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baji-fist
02-25-2001, 09:25 AM
RAF,

Welcome to the forum. For a while I couldn't figure who you were but when you mentioned you were sifu Yang's student, I recognized your initials. I don't know if you remember me, but I am a student of Sifu Kurt Wong who competed in Sifu Yang's tournament in 99 and last October. Just wanted to say thanks for the hospitality last October, sifu Wong really enjoyed his trip when we came down to compete. We are planning to come back again this October. Again, welcome to the forum.

You must eat bitter before you can taste sweet.

RAF
02-25-2001, 08:16 PM
Greetings!!!

I had dinner with your laoshi and Master Su Yu Chang and a few others after the tournament. Wong Laoshi is an excellent teacher and you guys from Alaska are really great. I hope Yang Laoshi can make it there someday and we really appreciate your effort in making the trip. I know its tough, time, consuming, and expensive but you guys really help make the tournament worth having.

I think that David C. is probably very sincere and I have never visited Taiwan, although some of my senior kungfu brothers attended GM Liu's funeral. I think I read an article about his Xing Yi teacher in the earlier issues of the Journal of Asian Martial Arts and I was quite impressed with what I read and saw. It seemed in line with what I had been taught.

I am curious as to what provokes these remarks concerning GM Liu's reputation. Perhaps some doubt that one person could Master so many styles and I can see their viewpoint but there is no need to publicly criticize him. Its just a matter of picking and choosing since there are so many good martial arts available to the public now. There are others that will criticize GM Liu's material and character but my 15 year experience with Yang Laoshi tells me a different story. GM Liu was immersed in the MA since 5 years old but more importantly, he was very well educated relative to a fairly illiterate population (especially among marital artists). But, more importantly, he was no intellectual in the sense of abstracted from experience of using the marital arts. He knew what was good and what was ineffective. You do not train 3 generation of Presidental bodyguards on the basis of calligraphy or how many books you read/wrote.

It took me far too many years to realize that GM Liu's gold was in the basics. Baji looks very simple on the outside but is very difficult to develop on the inside.

There will be more criticism coming regarding his baji and especially his bagua. I hope you can get a copy of the Journal of Chinese Martial Arts (old Wu Gong Journal) and check out the bagua post training article we did (not much reading content but the pictures are worth having). So many people seem to forget its not how many forms you have that determines your level of prowess but rather how much time you have put into the basic training and single posture movements. Even with our system, there are a few of my kungfu brothers who guage their degree of mastery by how many forms they have learned and how many certificates they receive.

This was my first here at this website and I hope you all keep posting and practicing the good old xiao baji and xiao kai men, along with the da qiang. There's gold in them thar hills but it sure takes a long time to mine it. GM Liu's material will get you there! It solid.

Take care and hope to see again in Akron/Canton. Please give my regards to Wang Laoshi. He is a man of high quality