I have been looking for an article on Chen style taijiquan to include on my blog for a while now. The extract translated below is an excerpt from an article (see original here ) that appeared in the Read more…
During the late Qing dynasty, a young man from Hebei named Yang Yuqian leaves his village to seek out a kungfu master. After many travails and escapades, he ends up in Chen Family Village in Read more…
I came across an article originally published in 2007 in the Eastern Daily (from here) that illustrates how deep feelings run over historical/lineage issues in China, and thought I’d share it. “For the last 80 years, Read more…
The following forms the second part of my translation of a long interview with Cui Ruibin (taken from here ). “A: Just now, you said that there was quite a difference between the teachings of M Yao Read more…
One of the pleasures if doing IMA is meeting other fellow enthusiasts who often have travelled hundreds or thousands of miles to study the arts at their source. On my previous visits to Tiantan I Read more…
During my trip to Beijing over the Chinese National Holiday, I made several visits to Tiantan park, which is one of the hotspots of CMA activity in Beijing. In addition to the taijiquan groups which Read more…
Readers who have been following the internal martial arts (IMA) for a while and in particular xingyi enthusiasts will have heard of the book Xingyi Neigong by Tim Cartmell and Dan Miller (originally published way Read more…
Just came back from training for a week with Wang Senlin of Shanghai, who I have mentioned in this blog before. Like most Chinese kungfu teachers, Master Wang teaches and practices in a park near Read more…
In traditional CMA, there is a saying “the teacher observes the student for 3 years, the student also observes the teacher for 3 years” (shifu kaocha tudi san nian, tudi kaocha shifu san nian). Obviously, Read more…
Just thought I would write a note on my impressions coming to the end of my first year in China (3rd year overall). Of course, all opinions are based on my experiences in one city Read more…