One of my martial arts friends here in China - Coach Zhang Weidong - is now teaching in New York.
“Lao Zhang”, as we call him, means “Old Zhang”. He’s not really that old, which you soon realize as soon as you lock grips with the guy. He is circus strong. He claims he got that strong through traditional Baguazhang and Xingyi practice. I didn’t really pay that much attention to begin with. Later, after having receiving a friendly broken nose and two black eyes from him, I discovered that “Lao Zhang” is not only a qualified martial arts coach, but also an inheritor of both traditional Bagua and Xingyi lineages. He is skilled at the martial applications of both arts.
Lao Zhang trains Shuaijiao with Master Li Baoru, and teaches Bagua, Xingyi, Taiji, and Shuaijiao to foreigners studying and working in Beijing. I have witnessed people learning with Lao Zhang develop martial skills quickly.
Unfortunately for them Lao Zhang is now in New York City.
But, that could be very fortunate for you if you live State-side!
Here are his details:
33-70 PRINCE STREET STE 903, FLUSHING NY 11354
TEL 3476546534
He is in New York for a very limited time only.
Try and train with him. You wont be disappointed.
Keep Smilin’
Michael
Sun Dengke is a name I haven’t heard before. I stumbled upon this documentary about him and thought I would share it with you all. Tianjin is famous for it’s Shuaijiao. It has been for a long time. Even today, Tianjin Sports Insitute has an outstanding Shuaijiao program and team with athletes who frequently place in the top three in Chinese national events
Mr. Sun mentions that in Shuaijiao “Strength is basic, Technique is core, and handwork is the essence”. I thought that was an interesting way of putting it. He goes on to add that: “to use that strength, technique and handwork on your opponent is one of the most difficult things to do and requires 5 or 6 years of hard training before you can achieve it”. The video does show several shots of people training with Shuaijiao training equipment like the Zhizi, Tuizi, Dabangzi, Pitiao, and lots of others. He mentions that the Dabangzi was a training tool used by the Qing Dynasty’s elite Shanpuying forces and that many of these training methods are rarely seen today, which is so true. It’s also another reason why Master Li and Mr. Sun really are living treasures of Chinese heritage.
On the whole, this little video is well worth watching if you are interested in seeing Shuaijiao as practiced among the people of Tianjin and the rest of China.
Go for gold!
Michael
[note: Master Li told me that Mr. Sun Dengke has already passed away]
It is a very good site with video, photos, and articles in Chinese. If you are keen to read them in English, perhaps Google Translate could help you get the jist. Google Translate can translate an entire webpage if you paste the url in the translate box.
You can see Double Hero Wrestling’s new gym in this video. It is 20-minutes long is pretty much what Coach Li’s classes for “normal” people - as opposed to professional athletes - are like. Well worth a watch guys, even if you dont understand.
Anyone interested in training with Coach Li and the guys at Double Hero - and that should be ALL of you - is welcome to contact me via email.
Li Deshun is a name that you might not have heard before. But it is a name that people should know.
His photo has appeared on Shuaijiao TV before. I posted this photo taken at the Dongxu Cup Beijing Champs in…wow…2007! He is pictured with his student Li Junlei who had just won silver (after giving way to his team mate for the gold), and has just won his second MMA fight in Art of War on November 28th. Check this photo out!
But who is Li Deshun?
I didn’t know too the first time I met him.
I was late that Saturday morning to the old gym in Xuanwu. I quickly blended into practice after apologizing for my slight lateness and trying to hide my hangover.
The guy beside me practicing the Dabangzi (The Big Stick) was going hardcore but looked awkward to me, so I asked him: “Is this your first day?” in my best Chinese.
He laughed and laughed and told Master Li and Coach Ma what I had said which caused them to laugh too. Then I found out who he was.
Li Deshun is from a family of wrestlers, was one of Beijing’s best competitors at national level competition for many years, and was the head coach of Beijing’s National professional team – Huochetou – or “The Engine” as I like to translate it.
Later, when Olympic constuction took over Beijing, we moved to this other small gym in central Beijing. That is the gym you can see in the documentary about me learning Shuaijiao in Beijing. Coach Li Deshun was kind enough to lend us his gym while ours was being rebuilt. Cool thing about that for me was that he came to our workouts too.
I soon realized that Coach Li had great handwork, awesome technique, and was still in shape to throw the tough guys with ease. That combined with his great sense of humor made him my favorite partner for grip fighting. Of course i started not being able to get a grip despite having arms half a foot longer than his. But soon i was making fast progress as he taught me all his tricks openly, in good humor, in a hands-on style i respond well to.
Nowadays, the Huochetou Team has been disband, but that didn’t stop Li Deshun from living his passion. He teaches Shuaijiao professionally here in Beijing, and is also a National-level referee.
His school - Shuangxiong Shuaijiao (Double Hero Chinese Wrestling) - is located in the northern part of the city – see here – and I would have to say – is one of the best-equipped marital arts venue I have seen anywhere.
Classes are in the evenings on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, which makes them easier for me to attend as sometimes Saturday mornings are a stretch after returning late and exhausted on Friday night, and Sundays are a stretch after returning late and inebriated on Saturday night.
Shuaijiao under Coach Li seems more disciplined than I’m used to. But that is a good thing. The quality of the techniques taught is outstanding as well. My evenings spent in Coach Li’s gym are always well invested as I come back buzzing with all sorts of new tips, tricks, and realizations.
I will try to share some of them with you here over the next few months!
Zhang Jiang has been a student of Master Li Baoru and Ma Jianguo since he was 8, has several national and international titles, and holds a bachelor’s degree in sports with Shuaijiao as his major.
We in China miss Zhang Jiang dearly and wish him well in spreading the Shuaijiao word.
For those of you in Europe…get in touch with Ayten…Zhang Jiang is a Shuaijiao genius and is well worth a visit to Hamburg.
And what better way to celebrate than with a wedding.
Congratulations to my Finnish Shuaijiao brother Mikael and his lovely new wife Maggie on tying the knot.
Mikael has been a friend of SJ.TV for a long time and when he found himself relocated to Beijing he called me and the Shuaijiao fun n games began.
Mikael has a strong background in Choy Lay Fut and when he was living in Guangzhou encountered a Shuaijiao teacher from North China. That’s when his love affair began. Since coming to Beijing he has continued to learn under Masters Li Baoru and Ma Jianguo.
Can’t have all the photos be of Mikael getting thrown!
I don’t think of myself as interesting. But the story i guess is. Kiwi in China in love with Shuaijiao - something that most Chinese don’t even know exists.
Its in Chinese, but i speak so slowly that you will have time to look up each word as I speak! It’s quite shocking to hear yourself speak…now i know the Chinese are being polite when they say “Oh your Chinese is so good”. Lol.
But if you don’t mind watching it - its about 25 minutes long - you can see Master Li, Coach Ma, Xiao Li, Ma Ke, Lao Zhang and most of the guys. You can see us training at Coach Li Deshun’s - of the “Huochetou” Team - Beijing Train Station venue. We trained there while our Xuanwu School was being rebuilt last winter.
You can also see some other parts of my life here in Beijing. It might be inspiring for you if you have a dream of coming to China and living and learning Shuaijiao.
Interestingly, after this was filmed I was selected as one of Beijing’s 100 most interesting international people. I was supposed to make an additonal documentary but i didnt have time so they edited this one down to 5 minutes and presented it along with 99 other stories to the world’s Olympic broadcasting teams as a gift that they can broadcast in their own country.
Well i hope it achieves a good plug for Shuaijiao. I need to find more opportunities to promote Shuaijiao both here in China and around the world… ANY IDEAS? All welcome.
In collaboration with the Chinese Shuaijiao Development Council, Shuaijiao Nation, and YOU, Shuaijiao.TV is compiling a comprehensive list of Shuaijiao training venues worldwide.
This list will be made available to all freely as a networking resource that you can use to make contacts, find training venues,teachers, and partners, and importantly find athletes to compete in your tournaments.
I need the following information about Shuaijiao people/places:
Region
Country
City
Address
Website
Phone Number
Contact Person
Email
Additional Background Information
This will add tremendous value to all of our efforts in learning, promoting, and developing China’s oldest and most effective martial art and fighting sport.
I cannot do it without you!
Please send your info to: michael@shuaijiao.tv
Many thanks
&
Keep Smilin’
Michael
Ps. Please forward this message to people you think might like to be listed in the network.
Pps. Did you donate to the Sichuan Quake victims yet? Every penny helps
The Ethnic Minority University in Beijing hosted this year’s Naadam for Mongolians living in Beijing. A couple hundred people turned out despite the sporadic downpours. Among the many activities and competitions was what I had turned up to watch: Bökh.
And i wasn’t disappointed at all. It was an stellar line-up with ex and current Olympians mixing it up on the grass.
As you know there is no weight classes and we saw some David and Goliath fights. I was thinking that instead of weight classes there should have been two categories: Professional and Amateur, but that is not the Mongolian way. Everyone gets in and has a go. It is all about courage after all.
Courage or getting in there and having a go was not on my list of things to do today, but that didn’t stop my mate Shuanghai trying his best to enrol me. I managed to keep my clothes on and take some photos instead of eating grass at the feet of these awesome athletes. But looking at the photos now I kind of regret it. It was an awesome atmosphere.
The event was won by Mongolian Wrestler turned Olympic Greco-Roman competitor Sai-Yin-Ji-Ya who is a true warrior. He walked through the competition calmly winning all but his last match with ease… and he won the last match without breaking a sweat. We swapped numbers so I hope to learn a trick or two from him and share them with you here.
In the meantime, here are some photos…there are a lot!
Enjoy!
Michael
Art of War’s Zhang Tiequan helping a current Freestyle national team member warm up
The result of awesome timing. A violent downward yank at just the right time sent this chump face first into the pitch. We all felt the earth move too so it had to hurt.
Semi Final
The Final
My favorite photo of the day: Saiyin Jiya supremely cool in the finals just as he had been all morning.
I’m such a selfish p@#$%. I’m sitting in my comfortable Beijing home glued to CCTV’s 24-hour coverage (Chinese version of CCTV site here) of the Sichuan quake recovery. Out of a mixture of sadness and disbelief I’m shaking my head at the 5,000,000+ homeless, and 50,000+ dead in China’s deadliest disaster in a generation. (If you haven’t heard about it read this) (To follow the latest check here)
Everyone has been doing such a great job of getting in and helping - including the Chinese Government , Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and so many others - and my efforts apart from donating have only gone to the extent of encouraging my friends to donate at the local bank or via mobile phone. But I want to do more. One small way I suddenly thought of was to make a post consolidating some ways to donate and getting all you guys to donate a few bucks each. Every drop helps.
They have done a splendid job of pulling together a menu of different ways to help the lovely people of Sichuan. The land that gave us Gong-bao-ji-ding (Kung-pow Chicken), The Giant Panda, and the original Spice Girls.
Check it out and find a way to give that suits you.
Remember, EVERY penny you can spare is appreciated.
