The idea has often been advanced that that almost no one ever parried with their edge in combat in Chinese swordplay. One type of evidence presented for this is that there is, supposedly, no evidence of edge damage from parries on historical examples of Jian that exist today. Which leads us to these questions: Why… Continue reading Can you tell how people parried from edge damage?
No touch knockouts. Pressure points fighting and Dim Mak. Sending a foe flying several feet back in the air with not so much as a flinch. In the peeling back of he mysteries of Qi, let’s start with the low hanging fruit. The extraordinary claims of Qigong. Qigong (also spelled Chi Kung pronounced “Chee gong”)… Continue reading Frauds, Fools, and Fighting-the dark side of Qi in martial arts.
This question has been the elephant in the room here for quite some time. I have not dared to address it in any real sense as talk of Qi tends to muddy the already confused waters. But, it is time to talk about the most controversial topic in Asian martial arts today; the existence of… Continue reading Do you believe in Qi?
I read a nice article today by Gene Ching, of Kung Taichi Magazine Fame, over on the YMAA website. He speaks about the confusion that faces westerners in the naming and language issues that are present in Chinese martial arts, highlighted by the term Taijiquan. Or Tai Chi Chuan. Or T’ai Chi Ch’uan. Or how… Continue reading Taijquan or Tai chi Chuan: code switching and martial art
One of the defining characteristics of particular styles of kung fu are the hand shapes. In the USA, many kids who grew up on Sunday afternoon/night “Kung Fu Theater” shows in the ’80’s have done some version of the Shaolin Five Animals by striking poses while stating the names. And even kids complete unaware of… Continue reading Hand Shapes
Terra Prime Fighting Words 