The song remains the same.

Wow, it has been an unbelievably busy past 10 days …. Work, you know…

And not helped by me twisting my left ankle (the umpteen times) doing a move from one of the 3 monkey forms that I do – really got to remind myself that I am on the wrong side of 50 and “monkeying” around could be chancy.

Well anyway, did spent some times with a couple of the local masters doing some “dim sum” and naturally, the topic of conversation gyrated towards TCMA; not that I am complaining, its always good to hear them describe their experiences and show some of their “tricks”.

Apparently both these Hakka masters just watched the “Yip Man 2” movie and we talked about the fighting in that movie a little and one of them said that this is just pure entertainment.

In the 40s and 50s, it was wu-xia novels that depicted the martial arts; vividly described techniques with poetic sounding names of techniques sometimes completed with illustrations sprinkled thru the novel – hey I got some of these in my collection and we are talking pre Ku Long and Jin Yong ……

Then the 60s saw many productions of kung fu movies in b/w format and that kind of got everyone enthralled with all that flying around and fighting both bare-hands and with a mixed bag of weapons.

The movies carried on with Hong Kong mass producing kung fu movies of every possible genre. And this is most likely how the rest of world “discovered” CKF and if you think I am wrong, just check with anyone outside of Asia to name CKF styles and you would in all likelihood, hear about styles featured in these movies.

Hong Kong, a mainly Cantonese society, was showcasing mostly Cantonese styles. Styles from the rest of China, relatively, got exposure only quite recently.

Now with “reality TV” type of fighting sport from the West, many are convinced that this is the true objective of martial art training.

Well, hate to tell you this but for many (and I mean many) of us, this is just “amusement”.

Real kung fu training got little to do with entertainment, be it choreographed fights or sport fighting, no matter how “real” you think those could be designed.

The soul of Kung Fu has never changed – kill or be killed and don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating violence.

But what if you got no choice?

The 2 masters (in their early 70s) lived through the racial turmoil during the early days of the Chinese in Sarawak and it was exactly that – fight to win and survive or perish. Some of their personal experiences send chills down my spine – the bloody carnages …..

Now, when you have walked that path and survived with acquired skills, maybe you’ll appreciate what I am trying so hard to preserve.

Not what you see in the movies or reality TV fight sports but the heart of authentic CKF.

I know I know, this is a case of “you don’t know what you don’t know” and its tough to persuade those who don’t know that they don’t ……

You know?

Got a short clip here featuring some mainlanders with nunchucks; not exactly a “ Traditional Chinese Kung Fu” thing so maybe they are inspired by the late Bruce Lee or Jay Chou, I don’t know…

So if your inspiration is from “entertainment”, how good are you going fight and win….

And it makes me wonder.

Carlsberg time……

CCTV Martial Arts in English.

Just in case you can’t find this, click here.

Good to know mainland’s perception of TCMA and Wushu……..

Above the law ??? Naaahh, unless you spot a ponytail …..

Don’t know this guy personally but sometime back we received a note from his organization – not a very pleasant one in fact …..

I had invited some Yip Kin WCK exponents from Kuala Lumpur to perform in our “Martial Arts Gathering 2007” show held in Penang and the letter suggested that we need to seek his federation’s approval or endorsement of sort; the letter even assumed the tone that they are the umbrella body overseeing all things Wing Chun in Malaysia.

Later, I filed that letter in my other “OUT” bin – trashcan I mean….

I did ask around about him and really, feedbacks were not too kind ….so there you go ……

Now with allegations of extortion and cheating, the situation might just get “sticky” for our friend.

Hope his “chi sao” skills are strong.

Full story here. (in English)

Bokator: Ancient Cambodian martial arts resurrected

Full story here.

So you do kung fu … really ???

So you’re into CKF; you join a school, study basics, move on to forms and 2 man sets, weapons and maybe a little free-sparring and viola, next thing you know, you are now upgraded to be a teacher.

When you branch out, you are expected to adhere to the same route.

I don’t think I am very wrong to say that the above is what you see everywhere these days; 2 – 3 years, a “sifu” is borne.

And folks lament that traditional CKF is watered down and devalued.

Everywhere, you hear misgivings about traditional forms, training methodologies and really, the very heart of TCMA; why bother with the old ways when modern “technologies” are able to whip out better fighters ….. and so the arguments go on and on ….

Sometimes, reading what had been written, I wonder how much of TCMA have these folks experienced?

What they write reveal the shallowness of their actual knowledge of CKF.

Regardless of the style, one of the first few imperative lessons is “train courage, strength and followed by techniques”.

The “courage” portion is mental, emotional and even spiritual and in the old days, a Sifu would test a student repetitively to make certain that “courage” is attained; a good teacher would spare no efforts here and that is why sometimes it takes years in order for someone to even learn techniques and such.

The boldness to take on anyone, any form of pain and still not surrender is something that is glaringly missing in most training today.

I love the way the Japanese puts it “Conquer the fear of death and you fear nothing”.

If you can’t control “fear” – no techniques, tricks and forms are going to be any good.

So folks, if your training revolves only around forms, light sparring …… you are missing the bigger picture ….really…..

Here’s another mainland compilation clip – stick from various styles.

Enjoy.

“Dojo Rat”

Received an email from a gentleman, John Titus, who runs a blog named “Dojo Rat”…… click here.

I browsed this a little and …. really… nice….

But what is with the “rat” ???

Made in India ???

Ooookay, it’s that time again – answer emails…..

Firstly, again, allow me to apologize to those who have written in with invitations to be friends over at youtube and facebook etc etc..

Like I explained before, I am just about able to cope as it is; juggling my time doing this and that and the last thing I need is to commit to something I cannot upkeep.

Many emails received asked for specific articles in old magazines, video clips and info about schools and Sifus; I would try my best to oblige.

Someone wrote in to ask whether I subscribe to the theory that CKF was influenced by her neighbor India.

Well, for as long as I could remember, many elders before me spoke of the extraordinary relationship between India and China through the early ages; written documents attest to this.

I guess for most folks, looking at contemporary Indian fighting arts, they find it difficult to reconcile the 2 countries’fighting art forms.

I recall a Saolim elder telling me that to see the connection, you got to concentrate on the stick arts; they are telling movements to relate the 2.

Got a mainland clip here that might just do that; no background info but apparently a northern form. Something that you would expect to see Chuo Jiao, Sanhuangpaochui and Shaolin exponents do.

Reminds me of something from the “crazy” stick series ………

And you thought Gongfu is not practical !!!

I bet you never knew gongfu could come so handy grasshopper …..

He floors lover with gongfu kicks …. click here.

My Zhou Jia Sihing, Peter.

Another hectic week just zipped by …. The year of the Tiger is proving to be more “vigorous” than I first imagined.

Well, this is good …. It’s always better to be busy than idle …so say so many folks around here.

And this past week had been made “busier” with the visit of my Zhou Jia (Jow Ga) sihing, Peter Lum, from Penang.

He was supposed to travel with Por Suk (Cho Ga Ban Chung Wing Chun) but Por Suk had to change plan last minute; one of his students bought tickets for him to go to China….

Well anyway Peter stayed with us in the new house so it was 4 days of kung fu talks and discussions of projects plus meeting with my boss, kung fu folks in Kuching and some sightseeing / shopping squeezed in.

This being his virgin trip to East Malaysia, we wanted him to experience as much as possible; life in East and West Malaysia are really 2 totally diverse matters.

You just go to hands on both to know what I mean.

4 days are just barely adequate to scratch the surface, so Peter is scheduling on coming back …. With Por Suk.

In the meantime, I will be building a “mok chong” or “wooden dummy” using “belian” …one of the hardest “iron wood” known to man.

I will be working my knives techniques on the dummy … what are you thinking you dummy hahahaha….

Downtown Kuching near the waterfront.

GM Kong Shu Ming (Hakka Suppressing Tiger Fists) having morning       coffee with Peter.

“Arsenic Lake” in Bau Kuching. Seriously the lake is laced with arsenic left behind during the gold mining operations. Swim at your own risk !!!

Some more bird talk.

Okay okay I know, this is supposed to be a Kung Fu blog and I should stay the course ….. but please remember also that “all Kung Fu and nothing else makes Eric a dull boy” … duh !!!

However, Kung Fu is a big part of my life and I don’t drift far, a little diversion now and then but still it is the “comfort zone” that I am comfy with.

Got another clip here to share – Yong Chun White Crane’s “8 parts”, to me, a signature form for them after Sanchiem; a “forcing the 4^th gate” form since they don’t do any “angles or corners” battle form per se.

Maybe and this is a big maybe, latter days’ Fuzhou Cranes “4^th gate” form is inspired by this form; it is really hard to ascertain particularly since no proper chronology record exist.

Talking to both Yong Chun and Fuzhou Cranes elders, nothing clear cut resulted …..

Then of course you got “Grand Ancestor” or “Tai Chor” Boxing  and the consensus is that this is a much older system and if you inspect their paradigm of training, you’ll find :-

• Sanchiem – connecting sky, man and earth or in other tongue, absorbing into the earth and rising to the sky power trajectory.
• 4 doors
• 5 gates
• 8 methods

Looks like all these are swimming in the same water no?

Another account that I’ve got from a White Crane elder around here is that “8 parts” refer to the 4 major wrist and elbow manipulations – this then put the form closer to what Wing Chun folks preach…..

This White Crane veteran has his fair share of touching hands with White Crane experts of most lines and really, I cherish everything he has got to share with me; you should see some of the classical hand written/illustrated manuscripts that his teacher left him – priceless!!!

Back to the form in the clip, the performer appears to be much “harder” that the earlier YCWC clips that I posted. This kind of delivery makes it easy to see why many in the Karate world are now claiming association to YCWC as reported in the many websites and magazines out of the mainland.

So which is the right execution? Well, if you ask me, they are both “right” – go back to the White Crane classics and you’ll find recorded in no uncertain terms, that White Crane is “half hard half soft”.

Sinking into the “Dantien” and sinking into the earth produce different energies and appearances….

To sink into “Dantien” you keep your legs tight like in your typical “hourglass” stance whereas sinking into the earth calls for the legs to stay “springy”.

Well, more on this topic over time …. Let me find more clips to demonstrate what I mean.