Great Article

[Three Harmonies]

I have to give praise to Steve Cottrell and Robert hui Laoshis for their tranlation of "Pros and Cons of Protective Equipment" a wonderful article in the latest issue of the Mantis Quarterly! Originally one of many articles on fighting theory and technique written by Huang Hanxun (1915-1974) that of course was centered around the wonderful art we share, Northern Mantis this will be the first of a series of translations.
The article reads like a page from Huang laoshis notes! In it he non-biasedly shares his experiences with certain types of protective gear for fighting/sparring in the early 1900's. This is a special concern even in todays society where we can make just about anything, yet nothing is 100% effective. With all of the technological advances we still cannot escape the same trials and tribulations our forefathers experienced 50 years ago!
Thank's to both Cottrell and Hui Laoshi for their tireless efforts to improve the martial arts community and share their knowledge of Mantis boxing. Coming from a Meihua/Liu He perspective this information is wonderful, as many of us have yet to study Huang Laoshis books in detail! The similarities are striking!
I will leave the bulk of the article for you to read, but I will share his final thoughts. Think of these words the next time you are posting something negative about someone or thing. We can all learn from Huang Hanxun regardless of style.
"Today everyone asks what the best protection would be. The best protection would be to avoid challenges and fighting. " In regards to training, "...the best protection is to be kind to one's partner. Martial artists should be like friends-exchange skills and be careful. Concern for others is better than armor." Huang Hanxun 1956

Sincerely
Jake:D

[MantisifuFW]

Three Harmonies,

Thank you for your kind words about the article. It was my first formal try at translation for publication. Sifu Hui was a great help. Any errors you might find are mine alone! Sifu Hui will have a second article in the next Mantis Quarterly that he will do without my dubious assistance. I am certain that it will be more accurate and better than mine!

The book from which the Huang Hanxun article was pulled, "Elucidation of Fighting Theory" is a treasure chest of information and perspective. It gives wonderful insight into the reflections of a great master on Tanglang and Gongfu in general. I particularly liked the look into the future where he foresaw the grappling arts as moving into ascendency as a sport.

We will continue to feature writings by Master Huang. It has been my goal for years that these writings be made public in English and through the Quarterly we will do so.

On another note, Shifu Profatilov and I have had talks that I hope to revive on our getting exerpts from the Laiyang Gazette into publication also. He was very positive on the idea last we talked but both of us have been very busy and haven't gotten together on it for a while. Perhaps it is time. Also, if any of you guys have writings of the old masters I would welcome the chance to include them in the Quarterly.

One last thing, I have been recently in touch with instructors both on the mainland and Hong Kong who both want the Quarterly and wish to provide articles!

Anyway, back to work! Thank you again!

Steve Cottrell

[mantis108]

My sincere thank you to your great feed back and support. It is a great pleasure to work on the translation of this wonderful article. I believe Sifu Cottrell has planned to share more. I have always been a fan of WHF. I admire his work and talent. Furthermore, he really is quite a visionary as seen in this article. He predicted the rise and popularity of Judo on the world stage. If he had more contact with the sport, I would not be surprised that he might even be able to figure out the evolution of Judo to BJJ. He really has a great mind and heart. Most of all, he is inspirational to me in sharing his wealth of knowledge with the mass. I believe Sifu Cottrell has taken up the responsibility and tradition of that sharing through the Mantis Quarterly. That is truly admirable.

In closing, I would like to invite all MQ readers to generously share their thoughts no matter big or small. I believe this is the best way to let the MQ team both editing stuff and authors to know that their efforts have reached out to the readership. I believe the MQ is meant to best serve the mantis community. So I think feed backs both positive and negative are important measurements of just how well the MQ is doing (beside the subscription numbers) because they could provide a sense of direction as well.

I look forward to see your contributions in the MQ as well.

Sincerely,

Robert Hui

[German Bai Lung]

I must say that this issue of MQ is really a top one! All articles are superb and the mentioned article from Master Huang is highlight! (the most impressive lines are quoted by Sifu Burroughs)

I just can hope that the MQ would be read by more Mantis people every week! And that most of the readers follow the idea of sharing.

Thank you Sifu Cottrell for this great work!

[Three Harmonies]

Hui Laoshi,
I am working on an article for the quarterly as we speak.

[MantisifuFW]

Three Harmonies,

It is great to hear that your article is nearing completion. We are putting together the selection for the new year now and would welcome your article!

Please greet your sifu for me.

Steve Cottrell

P.S. Indeed Mantis108 is correct, (as usual). We truly hearing feedback and not just from the sifu at each of the distributing schools. We have submissions of article coming in from all over the world now and both subscriptions and submissions are growing each quarter, so feedback on what the community wants really helps.

With the addition of HK and the mainland to both groups we are truly becoming the voice of the Tanglang community worldwide.
I appreciate all those who supported us and have helped to bring us to this place.