by tastydurian on Thu Aug 21, 2008 10:10 am
Here's a rough translation:
Chen Qizhou has been practicing martial arts for the last 40 years. He encountered martial arts as a child when he was weak and sickly. As he walks, he practices the 8 movement lianhuanquan in accordance with the posture and his movements contain jin in softness. He believes martial arts has lots of sayings, which originate from ancient poems.
Chen: The martial arts I practice like xingyi and bagua – their books are from the era of Jiaqing Emperor during the Qing Dynasty and have lots of old sayings. Most of the writers would write with 7 words or 5 words which would turn into chants/songs.
In order to promote martial arts culture, Chen and other like-minded disciples founded the Yizong Martial Arts Association, which includes xingyi, bagua, and weapons. Among them, bagua sticky hands was one of the practices taught by Chen’s grandteacher Zhang Zunfeng, who arrived in Taiwan in 1947.
Luo: It emphasizes sticking and the body’s nine joints, which can be rearranged into one. Or it can be split into 9 individual units and used to control the opponent. This is a higher level of training.
Lin: Most martial arts are external with the jin path on the outside, such as external martial arts and shaolin. Internal martial arts are different and emphasize the internal with emphasis on yi and shen. Shen is from jingshen (spirit) and you use your yi to control your body and muscles and use your yi and body combined in your movements.
Li Chunsheng, the top disciple, has planted his martial arts in Yilan and combined different systems, allowing traditional martial arts to flourish. He received the government’s support to form Taiwan’s first Martial Arts Center.
Li: About 20 years ago, we already combined them (martial arts) together and organized a Guoshu Committee, so we don’t differentiate between different systems.
Through the hard work of the students and exchange, IMA has attracted students from countries such as the US, UK, Germany, and Israel who have come to Taiwan to learn. The first lesson is to respect the (martial arts) culture of those before.
Luo: Martial Arts have been passed own through hundreds or thousands of years of experience. It’s not from a single teacher, but has been passed down, so what you have to respect is something that is hundreds of years old.
Chen: Chinese traditional arts are an essence of culture. Learning martial arts makes you feel like you are continuing the tradition from the ancestors. Sifu says that learn martial arts is not about beating people, but for learning wude and cultivation. So these (martial arts) from our sifu we try our best to keep going.
Although they come from different walks of life, during time off, they often congregate at Dadaochenghepan Park to exchange martial arts.
(Chen sings song about nature)