Huo Yuan Jia

 

Huo Yuan Jia was born on 18 January 1868, the middle of three brothers  as the fourth of ten children in the village of Xiaonanhe which is today part of the Tianjin municipality. His father Huo Endi practiced a style of fighting known as Mizongquan and earned a living as a farmer and also as armed protection escorting merchant caravans to Manchuria and back.

Young Huo Yuan Jia was born weak and susceptible to illnessso his father refused to train him in the martial arts. It is said that he has asthma but that claim probably came from the movie “Fearless” there are no data what kind of illness young Huo suffered from. Huo Endi hired Chen Seng-ho, a tutor from Japan, to teach his son academics and moral values. In return, Chen was taught the Huo family's style of martial arts. Huo still desired to learn martial arts, against his father's wishes, so he observed his father teaching his students martial arts in the day and secretly practiced at night with Chen. In 1890, a martial artist from Henan visited the Huo family and fought with Huo's elder brother, who lost. To the surprise of his family, Huo fought with his brother's opponent and defeated the latter. Promising his father he would not take part in any competitions (a promise he would eventually break), his father agreed to train him and soon  Huo Yuanjia surpassed both of his brothers in skill. Huo joined his father at work as a caravan guard. At one occassion while escorting a group of monks, Huo was confronted by a group of bandits, who threatened to attack the monks. Huo fought the bandit chief and defeated him. The news about this fight spread quickly and this was a beginning of Huo’s fame

Soon after, in 1896 like a lot of other young men at the time, Huo Yuanjia migrated to the city. In Tianjin, did a variety of odd jobs including warehouseman and bill collector (house thug) for a promising young Tianjin merchant named Nong Jinsun  who dealt in herbs and Chinese medicines. Nong and Huo were to form a lifetime friendship.

 In 1902, Huo responded to a challenge advertised by a Russian wrestler in Xiyuan Park, Tianjin. The wrestler openly called the Chinese "sick men of Asia" because no one accepted his challenge to a fight. The Russian allegedly forfeited when Huo accepted his challenge and told Huo that he was merely putting on a performance to make a living and apologised for his earlier remark in the newspaper. 

In 1909, another foreign fighter, the English boxer Hercules O’Brien, put an advertisement in the Shanghai newspapers insulting the Chinese as weak. Huo asked his friends to go to Shanghai and arrange a fight. After considerable negotiations the terms of the fight were settled. According to most of the accounts, O’Brien grew so concerned about Huo’s fearsome reputation that he ended up fleeing the country and apparently the fight never took place.

Both of these stories couldn’t be proved true or false, simply there are not written evidence to support or disapprove any of these claims. 

Huo capitalized on his fame and with the help of investors, including his old friend Nong Jinsun, established his legacy: the Chin Woo Physical Training Centre later changed to "Chin Woo Athletic Association". He attracted many students as well as the attention of some of China’s leading figures. Sun Yat-sen himself praised the school and said, regarding the association, “To make a country strong, everyone must practice the martial arts. Dr. Sun even graced the school with his calligraphy inscribing the words for martial spirit  and giving it as a gift to the association. 

Huo Yuanjia died relatively young, and his death is surrounded by myth and mystery. According to the story told by Huo’s descendants, the Japanese Judo Association came to Huo Yuanjia’s school to ask for a competition. A disciple of Huo disciples broke the arm of one of the association leaders. After that, the Japanese nursed a grudge against Huo but feigned friendship. When Huo became ill, they took him to a Japanese doctor who then poisoned Huo.

Other sources say that it was Huo who, in competition, defeated the head of the Japanese Judo association. At the banquet that night, Huo suddenly became ill, violently coughing. Huo was taken to a Japanese hospital where he was given, allegedly on purpose, the wrong medicine. He then died a short time later. 

Like a lot of famous figures whose lives become encrusted by myth and legend, we might never know the actual truth. Huo apparently suffered from some kind of respiratory problem most of his life and it is not impossible that this might also have led to his death especially after nearly two decades in competitive fighting. Nevertheless, the story of the Japanese treacherously poisoning China’s most patriotic wushu champion persists. In 1989, Huo's and his wife's graves were excavated and their remains were relocated elsewhere. Black spots were discovered in Huo's pelvic bones. The Tianjin Municipality Police Laboratory confirmed that they contained arsenic. However, it is difficult to ascertain whether Huo's death was caused by malicious poisoning or by the prescription of medicine. This was because arsenic trioxide has been used therapeutically for approximately 2,400 years as part of traditional Chinese medicine. 

Huo became as a symbol, both in the early 20th century as well as today, of Chinese patriotism and nationalism. Legend about him grew over time, especially when he became a hero of Wu Xia novels.

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Justifing Evil

I want to talk about very interesting thing in martial arts. Before we start I suggest the reader to check the article about the role of the heroes in human society and especially martial arts

 Heroes in Martial arts

People will have heroes, especially in people who practice traditional martial arts. I am not a psychologist or sociologist  but it is more than obvious that traditional martial arts attracts certain kind of people.  What is interesting, people not only completely disregard negative things their heroes did or stand for but they aggressively defend those negativities. While many of  “martial heroes” were drug addicts, gamblers and abusive spouses and parents, these things belong to the domain of private life and do not impact society on larger scale. As if having a junkie or a man who beats his wife and children as a role model is not bad enough, people worship racist, criminals, fascist,  psychopaths… Following link shows some of the most popular martial idols,worshipped by millions today. 

Martial Idols

When confronted with facts considering their idols, people become aggressive and they are trying a justify their behavior by any means necessary. Let’s  analyze few of these people. Probably the most famous and worshipped almost as deity is Miyamoto Musashi, described as a Japanese swordsman, philosopher, strategist, writer and rōnin and a perfect warrior. In reality he was a man who killed others for pure pleasure of killing under the excuse of improving and testing his skills. Among his victims were also unarmed children. I will not debate his “philosophical”  achievements, everyone has a right to choose what philosophy is for him. Anyway, when confronted with a fact that Musashi killed people for no real reason, that he wondered around challenging people for death duels just because he enjoyed in that, his worshippers say that he had no other choice, that he lived in a time when something like that was usual practice and that he did nothing wrong. Killing a 13 years old child is wrong in any era, in any culture, just this should be enough to make people rethink who do they worship. About that he had no choice and death dues were norm of the time, that was not true. Without detail historic analysis ( all the data about the period in which  Musshi’s lived are publically available and easy to find) it enough to say that Musashi caused a lot disturbance with his way of life and what he did was certainly not a norm of behavior at the time. Even if they claim is true (which is definitely not), what Musashi did is completely unacceptable in modern society and worshiping  Musashi today is the same as worshipping a serial killer. There are many heroes throughout history, Japan also does not lack real heroes, many of those heroes killed many people defending their countries and their people. And those people are heroes because they fought for a right cause , for right reasons, when all other options were exhausted and they had no choice.

Let’s look at another example. Yip Man today is worshipped as a god, his martial style, Wing Chun, is often practiced more as cult than martial art. Besides the fact that he was a gambler and opium user, he was also a racist. When confronted with the fact that he was a racist his followers say he was just man of his time!!! Hitler was also a man of his time. Racism cannot be justified under any circumstances. No one in the right mind would say that segregation in U.S. was right, although it was a social norm of the time. Same Wing Chun people will condemn the racism in U.S or any other place but they will justify racism of their idol. 

There aremany examples like this but these two perfectly describe how followers of traditional martial arts justify things for which people today would end up in prison. 

Chopsticks as a weapon ?

Chopsticks are shaped pairs of equal-length sticks that have been used as kitchen and eating utensils in most of East Asia. They are held in the dominant hand, secured by fingers, and wielded as extensions of the hand, to pick up food. First used by the Chinese, chopsticks later spread to other East Asian cultural sphere countries including Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. As ethnic Chinese emigrated, the use of chopsticks as eating utensils for certain ethnic food took hold in South and Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand. In India (mainly in Himalayan region), Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Nepal, chopsticks are generally used to consume noodles.

Ancient Chopsticks 

Historical evidence of putting together two sticks to use during cooking or eating have been found in East Asia and the Middle East. The earliest versions were probably twigs used to retrieve food from cooking pots. The fabled ruins of Yin, in Henan province, provided not only the earliest examples of Chinese writing but also the first known chopsticks—bronze sets found in tombs at the site. Capable of reaching deep into boiling pots of water or oil, early chopsticks were used mainly for cooking. It wasn’t until A.D. 400 that people began eating with the utensils. This happened when a population boom across China sapped resources and forced cooks to develop cost-saving habits. They began chopping food into smaller pieces that required less cooking fuel—and happened to be perfect for the tweezers-like grip of chopsticks.. This new method of cooking made it unnecessary to have knives at the dinner table—a practice that also jibed with the non-violent teachings of Confucius, as expressed in one of his numerous quotable quotations: "The honorable and upright man keeps well away from both the slaughterhouse and the kitchen. And he allows no knives on his table." During the Chinese dynastic times, silver chopsticks were sometimes used because it was believed they would turn black if they came in contact with poisoned food. This practice must have led to some unfortunate misunderstandings—it's now known that silver has no reaction to arsenic or cyanide, but can change color if it comes into contact with garlic, onions, or rotten eggs, all of which release hydrogen sulfide.  Wood and bamboo were the natural early forms of chopsticks, and are still the most common materials today. In time bone, ivory, bronze, brass, silver, gold, jade, agate, coral and other exotic materials have been used, especially for wealthy chopstick owners. Ancient sets of chopsticks in China were commonly found with a knife and pouch, and chopsticks were frequently bound together at the handle end by a chain. Disposable chopsticks are modern invention, in the past everyone had his own pair of chopsticks and they were usually made from some kind of durable material so they could last long. 

Silver Chopstics 

Chopsticks are traditionally utilized as an improvised weapon. Martial artists have trained with them and carried them not as much as weapons but for having a meal for centuries, but they make excellent improvised emergency weapon for certain situations where taking out the main weapon is not easy, for example while sitting in the restaurant during a meal. While chopsticks don’t have enough weight and the grip really doesn’t allow firm hold of a weapon, therefore they can’t be considered a lethal weapon, they can definitely hurt the opponent and give time to the fighter to either escape or reach the main weapon.  Of course, in the past chopsticks were made form durable and heavier materials, some kind of metal and hardwood and could be used as weapon in the case of emergency or as a concealed weapon. Modern, light, disposable bamboo chopsticks can’t be used as weapon. 

Ancient chopstics set with a small knife as a part of the set

Chopsticks can be used as a weapon in three different ways, and can be trained in three different ways of technique development. It can be used as a throwing blade. There was a wide variety of throwing darts used in ancient China that are similar in length and weight with chopsticks. Throwing any kind of dart is technically really complicated and hard and requires a lot of training. Chopsticks can be also used as a stabbing weapon. Technique for this kind of using is similar to other short blades techniques with a difference that chopsticks can’t cut, they can only be used for stabbing. Chopsticks can be also used as tool \weapon in joint lock (Chin Na) techniques.

Most of Kung Fu styles do not use chopsticks as weapons. There are only few rare styles in China and two Ju Jutsu styles in Japan that teach use of chopsticks as a weapon. Snake Crane Wing Chun is one of the rare Kung Fu styles that uses chopsticks as a weapon and as a training tool to enhance the strength and mobility of the joints.

 

The disappearing world of White Crane

World of White Crane is disappearing quickly in Taiwan and seems no one cares about it. South of Taiwan is the repository of many old and unknown Fujian styles, many of them older than popular styles like Tai Chi or Wing Chun by far, and definitely more significant  historically culturally and technically. These styles, practiced traditionally for centuries, pretty much without contact with other styles still keep original technical content, language, mythology, oral histories even some aspect of religion. Traditionally, in Taiwan, particular kung fu style is practiced only by  family members or the members of the community (village). Styles were not secret in a sense that they were hidden behind closed doors but they were almost never taught to outsiders.  This tradition is very much alive today and it is one of the reasons why all these styles are on brink of extinction. Vast majority of these are some form of White Crane. Many styles are pure Crane styles while others have been mixed with styles sometime in the past but Crane flavor is still prevalent. Many of  these Crane styles are far older that better known White Cranes like Yong Chun Bai He fist,  Shihe, Suhe, Zonghe…

Having in mind that strong tradition prevents masters to teach people outside their community or family and that majority of these styles concentrated on the south part of Taiwan, endangeres the survival of these styles. For decades young people for the south , especially from villages, migrate to the north, to big economical centres in serach for better jobs and better life. It came to the point that many schools in far south had tobe closed because there are no more kids. Young people leave early, in search for better education that will give them better oppurtunities later in life and there is no time for the masters to pass the complete styles to next generations. On the other hand , young generation do not show much interest for kung fu. Baseball and tennis are much more popular than any other sport or activity. In Taiwan, kung fu is a thing of old people, those who want to keep and preserve the tradition, but there is not many of them.

Another reason for declining interest in kung fu is rasining popularty of MMA and asscoated arts. Kung Fu in general didn’t show well in full contact fighting and that is one more reason for declining interest in it. Thai Boxing and MMA gyms have much more students in Taiwan than average kung fu club.

Having all this in mind we can see that extinction process of kung fu is at the point that simply cannot be reversed. Many interesting Crane styles (and other kung fu styles) simply disappeard in the last few decades. The rest will probably disappear with last masters of those arts in the next decade or so.

Disappearing of these old styles will be irreplaceable loss for traditional Chinese cultural heritage. People’s Republic of China started a project of documenting rare and disappearing Kung Fu styles,which will  be preserved at least in digital formand could be revived some time in the future with some effort. If nothing else, preserveing Kung Fu in this format can be valuable source for all kinds of research in the future. Bottom line, these styles won’t be alive but they would not disappear completely. Unfortunately, In Taiwan such a project is not even considered.There were few tryes done by a private researches and kung fu pracitioners, but they simply lack resources to complete such a big project.

    To  conclude this article, chances are that we will have accept the fact that allthese beautiful old styles will disappear in the future, leaving an enormous gap in traditional kung fu heritage. 

Morning in the 228 park

After  a few a months break due to lockdown caused by supposed virus I have finally returend to Taipei to continue my White Crane training. I came to 228 park near Taipei Main Station at 8 am. There were already several groups of people practing different Kung Fu styles. Older people practiced Tai Chi and Bagua, it was interesting to watch sword play preformed by people who are definitely above 80 years of age. Countles decades of training are easily seen in their movements. It was quite an experience and honor to watch those people who would beem in any other place, considered grandmastes, but here they are just Kung Fu devoties, nothing more and nothing less.  Younger people engaged in vigoros training of modern Wushu and some Northern traditional styles, but I really have very little knowldge about Northern styles so I couldn't say what did they practiced exactly. Usually, park is full of people who exercise, but people were still afaried of the virus and groups were much smaller in number of the practitiones.

 

By the time I finished coffee, my teacher arrived. After a warm up we started the training. Because we had a long break teacher decided to teach a whole bunch of new things, to cover the time we couldn't practice together. On comfortable 35 degrees Celsius and humidity that requires gills for breathing the training started. Big air-conditioned training hall with matts, heavy bags  wooden dummies and other exotic  equipment is standard for practicing martial arts in the west. In Taiwan most of the schools operate in local parks and some of the most significant teachers in the past as well as today still teach in the open. Taiwanese people practice Kung Fu regardless of the weather, only typhoon can stop them. Next two and half hours were very hard, teacher was strict but patient, he was correcting my movements, explaining the underlining  principles and applications. At one moment I had ask teacher to stop showing new things because it was too much information to absorb at once.

                                 

Master Elton Chiu is one of the best Taiwanese Kung Fu teachers. Extremely knowledgeable and very patient he has the ability to pass very complicated concepts and principles effortlessly. Well educated and speaking perfect English, Master Chiu taught a number of domestic and foreign students. Despite all the knowledge and skills he generously share with everyone interested, he is a perfect example of Kung Fu Master we read about in old stories.  Humble and quiet, he keeps low profile in Kung Fu community while preserving the most traditional forms of Kung Fu, not only in technical context but also social and cultural. Being accepted as student by Master Chiu is a rare privilege and I consider myself extremely lucky to learn from such teacher. There are no words to express my gratitude to master Chiu. Hopefully, next time when I go to Taipei, weather won’t be so harsh on this poor foreigner who still can’t adapt to tropical heat of this beautiful island.