DT: I understand what you mean…actually, in white crane, trembling jing is like a category that includes many other jings…it’s just the generic name of the taste of the major jings in white crane, but it does not refer to one particular type of jing. I think that is what you meant also by “fold on the center is part of all jings in hand”…
And indeed, in fujian WC, some jings are not done with the spine waving vertically but with the hips tilting, or turning/shaking in coordination with the shoulder closing and opening. It depends…but as you said, there is something that is always required: using the shoulders to generate power (short or long).
WM: you don’t have to necessarily find some white crane exponent, I believe styles like ngor chor/wu zu, bak mei/bai mei, lung ying, hakka tong long should give you what you are seeking as well. To my limited knowledge, all these styles use the triad hip/spine/shoulder to generate powerful short jings (if you need to be close to your opponent, you have to develop short jing…and it is also the trademark of any real quality gong fu exponent, IMHO).
Alos, WM, there is one thing I am beginning to understand: waist should not be confused with hips. When we post, we often use waist and hip indifferently because it’s convenient. But actually, martial-wise it’s two different things. Waist is the bones of your bassin, on each side. Hip, however, anatomically refer to the attachment of your femor inside the bassin, in the inner part of the waist. Chinese styles place a major importance on this part, which they call “kua” or “gua” or other writings depending on the language.
Waist bones are just the external part, the important part is to learn to twist and fold the hips (therefore the kuas) INTERNALLY…
I think, and he will correct me if I am wrong, that it is what Diamond Talon meant when he said that even nose to nose with your opponent, you can still turn your waist through. Actually you begin by folding the kua internally to generate the power, and the external waist bones barely move. Yet, you can use that with the shoulders to generate tremendous power, hitting your opponent quite hard. Then after you hit, you can just blaze and follow through by this time turning the waist to drive the strike through…
To take the example of white crane once again, the various stances (like crane ma bu or seven stars stance, the two most used stances in combat) have the knees clenched tightly in to protect the groin and enable good stability, with the feet locked in as well. With these stances, you have to develop (and it’s not easy, I tell ya, I’m just beginning to understand the taste) the internal folding of the kua, because externally the waist bones have minimal mobility due to the stance.
I came to understand that internally folding the kua is paramount in every styles. Even in northern styles, where the heavy turning of the waist makes it less obvious, you can see the difference of power when someone just jerks the waist, or when he jerks the waist AND sink the kuas as well. The quality of the strike is much more penetrating and crisp in this case.
I would, IMHO, avoid shoulder push-ups, or at least would not make them a paramount part of a training aimed at developping shoulders-generated power. Indeed, they will develop power and strong shoulders, yet I believe it will be a dull, muscular power, unlike the crisp, vibrating power required for powerful short jings.
Make your hands like arrows or shooting stars, not like hammers!
