Kung Fu Tai Chi January - February 2017

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 December+January…

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…

11th Zhengzhou International Shaolin Kung Fu Festival The 11th Zhengzhou International Shaolin Kung Fu Festival was held in Dengfeng from October 16th to October 20th. Around 150 teams from 73 countries participated. The opening ceremony featured a mass performance by the largest martial arts school in the world, the Tagou Kung Fu School, with some 29,560 students demonstrating together. The Shaolin Festival began in 1991 and has been reported several times in Kung Fu Tai Chi over the years, including the production of the documentary, Shaolin Trips: The First World Traditional Wushu Festival, presented by Associate Publisher, Gene Ching. KungFuMagazine.com covered this year’s festival with Chris Friedman’s article and video, The Woodstock of Shaolin: 11th Zhengzhou International Shaolin Kung Fu Festival. http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?69780-11th-Zhengzhou-International-Shaolin-Kung-Fu-Festival-in-Dengfeng Blind Masters With Donnie Yen making his appearance as the blind Force-sensitive…

Chinese are generally reserved in expressing their emotions. Love is seldom spoken of among close friends and even family members. Emotions are held in check and strong sentimental words are avoided. Nevertheless, the 17th World Congress on Qigong, Tai Chi and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), held in early September in San Francisco, felt nothing but love. Internationally renowned Qigong Grandmaster Dr. Effie Chow is a visionary. She was instrumental in the 1990 founding of the World Congress on Qigong, Tai Chi and Traditional Chinese Medicine. She insisted on sharing the credit with the late Dr. Rustum Roy, an emeritus professor at Pennsylvania State University and pioneer of energy medicine. At age 83 and recovering from a medical mishap of wrong medication, Dr. Effie Chow worked tirelessly to put together the 17th…

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 arts…

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 Park…