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- What TV channels are running the series now?
- Dan Hollis emailed us to tell us that the satallite network "Good Life TV Network", is running the series on Thursdays at 9PM central. He tells us "the Good Life TV Network is on satellite Galaxy G1R, Transponder 22." Others had written us previously but no one else gave us day and time of broadcasts.
- Why is Caine called "grasshopper"?
- This question comes up every single week in the Search. One can only assume it is being asked by people who never saw the pilot in which the very first time Caine meets Master Po, he says that to be blind must be the worst affliction. But Master Po shows the young Caine that he can even hear the grasshopper at the young Caine's feet, which Caine couldn't hear.
- Do you have any information on "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues"?
- We have a section on "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues" in our Addendum. Also see our Resources on "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues".
- What do you know about the marks of the tiger and the dragon that were burnt into the forearms of the Shaolin in the story?
- At this point we know absolutely nothing. We don't have any information on whether this is something known to have come from Shaolin tradition or whether it was made up for this or some other fictional account of the Shaolin.
We have heard several theories and stories but none can point to anything that can really authenticate their positions. There may be references from centuries ago in Chinese but we don't know of any that have been translated. Or it may be that nothing exists even in Chinese since the Shaolin kept many of their traditions secret.
There is some indication that the Shaolin liked to be able to "blend in" and wouldn't have wanted marks that identified them. However, others are convinced they wanted "proof" of who they were. The only type of evidence we can imagine is something written before the 20th century of an account of someone meeting a Shaolin and mentioning such marks, or for some reason mentioning arms that had no such marks. As we said, we have never heard of any such account being translated into English or of anyone who has seen such an account in a Chinese source.
In answer to the above request Ariel Donosso sent us a link to a fantastic site at: http://www.shaolin.com.au/history.htm. And indeed the writer of this article talks about the symbols by saying: "It is even possible that one of these physical tests, the last one was the lifting of a hot cauldron with their bare forearms...." Then he says that, "Varied accounts suggest that these cauldrons may have had... symbols on them....""It is even possible" / "Varied accounts suggest".
With other aspects of the history of the Shaolin, the writer writes with confidence. But about this cauldron and the symbols on the arms, he writes cautiously. If a cauldron had been found in any temple, someone would have said so. If there were written accounts to base speculation on, this and other sites that acknowledge the difference between a what is a known fact and what is not, might well have turned up something. I recommend this article (most of what it says, is also what I have gathered over the past decade or two) because it acknowledges that we do not know what at this point we do not know.
Terry sent us some images of the marks on the urn in the series.
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