I find myself fortunate to be a member of the White Crane Tai Chi Martial Arts Club. To be able to practice and to learn the patterns (Suang Yang and Jian, The Chinese Straight Sword). It is an excellent way to keep fit and focused on living your life. I am sure there are many [...]
Chinese Calligraphy or ‘Shufa’ (the way/law/of writing) is a highly revered form of both art and discipline originating in China, then slowly expanding throughout the Sinosphere to include Japanese, Vietnamese and Korean calligraphy. The oldest form of script would be Chuan Shu 1900BC during the Qin Dynasty, which was used mainly for ceremonial purposes. In [...]
Kung fu hustle was the first time that I heard the name/term lions roar. In the context of this movie the director had the opportunity to personify all attributes of this fabled lions roar in one key character, the Landlady (played by Qiu Yuen). The movie is set in pigsty alley a small village, haven [...]
Shou Lao. My partner Monty chose to be the Chinese god of Long Life. Shou Lao (or sometimes Shou Hsing) is one of the three gods of Good Fortune – the others being the god of Happiness (Fu-Hsing) and the god of Salaries (Lu Hsing). Shou lao is more of an icon as there are [...]
When I first travelled to the Far East (many years ago now!), I expected to see an altar to Buddha in every house & restaurant. Imagine my surprise when most places I visited did have an altar, but the deity being revered was not Buddha, but was a huge red faced man with piercing eyes, [...]
Raiden; God of thunder, protector of the earth realm and by far the coolest character in mortal combat, if not the world. First known to meon the Sega-master system, Raiden has enjoyed games console success since the early nineties and remains a staple of mortal combat remakes up to the present day. Being a God, [...]
Pigsy was one of four characters from the famous 16th century classical Chinese novel Monkey – Journey to the West by the author Wu Cheng’en. (This became a cult TV series during the late seventies). Half pig, half human with limited magic powers, this creature went on a long journey with the Monkey King and [...]
Hua Mulan was the only daughter of Fa Zhou, who was too old to go to war. He was a warrior in his time who served with great honour. When Mulan was 18 there was conscription into the army to battle yet another invasion. Her father was too old to serve and so she took [...]
On my many visits to China, one thing I always notice is their park culture. The parks are popular meeting places & host a whole range of activities you never see in the west. If you take a stroll through any of China’s parks first thing in the morning, even on the coldest winter’s day, [...]
The crane is a very special bird. Our whole system is an embodiment of this creature whose movements have provided inspiration for a whole series of fighting techniques that are designed to swiftly take out an opponent. But what of the actual bird itself? The mythology and the symbolism of cranes have been found in [...]
