ovine king

it's not even watering down as things were more or less re-desgned from scratch. Using your lemonade analogy, it'd be like making 4 pints of lemonade with 3 and a half pints of water and half a pint of a solution made of lemon flavoured candy (with appropriate additives+preservatives) and telling people it's fresh home made lemonade.

don't forget that if it's a book published in the 70s, then there's a high chance that it's only depicting wushu/quo-shu routines which won't have reasoning beyond the aesthetic. the finger tends to be (but isn't always) straight and pointed along the blade because the chinese sword is techinically a thrusting weapon. The idea/theory is that the finger points the way. the sword fingers equates to training the free hand as it mimics the tensions in the hand that you get from holding a sword. When you read "proper" classical sword texts, you'll see this hand position relates to certain "energies" which rational people would see as refering to muscle tensions.

some things translate, some don't. you can do pretty much do all of the basic ward-offs as they don't really use the hands; them being more about elbow+balance. a class i know that also practices kickboxing under san shou rules teaches tai-chi as the "parent" class and they have no problems when it comes to the national (san shou) competitions.

to be honest, i'm not entirely sure how martial arts is taught in taiwan. I have only been there once and i only visited one school (in which they also happened to use the old sifu terms - but that's not important) and yes. if you're going to be picky, then really these days, sifu/todai terms shouldn't really be used as strictly speaking, teacher/student these days is nothing like how it is way back when but then again, it is still a teacher/student relationship, just on a different level so in a way it still is valid... after all, the guy who teaches you IS your sifu. hmm, then again, I've not seen a western school/sifu do anything that might be regarded as fulfilling his role as sifu in the traditional sense. its use is complicated and at the same time very simple; mostly dependent on the situation which you are in.

actually, people do still wear them. It's by no means the norm but that's not what's being discussed here. in the case of the guy in this topic, he is an instructor who has the chinese jacket/trousers as a sort of uniform in his school. This guy also wears that uniform outside of the class environment.

but that's mainly because of what happened with the cultural revolution and all that: most traditions were systematically removed and that includes the old use of the kung fu family terms. Traditionally, those terms were used in all chinese kung fu school "families". These days, in mainland china, the terms used depends entirely on the school. Recently, some "hidden" schools have been making themselves more known after 30-40 years and they still use the old family title system for reference. In a modern school (which in all likelyhood teaches modern wushu or a derivitive of it) you will find that they use lao-shi (teacher) or even just gao-lin(instructor), terms that have no romantic ideal attached to them, nor have any sense of loyalty or belonging. Bare in mind that this isn't because of regional variation; it is because what happened during the cultural revolution.

not as much as going for a jog or swim for 30 mins to an hour every day.

first of all, the chiese thing is NOT a gi. secondly, it is not a uniform. a proper one of those jackets is actually very warm because a proper one is actually (or at least should be) woven silk lined. Of course, i have a sneaking suspicion that the type of chinese jacket/outfit you're talking about is the generic western (cotton) version of the traditional chinese (black) jacket. what do i think of someone wearing one as normal every day wear? to be honest, not a lot. It can serve perfectly well as an everyday jacket. the real question is why he wears it.

no offence but the yin yang (symbol) has a definite history and reasoning behind it. As such, you shouldn't really be give something that you think as a reply because it is esentially not true. in the time it takes for you to type what you did, you could've instead typed "yin yang" into google and gotten proper information to reply with.

Si-Dai Jr. Student Si-Hing Sr. Student Si Suk Assistant Instructor Sifu Instructor SiBak Sr. Instructor (Jr. Master) Sigung/Master Instructor Si Tai Gung/Sr. Master Instructor Sijo Founder of the System. these are terms used to describe the "age" of the person with regards to their position in the school of martial arts in which they are a member of. si dai is ANY student (peer) who joined the school after you. si hing is ANY student (peer) who joined the school before you. si-fu is your teacher (father/teacher) si suk is a peer of your si-fu (uncle teacher) si bak is (also) a peer of your si-fu (can't think of the top of my head what the difference between si-suk and si-bak) si-gung is your si-fu's si-fu (literally grand father/teacher) si-tai gung is your sifu's sifu's sifu (literally great grand father/teacher) si-jo (sometimes jo-si) is the founder. this is the system that was traditionally used in the chinese systems irrespective of what part of the country they are from. they indicate your position in the kung fu family and this is not (strictly) a ranking system. however, recently, some western schools has taken this and made a ranking system out of it which shouldn't be confused with the original use of these terms.

do you mean faster in isolation or faster during the course of a match? best thing to speed up your throwing of knees is to continuously work them into each of your drills and routines. Stick a knee at the end of simple punch combinations when working with pads or the bag. Get someone to rush you and push you back and you work on staying balanced and able to knee. Work out some pressure drills to get you throwing knees as instintive responses. In short, just keep using them. More often than not, your knee; the movement itself and the time it takes you to react with one, are "slow" because your balance/base isn't quite right and you are not used to shifting from walking/punching stance to a kneeing one (it's all in the hip...). In a clinch, the speed of a knee isn't even that important but your stability is so work your clinch more and your kneeing in that situation will improve as well.

i'm assuming that the style that you're mainly teaching is the hung ga that you have listed under your name. One of the easiest ways to get some "recognition" within the chinese styles is, like it or not, lineage. it isn't that difficult to trace your lineage seeing as essentially, everything goes back to one/two men and even then it doesn't really go back that far in terms of years. generally, in the chinese styles, recogition by your peers (and superiors) as being able to teach is sign of your ability. with regards to the ranking issue. i'd think it better to stay away from colours and stick to something simpler like grades and numbers. In my mind, it has less association with the belt system. I'm not sure if you'd need it for the adult classes. Most people who end up in a chinese style is aware of the non-grade issue anyway and would even see it as a potential "warning sign" if you do have one for the main/proper class. just make sure that you have a proper structured way of teaching. I've been in a few classes of very competent men but who really aren't the best of teachers. It was worse for the non-chinese speaking members of the class who found the already hard to follow class, ever harder to understand. routine, order and organisation is paramount in teaching. back when i was helping to semi-run a small class, a lot of after-class time was spent trying to draw up a sensible training plan for the next class. one thing i do urge you to do is NOT forget what hung ga is about: don't lose sight of the fact that it is fighting. Going into poetic romantic mode for a moment: don't let the ten deadly hands be forgotten!

i have to say, it doesn't sound like snake type movement to me.

take two fighters of absolute equal ability. make one twice as heavy and twice as strong, all other attributes remain equal. who is more likely to win?

martial arts is on one level about being able to find advantages in any given situation. If you can't see that there is an advantage in carrying a weapon where possible, then something is amiss, especially in a world where criminals are more likely than ever to be carrying a weapon of one sort or another. in the uk, it is next impossible to justify legally the carrying of a weapon. However, I always have with me in my "work" bag a maglite. I occasionally need it for my work but 90% of the time, it is there just in case I run into in the property that im working in, anyone that shouldn't be. it is in my mind, a weapon above all else and i think it would also serve as a deterrent so that i don't have to only rely on just my hands.