Formosa Neijia

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0VHiEnrJUw
Someone posted fighting videos taken at the Tang Shou Dao (TSD) school that I used to attend, and as usual, the Internet ninjas came out in force to let everyone know it wasn’t even xingyi. (Insert eyeroll here.) I didn’t know it, but the TSD guys have over a hundred videos of […]

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I think Bob must have excellent typing skills. He typed up this excerpt from Adam Hsu’s latest book over at ChenWired, but I want to archive it here. I’m about to order the book (available here) and I’ll review it after I read it. This excerpt has some great information about what Hsu […]

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So I guess everyone has noticed a slightly different look around here. For one, wujimon helped me to upgrade the blog software, resulting in a slightly different look than before. Kudos to him! I  may be making additional cosmetic changes in the future. Also, I have added Amazon ads to the blog. I don’t like […]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0VcOtneCRU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0VcOtneCRU
So I guess most of you have seen this, but I hadn’t. I’ve seen lots of aikido demonstrations, but this is some of the best I’ve ever seen. He can really move. I assumed that his moves were faked a bit for the camera, but his aikido is really tight. I love the beginning of […]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DCLybmCSKs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DCLybmCSKs
This is excellent sword work done by Fu Xu Yuen (傅淑雲). She is one of the most famous martial artists in Taiwan, known for her expertise in Sun style taiji, bagua style taiji, Yang style, mian quan, bagua and xingyi. Her husband Meng Zhao Xuen(孟昭勳) was equally well known for his tongbeiquan (通臂拳). In this […]

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I haven’t posted on fitness issues related to IMA practice in a while. So we’re long overdue. Bodyweight Culture (registartion required, but it’s free) is an excellent forum/website dedicated to providing bodyweight exercises that will help any martial artist attain a high level of strength and flexibility that will increase your abilities across the board.
Case […]

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I’m quoting this whole article by Stan Henning because I find it fascinating, as I do with most things written by this author. General Qi’s book is highly regarded by scholars and the info given here shows how pre-modern MA training was conducted.
General Qi Jiguang’s Approach To Martial Arts Training
By Stanley Henning
Ming General Qi Jiguang […]

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So here’s lots of “renao” graphics for you to celebrate the New Year.

Feel free to use these to send greetings to your friends! Happy Year of the Pig!

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As my Chinese gets better, I’m able to appreciate some things that I didn’t before. One of these things is the Asian tattoos that people get. So I love to browse the site Hanzi Smatter.
I know that all things Asian are in vogue now, so lot’s of dumb people are getting what they think is […]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmws53vxjrc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmws53vxjrc
This is world champion taiji player Gao Jia-min performing the 42 combined form. I think she looks great and her performance is top notch (obviously). But I was surprised to find the following quotes from her about her training:
To try to help her relax and gain more patience, she studied Chinese calligraphy, thinking it would […]

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