For The Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour Part 36, click here.
Phuket ancient Silk Road Trading Center, origin of metallurgy and martial arts in Thailand, the comical owners of Rang Hill, and interview with Phuket’s extraordinary Kung Fu Coach Li Yu Zhong of Beijing Wushu School and Beijing Sports University.
By Greg Brundage
Welcome to tropical island paradise
It was – believe it or not - getting sub-zero in Beijing by October 17, 2021 and snowing, just about the time Phuket Island opened for the first time after the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first place in Asia to do so, and thus it was a no-brainer for this Silk Road Kung Fu reporter to pack up, hop a train to Guangdong and then a flight to Phuket via Hong Kong. To have done otherwise would have been unthinkable.
Arriving in Phuket, I was picked up at the airport by the specially certified hotel’s van as part of Thailand’s unique “Sha+” immigration requirements, after having my legion of vaccination papers and swab test reports checked, being given another swab test and my temperature taken. Though some might find all that annoying, the procedure was fast, efficient and reassuring knowing they were being careful. The Hotel Coco Phuket certainly appeared to have been located in the heart of an earthly paradise as the peaceful quiet accompanied by an orchestra of happy chirping tropical birds and lush 360⁰ rainforest were a heavenly change from the rigor and frigid elements of the far north. About a 10th of all animal and bird species live in Thailand, a nation with more birds than Europe and North American combined, and which includes 1,430 islands many of which are uninhabited and still totally natural without a trace of human “development.”
Phuket Thailand Background
Readers of the Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship tour know I’ve visited Thailand before, but this is my first visit to Phuket Island in the south which has its own unique history and culture closely related to nearby southern Thailand’s Andaman Sea coastal areas.
According to signs at the Thalang National Museum in Phuket, archeological evidence of human habitation in this part of Thailand date back 40,000 - 30,000 years, including stone tools, pottery, bonfires, burials and rock paintings. Trade with India appears to have begun in the 1st and 2nd centuries, China in the 6th and 7th centuries, and Arabia in the 8th and 9th Centuries.
Martial archeology
Or so read most common histories. Other evidence however suggests Chinese metallurgy reached Thailand as early as 1,700 BCE. For those who think history and archeology are boring kinds of thing, please be aware they are martial arenas in which masters battle for dominance based on verifiable evidence from eons past and their echoes into today. For example:
Where then do we stand? By insisting on the acceptance of the presence of fragments of bronze and crucibles in disturbed basal layers at Ban Non Wat, that we have dated to about 1700 BC, Joyce White has added at least seven centuries to the duration of the Thai Bronze Age. This negates any possibility of deriving the knowledge of copper smelting and casting from China south of the Yellow River. White and Hamilton therefore seek the transmission of the necessary expertise directly from the Seima-Turbino metallurgical horizon of the Altai (White and Hamilton 2009, 2014). This requires a bizarre scenario in which there were bronze specialists present in Thailand for about thirty human generations before a single bronze was placed in a burial, before any evidence for mining and smelting took place, and before any evidence for the casting of bronze in a single consumer site. White’s essentialist stance that, throughout the Bronze Age, there was a bottom-up community determination of how bronze or iron were deployed, sets aside as insignificant the presence of an aggrandizer elite of Ban Non Wat between circa 1000–800 BC…
At Ban Non Wat, we have a sample of nearly 400 moulds or mould fragments, as well as some casting furnaces and the graves of those who cast bronze. It is these that properly tell us what was being cast and when. There are two mould forms, one with a curved, the other with a rectangular cross section (Cawte 2008, 2009, 2012; Higham and Kijngnam 2012). The former were heavy-duty moulds for casting weighty axes, spears and other tools or weapons, while the latter cast ornaments.
Ban Chiang: The Metal Remains in Regional Context. A Review Essay by C.F.W. Higham, Univesity of Otago (Italics added by this author.) Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 108, Pt. 1, 2020, pp. 161–194
For those unfamiliar with the thrusts and cuts of academia, the presence of an “aggrandizer elite” shifts the probabilities involved of those “weighty axes,” and “spears” having been weapons. In any case, it appears the bulk of the evidence supports professor Higham’s belief that the Bronze age spread south to Thailand from China.
Many are the battles within academia regarding the origin of different martial arts, and there is no doubt Grandmaster Liu was correct in this Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour’s previous article in saying that: “…in history real martial art training always incorporated weapons. ‘No martial art master would go to war without weapons.’” Those battles include the origin of Muay Thai kickboxing, as is addressed in the next article in this series.
Buddhism contributed greatly to the spread of internationalism from India.
The question of the spread of religion- both Buddhism and Brahmanism to Southeast Asia is not new and has been discussed by several scholars. A point that is often stressed is that Buddhism by rejecting Brahmanical ideas of racial purity and the ensuing fear of pollution through contact with mleccha, did much to dispel the Indian repugnance to travel (Wheatley, 1983:272). But the role of Buddhism was not limited to its comparatively liberal attitude towards social intermixing. Instead, the evidence from the Indian subcontinent indicates its importance as a pioneer in agrarian expansion and the close interaction between Buddhist monastic establishments and trading groups.
Early Trans-Oceanic Trade In South and Southeast Asia
All that aside, after a couple of delightful weeks in Phuket’s west coast beach town of Bangtao I moved to Phuket Town with its thriving population of perhaps 251,000 or so.
Besides martial arts I also love running, biking and swimming, and those hobbies permit me to find the most natural and beautiful places anyplace has to offer. It was while biking I first found Rang Hill.
The real owners of Phuket Town’s Rang Hill
One of the world’s largest Buddha statues can be found in Wat Khao Rang Nok, a temple on Rang Hill, formerly known as Lang Hill in Phuket town. “Lang,” in Thai means “back,” which in this location refers to the back part of Phuket town on the east side of the island. A classic stone bridge marks its front. Today the top of Rang Hill has been renovated into a fitness and public park.
The road up to Rang Hill by the way is quite steep and populated with a semi-wild tribe of monkeys (and occasional herd of wild pigs). By semi-wild this writer means they are generally tame and will take peanuts from your hand, however are likely to steal your whole bag of precious nuts if you flaunt it in front of them. Gently pushing them off with one’s foot works well. Soon after that first venture, I started running up that road, and down the other side of the just for fun. I also started dancing with the monkeys to learn their secret styles without getting any of them too angry, fortunately.
Phuket Wushu School – Interview with Coach Li and wife
Monday, November 15, 2021
Typing “Phuket Wushu School” into any major browser brings up a school on Facebook called… guess what? How about: “Phuket Wushu School.” That’s obviously a good name.
I called this one, the best known of the Wushu schools on Phuket last week and we set up an interview for this afternoon. The person who answered the phone, a “Ms. G,” kindly volunteered to come with the master instructor to my apartment building for the interview as their school is located about eight kilometers away.
The drivers of both cars and motorbikes here in Phuket have been very polite during my almost one month here. I’ve never been edged out, never had anyone cut me off or turn in front of me, etc. Thus far everyone has very politely given me the right of way. Wow! In other words, all of the drivers been very polite.
Still, it was very nice for Ms. G to volunteer to drive here with the head Wushu coach for the interview. I suggested we meet at my building but found out Ms. G knows the owners of a Café only a couple of hundred meters downhill so we agreed to meet there at about 2:00 pm.
I got there and was greeted by Ms. G who waved at me out the open window. Stepping inside I was greeted by the proprietors who were obviously baking something incredible as evidenced by the heavenly chocolaty smells. A moment or two later the coach entered the café. It was obvious who he was because he was clearly an extraordinarily powerful young man and Chinese.
After brief introductions we all sat down. Given that everyone there spoke Chinese I started with my so-so Putonghua (Beijing dialect of Chinese) asking if the coach spoke English, and he said “a little.” Just to practice my own Putonghua, I continued in Chinese for a while, but soon decided to test him and was very happy to find out his English is quite good, at least better than my Putonghuar! (That’s a joke by the way. Beijing dialect often puts an “r” sound at the end of nouns.)
Ms. G, I found out, who looks Thai (because she is) speaks Chinese, English and Thai fluently.
First, I found out the coach is named Li Yu Zhong. He’s from Shandong Province and age 36 though he could easily pass for much younger. He came across as a very cheerful, easy-going, friendly young man. After chatting a few minutes, I found out Ms. G is Coach Li’s wife and they’ve been married for several years. To a westerner it may seem a little strange but over the decades I’ve observed throughout Asia introductions are usually not made and instead natural methods of getting know individuals in groups are employed.
I am nearly always interested in the background of the masters I meet, and Mr. Li certainly walked like a master and had the calm modest self-assurance of a master.
I was not really surprised to find out he was born in Shandong Province as the most powerfully build Chinese I’ve met have come from that province. Shandong has played a dramatic role in history from the beginning of Chinese civilization, and is home to Mount Tai, considered the most powerful mountain in China by Taoists, the most ancient of indigenous Chinese philosophies.
And, it’s not surprising to find out the first style he studied starting at age 10 was Changquan (Long-Fist) Kung Fu, briefly described in parts 35 and 36 of this series.
I was interested to hear that Mei Hua style is just another name for Changquan, and that different names are used by different groups practicing that famed ancient North Shaolin style with its thousand-year history.
Coach Li said that Wushu training in smaller towns is very special because everyone helps everyone else and the clubs are exactly like big families, noting that wasn’t always true in big cities.
At about age 15 or so his mom sent him to Beijing Shaolin Wushu School again referring back to Parts 35 and 36 of this series. At that famous school in Huilongguan suburban residential area in Changping District of Beijing, I found out Coach Li studied virtually all major styles of Kung Fu.
That is an awesome task and suggests he truly is a martial art prodigy because memorizing and excelling at all those Taolu is an extraordinary feat. Though he didn’t state it directly, he must have been an extraordinary student because he was the first student from that acclaimed school to be admitted to the Beijing Sports University (BSU) Wushu program. Once again, the ring of familiarity because 1) so great is its international acclaim BSU was the very first Wushu Kung Fu training center I ever visited in China back in 2008, and 2) even today I still sometimes edit research articles for graduate school students and professors at that very same university. What a small world it is.
Coach Li then told a brief anecdotal story. To help remember all those taolu he sometimes practiced as he walked down the street. Some neighbors noticed the unusual way he walked and expressed some concern to his father saying essentially: “Your kid is strange.” He laughed as he told this story but one can only imagine the mental and physical discipline required to keep organized such a vast assortment of hard and soft, long and short, more and less ancient styles of Kung Fu.
As most or all trained athletes and musicians know, the muscles and nervous system have their own memories and so much of that learning is actually coded as much in the body as in the brain. Thus, practicing while walking down the street is a great way to tie together the body and mind’s organization of vast separate but overlapping fields of memory.
Though very powerfully built, it appears he gravitated towards Taolu rather than Sanda. Looking at him, I suspect Sanda might have been too easy for him. In any case he took on the Herculean task of learning all of the major classical forms and did an astonishing good job of it.
His competition highlights include winning the championships representing BSU at the Asian Indoor games in Macao specifically doing the Northern Style of the Lion Dance. He was also the double sword champion at the 2005 Beijing City Traditional Wushu Competition.
After university he joined the Beijing police department specifically the SWAT team where he worked for some six years.
I asked him if in Beijing they ever had problems with major drug gangs, as I know from previous years in the US some of those drug gangs rule entire neighborhoods like kings. To this Coach Li answered: “In Beijing, drug gangs are not kings,” with a cool confident smile. In all of east Asia police are very strict and absolutely uncompromising in regards to all illegal drugs – which might be one reason these are – generally speaking - very peaceful nations.
I was curious about his transition from being a SWAT team member to living in Thailand and his married life.
It turned out his met his wife 14 years ago when he was a university student and doing a demonstration in Phuket. They met on stage and he had something she needed. OK, it was his Nokia she said - but whatever it was - it was enough to start what has turned into a legendary Kung Fu love story. I asked her what attracted her to him, and she said: “He’s consistent – a straightforward and stable guy.”
I think she forgot to mention he’s easy going, friendly and has a sense of humor, in addition to being hard-working and has an excellent Resume, but that’s married life, I guess.
She continued: “I was studying Chinese back then and went on to graduate school in China. But when he became a SWAT officer, I couldn’t see him any more.”
Whatever it was between them however, was enough to keep the magic alive. During that long absence she went on to get her Master’s Degree at Beijing University in teaching Chinese.
I asked Coach Li if there was any incident in his work as a SWAT officer that caused him to want to resign, and he laughed and said no. He said he knew one officer who had to kill someone and then locked himself in his house for a week. He knew another officer who had to kill someone in the line of duty and the next day he was just like normal. Coach Li then added he was lucky and never had to kill anyone.
And thus, it appears, true love may have conquered all and he resigned the police force, moved to Thailand and renewed his one true love (second only to Wushu Kung Fu maybe?). They have since married and have a son.
Ah! I love a great love story and to think it all started with a phone call. I wonder if Nokia would pay them for that poignant love story?
I asked about his Wushu school during COVID-19 and he acknowledged it has been difficult. “The rent went slightly down for a while,” he said. “But was still too much when no students could come to classes.” For a while he had around 50 students, but the school had to close, then they reopened, then they had to close and repeat. They also changed location and were lucky to find a new location that is extraordinarily nice and less expensive.
Now they only have about fifteen students or so but like all Thais are hopeful the greater precautions taken by everyone here will make a difference and COVID will not make a major comeback. I have to mention everyone here in Phuket always wears a mask outside.
(As in China however I’ve noticed when doing outdoor sports in countryside areas, some participants remove their masks. In China that became permitted following the death of two otherwise healthy high school runners. At that time, it was decided health risks from doing strenuous outdoor sports with a mask outweigh risks of not wearing masks.)
I don’t think there’s a need for police in China or Thailand to reinforce wearing filter masks. It seems everyone feels it is their civic duty to cooperate in defeating COVID-19 as it is seen as a form of caring, not oppression.
In my estimation it may take decades to account just for the economic devastation caused by that terrible disease. Still somehow, the Li family and other small business owners persevere. Incidentally when I first moved to Phuket town it seemed about three quarters of the street-front businesses were closed. However, during the six weeks I’ve been here most of those closed shops and restaurants have reopened.
The afternoon was racing by at incredible speed and they had an appointment so we agreed to meet again soon to continue this unique Kung Fu story. Certainly, I hope to get some photos of their school and do what I can to keep the Kung Fu Dream alive and growing strong again here on Phuket Island Thailand and worldwide.
For Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour Part 38, click here.
About
Greg Brundage :
Gregory Brundage is the son and grandson of university professors and began international travel for extended periods in 1963 – 1964 traveling the Roman Roads from the UK to Rome and from Spain to Rome 1966-1967. He started Kung Fu training in 1972 and competed in 300 martial art tournaments before 1988. He was a newspaper reporter in the US 1988 – 1992 and since then has published articles in innumerable newspapers and magazines mainly in East Asia. His Kung Fu Tai Chi Magazine series include Rebuilding the North Shaolin Temple and Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour. He’s retired now and contributions to keep The Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour on the road can be made to: paypal.me/silkroadtraveler
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