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Daniel Burchfield (Tuesday, March 19, 2002)

Greetings:

First, I just wanted to commend you on your site, and I wish you the best of luck in your studies. I just had a brief question. In your reference to styles similar to Pak Mei, you mentioned Un Moi. Is this style related in some way to the female monk who supposedly taught Wing Chun (historical conundrums aside)? My school recently attended a gathering in New York here in the states, which was largely made up of people in the 'pretender' category (my si heng and I chose to seek refuge in the Chinatown bakeries...to many flashy silk uniforms), but our sifu's son had told us some fine styles might be there: Pak Mei and Ng Moi were two. Sadly, we didn't see either in attendance. I guess they had more sense than us. I was just curious if the name/style connection was correct. Once again, good luck, and may you continue to find worthy students (or may they find you- whichever).

Thanks,
Bruce

Michael Murray (Sunday, April 21, 2002)

Hi,
I came across your web site & was very impressed by your content. I was very taken by the interview section you had set up with Lee Chuan Pai speaking of Pai Lum and Grandmaster Pai. I was wondering if you had any further materials or interviews regarding this subject/time. I've been doing a lot of research on the web regarding the Pai Lum organization & what has happened to it since the mid-eighties & any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

My name is Mike Murray (Dao Lan Yuen). I'm a student of David Everett (Tao Pai, or Tao Ch'i Li as he goes by now). I've been working on assisting him develop a history/lineage section for our web page to supplement what we have now. During the course of that work, I've developed an interest in what happen to the group he was a part of for so long. After he resigned, he didn't really keep up on what was going on, so I'm looking for alternate sources to learn more about it.

Would you have anything further that you would be willing to share with me?
I'd appreciate anything you may have.

Thanks!

Daniel Burchfield (Tuesday, July 02, 2002)

Dear Lee Pai
This is Daniel down here in Georgia. I have not sent you an e-mail in a long time. I just wanted to see how you were doing these days. I am not studying Pai Lum any more. I am working with my wing chun training and trying to learn some eagle claw kung fu now. I did have some questions on Pai Lum history and Daniel Pai. What year did you first get to meet Danny Pai? Did he ever consider you a student or did you have more of a teacher-teacher relationship? You told me before in an e-mail that most of Pai's training was in the Okinawan and Japanese arts. I have heard that Pai had some of the best kenpo moves ever. I have read that Pai also took gojo-ryu and aikido. Have you ever heard this and if so did you ever see Pai practice these arts? I heard that he recieved and honorary 8th degree black belt from the great Gogen Yamaguchi. From what I gathered Pai's main art probably was his Okinawan kempo. Were there any martial artists that Pai had a high opinion of and thought were top notch? It would be neat to know if Pai thought someone was great considering how great a martial artist he was. Do you have many memories of the teacher of Pai's you met at the Vegas gathering in 1989? Did Pai speak of him highly? Was this the only time you got to meet Pai's teacher? Was this teacher the one that taught Pai the Okinawan arts do you believe? I hope you do not mind me asking so many questions but I never met or knew Pai and I just like to study the history of some of the styles I have taken. Thanks for your time and take care.

ANSWER:

It's good to hear that you are doing so well. The answer to your question about the 8th degree; the only one l saw that was an 8th, was from Robert Trias organization. It was partially in characters, so l am not sure if it was Goju, but l believe it was the same style as Dillman. The teacher l met was Okinawan. Dan told me he was the only person he considered his teacher. He spoke no English so Pai spoke Japanese to him. Dan protected his art very carefully. He had a lot of respect for Wally Slocki in Toronto. Wally was one of the best and a champion who fought and beat the best Japan had to offer. He also thought that Peter Urban was among the best. He was respectful of most of the people up there years ago. Bob Daugliesh was another. These names may not mean much, as you're a young man, but 30 years ago they were well known. As for Dan and myself, well we were friends, and he treated me as a family member, not a student. When he asked me to be a family member -- as l remember -- it went like this, 'l don't have someone l can trust, but you l can, would you be in my family?' l asked why, he said we were alike survivors and l knew what loyalty was. Also, l understood teacher student like it was. So l accepted. Also my best friend died (my father ). Whatever stories float around l judged him by how he treated me and that was way before Pai Lum and all the names happened. l remember when he asked me on the phone about getting a hard time about announcing what he did with me at Glastonbury, Conn. l still have the letter. So l said well if giving out names will keep them happy, go ahead. My friendship with you wont change, but l hope you know what you are doing. This was way back before anyone really met me in the US. So did l learn from him? Yes, in a teacher to teacher way. What l learned was, your chances to win a fight with him was slim. What he taught me l passed to Mike Doucet. What it wasn't, was Pai Lum . and he wouldn't teach it in a school. l am not saying this to aggrandize myself but he wouldn't sell it to anyone. He said l worked too hard to learn it to give it away .

regards lee