I got back in touch with Liu Jing Ru’s disciple Kong Cheng yesterday; he’s just got back from his ‘European tour’. I’m going to arrange to start bagua training with him. We talked about it back in the summer, but there wasn’t an opportunity then.

I think I’m ready to see if I can apply what I’ve learned in my yiquan training to bagua; plus (as you’ll guess from many of the links I’ve posted recently), I’m a little concerned about the growing possibility of recession/depression-driven unrest around the world. I’ve also seen hints that the US and EU are increasingly open to the possibility of introducing tariffs on Chinese goods, in order to retaliate against China keeping the RMB’s value artificially low against the dollar; the day that happens will be a scary day to be a foreigner in China, I think! Bagua would be useful in a crowd scene; I’ve seen examples before of how any dispute between a foreigner and a Chinese draws a crowd, and the mood can turn nasty very easily. I was also spurred by Aedh’s recent post about using circle-walking against a bigger, heavier, kickboxer.

Sooooo, anyway: in preparation, I picked up my copy of The Whirling Circles of Baguazhang, by Frank Allen and Tina Zhang, who became disciples of Master Liu a couple of years ago. Although I brought it to Beijing from Singapore, I haven’t looked at it since I stopped training in bagua over a year ago. It got me back into the mood, but it also surprised me to find that at the back there’s a section about the Water Method that Frank learned from B. K. Frantzis; I’d forgotten about it, but it is exactly what I was talking about in my post on ‘Answering a Few Questions’. I guess it had been at the back of my mind all along, but now I may actually be taking the first steps in practising something similar, having come from a different direction…

Speaking of bagua books, I lent my copy of Yang Jwing-Ming’s Emei Baguazhang (which I also haven’t opened for a long time) to S., who is enjoying it; she hasn’t read many books in English about bagua, I think (though many in Chinese). She’s translating a book that her own bagua master has written, which should be interesting.

So, back to circle-walking soon…

3 Comments »

1. 

   Good to hear you are getting back to the circle.

   I myself will see another Yin-stylist of the older generation the 1st time this afternoon. Wonder how it will work out, living 40 Min. away by car, working fulltime and being over 50.

   Happy X-mas and a good 2010, back in the south?

   Surley no holidays befor Chinese New Year as over here?

   PS: Did I miss something special in your protected post?
   How to get a password?

   Comment by Bai Yiming — December 17, 2009 @ 11:57 am

2. 

   Hi Emlyn…..Merry Christmas and Happy New Year…:) <:o)

   Comment by Kim — December 20, 2009 @ 9:52 pm

3. 

   Thanks, Kim, and the same to you!

   Comment by Emlyn — December 22, 2009 @ 7:59 am

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