Hong Kong (6/05): Sleepless Kung Fu

Due to circumstances beyond my control (and its nothing realy worth blogging about) I was only able to get one hour of sleep last night.  Actually, it was more like this morning -- between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m.

Amazingly, I wasn't all that tired during most of the day up until I had to leave for the Kung Fu class Bey Logan had advertised in his blog.  I've been changing the way I eat and I think I'm gaining a surplus of energy.

Anyway, that's not relevant to this blog.  I was going to talk about the Kung Fu class.

I made my way over to the park in Central where they meet.  I got there a little before the noon start time and recognized the teacher, Sifu Mak, from the pictures on his website.  I introduced myself and started to stretch out. 

The class itself wasn't huge, but I sort of prefer it that way.  Too big and you lose focus sometimes.  It was a nice, concentrated 4 students and the teacher.  Bey was there too, of course, and a guy named Marcus and another guy who's name slips my mind.

After warming up, Mak Sifu taught me the beginning of a form from the Hung Kuen system(also known as Hung Gar or Hung Ga or Hung Ga Kuen), which is the same style that Wong Fei Hung did.  Actually, Mak Sifu has direct lineage to Wong Fei Hung.

Now, I've always been aware of the differences between wushu and traditional Chinese martial arts (i.e. "kung fu").  (How can you not when people keep asking?)  And truth be told, I didn't mind that wushu's emphasis is less on application and more on aesthetic performance.  In fact, I preferred it that way.  I loved the artistic side of wushu -- expressing myself through whatever movements I was performing.

And while I knew that the foundation of what I was doing was rooted in the traditional Chinese martial arts, I never had much interest in learning them.  Not because I thought any less of them -- but merely because that wasn't the reason I was taking wushu.  I enjoyed the sport and performance aspects of martial arts and modern wushu is exactly geared towards that emphasis. 

When doing wushu, and especially nan quan, I've always been a strong proponent of understanding the intention behind the movements.  With Chang Quan its a little fuzzier, but with nan quan it's much easier to dissect the movements and determine their root meaning.

So, when going to this class, and knowing that it was based on Southern Traditional Chinese martial arts, I was interested to find out how it would fit in with my general understanding of martial arts, and how the movements were similar or different than what we do in modern wushu.

I first have to say that I have a lot of respect for Mak Sifu.  That guy knows his stuff.  Big time.  It's hard to tell from the videos on his website, but when you talk to him and he's explaining the movements or he's going through the techniques, you really start to appreciate his breadth of knowledge.  It is definitely vast.  (He kind of reminds me of Sifu Bryant Fong, in that way...)

The one thing that really startled me about the class though was not so much his instruction or the form or how he was able to take every movement from the form (even the salute) and explain multiple applications for each, but I was really struck by how much better it helped me understand my modern wushu nanquan.

Even after just the one class -- even during the first hour -- I was having countless epiphanies about the correlation between traditional and modern nanquan.  It's hard to explain the feeling excactly, but it's sort of like those movies where the person learned a childhood song from their parents, only to discover as an adult that the words of the song unlock some secret treasure in an ancient tomb.

Or, I suppose the tip-of-the-iceberg analogy is more appropriate.  I've always been focused on the shape and dimensions of the iceberg, how it looks and feels and moves around -- all the time realizing that there is more to it than I can see.  But now I realize the depth and magnitude of the Chinese martial arts iceberg and just how much substance there is beneath the surface of things.

I mean -- I don't want to get ahead of myself.  I'm hardly an expert in Kung Fu or anything.  13 years of wushu does make me have a decent understanding of modern wushu, but it's sort of like having a really good understanding of how to construct a sentence.  It doesn't make you a good writer who is able to create a moving, interesting story.

Oh, food is another good analogy.  Modern wushu is sort of like being able to cook and knowing how to make delicious foods that look appealing.  You are a master of cooking.  But traditional wushu/kung fu is like understanding how to grow the food and cultivate it and understanding the chemical processes of how the food interacts when you cook it.  It's the substance beneath the form.

I don't mean in any way to lessen the impact of modern wushu.  I still love it very much and have the ulmost respect for it.

I have just come to realize that I can appreciate the modern variations of chinese martial arts even more by having a better understanding of the traditional roots upon which it has grown and nurtured itself.  In the end, I think that taking this kung fu class will deepen my understanding a abilities with modern wushu.

Plus, it's not nearly as hard on the knees.

Anyway, enough about that.  You get the idea.

The class itself was pretty tiring.  Probably due to the lack of sleep.  It wasn't super hot even though it was noon in an outdoor park in the middle of Hong Kong in June. (Maybe I'm acclimating to the weather in asia.)  But none-the-less, I was drenched in sweat by the end of the two hours.

I made sure I did a lot of stretching both before and after the class, and had a good time learning the form.  He really shoved a lot of information into my noggin'.  I learned the first 25 or 30 movements of the form, along with the application for each.  I felt like my head was leaking by the end of the class.  I will definitely have to take some time to practice on my own.

Another quick note about the applications of the movements. 

When he was showing me the difference between form and application, I began to see a lot clearer how the application in modern wushu applies to actual combat too.  The forms of wushu/kung fu are pretty sneaky.  They train you for combat, but they are not combat in themselves. 

It is like "wax on-wax off" or "paint the fence".  You develop the speed, accuracy, power of the techniques, but the actual application itself is done differently than in the form.  Realizing that made me see a bit clearer how modern wushu has been emphasizing the form so much that much of the application has been glossed over.  Again -- I like the forms a lot so I don't mind that too much.  But now the forms make a bit more sense to me and I can appreciate them even more.

Okay .. I'm becoming a broken record now.  Basically, the class was good, but I think the reason I found it so interesting is because I've had a fairly long (relatively speaking) relationship with modern wushu nanquan.  If I had been a changquan person all this time, I probably wouldn't have thought the class was quite as interesting.

If you happen to be in the area, I recommend dropping by for a class.  I will be too busy at work to go all the time, but I'm going to try to go at least twice a week to get in some regular training.  It felt good to do Chinese martial arts again ...

But boy am I going to be sore tomorrow ...