Enjoying a tasty meal. Used to dine here all the time a few years back. Nice food and really friendly service. We must come back when we have Freyja with us...
Peking Court buffet, Manchester
Tuesday 23 July 2013
Hong Kong marks 40 years since death of martial arts icon Bruce Lee
Story taken from: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-20/exhibition-marks-40th-anniversary-of-bruce-lee-death/4832970
Lee helped put Hong Kong on the movie world map, and his films acted as a bridge between the cultures of East and West.
The Heritage Museum is displaying more than 600 of the actor and filmmaker's personal items, including the tracksuit Lee wore in his final film Game of Death.
Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee, says it is her father's philosophy of life and the message in his films that people still respond to.
"It's the depth behind the films that keep him relevant today," she said.
"And we can take his words, his actions and apply them to our own lives. And people do, all time."
Ms Lee was four years old when her father died from swelling of the brain aged just 32.
"The way I know my father is not through media. The way I know my father is in number of different ways," she said.
"It's through the people who knew him well, his friends, my family. It's also through his own words, because he wrote voluminously.
"I have all of his library books, thousands of books and he would underline in them and write notes in the margins, so I know him from him."
Some of those notebooks, poetry, and family photos are among 600 items which will showcased in the exhibition at the museum until 2018.
A 20th century cultural icon who founded Jeet Kune Do, Lee's untimely death in Hong Kong in 1973 left fans around the world reeling.
"I remember the funeral in Hong Kong primarily, because it was just so chaotic. There were so many people," his daughter said.
"It was hot, humid, and it was just sort of like this whirlwind. And there was so much going on and so much sadness and as a little kid, I just sort of remember being dragged through that whole process and the feeling of the chaos all around me."
Lee's legacy lived on, inspiring a new generation of actors such as Jackie Chan and breaking down barriers for Asian actors in Hollywood.
"He won his fame from Kung Fu, which does not need language to deliver," Lee's biographer Roger Lo said.
"Just like dance and music. You can watch it whoever you are. It is like Charlie Chaplin whose silent movies were borderless.
"Lee was also a bridge between the cultures of East and West. He was educated both in Hong Kong and the United States.
"He appeared on American televisions and also Chinese movie theatres."
Chaplin Chang, the author of a new biography The Bruce Lee They Knew published this month, says that Lee's real personality, not just his screen persona, is part of his enduring appeal.
"People may give him god-like status. But he is just a human," he said.
Mr Chang, in the Chinese-language version of his biography, attempts to portray the action hero from an unconventional perspective, showing that the screen icon could be difficult at times but was generally friendly towards subordinates.
"He was not only [about] movies, nor was he only [about] martial arts," he said.
"With his philosophy, his legacy lives on for generations. Therefore, he is admired by many even now."
Updated
An exhibition in Hong Kong is celebrating the life of Bruce Lee, 40 years after the death of cinema's first martial arts hero.
Lee helped put Hong Kong on the movie world map, and his films acted as a bridge between the cultures of East and West.
The Heritage Museum is displaying more than 600 of the actor and filmmaker's personal items, including the tracksuit Lee wore in his final film Game of Death.
Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee, says it is her father's philosophy of life and the message in his films that people still respond to.
"It's the depth behind the films that keep him relevant today," she said.
"And we can take his words, his actions and apply them to our own lives. And people do, all time."
Ms Lee was four years old when her father died from swelling of the brain aged just 32.
"The way I know my father is not through media. The way I know my father is in number of different ways," she said.
"It's through the people who knew him well, his friends, my family. It's also through his own words, because he wrote voluminously.
"I have all of his library books, thousands of books and he would underline in them and write notes in the margins, so I know him from him."
Some of those notebooks, poetry, and family photos are among 600 items which will showcased in the exhibition at the museum until 2018.
A 20th century cultural icon who founded Jeet Kune Do, Lee's untimely death in Hong Kong in 1973 left fans around the world reeling.
"I remember the funeral in Hong Kong primarily, because it was just so chaotic. There were so many people," his daughter said.
"It was hot, humid, and it was just sort of like this whirlwind. And there was so much going on and so much sadness and as a little kid, I just sort of remember being dragged through that whole process and the feeling of the chaos all around me."
Lee's legacy lived on, inspiring a new generation of actors such as Jackie Chan and breaking down barriers for Asian actors in Hollywood.
"He won his fame from Kung Fu, which does not need language to deliver," Lee's biographer Roger Lo said.
"Just like dance and music. You can watch it whoever you are. It is like Charlie Chaplin whose silent movies were borderless.
"Lee was also a bridge between the cultures of East and West. He was educated both in Hong Kong and the United States.
"He appeared on American televisions and also Chinese movie theatres."
Chaplin Chang, the author of a new biography The Bruce Lee They Knew published this month, says that Lee's real personality, not just his screen persona, is part of his enduring appeal.
"People may give him god-like status. But he is just a human," he said.
Mr Chang, in the Chinese-language version of his biography, attempts to portray the action hero from an unconventional perspective, showing that the screen icon could be difficult at times but was generally friendly towards subordinates.
"He was not only [about] movies, nor was he only [about] martial arts," he said.
"With his philosophy, his legacy lives on for generations. Therefore, he is admired by many even now."
First posted
Wednesday 17 July 2013
Luo De Xiu Manchester seminar 2013 & old article
This year's seminar with Luo Laoshi was amazing. So much to take in that, though I learned a great deal, I still lament all the things I will have inevitably been unable to memorise. Times like this make me wish I had an eidetic memory.
The seminar included Hebei Xing Yi, Gao style Baguazhang and Chen Pan Ling Tai Chi. Though I'd only really experience the bagua before (excluding the Xing Yi we often touch upon in class), I really enjoyed every single moment, regardless of which particular style we were learning about at the time.
Luo Laoshi was so remarkably generous and good-natured, I honestly can't count the number of times he demonstrated a particular technique upon me, or corrected my posture, et cetera.
So, I found online this old (not sure how old, though) article written about Luo Laoshi. I have to say, there was nothing like the crunching thump during our training (other than a few comedic (to us) techniques demonstrated on our teacher).
Webmaster's notes: I found this article on the web a while ago. I thought it was a good piece on Luo Dexiu. Don't know when it was written.
Bagua Training with Master Lou De Xiu
By Mario Sikora
This article was originally published in The Edge Self-Defense and Fitness Quarterly.
Thump.
The student gets up and attacks again and the master moves slightly and slams his palm into the student's chest. There it is again, the resounding thump. The master spins him around and deposits him on the floor. The moves are impressive enough, but it's the sound of palm hitting chest that gives you pause. And the way the student's head jerks back when the master grabs his arm and yanks him off balance. Your body starts to ache just watching.
This is bagua, an internal martial art. The internal arts are supposed to be slow and gentle; great for health, great for people who don't like to fight. Then comes the thump again and the student is tossed like a rag doll.
He struggles to look serene, but you know it's an effort.
Unless you've been involved in the martial arts for a while you've probably never seen or even heard of bagua zhang. If you have seen it, you've probably wondered why those guys are walking in circles and doing those weird things with their arms. There aren't many bagua instructors around, and those that are are less than impressive. As a matter of fact, they start looking downright silly after you see the real thing.
Master Lou De Xuo recently gave a bagua demonstration in Philadelphia, and everyone there knew that any
bagua they had seen before was mere imitation. His art is a fighter's art, seeming to contain principles from a number of other more modern arts. Only his art was graduate school to their junior high. One gets the impression that a lot of the young bucks out there claiming to have combined systems and created new martial arts are just reinventing the wheel.
Master Lou also took some time to speak about his art.
He started his martial arts training, studying bagua, tai chi, and hsing-I in 1970 as a teenager in his native Taiwan. He says he didn't have much focus on what he wanted to accomplish; but he did like to fight. In the early 1970s, Taiwan was the host of a number of full contact tournaments that allowed Lou to satisfy his desire to fight and test his skills.
The rules of the tournaments were simple: the only protective equipment was a pair of thin cotton cloves, you could do anything except poke to the eyes or strike to the groin. (Animated throughout the interview, Lou really comes alive as he describes these tournaments through his interpreter, thrusting at the interpreter's eyes and groin. The interviewer slides his chair back slightly.) The winner was the last man standing.
The tournaments were open to all styles and Lou found himself fighting boxers, wrestlers, Thai boxers, and karate stylists. Eventually, the enormous number of serious injuries to participants (even the winner could barely walk the next day) caused the government to crack down on the tournaments and enforce more rules and the use of safety equipment.
After military service in 1978-79, Lou decided to devote himself to bagua. Even though he had been victorious in all the bouts he had entered, he was on the small side (although he is not small anymore) and didn't have the confidence he felt he needed when fighting a larger opponent. He believed that the body movement of bagua would give him the skills and the confidence for which he was searching. Watching him demonstrate his art leads one to believe that it did.
The exposure to real fighting in his early training made it easier to understand the theories of bagua that he learned later on, says Lou, but he would not recommend the same approach for everyone. It's just how it worked out for him. He advises others to explore the theory, philosophy, and meditation aspects of the art as well as the combat aspects if they want to reach the higher levels.
Going in Circles
So why do bagua practitioners perform their forms while walking in a circle? Lou offers a simple explanation: the art is based on angulation--moving off your opponent's line of attack and placing yourself in an advantageous position to counter-attack. The counterattack is usually linear, coming straight from that advantageous position. Bagua also has numerous linear forms, Lou says, but most western practitioners are not familiar with them.
Issuing Chi
When asked how he feels about claims by many internal-style martial artists of issuing internal energy, or chi, Lou just grins and says, "We like to stay neutral on that issue. I don't know about others, but I don't do it."
Nonetheless, chi development is important to his art, but he calls it "I" (pronounced "ee") development, or mind development. Instead of being some mystical force existing independently, chi occurs whenever the yin and yang are in balance.
Lou says that everyone has this energy, but resistance in the body and the mind impede its flow. If the impediments are removed, the energy will flow and one will feel the chi.
Proper bagua training seeks to balance the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems; the first excites the body and the second settles it. This hormonal balance, a balance of yin and yang, produces chi.
This idea of balance permeates Master Lou's bagua. There must be a balance between circular and linear techniques, a balance between the combat techniques and the health aspects of the art, a balance between focus on the opponent and the focus on the self. Finding proper balance takes years of practice under a legitimate master of the art. Most western practitioners and instructors have only studied with a master for a few years before going off on their own, which is why Lou believes that most of the bagua here is watered down, and even kind of amusing to watch.
Standing Meditation
Standing meditation is often overlooked by many who practice bagua, says Lou, and their art suffers for it. Daily practice of such meditation teaches the mind to focus and remain relaxed at the same time. It allows the body and mind to reset, something needed by everyone in our high-stress times. Don't focus on chi flow during meditation, he says, because if you concentrate on it you won't know if the energy is real or imagined. Instead, one should focus on heightening sensitivity.
Imagine the body surrounded by a bubble, he says. Move your finger slightly and feel the movement throughout the bubble. After the animated discussion on combat, Master Lou is settling down as he discusses meditation, becoming tranquil.
Have you ever heard your heart beat? he says. That is the goal.
It is that question that sums up Master Lou De Xiu's art, and martial arts training in general. Developing the strength and skill to punch straight through an opponent's chest, and developing the sensitivity and peace of mind not to do so. Developing the sensitivity to hear your heart beat.
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