Master Adam Hsu: A Lifetime of Training Chinese Kung Fu

[Bob]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phN75C7FwRA

Oct 29, 2023
An exclusive look at Master Adam Hsu's martial arts journey as he shares a lifetime of training in Chinese Kung Fu. This footage was captured during our exclusive video interview with Master Hsu in Taipei, Taiwan.

[wayne hansen]

Best thing I have seen on him
Would love to know how long he spent with each art and what his daily training consists of

[Appledog]

Best thing I have seen on him
Would love to know how long he spent with each art and what his daily training consists of

What origami itto said. Master Hsu has the same problem as me, it's difficult to know if it really works.

If only there was a way to practice the skill, in a controlled environment, where you could push limits but had a "pressure valve" to let the steam out? And further, that it was not a dangerous mode of practice but one in which the energy was contained and did not need to shoot out?

A method devised partially out of civil needs in civil times, with the memory of martial needs in martial times?

Which would change the face of the art, simultaneously improving it in certain ways, but creating a dangerous dichotomy that threatened to, if the players were not careful, lead them astray forever?

I wonder what checks and balances would need to be devised in order to protect them from themselves -- the balance between art and science?

Art and Science. Ahh, the duality of man. Where was I. Oh yeah, you don't know if it works or not and today it is considered immoral to devise an experiment to discover it.

Well if it is immoral to find out in such a way then what are you supposed to do?

Well maybe YOU aren't supposed to do anything. There are legends about this kind of thing -- the calm before the storm... Such as the legends surrounding the warring states period.. The stories which have been passed down which shall never be forgotten.

"How can I become a martial artist under these conditions?" "All you need is a dream..."

But as it is said, not everyone can become a high level martial artist. Even Adam Hsu was told, he could not reach a high level. What hope then is there for you.. or I



Anyways to answer the question it would depend on how long he trains. As someone who has a prodigious amount of material to work through I understand Adam Hsu's position somewhat, although I don't have nearly his time training, experience or age. His daily training is just, everything he ever learned. Could be 5 hrs or more. I expect more.

[origami_itto]

Best thing I have seen on him
Would love to know how long he spent with each art and what his daily training consists of

What origami itto said. Master Hsu has the same problem as me, it's difficult to know if it really works.

Holy shit what did I say?

[Appledog]

Holy shit what did I say?

I think most of us are sort of trapped in that we don't ever get a chance to use our art against anybody but other people that study it. That means to really see the profound effects we need to be working with someone who is either so much more ahead of or behind us that the gap is evident in a context that allows them to emerge.

We live in a society where fighting is a crime.

[Graculus]

Hmm..he didn’t say he doesn’t know if it works. He said that at a certain time he didn’t know the usage of the style (longfist) or whether he could deliver enough power (before he learnt xing-yi and then baji). He had teachers who could certainly show him that the arts did work. His later training answered these questions for him.

As to what he trains daily, I am pretty certain it is not everything he learned (unless you count this as being internalized and embodied in all his techniques). Elsewhere in his published writings over the years he has referred to the idea of using specific styles to learn specific things to help students get key points of their main style. I am sure he has streamlined his practice and dropped those things he no longer needs.

Graculus
https://Ichijoji.blogspot.com

[wayne hansen]

I was more interested in how long he trained each art

[Trick]

haha CIMA in a nutshell, its all actually so easy as waynes question and the answer that is relevant from those who actually know, but no, it can't, the answer has to be unreachable, unanswerable, out into the labyrinth of 10000 words

[Bob]

One of the reasons why Adam Hsu was a breath of fresh air during the mid to late 1980s - no youtube and his writings on the material we studied was at least in English.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtRmnlT7C3Q



I only met him once during a tournament in Maryland. We were supposed to have dinner with him along with my teacher and other students but somehow we opted out to go to a "mafia" run restaurant for authentic spaghetti carbonara (LOL - one of the guys I was with did sales in Baltimore and swore we had to go and try this restaurant - spaghetti carbonara was nothing like what I had in Rome but who's going to complain under those circumstances LOL).

I did hear an honest story about him from my teacher - Adam was publicly demonstrating in Taiwan and someone (a Westerner) came up on stage and sort of challenged him about the application. Well, the guy got knocked on his butt pretty quickly and it was embarrassing for the guy laying on the ground.

I heard he is a very good instructor - there were some articles on-line in which he described his training under GM Liu but I can't seem to find them.

[windwalker]

I did hear an honest story about him from my teacher - Adam was publicly demonstrating in Taiwan and someone (a Westerner) came up on stage and sort of challenged him about the application. Well, the guy got knocked on his butt pretty quickly and it was embarrassing for the guy laying on the ground.

Interesting story. Wonder the level of the guy attempting to challenge him..


Met Adam a couple of times in Golden Gate park an area called the "pan handle" , teaching his group across where Brenden Lai, was teaching
7* mantis..to his group at the time....

Adam, as I remember teaching 8steps mantis...among other things..

Looked at him more of as a master level CMA coach helping to bridge the gap in understanding and awarness of CMA in the west...

One of his more noted students among others still carrying on his teachings in SF golden gate park, "panhandle"



Yin style bagua
from Adam Hsu Kung Fu School
Adam Hsu - Liu Yuen Chiao - Gong Bao Tien - Yin Fu - Dong Hai Quan

[windwalker]

Adam Hsu on “Is Tai Chi a martial art?”




These excerpts are taken from a round-robin of instructors responses… Here is Adam Hsu’s portion”

Interview: Is Tai Chi a Martial Art?
interview by Debbie Shayne"

[Bob]

Windwalker - I would guess the level of the challenger was average at best but his level of arrogance probably much higher

[Bob]

A very young Adam Hsu and I believe this was before he met GM Liu Yunqiao:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxcSI_eHkI0

【Han Clan Martial Arts】Three Ways of Cannon Boxing / Demonstration by Grandmaster Han Qingtang and Disciple-Master Xu Ji



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdSkWYBqOYU

[Bob]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3wQqeOV5J4

[wayne hansen]

So what do people think of that