Innholdsfortegnelse for January - February 2017 i Kung Fu Tai Chi

By coincidence, the first two articles in this issue reference Sun Style Taijiquan. The first is Robert Santee’s thoughtprovoking article Yin and Yang: Navigating through Space and Time (see page 30). The second is from my shimei, my younger Kung Fu sister, Carol Wong. Pink Warrior Fighting Tactics (see page 36) describes her battle against breast cancer. Carol was also our first ‘got qi? girl’ back in our July+August 2001 issue. With our Kung Fu Tai Chi 25th Anniversary Festival coming up, this strikes me as another point of reflection for what is sure to be a nostalgic year. I used to practice Sun Style Taijiquan. In fact, my very first article for Kung Fu Tai Chi was about Sun Style: Radical Taiji: The Rising Sun of Taiji in the…

For the martial artist, no matter the school or tradition they follow, their art requires them to be continuously observing, understanding, and harmonizing with the constantly changing and transforming space/time environment wherein they live. While this external focus is clearly necessary and the initial stage of development, eventually practitioners must move inwards, if they wish to improve, get to the root of their art, and to feel the inner, integrated, continually changing workings of their body. They need to get a sense, a feel if you will, of how the relationship and relative positions of their muscles, tendons, joints, bones, and energy work together allowing movement, balance and location in space/time. In Western terminology this inner sense or perception (excluding vision) of our body’s position and movement in space/time is…

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We have been super busy at Tiger Claw. Winter is always this way. When the kids return to school in the fall, it means a renewed effort to get kids into martial arts. With winter, there’s the holidays, but after the holidays, it’s New Year’s resolutions and working off all that holiday feasting. I love the crispness in the air, the greyness of winter, the smell of impending rain and snow. I’m a snowboarder so the chance to head to the mountains for some shredding makes me very happy. The change in seasons also helps motivate me every year. This time of year is so important to the company for us to hit our sales goals for the year. It’s our last chance. Also, with the holiday season beginning earlier…

Lou Reed was a man of many accolades: singer, songwriter, guitarist, artist, provocateur, the Godfather of Punk, recipient of the French Legion of Honor Award and an inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was also an avid Tai Chi practitioner and graced Kung Fu Tai Chi’s cover twice, first in the May+June 2003 issue and then again in the September+October 2007 issue alongside his Taiji master, Ren Guangyi. Reed passed away in 2013, and yet his legacy remains. On July 30, 2016, New York City’s prestigious Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts held The Bells: A Daylong Celebration of Lou Reed and Tai Chi played a major role, just like it did with Reed in his autumn years. Reed had a longstanding passion for Chinese martial…

Hook swords are an advanced weapon taught in many northern styles. Kung Fu instructors usually teach this weapon after a student had learned the saber, or sometimes after a student has learned each of the four basic weapons (saber, staff, spear, and straight sword). A student might also learn the hooks in place of, or addition to, the double sabers. Just as many southern styles such as Hung Ga (洪家), Choy Lee Fut (蔡李佛), and Wing Chun (詠春) have butterfly knives (yi ji seung dou 二 字双刀) in their repertoire, many northern styles have hook swords; and like butterfly knives, hook swords are almost always used in paired fashion. A few styles have a “single hook” sword set, the moves being used in the event that one loses one of…

“I can freeze an opponent with a strike, just like in the books and movies.” So claims Master Wang Jianmin, a proponent of a unique style of Kung Fu that propounds this legendary power. “Once I freeze them, I must use special points to release them or permanent damage could occur.” To be able to freeze – or even kill – with an acupoint strike has been a longstanding myth of the martial arts. The so-called “Death Touch” has captivated the imaginations of martial artists, movie buffs and fantasy book fans for years. It is an intrinsically appealing concept – a secret knowledge of the human body so powerful that when tapped it disrupts the flow of qi enough to incapacitate someone. But is it real? The Death Touch The…

Some liberty is being taken with the name of this pair of hooks. Hook swords are traditionally called Tiger Head Hooks (hu tao gou 虎頭鈎) but this pair is engraved with spotted cats, not striped cats, so leopard is more distinctive. Both hooks bear six engraved leopards on each side: three on the blade, two on the crescent-moon blade, and one on the end spike. The leopard is a common symbol in the Chinese martial arts for speed and bravery. It was the rank insignia for 3rd grade Imperial military officers during the late Qing. The design of these weapons is a classic example of traditional Tiger Head Hooks, although it is notable that the crescent-moon knuckle guard is slightly larger than most modern examples. Note also that the hooks…

De (得 2nd tone) means ‘attain’ or ‘acquire’. Zhong (眾 4th tone) means ‘masses’ or ‘multitude’. These two characters evoke a Confucian teaching “By gaining the people, the kingdom is gained; by losing the people, the kingdom is lost (de zhong de tian xia; shi zhong shi tian xia 得眾得天下；失眾失天下)”. It expresses a wish for popular success of Kung Fu Tai Chi magazine. This piece was commissioned by Grandmaster Wang Peikun (王培锟) and his wife Zeng Meiying (曾美英) as a gift for Kung Fu Tai Chi’s Publisher, Gigi Oh. Grandmaster Wang holds the highest martial rank that China awards, 9th duan. His wife holds an 8th duan. The piece was painted by renowned calligrapher Hu Wanbao (胡萬寶). The De Zhong characters are presented twice: in the center, they are done…

On Oct. 15, 2016, the First Annual Ohio Kung Fu Tai Chi Day was held in beautiful Scioto Park in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. Organized and presented by the Planning Committee of Ohio Wushu Academy, under the direction of Master Sen Gao, this event brought together many Chinese martial arts schools from across the state of Ohio for a day of fantastic demonstrations, classical Chinese music, workshops, health vendors, food, and fun for all ages. This was not an official affiliate of Tiger Claw’s Kung Fu Tai Chi Day, although Master Gao is a WildAid Tiger Claw Champion from the 2014 Tiger Claw Elite Championships. Master Gao is a highly decorated champion having won top honors in both China and across the United States. The setting of Scioto…

THE Cultural Revolution was one of che darkest chapters in the history of the modem world. From 1966 to 1976/ the communists launched a brutal campaign to purge China of her venerated traditions, destroying them for their ties to the imperial subjugation that dominated China for millennia. This had a profound effect on traditional Chinese martial arts. Kung Fu masters were oppressed, humiliated/ incarcerated/ tortured, and killed. It was a period of intense social upheaval and bloody class struggles/ obscured by nationwide propaganda campaigns, making for a complicated period to understand today. Many believe that the Chicoms banned all martial arts/ but this is a grievous simplification of what actually happened. In reality, the Red Guard had to fight too. So they had their own style of Kung Fu —…

In Chinese cosmology, this period is classified as winter so keeping warm in the cold weather is a major priority. Focus on self-cultivation and take particular good care of your teeth. Here’s some advice to stay healthy: 1. Go to sleep earlier and get up later. Avoid excessive night life. Get to bed by 11:00 PM. 2. Limit sexual activity to ensure plenty of energy every day. If you feel tired, take a break and rest. Nourish yourself with tonics. 3. Eat well in the winter. A balanced nutritional diet is best for recovery and rehabilitation. 4. Get plenty of exercise. In winter, the best way to stay healthy is through internal cultivation, specifically Qigong and Tai Chi. 5. Keep warm. Avoid evil winds because wind is believed to be…