Innholdsfortegnelse for Janaury - February 2016 i Kung Fu Tai Chi

If you can binge watch TV, can you binge train Kung Fu? This question has been nagging at me lately. I confess that I’m a Kung Fu film addict and as you’ll read in my Chollywood Rising column (see page 90), there’s been a lot of great vintage Kung Fu cinema available for home entertainment lately. It’s tough on a Kung Fu flick junkie like me. I can’t spend all night watching Kung Fu movies. Never mind the impact it has on my training time, I got to get up and go to work in the morning. We’ve been monitoring the martial arts TV trend quite closely here, hence this issue’s cover story. At the Into the Badlands Hollywood premiere (see page 55), I had the pleasure of a private…

ON September 21, 2015, Grandmaster Chen Qingzhou (陳慶州) passed away. Grandmaster Chen was a 19th-generation lineage holder in Chen Family Taijiquan and a direct descendant of the ancestral founder of Chen Village where Taijiquan originated. He was the cover master of the Fall 95 issue of Kung Fu Tai Chi in a story titled “Secrets of Chen Village with Master Chen Qingzhou” by Marian K. Castinado. Grandmaster Chen was the 4th child of a farmer family. He was born on May 13 by the lunar calendar, a day known as “Guan Gong sharpens his blade (关公 磨刀日),” so he earned the nickname Er Guan Gong (2nd Guan Gong, Guan Gong is the patron saint of martial artists 二关公). He was frail, so his father Chen Wufang (陈五芳) taught him Chen…

The forefathers of Taijiquan were typically simple men of modest means; however, they had a high level of awareness of consciousness and the environment based upon hands-on experience. The intricate art they developed has many complex components, which can be overwhelming to a modern-day practitioner. One particular skill (技) or attack (击) is the art of seizing. The art of seizing is usually referred to as Qinna (擒拿), which means to capture and seize. Seizing is a very intricate skill that is difficult to execute correctly. Even if one executes a lock on an opponent, that does not necessarily mean that it is effective. If one executes the lock using upper body strength (li 力), the technique will be hasty and rough (too substantial), rather than being based on patience…

Length: 36” Weight: 29.4 oz Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) Modern practitioners tend to generalize the blade shape of the Chinese single-edged Dao to what is commonly used in the martial arts now. However, there were variations throughout history. This Dao is what is commonly called a Pei Dao (belt sword 佩刀) or Yao Dao (waist sword 腰刀). It is characterized by fairly even blade width with only a slight curve towards the foible. This style of Dao was popular during the Yuan Dynasty. The Yuan were Mongolians; their dynasty was founded by the great Kublai Khan. The Yuan were known for their horsemanship. The design of the Pei Dao echoes cavalry swords around the world. This elegant example has simple iron fittings and an ornate throat piece. The blade is in…

The World Taiji Network (世界太极拳 网), Chinese Martial Arts magazine (中华武术), Wudang magazine (武当) and Wulin magazine (武魂) jointly organized a web contest of unprecedented scale. My Favorite Chinese Taiji People Network Contest was a six-month-long web survey launched in February 2015. More than 1.1 million people participated, casting over 6 million votes over WeChat and the various web platforms of the magazines. Our publisher, Gigi Oh, was named as one of the International Taiji Outstanding Promoters. The six recognition categories and their recipients are as follows (each list is in alphabetical order by pinyin Romanization): Top Thirty Most Popular Chinese Taiji People (最受欢迎 的中华太极人物三十人 Chen Longxiang (陈龙骧), Chen Xiaowang (陈小旺), Chen Zhenglei (陈 正雷), Cui Yong (崔勇), Cui Zhongsan (崔仲三), Ding Shuide (丁水德), Fu Qingquan (付清泉), Fu Shengyuan (傅声远),…

With elite athletes often competing in their teens and retiring in their early 20s, the discipline of Modern Wushu may seem like a sport for the youthful only, when in fact it is really for everyone. This is not just a cliché. Master John Burns, a 9th degree black belt in Cuong Nhu Karate and 4th degree black belt in Aikido, has been practicing Modern Wushu for over three decades and is still going strong at the age of 62! Years to Our Life and Life to Our Years Master John Burns has dedicated most of his life to the practice of martial arts. He started in a style called Cuong Nhu Karate (literally Hard Soft), a wellrounded discipline that blends techniques and principles from several major martial arts, mainly…

Most shurikens are light and short. They are normally thrown overhand and are gripped in a different way. Knives that are 8–10 inches long will be good for both overhand and underhand throws. Note that professional knife-throwers use dull-edged knives as long as 16 inches and as heavy as 14 oz. How Do I Hold the Knife? Double-edged knives have to be thrown by the handle. Single- or dull-edged knives can be thrown by the handle or by the blade. Blade-heavy knives are thrown by the handle; handle-heavy knives, by the blade. Figure 1. Grips on the single-edged 10” VM Bulalakaw (designed by the author and was marketed by United Cutlery) A. Handle grip for the no spin throw B. Blade grip for the half spin overhand throw Figure 2.…

In Chinese cosmology, this period is classified as winter so it’s important to keep warm in the cold weather. 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 the…

On October 4th, 2015, the First International Wushu Sanshoudao Association USA Branch Directors Preparatory Committee Meeting was held, gathering several of the leading masters in the San Francisco Bay Area. The International Wushu Sanshoudao Association (IWSD) was founded by Grandmaster Shou-Yu Liang in 1987 and is a non-profit organization with full corporate governance. It is a vehicle for members to learn new skills and to improve their martial arts ability, functioning as a bridge for martial artists all over the world to learn and share their knowledge, and to develop greater camaraderie between martial artists. The goals of the Association are to promote martial arts worldwide and encourage cultural exchange in the global martial arts community. Its members include martial arts organizations across the world, martial arts schools from many…

The three-sectional staff is an extremely versatile weapon. Some also call it the “triple stick.” In Cantonese, it’s called sam jit gwan (literally “three part stick” 三節棍). The triple stick has been part of traditional Chinese weaponry for many years and is a weapon of choice for Kung Fu masters, both northern and southern. Southern Kung Fu practitioners tend to use a heavier triple stick and, as is typical of southern styles, concentrate more on short-range applications. The southern threesectional staff also tends to use heavier cudgels (sticks), so as to facilitate maximum damage when striking an opponent. The three-sectional staff used by northern practitioners is lighter and the sets focus more on longrange combat as well as an emphasis on spinning the weapon. These are rough generalizations and exceptions…

On June 18, SPL 2: A Time for Consequences (殺破狼Ⅱ) premiered in Asia. This is the sequel to the hard-hitting 2005 Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung film Sha Po Lang (殺破狼), which was retitled as Kill Zone for U.S. audiences (Sha Po Lang is an obscure astrological reference that doesn’t translate well – it literally means “kill destroy wolf”). Neither Donnie nor Sammo returned to the franchise. Instead, SPL2 stars Tony Jaa and Max Zhang (张晋). Jaa has been busy following his throwback actioner Skin Trade with Dolph Lundgren as well as his appearance in the fast-car juggernaut Furious 7. His upcoming projects include another film with Lundgren, A Man Will Rise, which is on hold, and another throwback, Never Back Down 3, which is in post-production. Zhang is in…

Chen Shi Taijiquan guo zhi gui bao. Wei ren lei zao fu zou xiang shi jie 陳氏太極拳國之瑰寶。為人類造福走向世界 By Grandmaster Chen Qingzhou (陳慶州) Chen Shi Taijiquan (tones: 2, 4, 4, 2, 2 陳氏太極拳) means ‘Chen family Taijiquan’. Guo (2nd tone 國) means ‘nation’ and zhi (1st tone 之) is a possessive modifier. Gui (1st tone 瑰) means ‘extraordinary’ and bao (3rd tone 寶) means ‘treasure’ or ‘jewel’. Wei (4th tone 為) means ‘do’ or ‘govern’, ren (2nd tone 人) means ‘man’ but in this case, it expands to mean ‘mankind’, lei (4th tone 類) means ‘class’ or ‘group’, zao (4th tone 造) means ‘build’ and fu (2nd tone 福) means ‘happiness’ or ‘blessing’. Zou (3rd tone 走) means ‘walk’ and xiang (4th tone 向) means ‘toward’; together they combine to mean…