Chinese Martial Arts (Kung Fu) Part 2 - Journey to the East

Traditional Chinese martial arts has a history as old as China. Much of its deeper meaning was suppressed during Mao's Cultural Revolution. But a few dedicated masters have carried on its legacy, keeping it alive. Longfei Yang is one of them. But mastering Kung Fu and understanding its principles takes much more than what meets the eye. Longfei also teaches Tai Chi, which he learned from his own grandfather at an early age in China. Tai Chi is also an internal form of martial arts. Despite different outward appearances, Tai Chi and Seven Star Praying Mantis are actually quite similar. The main difference is that Tai Chi started as an internal cultivation practice and later became a type of martial arts, while Mantis started as a form of combat but later incorporated internal and mental exercises into the training. I come home from a day's work and I'm exhausted and stressed out. I do the internal training, it's like for 20-30 minutes, it's like I recharge my battery. If you don't change your habits, you don't change your way of life, you don't change your way of understanding, then it doesn't have much effect. It will bring more social problems. Martial arts represent an upward movement, it gives people a kind of hope, a kind of spirit of not giving up when facing difficulties in life. In this process, it is a process of human evolution. I think this is the most important way to practice martial arts and experience life. It is a state that helps people reach the highest level of balance and enlightenment. Especially after so many years of martial arts, thousands of years of culture, sometimes they will say, Master, I have been training in the United States for the past few years. Although I am their teacher and master, I don't think I treat them as seriously as I used to. In the process, we get to know each other, let them understand the vast depth of Chinese culture, the profound connotation in it, and let them feel that they can learn a better part of the culture. This is my purpose. In this process, abroad, I found that the way in China is different. Because foreigners, their thinking is based on history, and their cultural customs are different. They treat you as a friend, and you are a teacher. When I travel to China, I tell them, when you meet a Chinese master, what you should do, what you should pay attention to, what you should say, and what you shouldn't say. So we would start at 7 in the morning, and we would finish sometimes at 6 at night, and we would do that for 7 days in a row. And so I would say the most I got out of my time there was being kind of mentored by these masters and overseen by Master Li. He would periodically take everybody aside, and everybody would stop what they were doing, and we would follow him. And he would teach us how to do the movements and critique us, and then we would go back to training separately with the other masters. And also, occasionally, he would do some of his techniques and show his prowess as far as fighting skill on us, especially me. He would say, OK, you want to do this, or do whatever you think you need to do to kind of get at me. And I would do that, and I was very sorry that I did that very quickly, because he was moving so effortlessly around me, and I felt myself being hit into all the right areas, and there was nothing I could do about it. And so he was quick and strong. One of the first things I noticed was how fast he was, and how powerful he was. You know, he's an older gentleman, but you would never know it. There's a lot of knowledge that's been gained over the years. A lot of people have done this stuff for a very long time and kind of figured out, you know, the best movements, the different things that work, and you kind of don't want to lose that. You kind of want to pass that along. HE SPEAKS CHINESE I feel like what I know from the internal and this training is more like a secret. But the secret, you have to pay a price for it. You actually have to go through some pain in order to understand how really important it is. HE SPEAKS CHINESE Though traditional martial arts have become rare, they once played an important role in Chinese culture and history. Influenced by the practices of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism in Chinese society, martial arts developed deeper moral and spiritual values in the world of combat. In the use of weapons, many martial artists went beyond its mere practical use, elevating it into an artistic expression. A practitioner would use his weapon as an extension of his own body. How the weapon was used depended on the style of martial arts. In mantis kung fu, one uses narrow circular hand movements to mimic the movements of a praying mantis. When a practitioner of mantis kung fu uses a sword, it too will move in the same narrow circular motions. Studying traditional Chinese martial arts includes demanding physical as well as mental training. But pervading its culture from ancient times up until today is the concept of wu de, which means martial morality or virtue. HE SPEAKS CHINESE