Formosa Neijia

I took down the updated teacher directory that I talked about two days ago. Instead, I’m offering an updated and more useful  booklet — The Martial Artist’s Guide to Taipei –  with detailed contact info and even maps to where people practice. Those of you visiting Taipei will have a guide to all the different […]

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Brian Kennedy has an excellent intro to daoist talismans in the latest issue of Kungfu Taichi magazine. I didn’t know this whole article was up (ahem!). Here is part of the article to whet your appetite:
It was March of 2006. A pregnant woman and her unborn baby had been murdered. The Taiwanese police had […]

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I saw this this morning:
China warned the United States on Thursday against “groundless smear attacks” against Chinese products and said it was working responsibly to address concerns over a spate of recent food safety scares.
“The Chinese Government has not turned a blind eye or tried to cover up. We have taken this matter very seriously, […]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmZGiL8OGdE
I’ve been enjoying reading through the archives over at Dojorat lately. I really like his perspective on things.
His recent posts seem to be inspired by my recent run-in with the xingyi teacher.  Basically, Dojorat’s conclusion is that we should embrace our “inner barbarians.” Yeah, I guess if people are going to assume that you’re […]

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“…can never know anything about Chinese martial arts.”
This was actually said to a friend of mine by a Taiwan publisher. When I heard that he had said that, I was furious. After all, I and a lot of other foreigners give that guy a lot of business and some of us have been here for […]

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These are outstanding examples of local Taiwanese yoga masters. I had no idea Taiwan had such excellent yoga. It seems that yoga is everywhere in Taipei these days. But from the ads, most of the teachers are young women who had no muscle tone to begin with, so becoming super flexible wasn’t such […]

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So I was playing with my little boy in the park a few days ago. Naturally, we got hot and sweaty and decided to go get a drink. Imagine my surprise when I spotted a new type of Coke that I had never seen before in the machine — Coca-Cola Zero. I bought one and […]

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So it seems that we have quite the conversation going over encountering racism in Taiwan and/or getting more violent. Chris Bates has addressed the issue in the comments section by referring to his book Cutlture Shock Taiwan. He has some great info here that many of you may not be aware of unless you’ve lived […]

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It’s rare that I experience racism or dangerous situations that could lead to violence here in Taipei. I saw a bit more of that when I lived across the river in another part of the county, but my life in central Taipei had been fairly calm until today.
Reality hit me twice today.
I was walking my […]

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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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