Apologies for the weird title. Unless it was that kookiness that attracted you to the blog, in which case welcome!
My Baguazhang instructor sold us the concept of the "bagua sandwich". Essentially, he said, the modern world means we bagua players can't always devote hours of training each day as expressed in the traditional Chinese model. Go live with an instructor, do their chores and get paid in training is a nice idea (and a trope in many martial arts movies) but doesn't really gel well with having a full time, 40hr a week job and a family to support.
So, he explained to us that a good way to think of your training was like making and eating a sandwich. Now there are many kinds of sandwich. Some take a great deal of preparation and the finest ingredients to craft a sandwich that tastes incredible and is really satisfying to eat. Other sandwiches are literally just some sandwich paste in between two slices of generic, white sliced loaf.
Both have their value. Some days, you can devote lots of time, energy and focus to your training and craft yourself a superior "bagua sandwich", with really good ingredients and solidly put together before eating slowly to savour the taste.
Other days, time is at a premium, or maybe other things weigh upon your mind. Those days, some sliced ham slapped between a couple of slices of cheap bread is the best you can manage.
While the latter, cheaper, simpler sandwich is not as satisfying as the one that took more time, energy and focus, it still manages to stave off hunger for a while. It keeps your "bagua stomach"(?) full until you make time for yourself to have something more nutritious.
Recently, I have been having a lot of cheap sandwiches. I need to sort some time to myself so I can get back in the practice of making some truly legendary sandwiches once more. ;)
Friday 13 September 2019
Tuesday 10 September 2019
Sounds like the plot for a chop-sockey movie...
Full original article at: The Taipei Times
Master fights to earn name for feeding crane combat
By Huang Hsu-lei and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Martial arts master and special forces combat trainer Liu Chang-i (劉長益) said he hopes to introduce the feeding crane style to the world as Taiwan’s distinctive martial arts form.
Liu, 55, has mastered the style and is a combat instructor for the army’s, marines’ and military police’s special service companies.
The companies last year jointly demonstrated their feeding crane-inspired hand-to-hand combat techniques at the Double Ten National Day ceremony, which Liu said made him proud.
The style’s emphasis on fast and deadly blows makes it suitable for military applications, where soldiers have to defeat the enemy quickly, Liu said.
“It was originally a fighting style for women. The point is to defeat the opponent immediately by using explosive power and striking at vital points, as women cannot win protracted struggles with men,” he said.
The style is said to have been created 400 years ago by Fang Qiniang (方七娘), who modified the Chinese white crane style for women’s self-defense, Liu said.
Fang’s system has four main traditions — the flying crane, singing crane, resting crane and feeding crane styles, the last of which was brought to Taiwan by Master Lin Te-shun (林德順) in 1927, he said.
Lin taught the feeding crane style to Liu’s grandfather and after that the title of the master passed from father to son, he said.
Learning the style at a young age, Liu said he began helping his father with teaching it from the age of 14 and started teaching his own classes when he was 21.
At the age of 32, Liu established a feeding crane style school in the US and he has since opened schools in Romania, Germany, Spain and France, he said, adding that he travels the world to teach the style.
Every Asian nation and culture around Taiwan has laid claim to a signature martial art, such as taichi, wing chun, karate, taekwondo, Muay Thai and escrima, he said.
“It is a shame that Taiwan does not have a representative martial art,” he said. “I want to leave behind something for the nation. I have vowed that I will travel to make the feeding crane style thrive all over the world,” he said.
Master fights to earn name for feeding crane combat
By Huang Hsu-lei and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Martial arts master and special forces combat trainer Liu Chang-i (劉長益) said he hopes to introduce the feeding crane style to the world as Taiwan’s distinctive martial arts form.
Liu, 55, has mastered the style and is a combat instructor for the army’s, marines’ and military police’s special service companies.
The companies last year jointly demonstrated their feeding crane-inspired hand-to-hand combat techniques at the Double Ten National Day ceremony, which Liu said made him proud.
The style’s emphasis on fast and deadly blows makes it suitable for military applications, where soldiers have to defeat the enemy quickly, Liu said.
“It was originally a fighting style for women. The point is to defeat the opponent immediately by using explosive power and striking at vital points, as women cannot win protracted struggles with men,” he said.
The style is said to have been created 400 years ago by Fang Qiniang (方七娘), who modified the Chinese white crane style for women’s self-defense, Liu said.
Fang’s system has four main traditions — the flying crane, singing crane, resting crane and feeding crane styles, the last of which was brought to Taiwan by Master Lin Te-shun (林德順) in 1927, he said.
Lin taught the feeding crane style to Liu’s grandfather and after that the title of the master passed from father to son, he said.
Learning the style at a young age, Liu said he began helping his father with teaching it from the age of 14 and started teaching his own classes when he was 21.
At the age of 32, Liu established a feeding crane style school in the US and he has since opened schools in Romania, Germany, Spain and France, he said, adding that he travels the world to teach the style.
Every Asian nation and culture around Taiwan has laid claim to a signature martial art, such as taichi, wing chun, karate, taekwondo, Muay Thai and escrima, he said.
“It is a shame that Taiwan does not have a representative martial art,” he said. “I want to leave behind something for the nation. I have vowed that I will travel to make the feeding crane style thrive all over the world,” he said.
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