Monday, January 19, 2015

Wing Chun Blog - Sifu Garry and the Year Ahead

WING CHUN BLOG – SIFU GARRY

SHAOLIN JEE SHIN WING CHUN

Looking forward to the year ahead.

2014 was a very productive year. The 3 schools in our association had a better than expected membership intake. Inducted sports coaching clientele were up on the previous year, and competition results were excellent.

In 2014, the Jee Shin Wing Chun Fight Club achieved 2 State Titles and 2 Australian Titles in National All Styles Martial Arts Tournament. Actually, we have dominated the novice / intermediate division for the last 4 years.

In 2015, there will be a World All Styles Tournament in March. The NAS Australian Titles will be held on the Gold Coast in early December. We are also entering some full contact events during the year. 2015 should be a very challenging year for our Competitors.

Medical Qigong and Tai Chi Chuan start again in early February. There are 4 workshops in both disciplines and finish in December.

In November, we will be embarking on another “roots of wing chun” China trip. This will be Jee Shin Wing Chun’s sixth trip to China.

During our first 4 wing chun trips to China, we concentrated on the Guangdong Province and Hong Kong. Wing Chun’s ultimate birthplace was in Foshan, southern China. Wing chun spread to Shunde, PanYu District, Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, Gulao in Heshan Province, and Hong Kong.
                Hong Kong was always the centre of attention with wing chun kung fu due to the repressive environment of the Communists. After 1948, wing chun in Hong Kong became the Centre.
This year, our China trip will take us initially to Countries outside of China. Again, after the Communist takeover of 1948, a lot of Masters fled southern China into Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia.

The Jee Shin entourage will start in Singapore, then to Taiwan before entering Fujian Province in southern China.

The Southern Shaolin Temples are all located in Fujian. The Emperor needed some Warriors to protect the southern coastline from Pirates and Bandits, so requested Shaolin Warriors to defend the area. Due to a large number of casualties, the Monks received permission to stay and decided to erect a temple, which became known as the Southern Shaolin Temple.

We will be travelling from the south of China up along the East Coast to Shanghai and then finish our two week tour in the capital of China, Beijing.

Our first 4 trips to China concentrated mainly on travelling around the Guangdong Province.  
Our 5th trip started in Beijing and from there we travelled down the centre of China to Zhengzhou and the northern shaolin temple, Guangzhou, Foshan and finished in Hong Kong, covering around 3000kms.
Our 6th and next trip will cover the east coast. The west coast is the only part of China not covered yet.
In 2016, Sifu Linda and I will be going to GuiLin, which is heading west from Guangzhou. GuiLin is a photographers and artist’s paradise, surrounded by majestic mountains, rivers and forests. We will fly to GuiLin via Hong Kong.

A lot of people ask me why we spend so much time travelling around China. I am not sure. I know that I am intrigued by the Chinese Culture, the Language, Environment, the diversity with Food, their innovative prowess and creativity, and especially the People.

Most Tourist hot spots you encounter around the World are generally all in China to visit, anyway.
The Chinese people are extremely innovative, creative and very clever.

I guess, Invention is the Mother of Necessity.

Stay tuned for my next post on Sifu Garry’s Wing Chun Blog.