JIANG JIAN-YE'S VIDEO TAPES

[Snakey]

First off,
I would like to say that the people who stated
that his videos are no good should first actually
purchase them and see it for themselves and then
maybe they would not make such stupid comments.
Secondly I have never met jiang but i have two of his videos snake boxing and tai chi fan.His videos are the best on the market theres a reason
why his videos are the most expensive its because there the best.I was able to master the tai chi fan and im now learning snake from his video.I find his videos to be clear,in depth and high quality.I cant comment of whether or not he mastered every form on video that he sells but i can say for sure without his snake video and tai fan it would impossible to learn it.He is an excellent teacher and has remarkable skill in his forms.Some people said that hes not wushu team standard there a for simple reason for that he never claimed to be he merely said that he has practicing wushu forms since age 5 you people put words in his mouth.And some dont even have his videos and claim that his videos are garbage dont knock what you have not tried.His videos are two hours of in depth instruction he demonstrates the form at the beginning of the video and then goes through each posture slowly and every angle and also gives applications.I was able to learn from his videos.I leave with this statement
DONT KNOCK WHAT YOU HAVENT TRIED

[wujidude]

Taiji fan . . . now THERE'S a traditional and effective martial art.

[Brad]

I've seen his Tiger video, and it wasn't that good. At least the forms are authentic though.

[Snakey]

wuji it is traditional and effective

[wujidude]

I have purchased and studied several of Mr. Jiang's videotapes. I stand by what I said.

"A jack of all trades, master of none."

[TaoBoxer]

I have 2 of his Ba Gua tapes which I acquired in lots of other books and tapes on Ebay. I hate to talk badly abt people who I haven't met, but the tapes were disapointing. The first 15 minutes of the tape is like an info-mercial on him. Once the tapes finally got to the materiel to be covered it to was not that impressive.

I give this opinion not so much as a martial artist, but as a consumer.

[brassmonkey]

"I was able to master the tai chi fan and im now learning snake from his video."

[GLW]

Actually, the fan IS a traditional weapon. It was not an emphasized weapon but the original ones had spines of metal, a flip out pike at the end, and the spines were pointed - quite sharp, and made to look innocent with the fabric of the fan being silk and often extending beyond the spines a few inches.

Men would often do caligraphy on fans and exchange such as gifts so no one would really pay too much attention to a man with a fan..plus it was hot and fans served a purpose.

In many public places, it was expected that you would leave your weapons ..such as restaurants....not all but in many. So, if you were a famous martial artist, had to'check' your weapon, it is not a bad idea to carry in a rather innocuous looking fan.

Fan techniques have some methods from dagger, some from straightsword, and some from short rod. The most useful techniques are with the fan closed....but open it can do a nasty cutting swipe. It can also be used to obscure vision and block. There are also techniques with the fan open where an opponent's blade would penetrate the silk of the fan and then the fan would be closed and twisted to trap or break (much harder) the blade. This would of course require a metal fan.

It is NOT a mainstream weapon, but it is a traditional one. There are several fan routines around. however, I know nothing of Jiang's fan tape or method.

[wujidude]

Thanks, GLW! I stand corrected. I did some more research and found that "iron fans" were used for self-defense purposes in pre-Meiji and Meiji-era Japan as well.

As far as the fan routines currently out, such as the various "Taiji fan" and "Mulan fan" forms, few if any can be traced back more than a couple of decades. That at least is the information I get from a local wushu teacher out of Hangzhou. While the fan qualifies as a traditional weapon, the forms more frequently than not are modern wushu dance routines.

Just my opinion.

[GLW]

While the age of the routines is accurate, the flavor is not.

For example, Grandmaster Wang Jurong, daughter of Zha Quan Master Wang Ziping, created a system with 6 Fan routines in the last 30 or so years.

There are 3 Kung Fu Fan sets and 3 Taiji Fan sets. The 3 are divided as Single Fan, Double Fan, and Two Person Fan teaching the use of the techniques.

The Kung Fu Fan draws heavily on the Zha Quan system and is quite challenging...and has some good techniques for use.

The Taiji Fan is a routine that combines elements of Yang, Chen, Sun, and Wu styles of Taiji applied to fan. It is quite well constructed.

Having learned those and taken my students to competition with them, the common remark I heard was "That Fan routine has martial applications...a lot different from those other methods that are dance like....."

So, there are some sets out there that do have good roots.

The reason that there are not too many if any old routines around is that fan was always thought of as a secondary weapon and not worth the time to put a set together. After all, why use a fan if you have a sword?

I have seen one done where the person did a Fan and Broadsword...totally bogus in concept and in the way the routine was put together....the guy at one point even moved the fan to his right hand and the sword to the left - and used the fan as his primary weapon....what kind of garbage is that. I have a sword and a fan..you threaten me...which one will I use....hmmmmm let me think about that one...:)

[wujidude]

Personally, if I lived in Houston in the summer, GLW, a fan routine is the first thing I would learn. :)

I would dearly love to study with Wang Jurong.

[GLW]

Yep....Taiji Fan or any Fan routine - the only weapon I have learned in 25+ years of study that lets me cool off while I am getting sweaty.

Madame Wang...what can I say....superb.

[HuangKaiVun]

I studied directly with Jiang for just under a year (people are going to flame me now).

Though he's pretty much a contemporary wushu stylist, he did teach me a lot about taiji and Push Hands. Jiang was not the right teacher for me, but he's good at what he does.

Jiang is an interesting study in that he doesn't manifest much power nor application but knows how to teach you to manifest power and application. Everything I learned in taiji/push hands I learned from Jiang - and there was quite a bit that I DIDN'T learn.


Every now and then, I'll drop by Jiang's school to say hello to him and his wife.

I train a completely different style now, but they are still nice to me and I address him as "Sifu" whenever I see him.

[les paul]

I have seen martial artist that appear like this Jiang Jian-ye before. For the record, I have not seen any of his video's. I do not think this would tell me much anyway. However, I have seen pictures of him performing postures and I question these. For example, in the current Tai Chi magizine, in a picture titled "Xingyi Quan :step forward and punch (Beng Chaun)" he appears to be performing a drilling fist while in a semi-dragon stance. (what's the problem?) the the dragon stance is dirrectly used for projecting jing downward, not upwards! Although you can do a drilling fist while in a dragon stance it would be like trying to do an uppercut while squating. (it defeats the purpose). Again he could be just steping forward with a scissor step but he's not doing Beng Quan!( heart of his fist is clearly rotated up towards the sky in a Zhuan Quan type application)

Although, the picture could be mislabled.

Yet, when I look at another one of his posture titled: "Yang style: brush knee and push" his stance looks way to low to be of any use in a martial application.

He has to much of a Wushu look to his postures for me.

I had some experience with a Wushu artist before. They judge their mastership on how they perform the form, not on applications (I've posted about this before, it concerned a certain Yang stylist with a very high linage)

People like this look good on the outside but have nothing martial inside. They usally hide behind the fact they only teach for health purposes.

However, I don't truly believe this is bad.
One of the reasons why I've concintrated my studies on Xingyiquan is for the health benifits.
But, I believe its a "quasi-by product" of the martial side and not the other way around as some would have you believe.

Again there is no way a person can master even a little of what he claims to have studied, so it must be in a Wushu context that he's talking about (forms only etc...)

Paul
Michigan
:eek:

[PlasticSquirrel]

the posture he was in was in the changing movements of bengquan. the changing movements are done when you are changing directions. they used to confuse me too when i would see them. they're done so you can start out in san ti before going in a different direction, i believe.

i should get that new issue. didn't know it was out yet.

p.s. i haven't seen any of his videos, but he looks like he has good form, even if it does look a bit wushu-ish. i'm a bit partial to him, though, because his video boxes look neat. they really bring to life tai chi magazine. the "snake boxing" box is my favorite box of all. just look at it and try to tell yourself that you don't want to buy it.