Kung Fu Tai Chi May - June 2016

On the day just prior to Chinese New Year, I had the privilege of working for Superbowl 50. My job was medical logistics, which meant I was running items like otoscopes and Keflex between our half dozen first aid stations positioned strategically around the stadium. It gave me All Access (except for the field) so I got to see the Superbowl from every perspective. Mind you, I’m not a football fan, but when it comes to American sports, there is nothing bigger than the Superbowl. It is the epitome of capitalism, commercialism and consumerism – I have never seen that much money change hands in such a short period of time. It made me proud to be an American. When it comes to sports, the martial ones are unique. We have…

My last trip wasn’t Kung Fu related. It wasn’t even work related. I spent two weeks in the driest desert in the world, the Atacama Desert. In such an inhospitable place, it’s amazing that people not only live, but have built up cities that thrive. I spent most of my time there in a city in northern Chile called Iquique. Being in the martial arts industry, I am constantly noticing martial arts schools and practitioners, even when I’m on vacation. What surprised me is that martial arts have found their way to a beach town in the middle of the desert in the southern hemisphere. I was in Iquique for Chinese New Year. I spent the celebration at the Taiwan Club of Iquique. There we had the honor of watching the…

Vaulting Champion Jannis Drewell Dons a Shaolin Monk Robe The reigning European vaulting champion Jannis Drewell of Germany donned Shaolin monk robe. Vaulting is a unique sport where acrobatic and gymnastic feats are performed while riding a horse. Like figure skating, competitors wear outrageously flashy custom-made costumes. Drewell has won all the of the World Cup qualifying rounds he entered this season: Salzburg Austria, Mechelen Belgium, and Leipzig Germany. He says that the idea for the monk robe costume came from Germany’s national trainer Kai Vorberg after watching Kung Fu Panda. http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?56206-Shaoliners&p=1290285#post1290285 Shaolin Temple Abbot Shi Yongxin Investigation Comes Up Empty Again A corruption investigation on Shaolin Temple Abbot, Shi Yongxin, was reported in the November+December 205 edition of this Web Fu column. The news went viral as the elements of a corrupt Chinese…

ON December 19, 2015, Grandmaster Cai Longyun (蔡龙云) passed away. He was the cover master for the November+December 2005 issue of Kung Fu Tai Chi Cai Longyun was China's renowned martial artist, theorist, educator, and 9 duan (China’s highest rank 九 段) holder. He served on the 7th CPPCC National Committee, and was a former vice president of Wushu Research Institute of National Sports Commission, member of the All-China Sports Federation, Vice-Chairman of the Chinese Wushu Association and the Shanghai Wushu Association, and former Martial Arts Department Director and Deputy Director of the Department of Physical Education of the Shanghai Sports Institute. He was born in Jining, Shandong province, to a martial arts family. He was an expert in huaquan (华拳), Shaolinquan, Taijiquan and Xingyiquan, among others. In 1943 and 1946, Cai…

Many view Kung Fu as a spectacular theatrical performance art, with little or no practicality in fighting. Indeed, famous monks from Shaolin Temple now perform all over the world. As for wuguan (Kung Fu school 武館) all over the world, most make taolu (forms 套路) practice the centerpiece of training. With the health benefits of practicing Chinese Kung Fu scientifically documented, few would debate its many life-enhancing qualities. Even in China, many practice Shaolin and other Kung Fu systems purely for duanlian shenti (physical fitness and health 鍛煉身體), rather than for practical fighting. With few violent crimes in China, busy work schedules and family responsibilities, there simply isn’t a need for such skills, nor the free time to pursue them anyway. In modern times, with commercial schools popping up everywhere, many parents…

The stick is one of the oldest battlefield-tested weapons. In Chinese antiquity it was known as shu (殳), then during the Ming-Qing dynasty it was also known as paizi (排子 the name for the thick sticks handling wooden chariots) and tiaozi (條子 or long sticks used as well to carry things on one’s shoulders). Today, the stick is mostly known as gun (棍). Little English documentation or real practical knowledge exists abroad about the art of the Chinese stick, as it is mainly a specialty coming from Gansu and Shaanxi provinces, together with the art of the wooden cane (biangan 鞭杆). The main techniques of Gansu stick-fighting are splitting (pi 劈), rolling (lun 輪), sweeping (sao 掃), blocking (lan 拦), lifting (tiao 挑), smashing (za 砸), moving (ban 搬), holding (gua…