也顯著提高.

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(6) 孟全勝師傅接受無線32台電視專訪
談從武星—影星—武術總教練歷程以及在華運會武術比賽上. 其高足蟬聯七連冠. 由國際知名武術家,好萊塢功夫片武術指導,在灣區擁有多間武館武術總教練孟全勝師傅在9月29日星期六晚10:40分, 無 線32台中文節目接 受電視專訪, 暢談他在大陸苦練武功十多年, 初露鋒芒. 八三年至八七年期間連續蟬聯五屆中國羊城武術大賽全能冠軍, 八七年應歐洲七國邀請到德英法荷意比瑞士傳授武功為期三年之多. 在歐洲期間,會參加過八八年在意大利舉行全歐洲國術錦標賽榮獲全能冠軍. 八九年在法國巴黎舉行世界武術錦標賽憑著膽色過人, 技藝超群,勇奪長短器械及拳術三項冠軍, 被西方權威報紙稱之為 [孟全勝為中國武術大使] 九O年轉到美國好萊塢拍片,由於他離開大陸之前同香港影視公司主演過多部武打片 [禪宗六祖] [太極神功] [東方神針] 以及連續劇 [海瑞傳奇] 憑著他精湛武功,加上健碩身材及子英俊, 豐富舞台經驗兼有獨樹一幟的中國功夫,第一部西片 [SURF NINJA] 就擔任武打主角兼武術指導, 這部片震動和走紅好萊塢功夫片影視界朋友, 以及導演,接著又擔任 [BOTTEM LIN]武打主角兼 武術指導,得到好萊塢影視界同行們的肯定,九二年被批准正式加入好萊塢影視工會, 成為佔有在東南亞影視紅星夢寢以求的好萊塢影視圈的一席位, 之後, 九三年至今返來灣區創辦了多間全勝國際功夫學院, 憑著他誠實專業負責的職業態度, 使之桃李滿天下.自1995年至今在華人最熱門的每年一度華運會武術比賽中其高徒連續蟬聯七項全能冠軍. 電視專訪還有孟 師傅高足精彩絕倫的武功表演. 

另外, 全勝國際功夫學院秋季招生, 免費試堂, 特別班三十九元九十 九仙, 學習內容豐富多彩, 南北少林, 各種拳術, 十八般兵器, 新一派武術防身自衛術, 搏擊散打, 適合中老年人練習各式太極拳( 劍 ) 氣功等, 孟師傅還表示武德禮儀修養教育, 尊師重道, 自立自強的傳授更為重要. 

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(7) 南拳王孟師傅，教你防身自衛
免費試堂，送練功服，特別班$39.99

深吸一口氣，揚手起勢，慢步起身，猛然一個獅子搖頭，幾招拳腳，剛勁有力，拳過生風，腳蕩揚塵，一個騰空鴛鴦腳，緊接一個烏龍絞柱，聲助勢，勢顯威……，這是獲多屆世界功夫大賽南拳金牌得主，美國好萊塢影視武打設計，實力和聲望併重在灣區擁有多間武館的全勝功夫學院總教練孟師傅南少林拳的寫照。

隨著功夫電影風卷全球，尤爲911事件後，大家對防身自衛意識加強了，經常外出公幹“空中飛人”的商家及專業人事，更應爲自己安全打算，孟師傅爲滿足各界人士及不同社會階層的人士需要，在灣區開設多種功夫學習班，有南北少林拳，十八般兵器，防身自衛，太極拳（劍）扇，氣功，搏擊散打，但在博大精深，流派繁複的各種功夫當中，孟師傅去粗取精，去僞存真，綜合各門功夫精華，編制教授更實際的功夫--防身自衛，南拳是以剛勁有力，攻防意識很強而爲廣大習武著喜愛，它講求精神氣力功，身眼手法步，遠距離以多種不同腿法，近身有以橋手腰馬，摔大擒拿，功夫需作各種運動，表演藝術性，但大家更興趣紆它的防身價值，只強調藝術表演，則避免不了視爲“花拳秀腿”了。

孟師傅創辦多間全勝功夫學院遍及灣區，爲讓更多人士學到孟師傅真傳，實行先免費試堂，送練功服（一年期），特別班$39.99，1.有實用性很強的防身自衛術，適合青年及成年人學習。2.有表演及比賽用的中國武術，適合青少年學習。3.有太極拳（劍）扇，適合中老年人學習，尤爲適合長期工作在電腦前的人士學習。4.有多種肢體活動出汗出力的功夫班，對減肥鍵身效果顯著，適合女士及中年人學習。5.有開發智力，培養功夫興趣及意識的小童班，“精武自強 尊師重道”是全勝功夫學院金字招牌，防身自衛，運動，教育，娛樂綜合更是該學院深受廣大僑胞及美國朋友之喜愛。

孟師傅更是擔任中港台及美國多部功夫電影的武打主角及武打設計指導，將多元化的中國功夫及功夫電影綜合起來，不但有實用性，藝術性，運動性更有它的商業價值，孟師傅表示在該學院學習良好者將推薦參加各種武打片拍攝，全勝功夫學院七天教學，男女老少，年齡從3歲起，有興趣人士想親眼目睹這位多才多藝，平易近人的年輕有實力的孟師傅晃風采，可留意26台晚上功夫廣告或上網查訊：
WWW.SIFUMENG.COM 孟師傅還表示，在灣區如有功夫專業教學人士，可加盟全勝功夫學院，廣招人才發揚中華武術，將中國功夫打進奧運會是孟師傅願望。

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