To remain somewhat anonymous on the interwebs, the WHO will remain partially ambiguous. Suffice to say that I am a 23 year old male who graduated from the University of California, Riverside with a BA in Philosophy minoring in Creative Writing and Religious Studies. My professional aspiration is to become a lawyer (father's idea but I soon jumped aboard), but retire as a teacher/professor of Philosophy. I have studied and trained in traditional Chinese Martial Arts for most of my life and have made it a personal mission to seek out not only other forms of Chinese Martial Arts, but to also inundate myself with as many other forms of martial combat as well. I have therefore amassed an extensive collection of practical knowledge regarding Japanese martial arts, western boxing, Thai kick boxing and a few other more contemporary schools of practice.
WHAT this will be is a semi-formal gathering point of my experiences with traditional Chinese Martial Arts. I have been family trained since the age of 4 in various distinct styles; I have picked one to focus my efforts since the age of 10. The training not only centered on the physical, but on the history and martial theories involved. My Uncle once said that I was more of a natural scholar than that of a natural fighter since I always asked questions galore before doing anything. That's why he affectionately called me "Scholar Warrior". It might also have something to do with my ear. The cartilage pattern for my ears are different from each other. My Grandmother told me that one shape emphasized book learning and the other shape emphasized a fighting nature. So I suppose Scholar Warrior is a nice nickname. The title of this blog is "The Modern Day Gong Wu". Gong Wu is a Cantonese phrase which literally translates to "Rivers and Lakes". It was the poetic designation of the Martial Arts Society that was so integral to the cultural history of the Chinese people. Thus I name this page the modern day Gong Wu; a contemporary gathering of the traditional.
The WHY of this page is somewhat personal. This blog, though not my preferred method of transmission, is to be one of my many efforts to fulfill a promise I made to my uncle before he died. The promise I made was -to promote true traditional Chinese Martial Arts, by any viable format, in a society which misunderstands and misrepresents the richness and efficacy of one of the oldest systems of armed and unarmed combat.- He wanted me to rise above, to complete forego, the politics and commercialism that dictates the mainstream form of dissemination today. Thus I have always trained for free, taught for free, and now I type and post for free.
Some extraneous information that would explain my future posts would be that my speciality lies in southern styles. I also deal a lot with practical theory and the exploration and integration of "foreign" concepts to better the traditional Chinese system. Also, to clarify, I understand the limitations of transferring knowledge over textual posts is limited for something as physical as Traditional Chinese Martial Arts. That is why the majority of these posts will be aimed primarily at disseminating practical theories with a smattering of physical examples. I also want to point out that I do not suffer any level of delusion that I should be called anything remotely like a Master. Master/Sifu is an Honorific that is granted by OTHER PEOPLE who think you deserve the designation. Even then, a truly secure person wouldn't insist on being called that. You are called a Master because you live and act like one, not because you insist on being called One. Besides, 23-24 is too young. You need life experience as well as martial knowledge to be considered a Master. So bear in mind, I have no false beliefs that I am an authority. Other than that... I believe the rest will be revealed in time.
Train Hard. Talk Less.
~Thunder Palms
WHAT this will be is a semi-formal gathering point of my experiences with traditional Chinese Martial Arts. I have been family trained since the age of 4 in various distinct styles; I have picked one to focus my efforts since the age of 10. The training not only centered on the physical, but on the history and martial theories involved. My Uncle once said that I was more of a natural scholar than that of a natural fighter since I always asked questions galore before doing anything. That's why he affectionately called me "Scholar Warrior". It might also have something to do with my ear. The cartilage pattern for my ears are different from each other. My Grandmother told me that one shape emphasized book learning and the other shape emphasized a fighting nature. So I suppose Scholar Warrior is a nice nickname. The title of this blog is "The Modern Day Gong Wu". Gong Wu is a Cantonese phrase which literally translates to "Rivers and Lakes". It was the poetic designation of the Martial Arts Society that was so integral to the cultural history of the Chinese people. Thus I name this page the modern day Gong Wu; a contemporary gathering of the traditional.
The WHY of this page is somewhat personal. This blog, though not my preferred method of transmission, is to be one of my many efforts to fulfill a promise I made to my uncle before he died. The promise I made was -to promote true traditional Chinese Martial Arts, by any viable format, in a society which misunderstands and misrepresents the richness and efficacy of one of the oldest systems of armed and unarmed combat.- He wanted me to rise above, to complete forego, the politics and commercialism that dictates the mainstream form of dissemination today. Thus I have always trained for free, taught for free, and now I type and post for free.
Some extraneous information that would explain my future posts would be that my speciality lies in southern styles. I also deal a lot with practical theory and the exploration and integration of "foreign" concepts to better the traditional Chinese system. Also, to clarify, I understand the limitations of transferring knowledge over textual posts is limited for something as physical as Traditional Chinese Martial Arts. That is why the majority of these posts will be aimed primarily at disseminating practical theories with a smattering of physical examples. I also want to point out that I do not suffer any level of delusion that I should be called anything remotely like a Master. Master/Sifu is an Honorific that is granted by OTHER PEOPLE who think you deserve the designation. Even then, a truly secure person wouldn't insist on being called that. You are called a Master because you live and act like one, not because you insist on being called One. Besides, 23-24 is too young. You need life experience as well as martial knowledge to be considered a Master. So bear in mind, I have no false beliefs that I am an authority. Other than that... I believe the rest will be revealed in time.
Train Hard. Talk Less.
~Thunder Palms
I love the topic you've picked and the fact that you have expertise in it. I hope you develop a great following.
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