Documentary: A Kiwi’s Shuaijiao Love Affair
Last year I filmed this documentary for Beijing TV.
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.
Hope you enjoy it
Keep Smilin’
Michael
September 13th, 2008 at 11:04 am
I think they spent more time showing your dogs than actual shuai jiao though… just kidding, it was a great video. So do people stop you on the street now that you’re famous ?
September 13th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
they did for a while.
a lot of old friends came out of the woodwork…they saw the show and called me…so it was nice.
must have bought some memories back for you Sacha!
September 14th, 2008 at 3:07 am
Very nice doc. buddy. My wife was very impressed with your Chinese, she said you are pretty good! I dodn’t know you trained Wushu in the past, I am so sorry about you ; ). How is the SJ book coming along? any dates for its release? You showed in the video an old SJ book that it is out of print, funny thing because I got it from a friend a short while ago, it is good, eventhough I can only understadning the drawings. Keep it up
September 16th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Yeah…wushu was a huge waste of time. Especially now that i know i could have been training Shuaijiao!!!!
Book is slow my end. I need some help on the English editing. I need to get onto it this week!
That SJ book was written by Man Baozhen…one of Master Li’s coaches when he was a fighter in the Beijing Team…in the 50s i think
September 18th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
That was a pretty good piece of inspiration. Thanks for posting it, I enjoyed it although it was pretty long. I met up with a coach He Guanda here in Los Angeles, he’s also a friend of Li Barou, just wondering if you’ve met him before. Keep up the good work.
Emeric
September 24th, 2008 at 6:37 am
Actually, your Chinese IS good. You might know more than me, and I’m Chinese! I’m sure that people were being surprised rather than polite when they say that. Next time you do a documentary, could you speak up a little bit? I ended up having to read the subs a bit coz I could hardly hear your mumble. Maybe it’s just the way us nz-ers speak.
Anyway, did you mean people in China didn’t know shuaijiao exists or that kiwis exist? Some people around the world think we call ourselves after a fruit that originated in China.
September 25th, 2008 at 2:26 am
Mike’s Mandarin Chinese is PERFECT! He actually speaks it with Beijing accent! I am very very happy that he has been promoting Shuaijiao and pleased to meet him. I think as martial artist we should treasure Shuaijiao as it is THE martial art used by Imperial Guard in Chinese history! No fake history of origin, no monks or nuns, just pure hard working Buke!
October 2nd, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Today I attended the third annual Dalian Martial Arts and Culture Festival, in Liaoning Province. There were people demonstrating Mizongquan, Tanglangquan, Xingyiquan. Tongbeiquan and some other weapons forms. There was a Taiji forms competition and there were Sanda fights. There was not one single Shuai Jiao match. I saw neither hide nor hair of any jacketed wrestler. Mind you, this was only the first day. The situation may improve tomorrow. However if promoting Shuai Jiao is the goal, some folks from one of the Beijing teams might want to consider coming up to Dalian next year and doing a demo.
October 7th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Hi Jake,
There should be wrestlers up there. But i’m not surprised to see no wrestlers there with other styles.
Not being lumped in with Wushu is a good thing from our perspective.
Shuaijiao is not Wushu and we would hate for people to start treating it/thinking of it like they treat/think of Wushu.
If there is an MMA fight up there, we would be happy to send fighters to fight in the event and a demo team to perform during the opening.
Keep Smilin’
Michael
October 16th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Hi Jake,
Any Shuaijiao wrestler eventually showed up in Dalian? Historically Dalian was a Japanese colony from 1904 to 1945 so Shuaijiao people stayed away from it. Shenyang did have quite a few Shuaijiao experts from Beijing who moved there in 1910’s after the fall of Qing.
Keep happy training,
Karl
March 1st, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Mike,
Just happened on your site here and found this stuff quite interesting. Nice video you all had there. I was surprised that I was able to follow most of it (except for the last part). I guess studying Chinese and living in Beijing is paying off
I have a question for you. Would this Man Baozhen you mentioned in your comments be Men Baozhen, the yin style bagua teacher? I know he was really into qin na and interlocking legs and one of the exercises you all were practicing looked very similar to one that I have learned practicing yin bagua.
Liked the workout you were doing on your own, too. Sure that keeps you in shape! Keep up the good work, man.
David