Chinese martial arts: From being shot and killed by the armed police during a mountain search to bec

Chen Hongwu withdrew his gaze and waved his hand.

"No need."

Huang Feihong didn't ask any more questions; everyone in the martial arts world has their own path.

He picked up his teacup and changed the subject.

"Master Chen, the silk-reeling force you used when you sparred just now, is that a style of Chen-style Tai Chi?"

"Yes."

"I have practiced Hung Kuen for fifty years, but I only have a superficial understanding of Northern style boxing," Huang Feihong said. "I have only heard a few words about the silk-reeling energy of Chen style Tai Chi from Master Li Cunyi, and I have never experienced it personally. Today, when I tried it out, I felt that your energy path was like a spider web, sticky but not sticky, winding but not entangled, and the control of the energy was entirely in your mind."

Chen Hongwu put down his teacup.

"Master Huang, you flatter me. The core of the silk-reeling energy is not in the reeling itself, but in the extension within the reeling."

Entanglement is the means, while extension is the goal. Entangling the opponent is to find the direction of their force, and once found, immediately exert vertical force to strike the target in one blow.

If you keep pestering them, it becomes relentless harassment, which will only trap you.

Huang Feihong listened intently, his right hand unconsciously gesturing on the table.

"Entanglement contains release—" he repeated, "This principle is the same as the 'bridge hand neutralization and striking' in Hung Kuen. When you make a bridge hand block, there is neutralization within the block, and striking within the neutralization. You block the opponent's fist and at the same time neutralize the opponent's force. The fist has already arrived at the moment the force is neutralized."

"That's right." Chen Hongwu nodded. "All martial arts in the world lead to the same goal, no matter how they are implemented. Different schools just take different paths up the mountain. Once you get to the middle of the mountain, you'll see pretty much the same things."

Wong Fei-hung smiled.

"Master Chen is so young, yet he has already mastered the principles of boxing to such a high level. When I was eighteen, I only knew how to practice diligently, doing whatever my master taught me, and I never thought about the principles behind the boxing forms. Later, after traveling to more places and sparring with people from different schools, I gradually came to understand."

"A fist isn't something you train to, it's something you practice. If you never fight, training your whole life will just leave you with empty skills."

"But you can't just fight recklessly," Chen Hongwu interjected. "You learn the fastest by sparring with someone of similar skill level. If your opponent is too weak, you won't learn as much as you do from sparring with a master once, even if you fight a hundred times."

Huang Feihong wholeheartedly agreed.

"Back then, I fought a White Crane Boxing master in Fujian. We fought three matches, and I lost two of them."

I've remembered those two losses for forty years. It wasn't because I couldn't accept defeat, but because his White Crane Fist style was completely opposite to Hung Gar.

Hung Kuen is powerful and straightforward; White Crane Kuen is light and agile, moving as soon as it touches someone's clothes. Every time I sparred with him, before my punch even landed, he had already circled around to my side.

After these three matches, I realized that Hung Kuen's "speed" wasn't fast enough. True speed isn't about quick strikes, but about fast footwork.

Chen Hongwu nodded: "The boxing manual says, 'Fast hands are not as good as fast body, and fast body is not as good as fast feet,' which is the same principle."

The half-step Bengquan (崩拳) in Xingyi Quan (形意拳) isn't about the fist, it's about footwork. Within half a step, you can seize the opponent's frontal position; without much force, a single punch can shatter them.

"Speaking of the Half-Step Crushing Fist—" Huang Feihong suddenly became interested, reached out and picked up two chopsticks from the table, "Master Chen, theory is no substitute for practice."

He handed a chopstick to Chen Hongwu.

The chopsticks are made of bamboo, six inches long, and slightly thicker than ordinary chopsticks, with slight bamboo joint patterns when held in the hand.

Over the years, whenever Wong Fei-hung discussed boxing with others, he would improvise with chopsticks whenever the mood struck him, a practice that his acquaintances had become accustomed to.

"How do we try it?" Chen Hongwu took the chopsticks.

"In martial arts discussions, real swords and spears cannot be used. Chopsticks are light; if the force is insufficient, the energy cannot reach the target area. A pair of chopsticks in our hands, though small, can still demonstrate the variations and power of martial arts techniques."

"Right here beside this teacup, let's each practice a set of boxing moves using chopsticks, without touching the bowls or plates, and only exert force within precise limits. True skill lies in controlling the force."

Huang Hansheng listened from the side and subconsciously moved the covered bowl on the table half a foot away. Ip Man also straightened up, his gaze falling on the chopsticks in the hands of the two.

Huang Feihong held chopsticks with his wrist slightly lowered and the tips pointing downwards, using the Tiger Claw stance from the Hung Kuen style "Tiger and Crane Double Forms". In his hands, the chopsticks were no longer bamboo sticks, but like iron nails, with the force penetrating straight to the tips.

He stopped three inches above the teacup, the tip of his chopsticks hovering motionless in the air.

"The key to the Tiger Claw Stance is not the shape of the claws, but the tiger's paws," Huang Feihong said. "When a tiger pounces on its prey, it doesn't use its claws to grab, but it uses the heel of its paw to strike. With one strike, the power penetrates through the prey's bones, and only then does the claws tighten."

Therefore, the order of force generation in the Tiger Claw stance is: the heel of the palm strikes first, followed by the fingers coming together. The force penetrates only by striking first and then grasping.

He pushed the chopsticks forward, the tips lightly touching the rim of the teacup. The teacup remained motionless, but the tea inside rippled slightly.

Chen Hongwu could see it clearly; the force of this strike was extremely precise, penetrating the bowl wall and entering the water. The bowl remained still, but the water moved.

If this chopstick touches a person, it may leave no mark on the skin, but the internal organs will have already been shaken.

This is the standard tiger-shaped penetrating force.

Chen Hongwu also used chopsticks, but his way of holding them was different from Huang Feihong's: he loosened his grip on the chopsticks, lightly hooked the back three fingers, and placed his middle and index fingers half an inch on the chopsticks, making the whole gesture resemble holding a calligraphy brush.

This is the grip technique for the spear in Bajiquan, which is a variation of the "flexible grip" of the Liuhe spear. The wrist is flexible and can complete the four basic movements of picking, striking, entangling, and pointing within a very small range.

He drew a small circle with the tip of his chopsticks about two inches above the teacup.

"Master Huang has already demonstrated the application of the silk-reeling energy. Let me explain from another angle the 'supporting and embracing energy' of Bajiquan."

The tip of the chopsticks stopped, hovering in mid-air.

"Supporting and embracing are two forces in opposite directions. Supporting is pushing outward, while embracing is pulling inward."

Most people who practice Bajiquan either only practice supporting the opponent's weight, resulting in a powerful but unrecoverable punch; or they only practice embracing, resulting in restrained but unexplosive power. True supporting and embracing power requires simultaneously supporting and embracing in a single instant, like pushing a large stone ball outwards.

He flicked his wrist, and the tip of his chopsticks struck the rim of the teacup.

A crisp "ding" sounded.

The teacup remained untouched, but suddenly a whirlpool formed in the tea, swirling from the bottom to the rim.

Ip Man's brow twitched slightly. He practiced Wing Chun, which emphasizes the use of precise, short-range force, making him extremely sensitive to the nuances of power.

Chen Hongwu flicked the chopstick, and the force traveled along the curved surface of the cup's rim before creating a circular vibration.

Huang Hansheng understood: "Master Chen, your force first travels along the tangent, then rotates inward?"

"That's right." Chen Hongwu put away his chopsticks. "The key to the support and embrace technique lies in the word 'rotation.' Supporting is a straight line of force, while embracing is an arc of force. When you strike a straight line into an arc, the force will start to rotate on its own. When this rotating force strikes a person, before they can even react, they've already been thrown off balance."

Wong Fei-hung laughed heartily.

"What a brilliant move to strike a straight line into an arc! There's a move in Hung Kuen called 'Tiger Sweeping Tail,' which uses the heel to sweep the opponent's ankle while retreating. The foot moves in an arc, and the power is generated through rotation. It's similar to your supporting and embracing technique."

He flipped his chopsticks, changing the tiger claw stance to a crane pecking stance. The tips of the chopsticks pointed forward, his wrist was suspended high, and the entire chopstick and his arm formed a straight line.

"People often think that the Tiger Form is hard and the Crane Form is soft in this set of boxing techniques. But that's not true. The Tiger Form also has hard and soft aspects. The tiger claw is hard, and the tiger paw is soft."

The crane's form also has a balance of strength and gentleness; the crane's wings are gentle, while its beak is strong. The force of a crane's beak strikes is concentrated on the very tip of a chopstick, and when it hits a person, it feels like being chiseled.