Author Archives: elizabethbuhmann

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About elizabethbuhmann

Author of Mystery Novels--Lay Death at Her Door, Blue Lake, Accidents of Life, and Freewheeling--plus a new detective series, Murder on the Gulf Coast.

The Drunken Concubine

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It is a most enjoyable challenge figuring out the Chinese names for movements, more fun than working the NYT Sunday crossword puzzle. For Huawu Fan I have an English translation, typically loose, and a fuzzy image of the Chinese characters. I am amazed every time I come up with the name, especially when random characters snap together to form a well-known phrase.

For example, the English-only list for Huawu Fan says #29 is “Concubine gets drunk on wine.” I have this image from the video:
move29

I look up wine (红酒) and drunk  (醉) in the dictionary and ID two of the characters in the image.  I look up concubine and get this 妾, which is not what I see. I successfully draw the character I see and get this: 妃 (Imperial Concubine). I am stumped by the remaining character.

After several attempts, I draw what looks right: 贵. It means expensive, so I’m not sure. But when I assemble the four characters in order (贵妃醉酒) and enter them in the dictionary, presto! The dictionary recognizes the name of a Qing Dynasty Beijing opera Guìfēi Zuìjiǔ known as The Drunken Beauty.

drunkenbeauty

See the name? It’s the four characters I’m looking for. Forget the English, the move is called Guìfēi Zuìjiǔ, after the opera. Roughly phonetically gway fay jway joe. The movement looks like this:

drunkenbeautyvid

That name is in section 3. Here are the names for section 2. I am coming to appreciate this performer’s precise execution of the form: 中級華武四十二式太極扇.

  1. 青龙出水 Qīng lóng chū shuǐ – Bluegreen Dragon Emerges the Water
  2. 彩蝶飞舞 Cǎi dié fēi wǔ – Colorful Butterfly Flutters in the Breeze
  3. 弯弓射雕 Wān gōng shè diāo – Bend Bow Shoot Vulture
  4. 翻江倒海 Fān jiāng dào hǎi – Overturn the Rivers and Oceans
  5. 怀中揽月 Huái zhōng lǎn yuè – Embrace the Moon
  6. 燕子抄水 Yànzi chāo shuǐ – Swallow Skims the Water
  7. 金鸡独立 Jīn jī dúlì – Golden Rooster Stands on One Leg
  8. 风卷荷叶 Fēng juǎn hé yè – The Wind Curls the Lotus Leaf
  9. 顺水推舟 Shùn shuǐ tuī zhōu – Push Boat with Current
  10. 白鹤亮翅 Bái hè lìang chì – White Crane Spreads Wings
  11. 羽扇划江 Yǔ Shàn huá jiāng – Feathered Fan Paddles the River
  12. 仙女观灯 Xiānnǚ guān dēng – Spirit Woman Gazes at a Lantern

As with other fan forms, this one includes a number of names familiar from sword forms, with the fan movements mimicking swordplay. And where the sword forms feature Xianren, the Immortal, the fan form names Xiannu, the Spirit Woman.

Interesting to note that 顺水推舟 (Shun shui tui zhou), push boat with current, is an idiomatic expression for taking advantage of a situation. Turning events to one’s own benefit. Pushing the boat with the current!

42-Sword Names

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There are any number of nice videos of 42-sword being performed in tournaments. I especially like this one:

42tournament

I have put together a list of names of the 42 movements. I couldn’t find a list in Chinese (I could if I could read and write Chinese for real) so I worked backwards from English and listened to Master Wu’s instructions. I’m pretty sure this is right. Most of the vocabulary is familiar from stances and sword techniques as well as 32-sword and Wudang Tai Chi sword.

  1. 起势 Qǐshì
  2. 并步点剑 Bìng bù diǎn jiàn
  3. 弓步削剑 Gōng bù xiāo jiàn [xiao=diagonal upward slash]
  4. 提膝劈剑 Tí xī pī jiàn
  5. 左弓步拦 Zuǒ gōng bù Lán
  6. 左虚步撩 Zuǒ xū bù liāo
  7. 右弓步撩 Yòu gōng bù liāo
  8. 提膝捧剑 Tí xī pěng jiàn  [peng=cup hold with both hands]
  9. 蹬脚前刺 Dēng jiǎo qián cì
  10. 跳步平刺 Tiào bù píng cì
  11. 转身下刺 Zhuǎn shēn xià cì
  12. 弓步平斩 Gōng bù píng zhǎn [zhan=slash or behead]
  13. 弓步崩剑 Gōng bù bēng jiàn
  14. 歇步压剑 Xiē bù yā jiàn
  15. 進步搅剑 Jìn bù jiǎo jiàn [jiao is a stirring motion)
  16. 提膝上刺 Tí xī shàng cì [ti xi=duli]
  17. 虚步下截 Xū bù xià jié
  18. 右左平带 Yòu zuǒ píng dài
  19. 弓步劈剑 Gōng bù pī jiàn
  20. 丁步托剑 Dīng bù tuō jiàn
  21. 分脚后点 Fēn jiǎo hòu diǎn [hou=back; hou dian=point back]
  22. 仆步穿剑 Pū bù chuān jiàn
  23. 蹬脚架剑 Dēng jiǎo jià jiàn
  24. 提膝点剑 Tí xī diǎn jiàn
  25. 仆步横扫 Pū bù héng sǎo
  26. 右左弓步下截 Yòu zuǒ gōng bù xià jié
  27. 弓步下刺 Gōng bù xià cì
  28. 右左云抹 Yòu zuǒ yún mǒ
  29. 右弓步劈剑 Yòu gōng bù pī jiàn
  30. 后举腿架剑 Hòu jǔ tuǐ jià jiàn [lift leg back]
  31. 丁步点剑 Dīng bù diǎn jiàn
  32. 马步推剑 Mǎ bù tuī jiàn
  33. 独立上托 Dúlì shàng tuō
  34. 進步挂点 Jìn bù guà diǎn
  35. 歇步崩剑 Xiē bù bēng jiàn
  36. 弓步反刺 Gōng bù fǎn cì
  37. 转身下刺 Zhuǎn shēn xià cì
  38. 提膝提剑 Tí xī tí jiàn
  39. 行步穿剑 Xíng bù chuān jiàn
  40. 摆腿架剑 Bǎi tuǐ jià jiàn [bai tui=swing leg]
  41. 弓步直刺 Gōng bù zhí cì
  42. 收势 Shōu shì

Hua Wu Fan §1

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I feel like Sherlock Holmes. Working from an image of the names in Chinese (below), a (somewhat loosely translated) English list, the voiceover of a video, Google translate, and the MDBG online dictionary (which allows me to draw a character if I can get the order of the brushstrokes right), I have arrived at a list of the first eight moves.

section1

Section 1:

  1. 起勢 Qǐ Shì:  Commencing form
  2. 懒扎衣 Lǎn Zā Yī: Lazily Tying the Robe
  3. 丹凤朝阳 Dān Fèng Cháoyáng: Red Phoenix Greets the Sun
  4. 推波助澜  Tuī  Bō Zhù Lán: Push the Waves Even Higher
  5. 飞雁斜落  Fēi Yàn Xié Luò: Wild Goose Swoops Down
  6. 转身打虎  Zhuǎn Shēn Dǎ Hǔ: Turn Around Hit the Tiger
  7. 叶底采莲 Yè Dǐ Cǎi Lián: Pluck the Lotus Leaf
  8. 孔雀开屏 Kǒngquè kāipíng: Peacock Spreads its Tail

I was puzzling over the meaning of lanzayi. You would tie up a long robe to prepare for a fight. The laziness in this case might have the sense of casualness. Unhurried. Like, confident and unafraid. Maybe even to preserve an element of surprise.

Interesting: Tui Bo Zhu Lan, Push the Waves Even Higher, is a saying that means something like the English “Add fuel to the fire.”

Anyway, here are grabs of these first eight moves, from this video:

1.huawu1  2.huawu2 3. huawu3 4.huawu4 5.huawu5 6.huawu6 7.huawu7 8.huawu8

Wu/Hao Eight Forms

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We are beginning a study of Wu/Hao Tai Chi in my class. This is a fifth style of Tai Chi, less well-known that the four styles usually listed (Yang, Chen, Wu and Sun). My teacher, Grandmaster Gohring, knows Grandmaster Jimmy Wong, a sixth generation lineage-holder under Wu Yu Xiang, so we’ll have access to Jimmy as we study.

Wǔ Yǔ Xiāng (武禹襄) was active in the late 19th century. He was a student of Yang Luchan, the founder of Yang style Tai Chi, and also studied briefly with Chen master Chen Qing Ping. One of Wu’s students taught Hao Wei Chen, from whom both the Sun and Wu/Hao, styles are descended. The name Wu/Hao combines the names of these two founders, Wǔ 武 and Hǎo 郝, to form the name 武/郝式 Wǔ/Hǎo Shì (shì is style).

The better-known and older Wu style (吳式, Wú Shì) was created by Wu Quanyou, another student of Yang Luchan, whose family name is 吳 Wú, with rising inflection. For more detail, see Wikipedia on Wu/Hao and Wu-style Tai Chi.

We are starting with the short 8-step form, which is demonstrated by Grandmaster Wong in a nice, clear video that also shows the lineage and the names of the steps, which are as follows:

  1. 武起势 Wǔ Qǐshì
  2. 右懒扎衣 Yòu Lǎn Zā Yī
  3. 左搂膝拗步 Zuǒ lōu xī ào bù
  4. 双 抱捶 Shuāng bào chuí
  5. 栓马势 Shuān Mǎ Shì
  6. 退步懒扎衣 Tuì bù Lǎn Zā Yī
  7. 十字手 Shízì shǒu
  8. 收势 Shōu shì

The character 武 for the surname Wǔ is the same as the character for the Wǔ in wushu, the modern and general term for the Chinese martial arts. In that context 武 wǔ just means martial. In case you noticed that the Hua Wu Fan that I posted about yesterday uses the same character for Wu, it is used in this second sense, as in wushu.

Speaking of Hua Wu Fan, I found several more videos: this is a Nice one! The best! I will use it as my paradigm.

huawu

And several more:

Hua Wu Fan

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We have a new member in our practice group who does a lovely fan form I had never heard of: Hua Wu fan. Actually, there are two forms, a beginner form and a mid-level form; our new friend does the mid-level form. I have not heard of a more advanced version, but I assume it must be out there somewhere.

huawushan

All of the videos I have found on YouTube feature the same performer, Master Zeng Weihong (pictured in the grab above) [Not Connie Ho as I originally thought–see Simon’s comment below]. If I had only seen the video, I probably wouldn’t have been especially interested, but after seeing it in person, by Xiao Liao, we all love it,  and we’ve asked her to teach it to us. Here are videos of both forms; we are learning the mid-level one.

The Chinese names of the forms (the names we use) are:

  • 初级华武扇初级 Chūjí  Huá Wǔ Shàn (Primary-level Hua Wu Fan)
  • 中级华武扇 Zhōngjí  Huá Wǔ Shàn (Primary-level Hua Wu Fan)

Shan, of course, is fan. Ji is the word for level or rank. You might recognize the word zhong, for middle: Zhong guo is China—literally middle country. Hua means flowery or splendid. As for the names of the movements, they appear at the beginning of the zhongji video, but only as images of Chinese characters. I did find a list in English, but I am working on deciphering the Chinese. I’ve only figured out a few names so far.

Zhongji Hua Wu Shan is a combined form, with elements of the four main styles (Yang, Chen, Wu and Sun). Unlike the other combined forms I know, which are mostly Yang, this one seems to me mostly Wu (from what little I know about Wu). I read on the Web that the form was created by national martial arts coach Zeng Nai Liang and Hu senior lecturer Wei Xianglian.

Sword Play

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The Chinese word for sword play is 剑法 Jiànfǎ. I’ve seen more than one list of sword fighting techniques; they vary according to style. I just recently found a really interesting video on Wudang Tai Chi sword applications by Master Yuan Xiu Gang.

wudangmaster

Master Yuan lists thirteen essential sword fighting techniques: Pi 劈, Ci 刺, Liao 撩, Sao 扫, Tiao 挑, Gua 挂, Dian 点, Hua 划, Jiao 搅, Mo 抹, Jie 截, Beng 崩, and Ti 提. English translations of these terms of art are, respectively, chop, stab,lift, sweep, jump, hang, point, slash, stir, smear, intercept collapse, and lift.

A tutorial on Tai Chi Sword Basics by Master Huaicheng Lu is very helpful. He says there are more than twenty sword fighting techniques, but he covers only twelve. His list includes some of those mentioned above–dian, liao, pi, mo, jie, ci, and sao–plus 拦 lan (block), 斩 zhan (sever, behead), 削 xiao (an upward cut or slash), 云 yun, and 穿 chuan (pierce).

yangmaster

The sword form Master Huaicheng Lu demonstrates is 42-sword, the combination form. The video has an English voiceover.

In Chen Ziqiang’s instructional video for Chen style sword, he lists nine sword fighting techniques: Pi 劈 (chop), Ci 刺 (stab), Liao 撩 (lift), Sao 扫 (sweep), Gua 挂 (hang), Dian 点 (point), Tuo 托 (support), Jia 架 (prop), and Beng 崩 (collapse).

Yet another list (from an earlier post) adds 带 Dai (carry), 抽 Chou (withdraw), 击 Ji (hit), 格 Ge (block–not sure how/if this is different from lan), 洗 Xi  (clear off), and 压 Ya (press). So that’s more than twenty altogether.

Red Sky in the Morning

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I have a new book out! I am fortunate to have made quite a few friends in my neighborhood who are Chinese and practice Tai Chi. I’ve been meeting with them on weekends for three years now.

redskycover

Most speak no English (they are older people visiting grown children in the US), which is why I am trying to learn Chinese. Among those who do speak English, I have come to know Lily Blackard, who is Chinese, born in Vietnam, and now a naturalized American citizen.

As soon as Lily learned that I was a writer, she asked me if I would write the story of how she came to this country as a Vietnam War refugee. I jumped at the chance, both to learn more about her experience and to revisit that era in our history.

The result is a small volume (a little more than a hundred pages) that combines Lily’s story, as she remembers it from forty to fifty years ago, with a general history of the war and its aftermath. I was doubly fortunate that a wonderful watercolorist and friend, JU Salvant, offered to illustrate the book.

Red Sky in the Morning is available in print and as an ebook from Amazon. The print edition is expensive but beautiful because of the paintings, which include a gorgeous cover of red sky and sea. The ebook is a bargain, as it contains full-color illustrations as well (though some older Kindles might display only black and white).

If you read it and like it, please consider leaving a review on Amazon! The paintings are available as high-quality prints on heavy watercolor paper from JUSalvant.com.

42-Sword

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This contemporary sword form is a combined form used in competition. It’s difficult, subtle, and sophisticated, with elements of all four major styles of Tai Chi — Yang, Chen, Sun, and Wu. I’m hoping to learn it well enough to work with Hu Pei when she comes back this spring.

houjutui

Hou Ju Tui Jia Jian

On the left, Amin Wu demonstrates one of the more striking and unusual moves in 42-Sword.

As usual, I’m starting with a demonstration video and list of names just to get the rough sequence. The demo is a beautiful video of Amin Wu doing 42-Sword.

I haven’t yet found a definitive list of names in Chinese. I’m still looking. For now, I have two. The first list is Pinyin only, and it seems a bit sketchy (some words appear to be missing). I’d rather have the Chinese and look up the pinyin for myself.

The second list is Chinese, but alas, it’s all images. Not possible to copy and paste into a dictionary to get Pinyin and translation. There is a wealth of good information about Tai Chi sword on Phil Cheung’s page. I wish I could read it better. Here are the links.

I’ve just about got the sequence figured out, so the next step is to get Long Feng to lead me through it and show me some of the more baffling moves. I’ll also work my way through some instructional videos. There are three instructionals that I’ll use. I don’t have Jesse Tsao’s yet. His will be in English.

wufenjiao42

Amin Wu

Li Deyin’s instructional videos are in Chinese, and I wish I could figure out more of the parts where he simply talks, but it’s not hard to follow the demonstrations and specific instructions. I have the DVD, but it’s also on Youtube, in two parts (with lots of commercials, and rather poor video and sound quality, unfortunately).

On Youtube, I also found a complete set of videos with much better visual and audio quality, by Amin Wu, whose detailed instructions are quite clear, especially if you understand some basic instructional vocabulary. Love these!

This should keep me busy until next spring.

Chinese for Tai Chi

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I’m in a Chinese newspaper! Hu Pei, the amazing teacher that I worked with last summer, is back in Jiang Yin, where she is a highly respected instructor and coach. She has been interviewed in newspapers and on TV about the fact that she had an American student while she was in Austin.

chinesenewspaper

The headline (took me a while to figure this out) is  文化为媒, 她在美国教太极拳: Wen hua wei mei ta zai meiguo jiao taijiquan, which means that she is bridging cultures, teaching taijiquan in America.

The big question from the interviewers was, How could she teach an American when she didn’t speak English? And she explained that I knew Chinese for Tai Chi. When people ask me if I speak Chinese, I say that I speak Tai Chi-ese. I think I’ll start calling it Taijiese.

I know almost no conversational Chinese, but I have learned the Chinese names for the movements of the forms I’ve studied. It started out, for me, as the purest form of learning: I didn’t have an objective or purpose in mind. I just wanted to know the names.

But I have since found that there is much to be gained by learning Chinese names for movements, but by far the greatest pay-off (and one I never expected) was that when I had the opportunity last summer to work with an outstanding Chinese teacher, I was surprisingly well prepared to communicate with her.

The forms that I do with my Chinese friends are all contemporary forms–24, 42, 32-sword, 42-Sword, Wudang Tai Chi Sword, and Li Deyin’s two fan forms. The names of the movements for these forms (unlike the traditional forms) are descriptive rather than poetic. Or it might be better to say they are instructional. The movements still have the old poetic names, but the instructional names are what we use in practice.

So, for example, Tian Ma Xing Kong (Heavenly Horse Crosses the Sky) is now Xu Bu Dian Jian. Xu Bu–empty stance– and Dian Jian (point sword) are both terms of art, and if you know what they mean, the name of the movement tells you exactly what to do.

Conversely, if you learn all the names of the movements, you will know the terms for the various stances, sword techniques, parts of the body, directions, kicks, and so on. These instructive names break apart to form a substantial working vocabulary for learning Tai Chi from a Chinese-speaking teacher.

That is exactly what happened to me last summer. Ms Hu could tell me that when I do Pi (the sword technique) the blade should be ping, yidian xia (level, slightly downward). There were only a few additional words I needed to learn, such as yidian (a little), yao/buyao (want/don’t want), yuan (rounded), man (slow), and (hopefully, by the end of the day) hen hao! Very good.

It was a fantastic experience working with Hu Pei, and she taught me so much! I can’t wait for her to come back.

Chen Sword Videos and Names

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I am brushing up on Chen sword and trying to figure out the names of the movements, of which there are 49–the form is also known as si shi jiu shi taiji jian. My school does Chen sword the way Grandmaster Cheng Jincai teaches it. Most of the material I am looking at online is the version practiced by Chen Zhenglei, Chen Bing, and Chen Ziqiang.

Chen Zhenglei Ch Shui

Chen Zhenglei Ch Shui (emerges from the water)

These three videos are helpful. The first, Chen Bing’s, is great but distractingly, when I view it, it’s displayed in widescreen that it was not intended for, so it’s distorted. Maybe that’s just the way I’m viewing it? Can’t figure out how to fix that.

The second video is Chen Zhenglei. Excellent, clear. The third is Chen Ziqiang, and it is a full instructional video with subtitles. Very helpful, though the subtitles and voiceover are not very well coordinated with the video (the name shown is not always the move he’s demonstrating).

These versions of the form differ from the one I’ve learned in several ways that I’ll note as I go along, but also the openings (Qishi) are different–we simply step left. All three of these masters start with a more typical Chen-style opening step (ca bu).

I have found several lists of names, with a few variations, and differently divided into sections. I’ve referred to all of them to settle on the names I’ll use. The lists are:

The first movement is Chao Yang– Face the Sun. For us, this is a simple movement, holding the sword at chest level in front. Next, Xian Ren Zhi Lu –Immortal Points the Way–is easily recognizable below:

Chen Ziqiang Points the Way

Chen Ziqiang Points the Way

Next, we present the sword, turn in place, take the sword and stand on one leg, stabbing down; then stab level to the left. This is Qing Long Chu Shui–Bluegreen Dragon Emerges from the Water; See Chen Zhenglei at the top of this post doing this move.

The slicing back and forth movement that follows is Hu Xi Jian–Protect the Knees. We do only R/L/R and we stay in place. The move varies according to the number of slices and also because some (Chen Ziqiang for example) travel forward doing this move.

Chen Zhenglei Closes the Door

Chen Zhenglei Closes the Door

Turn to the left and raise the sword as pictured above. This move is called Bi Men Shi–Close the Door–but it can also be called Tiao Lian, or Raise the Screen, a move familiar from Yang sword forms.

Next, Qing Long Chu Shui–Bluegreen Dragon Emerges from the Water again, but a little different. Just a level stab. This is followed by turning and chopping back. That move is called Fan Shen Xia Pi Jian–Turn Back and Chop Down.

Turn back, stamp the foot and stab level. This is Qing Long Zhuan Shen–Bluegreen Dragon Turns its Body. Next, Xie Fei Shi–Slant Flying. In Chen Bing’s list of names, this is the end of the first section.