More summaries of the 2014/2015 CWNZ Kung Fu Journey

The journey was an amazing experience. It was filled with exciting activities that incorporated a lot of history, culture, and philosophy. From the climb up the golden summit of the mystical Wudang Mountain, to Bagua training on the cruise of Yangtze River as we traversed the beautiful gorges, to seeing the traditional lion dance at the school of folk hero Wong Fei Hong, practising Tai Chi and Wing Tsun with our Chin Woo friends in China at their training halls, paying homage to the late Grandmaster Yip Man at his memorial hall in Foshan, and capping it off with a rare exhibition on Bruce Lee in Hong Kong. It’s not often you get a chance to immerse yourself in environments where so many great influences of Chinese martial art are found. It was an experience of a lifetime because I have learned so much on this journey.

Nigel

This was my first trip to China, which is absurd seeing as I’ve been interested in Chinese martial arts for most of my life. So in a way it was like coming to something I felt I knew but had never met.

My first impressions were of a vivid land where the very rules of life differ sharply from those I grew up with; there is a carefree spontaneity, a clockwork-like chaos that seems to work perfectly as it balances on the edges of toppling over. This I found very refreshing.

Our excursions to various Buddhist/Taoist/Confucian temples revealed a richness of faith where clouds of incense honour ancestors and pay homage to timeless truth; an ancient way of life still very much alive.

The trip to Wudang Mountain, the spiritual home of Taoism and Tai Chi, was a personal highlight. An arduous climb up ancient rock-hewn steps brought us to the summit where I was lucky enough to practice chi-sau with my comrades and my Sifu as the mighty Golden Palace loomed behind us. The immense majesty of these mountains can have the effect of making one feel at the same time insignificant and immortal.

Meeting up with other kung fu brethren in Fatsan was a very enriching experience. We shared our kung fu, enjoying the similarities and differences, and deepened our understanding a little bit more. (Also, we took a lot of photos of each other).

This trip will not soon be forgotten. The people we met, the welcomes we received, the places we visited, from sprawling cities to tranquil temples to spectacular mountain tops; all of these will stay in my heart as faces of China.

 Jeremy