Not being part of the ‘martial arts scene’, I had never heard of the Red Junks until Carlos put his web site up. I’m not sure whether they are well-known to other people or not…

However, the Red Junk Opera Company, or Hongchuan Xiban, have been intriguing me recently. I haven’t found much that gives a good history, though.

This is just a placeholder for a train of thought that’s developing; I may blog about it later.

• Kung Fu Magazine: Fist of the Red Junk Opera
• Book review by Scott P. Phillips: 1000 words for rebel-bandit
• FerFAL: The degradation of Argentine society
• The crisis of the 3rd century: economic and social consequences
• Rudolf Laban
• John Robb: Central question of 21st century governance
• Clusterfuck Nation: The Futility Economy

“Forgotten kungfu form coming back in fashion“, reads the headline from China Daily.

Yongchun boxing, once a popular form of kungfu in the southern China during the Qing dynasty, is gradually coming back in vogue in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

“After the recent movie Ye Wen, based on the life of a Yongchun boxing maestro, was screened in Guangzhou early this year, a lot of people have started taking Yongchun lessons,” said a local Yongchun boxing coach surnamed Chen.

Wait…. Yongchun boxing? AKA “Wing Chun boxing”? Wow, if that’s what China Daily calls “almost forgotten”, I can’t wait to see how they define “popular”!

(Oh, and while I”m quoting other websites, here’s one I found via the William Gibson discussion board: Cat-bathing as a martial art….)

(Found via another martial arts blog, but I’ve forgotten where, sorry).

I know next to nothing about wing chun. I’ve never studied it; my preferences are for the northern styles. However, I do know many wing chun practitioners in Singapore. Some of them have been generous enough to give me some advice, and they totally outclassed me when we tried a bit of friendly push hands. So, respect.

I mention this just because I’ve found this book review on Asia Times Online, the Hong Kong-based online newspaper: Bruce who? Wing Chun Warrior by Ken Ing .

Some of the quotes are very relevant to things I’ve mused about here on previous occasions, and in conversations with friends – including wing chun practitioners:

Ing’s book ends with Leung, in his sixties, frustrated by the decline of martial arts in China – a decline for which the author blames the Chinese government, which since 1949 has banned the practice of Kung Fu for combat:

China produces many performing Kung Fu instructors whose unproven fighting techniques are becoming increasingly more difficult to perform, though spectacular to watch. However, they are not qualified to teach combat when they themselves have no genuine combat experience, and the effectiveness of the fighting techniques remains untested.

So Leung is now watching Chinese combatants who are regularly defeated in free-fight competitions by other practitioners of the martial arts, especially Thai boxers. And, even worse, stung by defeat, these combatants are abandoning their own traditions and beginning to fight like Thai boxers and wrestlers.

Sifu Leung has dedicated what remains of his life to reversing this trend. Ing’s chronicle will serve to help him in that quest.

Have any of you read the book? It’s damned with faint praise in the review, but I would be interested to hear what you think if you have read it…

Well, I’ve been looking into the dance-related elements of systema, and what I’ve found is something called “Combat Hopak”. Supposedly it’s a revival of a traditional Cossack art from the Ukraine, rather than Russia. I dunno, it looks to me like a lot of Asian moves mixed up with traditional dance, but what do I know?

I met up with Carlos today in Singapore’s Arab Street, and we had a long chat over lunch. We compared his Wing Chun and my Yiquan (such as it is) and found many points of similarity. He mentioned that his sifu knows a form of Wing Chun based on Chinese opera, which I reckon would be quite cool to see!

I always enjoy talking to Carlos – he’s so enthusiastic about his martial arts studies, I always leave our conversations feeling way more determined to work hard at my own!

Update:

Just thought I would add this in here, as I don’t want to write a separate post about it: if I’m asking about martial arts with a strong dance element, I shouldn’t forget silat! I don’t know too much about Silat, but I’m aware that it’s performed to music at Malay weddings, and some of its many diverse forms are very close to dance….