I have just arived in Taiwan where I am working for at least a year.
I would like to gain exposure to a different martial art (I have studied Wing Tsun for 4 years) during my time here. If anyone knows of any good Pa kua / Ba Gua classes in the south of Taiwan (I live in Tainan County) could they let me know. It would be greatly appreciated. Infact if anyone knows of any styles in the area I would love to hear about them.
Before anyone flames me I have trawled the internet for days and I am asking all and sundry I meet over here. Unfortunately not being able to speak / read mandarin is a bit of a problem!.
Maybe, you could inquire through local TCM doctors or hospitals who might be associtiated either by themselves or to other internalist practitioners. I only say this as a friend of mine was working in a Chinese clinic a couple of years ago and a Professor who found out that he practiced CMA invited him to witness some qi-gong demo’s in his study/office and asked him if he would like to learn it. Apprarently he was the chief Medical Qi-gong Doctor of the clinic. If not then go down to the local park around 5:00 am and ask to free-spar or push-hands with anyone and everyone. No doubt some gnarly old codger in his 80’s will trounce you, and then offer you some advice. Possibly.
Repulsive monkey, I have heard about the crack of dawn park training before and I am keeping my eyes open, even though my small town doesn’t have a park, just a temple’s paved area. I am also going to ask at the big University in Tainan city. The doctor’s thing is an interesting angle though - thanks!.
Walter, your geographical ignorance is excused!. I am about 5 hours by bus / train away from Taipi. It seems that the capital has loads of good stuff to offer. If I stay in Taiwan for another year then I will be definitely moving there. For the time being though I’m still searching for something a bit closer to home.
However, I don’t know much about the kung fu in that region. I was born in NY.
If I were looking for kung fu in Taiwan, I’d look for students of Hong YiShan, Wang Shujin, Cheng Man Ching, and others. Definitely see if you can learn Fukien White Crane (supposedly there’s terrific masters of that art in that country).
My understanding is that Adam Hsu (formerly of Cupertino CA) lives in Taiwan. His linguistic ability to convey kung fu concepts will be worth whatever the travel will be to access him, especially because Taiwan is such a small country. Keep in mind that Master Hsu has videos and books that are quite informative on his art.
See if you can pick up some Taiwanese dialect, Simon Mc. You might be able to open doors that ordinarily wouldn’t be there. The ethnic Taiwanese do tend to keep to their own, though they welcome people who make the effort to learn their language. And Tainan is a very heavily Taiwanese-speaking area.
Repulsive Monkey is absolutely right about the parks and TCM doctors. Many of them ought to be familiar with who’s who in Tainan as far as “underground” kung fu instruction goes.
Oh, HKV, you’re taiwanese!! That explains your attitude and tone somewhat. And your violin-playing for that matter. Sorry, don’t mean to judge or deprecate, guy. I am somewhat familiar with that culture, although I am not asian myself. Your people have been oppressed and their culture and language attacked, even to this day KMD officals refer to Taiwanese as a “barbarian language,” etc. You may not have gone through it personally but it appears you’ve adopted some of the attitude of those who fight this. Perhaps your folks left for political reasons? Or was it that they wanted you to have a U.S.A. education?
Education, politics, finances - all came into play for educated Taiwanese immigrants in the 70s. My family was no exception.
“Barbarian language” - I’m HONORED. We are a coarse folk who are barbarians at heart. Of the 70s American generation that I come from, few speak Taiwanese at all (let alone well). In fact, we spoke no Mandarin at home.
As fa-jing pointed out, we Taiwanese are FIGHTERS. We’re a very tough people, and we’ll fight anybody who tries to take us down (even Mainland China, though that’s been blown out of proportion for the last 30 years).
We’re also gifted violinists, though most Taiwanese pro violinists end up as doctors or lawyers or engineers (or sifus, in my case). We’re no good on piano or winds (no chest nor hands), but we do have the right arm length and fast-twitch for violin. Taiwanese people play violin the way Americans play baseball (actually, we play baseball the way Americans play baseball too).
The Taiwanese say “Kong buh loy yeung”, of which the direct translation is “Talk doesn’t have any significance”.
I saw you’ve also posted on Empty Flower Forum. I replied to your question there with addresses of 2 teachers in Kaohsiung. That’s really near Tainan.
Here I will write their names and phone numbers. Ask someone from work to help you contacting them. Learning some Chinese would be also a good idea.
Thanks for your replies - they were very much appreciated.
Paul, I will get a colleague of mine to call the two instructors you mentioned on Monday. I wil let you know how I get on. As to learning chinese I am enrolling at Tainan University for 1 on 1 mandarin lessons.
Woliveri - I got to work in Taiwan as an English Teacher. There’s loads of work over here (and mainland China) as long as you’ve got a degree in any subject. Unfortunately the hours are weekday evenings so not that compatible with training though you get weekend and mornings off.
Been to Taiwan in Sept last year, trained some Baji in Taipei, but sadly my stay in Taiwan was too short to really learn anything substantial. I am not familiar with Tainan, but if you get the opportunity to train Baji, DO IT! Awesome style.
Ming Fai,
I thought Taipei was a fair distance from Tainan. Anyway, here is a link to a good Wu Tang site. http://wutan.com.tw/ Adam Hsu is nearby too, if you are going there. How did you like the Baji there? Did you see anyone learning bagua while you where there?
Chin Li-Yen learned his Baji from the late master Liu Yun-Chiao, who was also the teacher of Adam Hsu, Su Yu-Zhang, Tony Yang and many other famous masters. Bajiquan is a really powerful style, simple but effective techniques and amazing display of power. The generation of “sinking power”, “silk reeling power” etc. was a real eye-opener to me.
I trained Baji at the Jiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, and only a few meters away from the Baji class, there was a group of people training Bagua. I then found out it was the class of Master Luo Dexiu, who teaches his Yizong Baguazhang there four evenings in a week.
Chin Li-Yen learned his Baji from the late master Liu Yun-Chiao, who was also the teacher of Adam Hsu, Su Yu-Zhang, Tony Yang and many other famous masters. Bajiquan is a really powerful style, simple but effective techniques and amazing display of power. The generation of “sinking power”, “silk reeling power” etc. was a real eye-opener to me.
I trained Baji at the Jiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, and only a few meters away from the Baji class, there was a group of people training Bagua. I then found out it was the class of Master Luo Dexiu, who teaches his Yizong Baguazhang there four evenings in a week.
MF
Can you say “green with envy”. I have seen a couple of Master Chin’s books on Baji. Besides the fact that I cant read them, they are quite excellent. Taipei seems to be a fortunate place to be. There are several others I know of teaching in the area too. I Can’t wait to see it sometime. How are class prices there compared with the US, if you know? Where/What are you studying now?
I was very fortunate yes, but I envy Simon MC who can stay and train in Taiwan for a year!
I have seen a couple of Master Chin’s books on Baji. Besides the fact that I cant read them, they are quite excellent.
Master Chin’s books are really good, I would like to translate them myself, but my knowledge of Baji is too limited, I’m afraid.
Taipei seems to be a fortunate place to be. There are several others I know of teaching in the area too. I Can’t wait to see it sometime. How are class prices there compared with the US, if you know? Where/What are you studying now?
Taipei is a great place to learn Traditional Chinese martial arts, there are some old masters training in the parks in the morning, practicing Taiji, Praying Mantis or some lesser-known styles. You really should go there… I can’t wait to return to Taiwan myself.
About the fees: I don’t know about other schools, but Master Chin asks 2000 Taiwanese dollar per month (about 55 US dollars?), but I was there for a short period of time, so he gave me some pointers for free.
I am a Hung Gar and Choy Li Fut practitioner living in the Netherlands. My CLF teacher is a student of master Doc-Fai Wong.
I was researching White Crane schools in Canada and your name popped up somewhere, detailing your martial backround.
At the time I studied Pak Hok and had a AJJ backround, as do you. Your name rang a bell.
I now study Bagua and Hsing-I. Seems we are following a similar martial path.
Almost as cool as Baji and Piqua together 