Sprint wrote: So you've got me down as one of Timo's guys eh? Nice try.....I would hardly be training with the Yaos if I was - think about it. But you know I get pissed off too when people talk crap about yiquan. Usually when someone disagrees with what I say they question the points I raise in the same way I questioned you. It's what debate is about. It seemed a bit odd to me that you did not want to discuss your posts. But as quick as you could manage you steer it round to who's your teacher. Why I don't know.
While we are on the subject of teachers (and talking crap about yiquan), yours does not speak any English from what I recall. Actually neither does Yao except he knows "water", but anyway I digress. I do remember quite well on this very board you posted some more of your "wisdom" about zhan zhuang only that time it was about the correct time of day to practice zhan zhuang in relation to meridiens. Doc Stier suggested that the time of day and the specific organs and meridiens you mentioned did not go together. You then produced a "translation" by your teacher and a professor of Chinese linguistics (you said) of something Wang Xiangzhai had written to "prove" your point. As I remember it, Dacheng then pointed out that all the stuff in your translation that supposedly proved your point was not in fact in the original document. Furthermore he gave a web link where the original document in Chinese was to be found for people to compare.
You never did come back with clarification. So let me ask you now: did you make it up or was it your teacher?
Sprint,
I'm puzzled by your confusion as to why John (or Mike) would ask who your teacher is -- it's a perfectly legitimate basis for determining someone's frame of reference and is a fair part of your debate with John. You've indicated that you "train" with the Yaos, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you have a regular, ongoing teacher-student relationship with them. Your continued reticence is odd.
In any event, that's not the reason I'm posting. I am unfamiliar with the earlier exchange with John that you refer to in your second paragraph, and quite frankly I don't care. My aim is to respond to the statement about your understanding of my teacher's English-speaking ability (nice redirect, BTW). Lau Hsing is not a native English speaker -- but he absolutely does speak English. In complete and intelligible sentences, not just the random word. And while his vocabulary is not the same as mine, I understand him quite well, and I speak no Chinese at all (at least not in complete sentences, although I do know a number of random words). Unlike others that I've met, he has no hostility to learning English; in fact, he has the enthusiasm of a student and is continaully asking us about English words he encounters but does not know. So, from at least this English-speaking student's point of view, there's no language barrier with Lau Hsing that prevents me from learning yiquan one-on-one with him, without an interpreter being present. From what I've seen in various blogs, that would not be the case with some other high-level yiquan teachers.
Good luck with your training.