Andy Lau – 中国人

Errrrrh, just in case anybody starts going “Eric hates China”…..

 

 

Chinese People (Andy Lau)

5000 years of wind and rain, ah, hide how many dreams?
Yellow faces, black eyes, the smiles are are unchanging
8000 years within mountains and rivers, like a song
No matter where you originate from, or where you’ll eventually be

The same tears, the same pain
We’ll leave the experienced hardships within our hearts
The same blood, the same kind
The future still has dreams, we’ll open them together

Hand in hand, don’t separate you and me,* proudly walk forward
Let the whole world know we are all Chinese people

 

Don’t go looking in the wrong place….

Every so often, I would come across views expressed in forums and such regarding what the communists did to the traditional arts during the “cultural revolution”.

Most of us here is Asia (outside of the mainland) is familiar with what an extensive job the communists did to eliminate traditions; maybe not totally but to the point that many younger mainlanders I know personally find some of our traditional practices alien. 

And more so when it comes to the fighting arts; some would even state that martial arts folks were among the first to be targeted for “correction”.

This is repeatedly told by elders who fled China and I grew up hearing this umpteen times from masters from diverse styles without exception. 

“There was a time that traditional arts, under the communists, were totally banned” was a comment that I made in a documentary produced couple of years back here in Sarawak.

And of course there are those who disagree with this statement and strangely mainly from younger people from outside Asia. 

I know that mainland China has been trying hard to restore many traditions in the last 10 – 20 years; the numbers of overseas Chinese masters invited to go back and teach is one clear evidence. 

I cannot remember the number of times that the Fuzhou in Singapore was contacted for this very purpose. 

Even yours truly here was contacted a couple of times to join “research committees” to compile and document Fuzhou fighting arts – something that I have declined so far.

When we were in Penang, Sifu Liu Chang I, Ruan Dong, Xiong De Lu and I were talking about a project exactly like this – a composite book about White Crane and spin offs. 

Maybe, without any “central authorities” intervention, this long overdue project might just materialize. 

Here’s a clip from the same “National Geographic Channel” documentary that I posted from before; I think the views expressed is pretty much in line with mine and many in Asia…