Soft power

[SPJ]

This is the least understood power or Jing.

There is a discussion on how to let the student to relax or soften in the other forum.

Some mentioned focusing and relaxing the mind first and not tensing up the muscles.

It was a Tai Chi related discussion. However, all styles have soft powers big or small.

One main thing that was not discussed is the yielding aspect of being soft.

One poster mentioned that Tai Chi is actually a steel rod inside and covered with cotton on the outside.

I could not agree more.

How do you yield to be soft?

1. rotation of the waist.

2. shifting the weight between the knees.

3. switching with the steps.

The main thing is to follow the opponent's Jing.

If only focus on relaxing the muscles to be soft and forget about posture and steps. This is like missing the big picture big time.

Anyway:

What is your idea about being soft?

What is the soft power in your style?

Comments?

:D

[SPJ]

There are drills to soften the body.

There are Qi Gong and stretching exercise to soften all the joints and tendons/ligaments. or Ruo Gong or Fo Gong.

[Chief Fox]

My idea about being soft really isn't my idea at all.

While reading your post I was thinking about how we practice push hands at my school. Not so much soft but loose and fluid. It's full body movement. Sometimes that movement is small while other times it's much larger.

It's almost like a chess match with movement and counter movement until finally someone makes a mistake by moving the wrong way at which point they are hit with that steel rod covered in cotton.

[hen]

Soft power or slow movement is the path/route to hard power.

Slow movement is to train body movement so that one can feel/grasp the idea of fa jing and generate energy/power. my sofar understanding.

[Wong Fei Hong]

I find that if you separate soft and hard power from internal and external power then its easier to explain to people who usually ask me.

The way i see it external power is like bodybuilding muscles etc
Internal power is using chi (debatable existance for some but anyhow)

Now you can have hard internal, like sanchin kata or some hsing yi
or
soft internal like tai chi.

Or you can have hard external like mcdojo karate
or
soft external like mcdojo wing chun.

reason i say mcdojo is to eliminate any concept of using chi or ki etc.

If you were to say power usually it means the formula which is = applying some sort of force or strength over time.

Power = work / time
Work = Force x Distance
force = mass x acceleration

So i guess power would be ( (mass x acceleration) x distance ) / time taken

So the reason being soft has power behind it is because the more relaxed you are the faster you move and the faster you move , the more the acceleration is and the less the time taken is , so you are powerful !

To me being soft is not tensing and relaxing, wether a yielding movement or not.

[Wong Fei Hong]

I tottaly agree with that last statement .... In karate

Sen Sen No Sen -

In this situation both you and your opponent are ready and willing to attack. Your attack must be made first in a spilt second between the time your opponent mentally commits to the attack and the moment he begins his actual movement. His commitment to attack will prevent him responding with a defence.

Sen no sen -

In Sen you and your opponent begin to move simultaneously. Your awareness of his intention to attack allows you to attack just slightly faster, making your strike just before his.

Go No Sen -

You must remain calm and watch your opponent very carefully. Your block should be an automatic response to his attack and you should attack him before he is able to recover from his initial movement.

To purely yield is a low form of defense

[count]

I agree with YouKnowWho,
Taiji's approach is too conservative and usually mis-understood. However, meeting hard with hard is when things break. No wonder a drunk usually survives car crashes with little injury.

I wouldn't reply on the "other forum" because a discussion like that will only lead to arguments about what sung means. BTDT. But the correct concept of how to loosen up is to stretch out and just let go. Not drop like a limp noodle. One part at a time. It's not about meeting 10000 pounds with only 4 ounces either. It's about using the right amount of force to get the job done.

[Innocence]

i think soft is when you can generate and take force from/into your legs/stance.

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

Sticking/adhering.. If you are stuck to your opponent you are there when he initializes a technique, when he thinks it.. if you expand/inflate "Peng" as the opponent begins the technique they will usually push themselves backward, lose balance and leave an opening.. this is soft.. no force generated to get there, you're already there.. a good Taiji player never loses contact once it is made, if the opponent retreats Taiji stays attached and adds a little more energy.. the retreat accelerates faster than the opponent can react and, again, loss of balance and openings.. this requires little if any "force", "Peng" is not force, it is like the air inside a basketball, we simply adjust the pressure.. it doesn't reach beyond the basketball (its limits of efficiency) it is simply there when force is applied, the more force applied the greater the return "bounce".. the soft and yielding skin of the basketball allows pressure to build-up as force is applied until the pressure inside is greater than the force outside.. the "bounce".. Peng reaching beyond its limits is weak and vulnerable, we must know when enough is enough..

Deflect and control.. so many times i see students and even good fighters reach beyond what is required to do the task.. it is only necessary to deflect by an inch, a miss is a miss.. the closer your appendages are to your center the more control and options are available.. fighters that utilize "big" movements leave "big" openings.. keep compact and relaxed (soft), this allows you draw the opponent into your strength.. once inside your strength, your options are limitless.. like falling into water, it recieves you softly then surrounds you completely.. the water does nothing, it is you that has to struggle.. the water forces you to fight on its terms.. staying attached, like the water, each movement by the opponent is sensed as it begins.. gentle "Peng" applied at the beginning of a movement will control its direction and confuse the opponent.. this is control.

Strong and powerful fighters are usually tense and somewhat rigid.. this provides a link to their "center", like a handle.. they will often resist Qinna, which is exactly what makes Qinna work.. as you Cai (pluck) an extended hand/arm and the opponent pulls back, apply Peng at the torso and release the Cai.. their instinctive "pull/retreat" is maginfied by the releace of the Cai and the addition of Peng.. a well placed advancing leg (just behind their Yang leg) will often lead to a gravity induced meeting with the floor..

As an example, stand tall and fall forward into the ground.. do you reach out and "strike" the ground with locked joints to protect your body from impact? Or, do you position your hands to receive the ground? The hands, arms, body combo knows exactly how to adust to receive the contact (soft).. to try to strike the ground as a preventative to impact (hard) invites injury and is inefficeint.. in positioning the hands to receive the ground we utilize Peng, that soft, springy, bouncy resilience (basketball analogy).. Peng transfers leg, waist and full-body energy (just like it absorbs the energy of the falling body) to an opponent.. it is a non-threatening transfer, no sudden movements.. just an overwhelming return of energy, like a wave that keeps building.. soft, but irresistable..

Anyway, just some thoughts.. Be well..

[EarthDragon]

taiChiBob,
Well said! great post... my seniments exactly I would comment but I feel you have covered what I would have said but with a sweeter roll of the tongue.

[count]

I agree, nice post Bob,

Would you care to expound on listening, borrowing and other "light body skills"? These are truly the benefit of soft power.

Say, is that you sporting a beard in the Tai Chi Meet-up group?:D

[EarthDragon]

Tai Chi Bob, just a comment on what you said

Deflect and control.. so many times i see students and even good fighters reach beyond what is required to do the task.. it is only necessary to deflect by an inch, a miss is a miss.. the closer your appendages are to your center the more control and options are available.. fighters that utilize "big" movements leave "big" openings..

I crossed hands with my old Go Ju Ryu Sensei (my first mistake LOL) but I was amazed at his defense. He used 1 hand and positioned it outward in the center of his body and only used minimal up, down, left, right movements. Kinda like a joy stick on a video game. I had difficulty geting past this defense. mind you we were only using hands no legs but never the less, this minimal movment prevented me from getting "inside" as you may or may not know Go Ju Ryu means hard soft method. This is the highest soft defense in the system. it deflects the attack like a bird wing defeltcing air. and just as soft.

While I am 14 years into my Wu Style I was very impressed that a japanese style used the same "soft" defense and extremly efficiently...

[SPJ]

Depends on the position or facing, you may cover your vital area with a single hand, moving the hand to the left, right, up and down etc. this is the hand method.

It may look like a square, but actually it is drawing a circle.

To stick or adhere needs to follow to the left, right, up and down, front and rear, you are also drawing circles. Tai Chi call it Chan Si.

You Chan or follow the opponent's moves with circular arm, waist and step movement.

If you use right hand to push at mid level, the opponent pushes down your right forearm and then push you at mid or high. So your right arm was down, you have to move it upward to neutralize. Both of you are drawing a vertical circle.

So every thing is linked.

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

Count: yeah.. the wierd old guy as they say.. :)

Listening skills, hmmmm.. that seems to be the most difficult, for me, but also the most beneficial.. it may be the calibre of people that i play with, but dang, they are great at not revealing their intentions.. one of my mentors used to tell me not to focus on the opponent, but reach for a benign target beyond the opponent, as though the opponent was incidental to getting to the target (like reaching for an apple just behind him).. simply move them aside on your way to something else.. this disguises your intentions.. and approaches the opponent in a non-threatening manner, sometimes they simply let you by, stepping out of the way without understanding why..

Developing listening skills is a product of experience, first you need enough experience to become comfortable in the conflict.. then, you can work on clearing the mind to be receptive to the signals (physical and energetic) the opponent sends regarding intentions.. A great exercise is the "string thing", where you take a piece of string and hold it so there is about a foot of string between partners.. then do a slow set of silk-reeling exercises while your partner tries to keep the string (thread is better) straight.. too much resistance and the thread breaks.. too little and the thread droops.. i saw some guys practicing like this with a porcupine quill between the palms, between forearms, and between shoulders.. they were very careful (and quite good).. the object was to keep the quill suspended without puncturing themselves.. i'm going to try that one..

We frequently stand in a standard push position (Yang style) and place palms over each other's solar plexus.. the intention is to push the other person off balance without evasive manuevers.. the one that can best borrow the other's energy usually prevails.. in Cai, while the opponent is advancing a pushing hand, there is a delicacy of skill that permits the pluck to go unnoticed until it is too late.. it is very gentle and borrows the opponent's yang advance to lead them off-balance.. sometimes, the most gentle of forces seems so benign that it is the most useful..

It is counter-intuitive to be "soft" in the face of aggression.. but, it is that counter-intuitiveness that confuses the opponent.. they do not get the expected response .. learning the softness as a viable response is challenging task.. and, i believe, cannot be accomplished without "investing in loss".. repetitive pushings where we yield until we can "feel" the weaknesses of the aggression, until the opposing structure becomes so easily understood that it is countered before it matures.. back to experience.. it takes a willing partner, one that is similarly interested in truly finding the "Holy Grail" of Taiji.. a partner that can appreciate a good technique and reward you with a pat on the back, rather than struggling to emerge dominant.. likewise, when practicing the nuances, we have to be willing to say, "woohoo!!, great push/pluck/strike/etc.... the first step is to control the ego.. ego is the enemy of deep Taiji understanding..

Be well..

[TaichiMantis]

Greetings..

Sticking/adhering.. If you are stuck to your opponent you are there when he initializes a technique, when he thinks it.. if you expand/inflate "Peng" as the opponent begins the technique they will usually push themselves backward, lose balance and leave an opening.. this is soft.. no force generated to get there, you're already there.. a good Taiji player never loses contact once it is made, if the opponent retreats Taiji stays attached and adds a little more energy.. the retreat accelerates faster than the opponent can react and, again, loss of balance and openings.. this requires little if any "force", "Peng" is not force, it is like the air inside a basketball, we simply adjust the pressure.. it doesn't reach beyond the basketball (its limits of efficiency) it is simply there when force is applied, the more force applied the greater the return "bounce".. the soft and yielding skin of the basketball allows pressure to build-up as force is applied until the pressure inside is greater than the force outside.. the "bounce".. Peng reaching beyond its limits is weak and vulnerable, we must know when enough is enough..

Deflect and control.. so many times i see students and even good fighters reach beyond what is required to do the task.. it is only necessary to deflect by an inch, a miss is a miss.. the closer your appendages are to your center the more control and options are available.. fighters that utilize "big" movements leave "big" openings.. keep compact and relaxed (soft), this allows you draw the opponent into your strength.. once inside your strength, your options are limitless.. like falling into water, it recieves you softly then surrounds you completely.. the water does nothing, it is you that has to struggle.. the water forces you to fight on its terms.. staying attached, like the water, each movement by the opponent is sensed as it begins.. gentle "Peng" applied at the beginning of a movement will control its direction and confuse the opponent.. this is control.

Strong and powerful fighters are usually tense and somewhat rigid.. this provides a link to their "center", like a handle.. they will often resist Qinna, which is exactly what makes Qinna work.. as you Cai (pluck) an extended hand/arm and the opponent pulls back, apply Peng at the torso and release the Cai.. their instinctive "pull/retreat" is maginfied by the releace of the Cai and the addition of Peng.. a well placed advancing leg (just behind their Yang leg) will often lead to a gravity induced meeting with the floor..

As an example, stand tall and fall forward into the ground.. do you reach out and "strike" the ground with locked joints to protect your body from impact? Or, do you position your hands to receive the ground? The hands, arms, body combo knows exactly how to adust to receive the contact (soft).. to try to strike the ground as a preventative to impact (hard) invites injury and is inefficeint.. in positioning the hands to receive the ground we utilize Peng, that soft, springy, bouncy resilience (basketball analogy).. Peng transfers leg, waist and full-body energy (just like it absorbs the energy of the falling body) to an opponent.. it is a non-threatening transfer, no sudden movements.. just an overwhelming return of energy, like a wave that keeps building.. soft, but irresistable..

Anyway, just some thoughts.. Be well..

Great thoughts! I've always wondered how you could incorporate some of this into MMA sport fighting. Maybe some already do...

[count]

Good thought Bob,

I'll think about this for a while but I can see where this fits.

Training partners like these are difficult to find and get to know.:(

So focus leads intention or follows it?

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

Count: <humble bows>.. Focus is a conundrum for me.. it must arise from intention.. but, often interferes with the intention.. see? If i intend something with clarity, it is already so (very high level, and the use of "i" is wishful thinking).. if i intend something and then focus on it, i am challenging the notion of it already being done and create time and space between the intention and the result.. i have had some success at the focus level, where single-minded focus to the exclusion of all else manifests the desired result.. pure intention=result is a rare treat that only increases my desire to train more in that perspective.. but, it is so easy to doubt its simple but profound process..

My mentor says that with clear intention, you simply act as though the intention is done, and so it is.. if my clear intention is to unbalance you, i simply move into your space and you move out, up-rooted and off-balance.. i believe this, he does it regularly.. it has happened through my own intentions only a few times, it is exhilarating.. (he says that is my problem, i rejoice too much in my own accomplishments (ego)).. but, i can't help it, it is so cool.. For him, it's like brushing crumbs off his sleeve, what i feel is a force bigger than he moving me at my center, regardless of where he makes contact.. he seems not to notice that he has done anything other than normal.. (he has, though).. i think that is one of the secrets of the Taiji Classics, when they say, "move as One thing", they mean move with the intention, don't wait for it to mature, if you are clear it has already happened.. W.C.C.Chen demonstrated that to me with a simple push.. as he pushed he said, "you fall down".. now, the push didn't have the force to move a bowling pin, yet.. i fell.. he stepped into my space and gently expanded his "tree-hugging" posture.. the result was me being too confused by the overwhelming "pressure" (not "force") to adjust my stance.. really odd sensation.. but, he moved as "One thing", from his perspective there was no other outcome.. lacking his clarity, i yielded to his reality.. way cool stuff..

I don't know if that helps, just absent-minded ramblings.. Be well..

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

YouKnowWho: As you say, balance.. hard/soft are the same.. neither is first, they are inseperable.. it is only a matter of which you choose to use, which has the most beneficial aspects for your personal path.. discussions of soft do not ignore hard, they simply choose to address the questions at hand.. personally, i find soft/hard much more applicable to states of mind than physical attributes..

Be well..

[SPJ]

Yield the original position or space, move to a new position and also gain some timing.

This is mostly misunderstood as pointed out.

Most people think about protecting or defending your position and not moving your feet and trying to deflect everything comes your way.

The opponent moves close to you and starts to punch, kick, pull and push.

If you yield the old position which is the target where the opponent is aiming?

He or she misses the target, you may work on his or her exposed posture with extended arms and legs. While your arms and legs are still bent and ready to extend.

---

[SPJ]

The water analogy is good. A single drop of water over and over will penetrate the rock. If we acceralate the process by pushing million drops of water on a high speed? I think people use high speed water to cut diamond and superalloy.

The water has the abililty to dissipate or disperse or change direction, if you do not like the word "yielding".

Other common analogy is soft as cotton, fishnet or soccer goal net.

People use cotton in couch, ,mattress, padding glove etc. There are consisted of many threads. They will disperse the focused weight/force over many directions or "yield". Once the weight or the force is dispersed or empty out. It is "stopped" or supported.

The caught fish will flip and flop in all directions. It will bounce off the flat surface and get back to the water. If you use a fishnet, it will disperse or yield in many directions and still hold together. The fish's flipping and flopping forces are empty out.

The same idea with the soccer goal net to "catch" or stop the soccer ball in all directions and forces.

In short, if we rotate our arms, or use circular movements to disperse linear force from punching arms?

if we use our arms, body and legs like a fishnet?

we still have a holding together force, some may call it Peng or other wise.

To be soft is to be able to yield or follow the same direction of incoming forces and redirect the direction of the force away from us.

-----

Just some thoughts.

:D

[hung-le]

Taichibob and Spj....... ahhh ha! I'm am not fooled....You both are two Daoist priests sitting in a courtyard somewhere... exchanging dialog through your laptops......

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

hung-le: LOL.. i wish it were so.. but, i struggle with the same things we all do.. i've just been struggling longer than some and try to share some of the experiences with my brothers and sisters..

Be well..

[GeneChing]

There's a lot of talk about soft power in China politics now. In a grossly simplistic model, it's a reflection of the Tai Chi philosophy playing out on the global stage.

So let's examine it a little here. :cool:



Buddhism can’t be China’s soft power when its origins are Indian (http://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/2149490/buddhism-cant-be-chinas-soft-power-when-its-origins-are-indian)
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 06 June, 2018, 6:47pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 06 June, 2018, 6:47pm

https://cdn1.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980x551/public/images/methode/2018/06/06/92c39cf8-68ad-11e8-8f2e-7970b9e180c8_1280x720_155413.JPG?itok=3a4DBY1x

With regard to the article on “dharma diplomacy” by Patrick Mendis (“China’s quest for soft power: where Confucius has failed, the Buddha may succeed”, June 1), the writer says that China should leverage its Buddhist heritage for a new soft power model.

Sorry Mr Mendis, while China has contributed a lot of things to the world of which it should be proud – Confucius, Taoism, paper, gunpowder and so on – Buddhism is not one of them. Even the word “dharma” is a Sanskrit term from India.

Siddhartha Gautama, who became known as the Buddha, was from India. His life and experiences, with all the pilgrimage sites that Buddhists aspire to visit – Sarnath, Kushinagar, Sravasti, Rajgir, and so on, are all located in India, including the most important one, Bodh Gaya, where he attained enlightenment. Though of course, his birthplace of Lumbini is located in neighbouring Nepal.

https://cdn4.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2018/06/06/78d0a1ee-695a-11e8-8f2e-7970b9e180c8_1320x770_155413.JPG
Ruins of monks’ cells at Nalanda Mahavihar in the north Indian state of Bihar. The monastic-cum-educati*onal institution was one of the greatest universities in ancient India and an important Buddhist centre which drew scholars including the celebrated Chinese traveller, Hiuen Tsang (Xuanzang). Photo: Lindsay Hebberd/Corbis

Buddhism was first spread to the countries to the west and east by India’s emperor Ashok in the second century BC. Later, Indian priests, kings, merchants and artisans travelled to Southeast Asia, impacting those countries with both Buddhism and Hinduism.

Chinese scholars had to visit the ancient Indian universities of Nalanda and Vikramshila, among others, to learn about Buddhism.

Yes, Buddhism became an integral part of Chinese culture, and due to Chinese efforts it spread to Japan, Korea and so on.

But it can only be considered as a part of India’s soft power “trademark”, just like yoga, The Ramayana, karma and reincarnation, though it is practised by hundreds of millions of people outside India.

Gordhan Gurnani, Lam Tin

[boxerbilly]

Limp d!@k power

[GeneChing]

Read this in the SF Chron's pink section yesterday


Hwang’s ‘Soft Power’ — part play, part musical — sparked by ‘King and I’ revival (https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/Hwang-s-Soft-Power-part-play-part-12994357.php?cmpid=gsa-sfgate-result)
Ruthe Stein June 14, 2018 Updated: June 14, 2018 9:25 a.m.

https://s.hdnux.com/photos/73/64/01/15679561/7/rawImage.jpg
David Henry Hwang calls his new work a play with a musical.
Photo: Gregory Costanzo

Early in David Henry Hwang’s prolific career, the theater community started referring to him as the most famous Chinese American playwright. Over the decades Hwang has had mixed feelings about his anointment.

“At this point I think it is just true. I think everybody who is fortunate enough to have a career gets labeled in one way or another, and I do write a lot about Asian American stuff, so that is fair. But ‘label’ has evolved into a term more desirable, which is branding, and I am well branded,” he said recently with a laugh.

Much as August Wilson wrote about African Americans, Hwang’s plays often cast a light on Asian American lives. In “FOB” he depicts the acrimony between established Asian Americans and those “fresh off the boat.” “The Dance and the Railroad” looks at the plight of coolie laborers in California in the 19th century, and “Family Devotions” takes on the effect of Western religion on a Chinese family.

But the 60-year-old playwright has shown a curiosity about all manner of subjects over the years. His best-known play, “M Butterfly,” which won a Tony Award and was turned into a movie, details a 20-year romantic relationship between a French diplomat and a male Chinese opera singer who somehow convinces his lover that he is a woman.


More Information
Soft Power June 20-July 8 at the Curran. $29-$175. https://sfcurran.com

With his new show, “Soft Power,” Hwang has really spread his wings. Part play and part musical — he calls it “a play with a musical” — it opened to critical acclaim in Los Angeles and lands at the Curran June 20-July 8 on its journey to Broadway. It tells a complicated story. The Los Angeles Times critic described himself as “slightly dizzy” from his attempt at a synopsis.

Hwang begins by explaining the origins of his title. It refers to one kind of international power which stems from artistic and cultural influences, as opposed to hard power which would be military and other shows of physical strength. “America has a lot of soft power while China doesn’t but is trying to gain it.”

His imagination was sparked after watching the revival of “The King and I” at Lincoln Center in New York. “I always loved this musical but as I have gotten older I became aware of aspects of it that are questionable such as whether an English woman would come to Siam to teach the king how to run his country,” he said.

“That trope is pretty recurrent in a lot of western work. So I wondered how one might start to flip it on his head. I got the idea for a play where we learn of a glancing encounter between a Chinese national and an American leader. Several decades in the future that incident has been mythologized in Chinese culture and becomes the source material for a beloved East-West musical in China.”

The second part of “Soft Power” consists of showing that musical in all its glory including a dancing-singing Hillary Clinton and a chorus made up of Chinese performers in whiteface.

“It is a complicated concept,” Hwang acknowledges, “because the musical supposedly is written 50 years from now by a Chinese author. It is written in the future, but it is set in our present. The show assumes that China has become the dominant power 50 years down the road, and that they therefore control the narrative. China stepped into the dominant role when America collapses after the 2016 election.”

Asked whether the storyline was inspired by his view of ultimate events, Hwang laughed. “My initial thought was that the American leader encountered by the Chinese national was going to be Hillary Clinton, who I assumed would be president. It would sort of be a parallel to the ‘King and I.’ Obviously that didn’t happen.

“But the morning after the election I woke up and thought, ‘Personally, this is not good for the country, but it could be really good for our musical.’ You see America withdrawing from a lot of international commitments and turning inward, so it is possible that China would step in earlier than I imagined when I first conceived of the play.”

Seeing David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori jaywalk across Geary Street unencumbered by an entourage, you might not peg them as the creators of the most...
Hwang brought in Jeanine Tesori, the Tony award-winning composer for “Fun House,” to do the music. But with his musical background, Hwang was involved in that aspect of the show as well.

“I started playing violin at 7. I played classical music through high school. I am a decent classical violinist. It was great in college when I learned to improvise and became a jazz violinist. I think I am pretty good. In recent years I have even sat in with a fusion band,” said Hwang, whose spiky, wayward hair would fit right in.

“My association with music now has to do with work on musicals or operas. I am considered the most produced living American opera librettist, and maybe the most strange as well,” Hwang said. A few days following the opening of “Soft Power” he traveled to St. Louis to observe rehearsals of his new opera “An American Soldier,” a commission from the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. (The San Francisco Opera premiered his “Dream of the Red Chamber” in 2016.)

Working on “Soft Power” was such a positive experience that Hwang definitely hopes to tackle another original musical, though probably not as his next endeavor.

“I am not sure what I will do next,” he said. “I have two things in the back of my mind that I want to do before my career is over.”

Ruthe Stein, the former San Francisco Chronicle movie editor, is the senior movie correspondent for The Chronicle.

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XVRoQ259YE

[GeneChing]

Confucius Institutes need its own thread, distinct from the Soft, soft and MORE SOFT thread (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?40693-Soft-soft-and-MORE-SOFT) I hijacked for it.


https://cdn4.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/2000x792/public/images/methode/2018/07/14/af4a1c42-832b-11e8-99b0-7de4d17a9c3a_4000x1584_124638.jpg?itok=I4aF9gYq

CONFUCIUS INSTITUTES: CHINA’S BENIGN OUTREACH OR SOMETHING MORE SINISTER? (https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2154444/confucius-institutes-chinas-benign-outreach-or-something-more)
A new documentary paints the image of a non-profit organisation using the guise of education to subvert academic freedom worldwide; others see it as a benign introduction to the Middle Kingdom’s culture, from Chinese food to tai chi
BY ALEX LO
14 JUL 2018

https://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/landscape/public/images/methode/2018/07/14/a7787e96-832b-11e8-99b0-7de4d17a9c3a_1280x720_124638.jpg?itok=iBTb1CTO

Soft power or sharp power? It’s almost inevitable that such catchy phrases are being used to describe the phenomenal worldwide spread of China’s Confucius Institutes in the past two decades. At last count, they have been set up in more than 140 countries and territories around the world, raising alarm among people already critical of China’s rise and global reach.

Are those institutes benign vehicles for China’s projection of soft power to promote its language and culture, and to improve its international image; or Trojan horses sent to subvert academic freedom and autonomy of teaching institutions at their host countries, and perhaps even to spy on people and recruit agents?


For Doris Liu, a Chinese-Canadian journalist and filmmaker, it’s clearly the latter.

“First, there is the human rights discrimination. Second, it’s academic independence,” she said in an interview with This Week in Asia. “Our fundamental values are at risk or damaged. The institutes teach propaganda by sneaking it into our campuses.”

After an investigation over three years, Liu has produced In the Name of Confucius, a new hour-long documentary that claims to expose such threats posed by the institutes in Canada, the United States and elsewhere.

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Doris Liu conducts an interview for her documentary film 'In the Name of Confucius'. Photo: Doris Liu

However, you cannot get a more different response from famed US sinologist David Shambaugh, hardly an apologist for China.

“I see them as quite benign and devoted to their primary mission of teaching language and cultural studies,” he told a panel at the Brookings Institution in March. “Whether it’s film, cooking, tai chi, whatever.”

He said the concept of soft power was coined by US political scientist Joseph Nye in the late 1980s, but more recently the term sharp power, which is used to describe manipulative diplomatic policies, has emerged.

“I personally am still trying to wrap my brain around this term and that concept and whether it applies to China, with a question mark.

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David Shambaugh. Photo: internet

“My sense is that it does not apply yet to China. What I see China doing is more what I would call public diplomacy with Chinese characteristics or journalism with Chinese characteristics,” said Shambaugh, who is director of the China Policy Programme at George Washington University.

Whether it’s foreign aid across Africa, investment in South America, or the Belt and Road Initiative, every global move made by contemporary China has come under intense scrutiny and criticism.

The Confucius Institutes have been no different. In many ways, the controversy has been worse since the first institute was opened in South Korea in 2004.

In April, Texas A&M University became the latest North American institution to end its partnership with a Confucius Institute under a cloud of controversy. There have been others over the years worldwide, in countries such as Sweden, France, Germany and Denmark.

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Undergraduate student Moe Lewis, left, shows her watercolour painting of peony leaves at a traditional Chinese painting class at the Confucius Institute at George Mason University in Fairfax, US. Photo: AP

Despite the often sensational news reports about the closing of Confucius Institutes at those schools, it all amounts to a closure rate of less than 3 per cent, and it’s hard to generalise why it did not work out at schools in those nations.

Liu studied the cases of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and the Toronto District School Board, the largest school board in Canada, which were the primary focus of her documentary.

In the Name of Confucius has been headlined or featured in indie and documentary film festivals in Canada, Taiwan and the US, and at a human rights forum in Tokyo. It paints a sympathetic portrayal of Sonia Zhao, a Falun Gong follower and former institute teaching assistant whose human rights complaint with Ontario authorities helped shut down the institute at McMaster in 2013.

But in an interview with This Week in Asia, Zhao admitted her intention, and the goal of her Falun Gong supporters, was to shut down the institute from the start rather than simply addressing her personal grievances.

“We wrote to McMaster at first to shut it down, but they didn’t reply, so the tribunal [the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario] was the last option,” she said.

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Protesters rally against the so-called contamination from the Confucius Institute in Toronto, Canada. Photo: Doris Liu

“I hope this could (have) a chain effect on other universities in Canada, and was hoping they could shut down too.”

After working a year at the institute, Zhao brought a complaint against the university to the tribunal. The bone of contention concerned a clause in her contract with Hanban, the Chinese national office responsible for the worldwide operations of the organisation and which is part of the mainland’s Ministry of Education.

It states that mainland instructors such as Zhao were hired to teach the Chinese language overseas and could not engage in “illegal activities”, such as being a member of the outlawed Falun Gong religious group. Her complaint alleged discrimination on the grounds of creed, which is illegal in Canada.
continued next post

[GeneChing]

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Sonia Zhao, a Falun Gong follower, filed a human rights complaint against the Confucius Institute in Ontario, Canada. Photo: Doris Liu

“I was not on my own, I had a lot of people helping me [with the case]. I gave them what I could give,” she said. When asked who “they” were, she admitted they were Falun Gong members in Ontario.

At the time of her hiring on the mainland, she was a postgraduate student specialising in teaching Chinese as a second language.

She taught a year at the institute at McMaster until her contract expired. The tribunal case that followed led to a settlement between Zhao and the university. Its details were never disclosed, but shortly after the two sides settled, the university shut down the institute. Zhao also filed successfully for residency in Canada as a refugee on the grounds that she faced persecution if she returned to China.

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Sonia Zhao, a former instructor for the Confucius Institute, said she was trained to avoid politically sensitive subjects such as the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989. Photo: Reuters

In speaking to This Week in Asia, she claims the institute was engaged in spreading “propaganda” in that only positive views of Chinese culture and China were allowed to be presented and instructors were trained to avoid politically sensitive topics such as Tibet, Taiwan independence and the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

The institutes focus on teaching Mandarin, Chinese cooking and calligraphy, and celebrating Chinese culture – as sanctioned by the communist state. Many continue to operate across Canada, despite the McMaster case and a statement in 2013 issued by the Canadian Association of University Teachers calling on all tertiary institutions in cut ties with the organisation.

Most have resisted. Many public schools across Canada also have “Confucius classrooms”, which operate on a smaller scale than the institutes.

However, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) decided not to proceed at the last minute with Confucius classrooms. In 2014, the board was ready to roll out its own programme until a public campaign forced the board to drop the initiative. Former board chairman Chris Bolton, who backed the partnership, had to resign. The board also had to refund the Chinese more than C$200,000 (US$152,000) as an advance subsidy.

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A protest against the Tornto District School Board’s affiliation with the Confucius Institutes. Photo: Doris Liu

The successful campaign, in which Zhao and other Falun Gong members took part, is included in the film In the Name of Confucius. Of particular interest is a statement presented to TDSB by Michel Juneau-Katsuya, former head of the Asia-Pacific division of the Canadian government’s Security Intelligence Services. It was full of the most alarming allegations, though no evidence was offered to support his claims, other than his own “professional” experience.

“The Chinese Government and especially the Chinese Intelligence Services are behind this project and these groups,” he said.

“Confucius Institutes have been at the forefront of that intelligence war. To understand the true intentions behind Beijing politics, it is necessary to comprehend how a language school fits into their master plan.”

This included recruiting spies, cultivating agents of influence and the monitoring of dissidents in the Chinese diaspora.

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There appears to be a good deal of hysterics and rhetoric against Confucius Institutes in Canada and elsewhere, and because of the global backlash, those institutes often clam up instead of becoming more open and transparent. For example, the Confucius Institute of Toronto and Seneca College did not respond to multiple requests for an interview and comment for this article.

The institutes and their host institutions might have run a smoother public relations operation. After all, Shambaugh estimated China spent US$311 million in 2015 on the language and culture programme, amounting to US$2 billion over 12 years. There are about 5,000 Confucius instructors teaching almost 1.4 million students worldwide. Each institute is provided, usually free of charge, with trained mainland instructors, reading materials and about US$100,000 a year.

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A Nigerian student learns to write “I love my home” at the Confucius Institute of the University of Lagos. Photo: Xinhua

China could be spending more than US$10 billion a year on its overall soft power push, Shambaugh said.

Other countries, of course, have state-supported institutions that promote their own language, culture and image: British Councils, France’s Alliance Française, Germany’s Goethe Institute, Italy’s Dante Alighieri Society and Spain’s Cervantes Institute. There is no doubt that those long-standing Western cultural institutions were the original model for Confucius Institutes. But there are several key differences.

While those western institutions take funding directly from their national governments, they operate mostly independently. They also own or rent their premises, classrooms and offices.

But Confucius Institutes deliberately embed their operations and teachings within the host country’s universities, colleges and/or public schools by partnering with them. Local instructors are rarely hired, preferring instead those trained and contracted on the mainland before sending them overseas.

The institutes are globally managed by the Hanban, which is part of the Ministry of Education and is headed by Xu Lin, a vice-minister-level official who sits on the State Council. Such tight control has raised suspicions among those critical of the Chinese government.

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Though the terms of her settlement were not made public, the Confucius institute ceased operations in Toronto after Sonia Zhao filed her complain. Photo: Sonia Zhao

Not all China specialists are so suspicious, though.

“On Confucius Institutes, it’s a subject I’ve followed very closely,” Shambaugh said.

“There’s a kind of McCarthyite undertone I sense that is there … I thus far don’t see evidence that they are being politicised. There have been a couple of cases – there’s certainly a lot of publications, a lot of controversy. There have been a couple of closures … But there are nearly 200 Confucius Institutes in the United States. We’ve had less than five controversies, that tells me one thing.

“Secondly, there’s a lot of assumptions and innuendo I find in the reporting. One assumption is that a Confucius Institute … somehow affects the curriculum of Chinese studies the way China is taught on campus: absolutely wrong.

“There’s a complete firewall between Confucius Institutes that teach language and the Chinese – the rest of the faculty and the curriculum on every university campus, across the country. So they have no impact on how Chinese studies are taught, so that’s a flawed assumption that a lot of journalists leap to. They tend to take a couple anecdotal cases and string it together and say here’s a case.”

Shambaugh recommends greater transparency in the way the institutes are operated jointly with their host universities. He said oversight meant the host institution needed to make sure Chinese employment contract conditions did not conflict with the laws of host countries.

RELATED ARTICLES
“The contracts between recipient universities and the Hanban are kept confidential by request of the Hanban,” he said. “It’s kept under lock and key in the president’s office of the university. That’s not appropriate.” ■

It's really all about Soft Power (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?39376-Soft-power). The Falun Gong (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?25214-FALUN-GONG-Falun-Dafa) angle is fascinating.

[GeneChing]

WORLD NEWS AUGUST 7, 2019 / 5:33 PM / UPDATED 11 HOURS AGO
Judo helps Japan get to grips with China's expansion in Pacific (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pacific-samoa-judo/judo-helps-japan-get-to-grips-with-chinas-expansion-in-pacific-idUSKCN1UY01N)
Jonathan Barrett
4 MIN READ

APIA, Samoa (Reuters) - In a large church hall near the Samoan parliament, 175-kg (386-lb) judo practitioner Derek Sua is being thrown to the mat by his Japanese coach, a black-belt who is just a third his size.

Sua welcomes the training, usually difficult for athletes in Pacific Ocean islands to secure, but now offered free by Japan’s development assistance agency, to help him qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

“It’s not easy, because here in the Pacific for us, especially Pacific islanders, we have limited competition,” Sua said. “Because we need to find funding to travel overseas and compete.”

Sua added that he would train in Japan in August with several other Samoans, following an invitation he described as fostering goodwill between the two nations.

But the offer is also part of a wider diplomatic effort in the Pacific by the United States and its allies, including Japan, to counter the growing influence of China, which has ramped up its sports programs in the region.

Sometimes called “soft” or “cultural” diplomacy, such programs can extend beyond sports to language exchanges and the arts, with the aim of advancing foreign policy goals.

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FILE PHOTO: Samoan judoka Derek Sua attends a practice session with his Japanese coach Kohei Kamibayashi at a training facility inside a church hall in Apia, Samoa, July 13, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Barrett

Although tiny, the Pacific islands control vast swaths of resource-rich ocean and strategic infrastructure, such as airstrips and ports, provoking interest from China and a counter response from the United States.

Last week, Samoan sports minister Loau Keneti Sio said China had extended an invitation to train a “large contingent” of young athletes in sports, from athletics to badminton and volleyball, later this year.

China had already hosted Samoan athletes ahead of the Olympic-styled Pacific Games, held in Samoa in July, while training chefs and performers for the opening and closing ceremonies, he added.

China has soft power initiatives elsewhere in the Pacific, which include exposing regional table tennis players to the country’s world-class coaches and training regimes.

The judo diplomacy complements similar initiatives from regional allies Australia and New Zealand, which actively use rugby union and league to forge strong ties with Pacific islands, where the football codes are dominant.

Originating in Japan, judo makes use of grip fighting and throws that have proved to be effective techniques for mixed martial art competitions.

On the mats in Samoa, Sua’s coach, Kohei Kamibayashi, said judo was a sport whose most powerful practitioners did not always win the battle.

The Japanese coach said his star Samoan pupil, who competed at the last Olympics in Brazil, must prepare to face bigger opponents in his 100-kg (221-lb) -plus category, where there are no weight limits.

Kamibayashi said he was helping Sua perfect his use of a technique called “seoi-nage”, effective for throwing bigger opponents.

While Samoans were naturally built for a sport like judo, it was a very demanding martial art that was still struggling to win converts on the island, Sua added.

“It can be another dominant sport here in Samoa if a lot of people get interested,” he said.

Reporting by Jonathan Barrett in APIA, Samoa; Editing by Clarence Fernandez

THREADS
2020 Tokyo Olympics (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?64475-2020-Tokyo-Olympics)
Judo (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?42938-Judo)
Soft Power (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?39376-Soft-power)

[No_Know]

Karate Kid 2 Find Drum, Find Secret (2 minutes 28 seconds)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDLuQdLN5G8

Karate Kid 2 At the Cannery (talk and drum technique)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKHCOgbq77Q

Karate Kid 2 actual Drum of Drum technique
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5whE6r-lreE
[only need first minute]

No_Know

[No_Know]

The Knees can both be bent and the same direction at within shoulder's width. Out side of within Shoulder's width one must give for the other to have. I must stand on one leg before I can free the other enough to move it out. (Video w/ me later).

One knee bends for the other to straighten
One knee loses it's bend for the other to bend more.

One cannot take unless the other gives.-Ernie Moore Jr.


I lean and contract or turn or twist to place my weight where the leg can support it. Once there I use my foot to anchor my waist so I can shift height for the other leg to move freely and to stabilize it.-Ernie Moore Jr.

24 but great knee use:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdFtOzwMwAY

No_Know

[No_Know]

24 group
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fylo5OPEdk4

Bagua guy Circle Walking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7mVRLSfwWo


Torso shifts weight. Leg holds weight. Foot drives hip. Knee yields to position pelvis. Knee moves out to advance other leg. Knee moves in to support withdrawal or hold.-Ernie Moore Jr.

No_Know

[GeneChing]

Outdoor recreation (https://covid19.ca.gov/stay-home-except-for-essential-needs/#top)

Can I still exercise? Take my kids to the park for fresh air? Take a walk around the block?
It’s okay to go outside to go for a walk, to exercise, and participate in healthy activities as long as you maintain a safe physical distance of six feet and gather only with members of your household. Below is a list of some outdoor recreational activities.

*Parks may be closed to help slow the spread of the virus. Check with local officials about park closures in your area. Californians should not travel significant distances and should stay close to home.

...

Soft Martial Arts – Tai Chi, Chi Kung (not in groups)

THREADS
Soft power (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?39376-Soft-power)
covid (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-(COVID-19)-Wuhan-Pneumonia)