Cover

Master Ma Yue

Qi Magazine is published by the Tse Qigong

Centre. Its aim is to bring you information not readily

available in the West.
Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Ads Manager:

Michael Tse
Darryl Moy
Sheila Waddington

Editorial Assistants:

John Hayes
Sarah Bloomfield
Simon Bedford
Caroline Garvey
Jamie Maslin
Jessica Blackwell
Adam Wallace
Barbro Olssen

Illustrator
Marketing/Distribution
USA
Sweden

Consultants (Listed in alphabetical order):

Grandmaster Chan Chi Ho
Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang
Grandmaster Ip Chun
Grandmaster Yang Meijun
Columnists:

Dr. Shulan Tang

Glen Gossling
Tse Sin Kei
Daniel Poon

We encourage all our readers to contribute articles,

letters or questions for possible inclusion in future
issues of Qi Magazine.
Articles appearing in Qi Magazine do not necessarily
reflect the opinion of the editor.
Adverts appearing in the magazine are not necessarily endorsed by it or the editor.
Exercises appearing in Qi Magazine are for reference
purposes only. Thus anyone wishing to study should
seek qualified tuition.

Michael Tse 1998.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored or transmitted in any way without
the written permission of
Michael Tse.

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enquiries welcome.
Contact Sheila Waddington.

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Qi Magazine
PO Box 116
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M20 3YN, U.K.
Tel:0161 929 4485 Fax:0161 929 4489
email: [email protected]
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(International Tel: +44-161 9294485)
(International Fax: +44-161 9294489)

ISSN 1358-3778

How do you find a good teacher?

A lot of this is to do with fate. When you
open a magazine all the advertisements
say how good this teacher is, or how that
one is a grandmaster who can open up
the secrets of a skill to you. Often they
will tell you how many days or weeks it
will take for you to become a Qigong
master, how they will open your Sky-eye
(Third-eye), and how they will teach you
to transmit Qi to heal people. They all
look like adverts on TV, and some even
say, Money back guarantee if you are not
completely
satisfied!
These
advertisements do not promote any
teachers. They only promote
commercialism.
A good
way to find a
teacher is to go
and see the
person. Then
you need to ask
yourself how
you feel about
him/her. You
have to look at
how they behave
and
the
condition of
their health. Whether you want to study
Qigong, or the martial art of taijiquan, a
good teacher will behave well and look
very healthy. They should be able to
answer your questions so you can
understand. If they can do this, then their
knowledge is clear, and so their skill
should also be good. If this is the case
you can probably study with them.
You should also look at the senior
students, people who have been studying
for over three years. See how they behave,
because if you eventually study with this
teacher you will most likely become very
similar.
Recently, a student studied with
me for about one year and then left.
Probably she felt she wanted to learn
more things more quickly and so she
went to another Qigong master.

Then suddenly, after another year

had gone, she appeared in my class and
asked me how to prevent someone whose
energy was very strong from effecting her.
I told her that no one could affect you if
you do not want to be effected. She
replied, He is very strong and I cannot
get rid of him. So I told her that going
to another place might help. However,
when I saw her later she looked tired and
worried, and all her Qi had gone.
At first, I knew she was too eager
to develop her Qi. When she had been
studying for only three months, she came
to me and said she wanted to teach Wild
Goose Qigong. I told her she was not

Qigong should be
done step by step.
When the time is
right, everything will
happen
ready. Then, when she had almost finished
the form, she left. It seems to me that
she just wanted to develop Qi and not
the skill. Afterwards she ended up with
another teacher, someone who she
thought would teach her the power of Qi.
She decided to study this skill and finally
ended up disturbed.
Studying Qigong should be done
step by step. When the time is right,
everything will happen. There is a saying,
Three years for small success, ten years
to become a living immortal! It just takes
time. Anything that happens quickly can
easily result in side effects. You need to
be patient. Just practise everyday, theres
no hurry.

Contents Issue 36
1.

Editorial
with Michael Tse.

4.

PO Box 116
News, views, short items and questions.

Herbal Teas
We have already looked at Chinese Herbal soups and discovered
how good they are for your health. This time we take a look at herbal
teas and their properties.
by Jessica Blackwell

Chinese Dragons
Dragons have been a part of Chinas culture for centuries and they
symbolise many different things.

likely you will be left speechless. Fortunately the author could

still put pen to paper.

by Nick Battersby

11

by Daniel Poon

A Suitable Path
There are many ways you can go in life. The hard thing to decide is
which you should choose. What is certain is that unless you choose
the right one for you, you will never be truly happy.

28

Dayan Qigong 2nd 64 part 1

35

A review of Wild Goose Qigong by Master Yang Meijun and the

Official Martial Arts Encyclopaedia CD ROM.

by Tse Sihn Kei

12

Cultivating Mind and Body

A Healthy body and a Healthy Mind - a common phrase, but for
most of us this is where it stops. However, for Daoists and Buddhists
this is where everything just begins.

by Master Cheng Man Guang

36

90 Years of Practise

by Dr Shulan Tang

37

21

by Michael Tse

40

Cover Story:

Master Ma Yue - Tongbei to Taijiquan

Master Ma Yue is quite a unique person whose
training background is very impressive. His
family has helped shaped the way martial arts has
developed in China over the last few decades with
all the major wushu stars training in his family
style. He is a Chinese National Wushu
Champion and he is a graduate of the most
prestigious Wushu University in China.
Qi Magazine was fortunate to get this fascinating
interview with him.
Interview by Darryl Moy & Daniel Poon

The Non-Discriminative Art

Today more and more women are turning to martial arts for
self-defence. Most are put off by the dominance of men in the
class and leave because the training does not suit them.

Meeting Sigong
Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang is one of the great masters of taijiquan
living today. Only when he demonstrates his skills can you appreciate
how powerful he is, but if he demonstrates them on you more than

22

Feng Shuis Twenty-Four Mountains

The Twenty-four Mountains are very important for Feng Shui.
Without them you will never be able to do Feng Shui.

The story of Grandmaster Yang Meijun is a truly remarkable one. As

a child she began training in the Kunlun Dayan Qigong System.
Today she is one of the most revered masters in China.
by Michael Tse

TCM & Obesity part 2

Chinese has a very long history. It has remedies for many different
conditions including obesity.

by Eva Wong

18

Useful Self-defence San Sau Quan Fa

A selection of techniques from Master Cheng Man Guangs fist
method.

For the very first time, Qi Magazine serialises the Second 64

Movements of Wild Goose Qigong.

15

Reviews

by Jenny Peters

43

History part 3
Over the last two issues of Qi Magazine we have been given a
fascinating look at how Michael Tse has come to study with
Grandmaster Ip Chun and Grandmaster Yang Meijun. He now
goes on to tell us about his studies with Master Lee Hok Ming
and Ermei Seven Stars Hard Qigong.
by Michael Tse

47

Raymond Lo Lectures on Feng Shui

Recently London was the venue for one of Feng Shuis most
well-known masters and authors Raymond Lo. Qi Magazine
sent along a reporter to meet the man himself.
by Glen Gossling

Qi Magazine 3

If there is anything you want to discuss, if there is anything you want to share with
others, any news or any announcements you would like to make, send them to us:
Qi Magazine, PO Box 116, Manchester M20 3YN.

A YEAR OF HARD
QIGONG; selections
from a training diary.
November 1996,
Jules asks, Are you doing the
Hard Qigong then? as I pass the bar
after a Saturday class. I suppose so
now Im committed, I wonder what Ive
let myself in for, but Ill send off my
cheque and see what happens. I dont
have to carry on if I dont like it.
Saturday 4th January 1997.
To London on the train with
Elaine and Bob from the Chen class. We
are all very keyed-up and alternately
animated and subdued. I feel very unfit
and still not sure about this.
We learn 5 exercises and a
meditation, which is exercise 18 from the
set. The room is very full with about
sixty people, most of whom seem to be
from the London classes, and to be
known by name to Michael. There is a
lot of first talk, and we take lots of notes.
Also from Norfolk: - John, Brenda, and
Billy from Stalham, and Jonathan from
Norwich. Jonathan is the only one of us
to drop out, I think because the form
was not what he expected. After the
seminar we are all starving hungry and
descend on the local Italian cafe doing
wolf impersonations, then fall exhausted
onto the train and proceed to frighten
the other passengers all the way home
with our rather over-excited re-working
of the day.
Sunday 5th Friday 10th January.
Work up slowly from 5 each day
Qi Magazine 4

to 10 of each exercise. I feel stiff, tired,

elated, dizzy, a blocked nose, sleep well
some nights and badly others, have very
odd dreams, and a feeling that this is all
very silly. I train at work (i.e. out of
sight), and feel most self-conscious.
Saturday 11th
January.
Meet at the
Oriental Arts
Centre at 11:30am,
with Jules and John
W. for a mutual
support session
and communal
training. Felt
unbearably selfconscious but
Jules is encouraging! All through
the learning
process this
Saturday session is
most helpful for all
of us: - I think it
would have been much harder, if not
impossible to continue without the
continuous support and mutual ridicule
of the others.

Saturday 18th January.

To the OAC with Jules, Richard
(both on Level 2), John W., Brenda,
Elaine, and Jonathan. Great fun, and
followed by a very good class, the best
for ages.
January & February.

We are lectured
on the importance
of the meditation;
some have not been
meditating enough

Monday 13th Friday 16th January.

Second week. Now up to 12 of
each exercise. I feel ridiculously cheerful
and have lots of energy, and sleeping
better than I have for a long time. I feel
my technique is very patchy, but I can
feel the difference between bad and
better. I feel faintly paranoid, warm, stiff,
vague, cheerful, and calm. My appetite
has changed; I want little meals more
often.

Slowly adding repetitions and

working on technique. By the end of
January I am training twice a day, and
doing 32 repetitions (twice 16). I have
days when I feel this is all very silly, but
the Saturday sessions are a great help; I
think I would have given up after a few
weeks without them.
I learn that it is vital to train every
day.
I am still training indoors at this
point, not having the courage to attempt
my tiny garden, and afraid of the cold. I
have a major breakthrough after about
three weeks, when I absent-mindedly
open a jam jar by myself, something I

havent done without help for almost 6

months. The arthritis in my hands has
almost stopped hurting and the strength
is coming back. If I get nothing else from
all this work, this would almost be
enough.
My Wild Goose and Yang forms
seem to be benefiting as well.
Phrases from the DiaryI dont
know if its the practise or the lack or
distractions, but I am really coming to
value that time-out from the dayfeel
good and bad on alternate dayslets
beat this thing into submissionin a
silly mood today, giggly and frivolous;
oh dear, enjoying oneself againchest
hurts: all that smoking damage finally
going away: cough all day.
In the middle of February I get flu,
which puts everything back a lot. For 6
days I can barely train, and I have a fever
and blocked up head.
All this is so discouraging, but
when I train, even a little, it helps.
Michael told us not to train if very ill, but
I find that I have to be at Deaths door
before it is better to lie down. After the
flu I damage both ankles, and spend 6
weeks in support bandages and pain,
feeling thoroughly miserable. But I work
through it. I didnt know I could be this
stubborn for something that hurts.
Saturday 22nd February.
To London for exercises 6 to 11.
Good session, and more people than I
had expected, in a bigger room. New
exercises seem more fun and a bit easier
than the first lot, but we shall see. There
is a good mix of people, men and omen of
all ages. 6 Norfolkies turn up. Very
bouncy and full of beans afterwards; this
takes a few days to wear off.
Work hard all week to pull up the
repetitions before next weekend: Saturday 1st March.
Third seminar, in a very small
room due to mix-up at the venue. New
stuff seems to be not too hard. Praised
by Michael, (not bad), which Jules
tells me is a praise indeed! We are
lectured on the importance of the
meditation; some people have not been
meditating enough, if at all! And get a
general roasting. It is impossible to hide
this sort of thing for long. We have not
been doing the left-and-right exercises
enough times, so I am doing 10 each of

all, but this is more than last weeks total,

so hard for a bit. I am still not sure that I
want to do the exam.
March. April, May,
Despite a lot of ups and downs,
and distractions, I start to slowly work
towards the leve1 I will need for the
exam, while still totally unsure if I want to
do it. I will decide two weeks before it is
due so this will not be the sole aim of my
training. I find that I am nonetheless
enjoying this more and more, Saturdays
are a great help, and I find I am appreciating my other forms more, and that I am
beginning to be trusted to teach the Wild
Goose, under Jules watchful eye. This is
a revelation, as I have always thought
that I could not teach anybody anything.
I feel backache, sore throats, happy,
tired, well rested, impatient, stiff, encouraged, discouraged, bored, better. (Not all
at once) At the end of March I start to
train out of doors. This is an absolute
revelation and I try not to train indoors
again, although I do if it is raining or
exceptionally cold. (This winter (97-98) I
have trained indoors only about 10
times.)
By the end of April I have ceased
to fi11 in the Diary every day, as it is
getting repetitious. I tentative1y train in
public (at Kite festivals) but very early
in the mornings.
At the beginning of July I decide
that perhaps it wi11 be a good idea to
take the examined get to 50 repetitions. I
run out of free time entirely and am
exhausted. We travel again to London to
be tested on
Saturday 26th July.
It is blisteringly hot and we are
dreadfully nervous. The previous
seminar over-runs and we talk and
stretch in a tiny corridor with the other
victims. I find that most have not
managed to get to 50, so feel faintly
smug. The exam is better than we had
feared, and 15 people (6 from Norfolk)
take and pass it, much to everyones
relief and pleasure. We bounce and eat in
celebration. I ring Jules from a phone box
in Oxford Street to tell him the good
news
Monday 27th July.
Up, out and halfway through
training before I remember that I dont

have to.... Settle back to 10 repetitions

each morning. I find that this really sets
me up for the day, and that if I cannot
train I really miss it. I could be doing this
for a 1ong time......Oh, and the free time
from doing 10 instead of 50 is useful.
I gained : - confidence, mental
strength, body strength, muscle tone,
courage, the knowledge that I can
achieve the seemingly impossible, the
respect of my teachers, self-respect,
peace of mind.
I lost: - fear, weight, the respect of
my neighbours (but it came back),
double chin, tea habit.
I learned: - a form which has
changed my life radically; that I can do
anything I want to; to train on my own
without cheating (I didnt, not once!);
that life is too short to say I dont have
the time to do that; to eat a proper
breakfast to get on with it when disinclined.
H. H. Norwich.

Breath In or
Breathe Out?
Dear Michael,
What should the breathing
pattern be like when performing the slow
Tan Saus in Siu Lim Tao an what should
you be trying to visualise in order to get
the Qi flowing?
I have herd that some people feel
very warm while performing this form
and say that it is because of the Qi
developing, but it doesnt happen to me
even though my Sifu says that I am
performing everything right.
How do you know when you
have developed the right amount of Qi
for training the first form?
Many thanks.
M. G. London
Dear M,
When performing Siu Lim Tao,
your breathing should be natural. Your
body will find its own natural rhythm. I
do not suggest you use visualisation. Qi
should follow movement and not be a
case of us mentally directing it. EveryQi Magazine 5

body is different and will have different

experiences. It may be that you have
some blockages that are stopping the Qi
from flowing as freely as it should and
so your hand and body are not as warm
as they will be when you become even
healthier.
As for your last question, only
you can answer this. Siu Lim Tao is for
life, it is not a form which you stop
practising once you have progressed to
another level. Continued practise of Siu
Lim Tao will develop not only your
internal energy, but help develop your
sensitivity that will help to improve
your Chi Sau. Just keep practising.
If you want more information
about Siu Lim Tao, I would suggest you
get a copy of Wing Chun Traditional
Chinese Kung Fu for Self-Defence and
Health by Grandmaster Ip Chun and
myself. See the advert on the inside back
cover in this issue of Qi Magazine.
M.T.

Practical Poetry
Dear Mr Tse,
First I must say what an excellent

magazine your Qi, Health and Internal

Training is. I could not put it down!
Could it be possible at some time
in the future to start a Chinese of
beginners course between the pages of
Qi? I am sure many people would like it.
Below is a Poem from Ssu-KangTu 834-908AD. This poem gives me
great pleasure and I do hope you can
print it for others to read.
Expenditure of force leads to
outward decay,
Spiritual existence means
inward fullness,
Let us revert to nothing and enter
the absolute,
Hoarding up strength for energy,
Freighted with external
principles,
Athwart the mighty void,
Where the cloud masses darken,
And wind blows ceaseless
around,
Beyond the range of conceptions,
Let us gain the centre,
And there hold fast without
violence,
Fed from an inexhaustible
supply.

Yours faithfully
M. R. Lancs.

Where Abouts?
Dear Michael,
I have been reading Qi Magazine
for about six months now and may I say
they are fantastic. There are a few things
I hope you can help me with.
In Issue 34 there was an article on
Fo Kuan Shan and the temple in Manchester. Could you please tell me exactly
how to get to it as I would love to visit it.
Thank you.
R. E. Manchester
Dear R.
Thank you for your kind words.
We all work very hard to make Qi
Magazine better and better.
The full address of Fo Kuan
Shan is:
540 Stretford Road
Old Traford
Manchester
M16 9AF
M.T.

SPRING INTO HEALTH

Enjoy a day finding out about

the very latest in health, beauty and
alternative therapy at Londons,
`Your Health Show`, from Friday
3rd to Sunday 5th April at the
Business Design Centre in Islington
(Angel tube station).
The Tai Chi Union of Great
Britain will be giving daily
demonstrations on the shows
feature stage, plus experts from the
world of complementary health care,
including author Leslie Kenton and
Qi Magazine 6

Sunday Times health writer

Hazel Courteney, will be
giving seminars and
answering
questions
throughout the three day
event on everything from
The Natural Menopause
Revolution,
to
supplements, Reiki, crystal
healing and feng shui. With healthy
cookery demonstrations from celebrity
chefs, including the BBC Food
Programmes Linda Brown, and fitness
tips from the professionals, `Your
Health Show` has everything you need
to help you Spring into Health. All
seminars and talks are free to visitors.
Admission is 9 on the door or 7
booked in advance. This includes a

cheque book with over

200 of vouchers. For
further information and
timetable call the ticket hotline on
0121 767 4040.
Qi Magazine is offering 20
pairs of tickets free to the first readers
who write in. Simply send your name
and address on a postcard to:
Qi / Your Health Show
PO Box 116
Manchester
M20 3YN.

Herbal Teas

Most people when they want a pick-me-up reach for a cup of tea. The Chinese
have drunk tea for many centuries. There are many varieties and types of tea and
many levels of quality. Some just taste nice, some can be a little strange at first and
some are actually very good for you.
The Chinese have drunk tea for
many centuries. There are many varieties
and types of tea and many levels of
quality. If you visit a tea shop in China,
there may be as many as ten varieties of
Jasmine tea and even more of green tea.
High quality tea leaves can be re-used
many times before they lose their flavour
and distinct fragrance so it can be more
economical to spend more in the
beginning and
save more in the
long run.
Tea is not
only consumed
for pleasure but
can also be taken
as a remedy for
health disorders.
For instance
Gook Fa Cha,
Chrysanthemum
Flower tea, can
be boiled and
drunk as a mild
tea which will
help clear heat
from the body.
There is also
commercially
prepared chrysanthemum
crystals available which are
sweeetened and only need
to be dissolved in boiling
water. These can be used
for the same purpose.
Personally, however, I prefer to purchase
the dried buds and prepare them in a
teapot as one would any loose tea. Call it
superstition, but I always think that there
must be more natural essence in these
dried herbs than in some of the preprepared mixes.
Another tea which is much
stronger than Gook Fa Cha is Wu Fa Cha,

which literally means Five Flower Tea.

This tea is one which must be simmered
for an hour before drinking. Many people
add rock sugar to improve the taste as it
can be a bit bitter to some. To improve
its efficiency, instead of adding rock sugar,
you can add dried and sweetened winter
melon. Melon is cooling in its effect and
works in tandem with the heat dispensing
properties of the flowers. In this tea there
are a combination of
five types of
d ri e d

It may also be useful for patients who are

undergoing radio or chemo therapy. These
treatments create a lot of heat within the
body and can cause drying of the skin or
rashes. The tea will help release the heat
from the body naturally.
Sometimes we can have heat in the
body which is a result of fever from a cold
or flu. There is a mixture available called,
Leung Cha which can be used to help
alleviate these cold, flu symptoms.
Some of the ingredients are
honeysuckle (very good for fever),
soybean which reduces heat, burdock
which is slightly diuretic,and
wild mint and liquorice which
are both useful digestives.

Tea is
consumed for
pleasure but
can also be
taken as a
remedy for health
disorders.
flower buds.
One ofthem is
chrysantheum.
Another is honeysuckle flower which is
sometimes used in TCM along with
Dandelion, Chrysanthemum and
Forsythia to heal boils and carbuncles.
This tea is good for those suffering
from internal heat symptoms,which
include boils, skin rash, dry and hot skin.

This tea is good for colds and flu, coughs,

headache, sore throats and body aches. It
is boiled similar to the Five Flower tea by
taking a standard Chinese rice bowl (small
one)and measuring out three bowls of
water. Add the tea and simmer the water
until one bowl of liquid remains.
All of the above teas are available
from the Tse Qigong Centre.
by Jessica Blackwell
Qi Magazine 7

Chinese Dragons
Dragons are mythical animals, but it seems every culture has a facsination with them.
To some they are evil creatures, to others they are gods and to others still they are bringers of
luck and fortune.

owerful, fearsome, clever,

wealthy and rarely malevolent,
Chinese dragons are the
antithesis of the ravening
Western species; of reptilian monsters
much given to devouring innocent virgins
or to being slaughtered by valiant knights.
Chinese dragons whilst differing in
temperament vary in appearance too.
According to the Pan Tsao Kang Mu, a
fifty-two volume work written around
1600, and drawing on much earlier lost

works, the dragon is the biggest of all

creatures. It has a head like a camel, with
deers horns, hares eyes and ears like a
bulls. It is armed with jaws like a tigers
and claws like an eagles. It has eightyone scales, being nine times nine, like
those of a carp, and its voice is the beating
of a gong. The mouth has whiskers and
under the chin is a bright pearl. The
breath forms clouds, sometimes changing
to rain and at other times fire. The
character is fierce and it loves beautiful

gems and jade, eats swallows, and dreads

iron, centipedes and silk dyed with five
different colours.
Whilst supreme amongst this scaly
race are the dragon kings, villages are
more likely to have lesser dragons, usually
living in water, for Chinese dragons are
aquatic. These though, generally keeping
themselves to themselves, may be
petitioned for help. Their association
with water lends them the ability to
control the rain, an attribute much
Qi Magazine 9

respected by the farmers, and the larger

the expanse of water that the dragon has
made his home, the more powerful he is.
A traditional proverb says, The
earth joins up with the dragon, meaning
it is raining. This aquatic association was
not lost on the emperors. They lined the
roof ridges of their buildings with small
zoomorphic creatures called Wenshou,
the greater the number the more
important the resident, and put above
them was the Chirwen. TheChirwen was
one of the sons of the dragon king of the
sea, a mighty and fierce beast, who had
the magical ability to raise the sea into a
frenzied storm, take up the water and
cause it all to fall as torrential rain. Thus,
if the building ever caught fire, a constant
worry in a land of wooden buildings, the
Chirwen could help to quench the flames.
Builders recognised that a ferocious
nature is not without drawbacks. Worried
he would eat up all the smaller animals,
like an Asian Pac Man, they called him
the ridge devouring beast. Their
precaution against his destructive hunger
was to transfix him to the ridge with a
sword.
People connected dragons to the
sky through rain and, believing the
dragon kings could fly, legends grew of
the Yellow Emperor riding on a dragons
back to the heavens. If dragons were
magical and powerful and flew, it was
natural that they should inhabit the
heavens as well, and so one quarter of the
Qi Magazine 10

sky was called the Palace of the Green

Dragon. This was in reference to the stars
of this quadrant, which in Chinese
astronomy make the constellation of the
dragon. However, these heavenly
creatures could not cut their watery links
and the appearance of the Dragon
constellation is said to be the precursor
to the rainy season.
Ruling around the same time as the
pyramids were constructed was the first
emperor of China, called Yu The Great.
Reputed to have been born with the
likeness of a dragon, he maintained his
ties to them both on the earth and in the
heavens. Once when Yu was crossing the
Yellow River, two dragons took his boat
on their backs and terrified the
passengers. The emperor simply laughed
and said:
I am appointed by heaven. I do
my best to look after men. To be born is
natural: to die is heavens decree. Why
be troubled by dragons?
Deeply ashamed of their actions,
the dragons swam away dragging their
tails.
Subsequent emperors recognised
the importance of the dragon as a symbol
of power and the imperial court sought
to convince common folk that the
emperor was the Son of Heaven, allpowerful, a dragon upon the earth. Court
symbolism reinforced the image and the
dragon, along with the phoenix, became
the principle motif for decorative designs

on buildings, clothing and articles

of daily use in the imperial palaces.
Throne rooms were supported by
columns entwined by gilded
dragons and the central ramps of
marble steps were paved with huge
stone slabs of the dragon and
phoenix carved in relief, whilst
screen walls displayed dragons in
brilliant colours. The names for
nearly all the things connected with
the emperor or the empress were
preceded by the epithet dragon or
phoenix, so the throne became
the dragon seat, the emperor`s
ceremonial dress became the
dragon robe and he slept in the
dragon bed. As for the empress,
she rode in a phoenix carriage
under a phoenix canopy.
The phoenix was also used
as a symbol of imperial power. It
is a gloriously beautiful, legendary
creature, sovereign amongst birds, as the
dragon is sovereign over all animals. It
has the head of the golden pheasant, the
beak of the parrot, the body of the
mandarin duck, the wings of the roc, the
feathers of the peacock and the legs of
the crane.
Where does this leave the dragon
today? Preserved in quaint folk tales or
as ornate statues in the Forbidden City?
Chinese culture is more resilient than this.
Ferociously competitive dragon boat races
are the most visible sign of a living dragon
culture; the race commemorates the
suicide by drowning of a loyal but
disgraced minister two thousand years
ago. Sayings concerning dragons still live,
connecting them to the heavens and
water. Probably strongest of all are the
links to Feng Shui where dragons are
powerfully symbolic. Recently, in Hong
Kong, a long narrow hotel was designed
which flowed along the contours of a
hillside overlooking Repulse Bay. Before
it was built, Feng Shui experts warned of
a huge dragon who lived in the hills above
the site. They came up with a solution to
the problem and, remarkably in a land
where real estate prices are amongst the
highest in the world and every square
centimetre is valued, a large square hole
was designed into the final construction.
The reason? The hole allowed the dragon
to come down to the water of Repulse
Bay to drink
by Nick Battersby

A Suitable Path

Peoples beliefs may vary greatly especially on the

subject of spiritual guidance. What one person believes
to be the right way may not suit another. So each of us has to choose our own
paths in life and only we can tell if they are right for us.

s a child, I was introduced to

Christianity through fleeting
visits to Sunday school and then
through more serious attendance
to our local church when I was
ten years old. I remember sitting in the third
row shyly looking up at the pulpit where
our kind faced pastors would stand to share
the Good News. At this age my mind was
like fertile soil, so the seeds that fell there
took root quickly and affected me quite
deeply.
I once asked my grandparents if they
believed in Jesus and had been saved as I
did not want them to die and not be with
me in heaven. Calling myself a Christian was
often a joyous experience but at other times
it was quite painful. I read my little white
leather Bible daily to look for guidance on
how to become a better person, which
perhaps made me a bit more serious than a
child of that age should be.
As I grew older, however, the stories
that had once been an inspiration became
more like condemnation. Page upon page
proclaimed me to be a sinner. I found it
ever more difficult to reconcile what seemed
to be overbearing strictures on conduct, and
I finally left the church at the age of
seventeen. However, I never ever lost the
yearning for spiritual guidance.
When I began to study Qigong, I
knew very little about its origins. I knew,
however, that as I continued to practise I
began to feel more relaxed and have more
energy to cope with things. After some
months of practise, I began to feel other
changes. My heart was beginning to become
more generous and my mind more balanced.
I felt myself going back to my original
nature, caring more for others and less for
myself. My taste for the business world in
which I was working long and stressful hours
continued to diminish and I began to look
for other means of employment where my
primary concern was not a high salary but
helping others. By now I had also learned
more about the Qigong I was studying and

found that its origins lay with the Daoist

monks of the Kunlun Mountains in China.
So I began to read more about
Daoism and there I found the spiritual home
that I had been seeking. There was no God,
no Satan, no hell or heaven. Only myself
and responsibility for my own actions. I
learned that in Daoism ones actions will
dictate ones future, whether it be in this
lifetime or the next. One often hears, What
goes around comes around. It seems that
in practising Qigong ones awareness of this
cycle increases, especially as the speed with
which things come back around seems to
accelerate.
This makes it difficult to hide when
you have done something wrong. Although
it is hard to admit your guilt, doing so will
free your mind and help you to be more clear
in finding a solution. Unlike in Christianity,
there is no need to carry your sins with you
as you wait for a judgement day. How you
handle today will shape what tomorrow will
bring.
As one continues to practise
Qigong, the mind is more balanced and our
emotions are more steady. This is because
the emotions of anger, sorrow, joy, worry
and fear are directly related to the organs;
respectively, the liver, lungs, heart, spleen
and kidneys. As one becomes healthier, the
internal organs become stronger and we can
handle difficulties more easily.
Daoism has helped me greatly.
Looking back, I see many seeds of Daoism
in Christianity. For instance, the saying, Do
unto others as you would have others do
unto you, is similar to the principles of
Daoism. In another part of the Bible it tells
us to care for the Temple of God, in effect
our bodies. In Daoism, Qigong was evolved
as a way of caring for the body in order that
longevity and hence immortality could be
achieved. However, there is one major
difference and this is that in Daoism there
is no Saviour but ourselves; that we and we
alone are responsible for the outcome and
results of our actions.
by Tse Sihn Kei
Qi Magazine 11

Dayan Gong 2nd 64

Part 1

With each passing year, Dayan (Wild Goose) Qigong gains in popularity. Many of you may
have seen the First 64 movements but how many have seen the Second 64? Well for the very first
time in the pages of Qi Magazine we present the Second 64 Movements of Dayan Qigong

Having completed the 1st 64

movements of Dayan Gong, it is very
important to be able to do it properly and
understand it well. This usually takes six
to nine months of solid practise before
you can go on to the 2nd 64 movements
of Dayan Gong.
After the end of the 1st 64 you
continue into the 2nd 64 with the
movement Stretch Claws.

1. Stretch Claws.

i. From the squatting position, Fig 1,

straighten your legs, but keep your
waist bent and you hands still at the
Dantien. Fig 2.
ii. With the back of your hands touching
your body, release your hands by
sweeping them down from your
Dantien along the stomach channel,
down to your legs.
iii. Finish by holding a Qi ball in front of
your Middle Dantien, Laogong points
facing the Shenzhong point. Fig 3.

Fig 1

Fig 2

This is the starting movement of the 2nd

64 that helps the Qi to grow.

2. Draw Arms.

i. Turn the left hand out. Fig 4.

ii. Turn your body to the left ninety
degrees, then close the fingers of the
left hand and touch the Jing Men
point on your back. The Jing Men
point belongs to the Gall Bladder
Channel.
iii. Bring the hand back to the front,
circling it round to the left, so you are
once again holding the Qi ball in front
of you. You should look at your hands.
Qi Magazine 12

Fig 3

Fig 4

Dayan Gong 2nd 64 Dayan Gong 2nd 64 Dayan Gong 2nd 64 Dayan

Fig 5

Fig 6

iv. Turn the right hand outward.

v. Turn your body through one hundred
and eighty degrees, Fig 6, and repeat
touching the Jing Men point for the
right side.

3. Looking for the Wind.

i. Bring your right hand back round so

you are once again holding the Qi ball
in front of your Middle Dantien.
ii. Lift up your head and body slightly.
Make sure the chin rises a little, Fig 7.
This opens the Lianquan point, which
is on the Ren channel. Look forwards.
iii. Turn one hundred and eighty degrees
to the left side. Fig 8.
iv. Turn back to face the front.

Fig 7

Fig 8

Acu-Points
Jing Men

Lianquan

Qi Magazine 13

Dayan Gong 2nd 64 Dayan Gong 2nd 64 Dayan Gong 2nd 64 Dayan

Fig 9

Fig 10

Acu-Points
Jian Jing

The descriptions of the Acupoints of Dayan Gong in issue

35 of Qi Magazine contained an
error. In the description of the
Ming Men point the text refered
to the movements Draw Wings
to the Back and Cloud Hands.
In these movements the Hegu
points actually connect to the
Shen Shu points not the Ming
Men point.

Qi Magazine 14

Fig 11

Fig 12

4. Bring the Claws to the Shoulders.

i. Turn your palms outwards. Fig 9.
ii. Separate your hands out to your sides,
as if you are collecting the Qi.
Straighten up your body. Fig 10
iii. Bring your hands round and up to
your front.

iv. Continue to raise the hands and close

the fingers of each hand. Fig 11.
v. Bring them up over you shoulders and
touch the Jing Jing points. The Jing
Jing points belong to the Gall Bladder
channel. Fig 12.

Cultivating
Mind
and
Body
They expelled all the toxins from the body,
and constantly preserved their true energy.
Having accumulated these effects over a long
time, their bodies were transformed, and they
became immortals.

he Daoist arts of health and longevity are founded

on the principle of the dual cultivation of mind and
body. An unhealthy body cannot support a clear
mind and an egotistical mind will weaken a healthy
body. Clearing the mind and strengthening the body
are equally important whether our goal is health,
mental well being, or spiritual enlightenment.
As students of the arts of health and longevity, how
should we go about cultivating both mind and body?
Today, cultivating the body is usually associated with
techniques of Qigong, Daoist callisthenics, and internal martial
arts such as taijiquan and baguazhang. On the other hand,
cultivating the mind is usually associated with long sessions of
sitting meditation. Westerners, who are more comfortable with
movement than stillness, have gravitated more toward the
techniques of cultivating the body than those of cultivating the
mind. In Europe and especially North America, the dropout
rate in meditation classes is higher than that of say, taijiquan.
The perceived differences between cultivating mind and
body, moreover, have separated practitioners into those who
prefer mind only and those who prefer body only programs
of training. This is unfortunate, because to benefit fully from

the Daoist arts of health, the training of body and mind must be
integrated in a balanced and harmonious way.
Knowing that a strong spine, articulated joints, flexible
tendons, and relaxed muscles are necessary for practising sitting
meditation, the Daoists have recommended that new students
start their training with a gentle physical exercise such as
taijiquan. Once the body becomes soft and relaxed a form of
Qi Magazine 15

Daoist sages & founders of the arts of

longevity lived a simple life and were at
peace with themselves.

meditation known as quiet sitting is introduced. In this way, the

practitioner can work on emptying the mind without being
distracted by backaches and cramped muscles. As the mind
begins to empty its thoughts, the practitioner will become more
comfortable with stillness. Subsequently, when he or she
practises the physical techniques, thinking will stop
spontaneously, body and mind will be united, and stillness will
become the guiding force behind movement.
As the practitioner progresses into increasingly
challenging physical movements designed to massage the
internal organs and open blockages in the circulatory system,
the techniques of cultivating the mind also change. Because the
physical foundation has been built, meditation can now be used
to gather and conserve internal energy or Qi. Once internal
energy is gathered, physical movements are used to circulate it
through the body thus, alternating movement and stillness and
simultaneously cultivating mind and body, health, longevity, and
spiritual enlightenment can be attained.
Attitude and lifestyle are important in cultivating mind
and body. This is where the
wisdom of the Daoist sages can
be a valuable guide. Many people
do not see the connection
between classroom training and
daily lifestyle. Consequently,
they lose what was gathered in
the training session the very next
day. The Daoist sages tell us that
too much thinking can dissipate
energy, too much desire can
confuse the mind, and too much
activity can harm the body.
Therefore, those who cultivate
mind and body should refrain
from a lifestyle of excess. Many

practitioners of
the Daoist arts
of health think
that they can
indulge
in
spending energy,
believing that energy can
always be replenished by
practising Qigong or meditation.
This is unfortunate, because if energy gathered is spent
immediately, there will be no net improvement of health in the
long run.
Attitude can also affect how much we can benefit from
the Daoist arts of health. Negative and competitive attitudes
are not conducive to learning. Neither is the desire for fame
and power. The Daoist sages and founders of the arts of
longevity lived a simple life and were at peace with themselves.
They had few desires and did not seek social recognition and
political power. They were not excited by gains or worried over
losses. They did not compete with anyone; therefore no one
competed with them. Because they integrated the practices of
strengthening the body and clearing the mind with their lifestyle,
they were able to attain the highest levels of physical health,
mental wellbeing and spiritual development. In the words of
the Triplex Unity of the foremost Daoist texts of the arts of
longevity, these sages Carried the mystery and embraced the
ultimate reality... They covered their traces and hid from the
world. They conserved their energy and nourished the spirit...
The sweet nectar moistened their skin and flesh. Their tendons
and bones were soft and strong. They expelled all the toxins
from the body, and constantly preserved their true energy.
Having accumulated these effects over a long time, their bodies
were transformed, and they became immortals.
by Eva Wong
Eva Wong is the author of Seven Taoist Master,
Cultivating Stillness along with many other titles.
Qi Magazine 17

If you can live to

99 years of age and still
be healthy will you be
happy? Of course the
answer must be Yes!
no doubt about it.
Reaching a really old
age is something many
people do, but to live
long and stay really
healthy is not so
common. It is a really
high level.

Qi Magazine 18

Years of

Practise

ne old lady is the Honorary Director of the Chinese

Qigong Scientific Research Association, Consultant
to the Beijing Qigong Research Association,
Consultant to the Hudang - Boxing Research
Association. Also she is President of the China Dayan
(Wild Goose) Qigong Association (Dayan Qigong
comes from her family). In 1986 she was on the cover of Chinas
top Qigong magazine, Qigong & Science, She is Master Yang Meijun.
At her home in Beijing many people come to visit, asking her
for Qigong treatment or to study Qigong even though she has
reached an age where most would have already retired. She still
receives many invitations to travel to Wuhan, Wu Toy Shan,
Guanzhou, Hong Kong and many other places in China. All because
her level is so high and her knowledge of Qigong so deep and so
profound, especially her familys skill: Daoist Kunlun Dayan Qigong.
She can transmit her Qi to make you warm, make your body shake
and even make you cold. She can see the colour of your Qi (aura)
and she can diagnose your illnesses by looking at you or touching
you. Particularly she is able to transmit her Qi with the fragrance of
five different types of flowers, special incense, Jasmine, or nut.
Her skill has been recognised by the Chinese Government
and abroad. Her Wild Goose Qigong has been published in print
many times. In Chinese, English, even in German and French. Her
teachings have spread all over the World.
Actually her life has been very dramatic. She was born in the
time of the Qing Dynasty. At this time all the men had to wear their
hair in pig tails and shave the front part of their head, otherwise the
Qing government would chop off their heads (keep your hair and
lose your head or lose your hair and keep your head!). Her family
was very poor and her father needed to work pulling a Rick Shaw
transporting people from place to place. He had to work very hard
just to maintain his family. She had a grandfather who she noticed
didnt wear very cool clothing in the summer or very warm clothing
in the winter, and he never caught a cold or became ill.
One evening, when she was 13 years old, her grandfather
took her to a room a spiritual room. He told her to kneel down in

front of a statue of the Buddha. He then lit some joss sticks and told
her to worship the Buddha three times.
Her grandfather said Today, whatever we say we are
responsible to the Buddha. From now on you will follow me to
study Dao and Qigong. What ever you learn you are not allowed to
teach until you are 70. Little Yang Meijun just listened to her
grandfather and told him that she had always respected and listened
to him. She thought that no matter what he taught her she would
always listen. Her grandfather continued to say When I was a
teenager I studied with a Kunlun Mountain Daoist Qigong master.
He taught me many skills: Qigong, martial art and healing. These
skills have never been taught to the outside, only passed down inside
his family. Before I thought I should pass them down to your father,
but he is already fifty and it will be difficult for him to learn my
skill. I am getting older, I need to teach someone otherwise these
precious skills will be lost. Now you are the only one person suitable
for this skill, you have the age and the time. Tomorrow we will go
to the temple and perform the ceremony. After this little Meijun
went back to her room and almost could not sleep.
The next day, her grandfather took her to the White Tower
Temple in Beijing. In front of a statue of Kuan Yin (a female Buddha),
he told her to worship and swear. He said to her From now on you
are the 27th generation inheritor of Kunlun System Dayan Qigong.
He then took some things from the bag he was carrying. There
were eight copper wild geese, each of them performing a vivid
movement: One drinking water, one flying away, one stretching its
wings and one scratching his legs. Very interesting, thought little
Meijun, these must be some toys for her to play with. Instead her
grandfather spoke and told her, These are Wild Goose Qigong
movements in Dayan Gong, Dayan Palm and Dayan Fist, you have
to follow these movements to do them properly. I will teach you all
these movements, but you must withstand the difficulty and continue
practising. One day you will fly away like a wild goose, away to get
the Dao. Although she did not fully understand what her
grandfather told her, she knew she was going to do something
important, something that would change her life. She decided to
overcome those problems.
After all the ceremony they left the temple. When she reached
the main entrance, suddenly something with sharp claws attacked
her. She was very scared. Suddenly her grandfather was beside her.
He pointed two fingers at the things head. At that moment she
realised that it was a very wild monkey. The monkey appeared to have
a very painful expression on its face, and screaming it ran away. She
was very surprised at what her grandfather had done, and she curiously
said, I want to learn that skill so that nobody can attack me. Grandpa,
I didnt know you had that skill.. He said, This skill I will teach you,
but not for hurting people, it is only for your protection. This skill
can also make you live longer and healthier, and you can also help to
heal other people as well. He continued by saying, Qi is the leader
of blood. When I pointed at the monkeys acupuncture point the Qi
stopped flowing, the blood could not get there, so of course he felt
pain.
After this incident, Little Meijun moved to live next door to
her grandfathers room, not letting her parents know that she was
going to study with him. She just said she liked to spend more time
with her grandfather.
The next day her grandfather suddenly woke her up. It was
3 oclock in the morning. He said This is the right time to practise,
nobody will disturb us.
From then on she woke at three oclock and practised until 5
oclock in the morning. She was taught things from basic techniques
of Qigong to acupuncture points and principles of Qigong. Little
Meijun listened to all her grandfather said and followed all he taught.
Qi Magazine 19

For the first few days her whole body ached,

and sometimes she felt a little tired, but day
by day she found her body getting stronger.
In the beginning she found it difficult to wake
up but after a couple of days her bodys timing
started to get used to it.
She started to learn the Kunlun
System Dayan Qigong basic techniques:
Dayan Gong 1st 64. She learnt it very
patiently and diligently. After her
grandfather would check her movements
very strictly, sometimes only teaching her
something new from time to time. He
wanted her to pick up the principle and not
to only just copy him.
As the time passed from month to
month she learnt the Dayan Gongs 1st 64
and went on to the 2nd 64. She picked up
things very quickly and this made her
grandfather very happy. He had found a
good, suitable inheritor for his high level
Qigong.
One night she asked her grandfather
Why do we practise at midnight and not in
the day time?. He said Do you know why
the Morning Glory blooms at four oclock
in the morning, why the Peony smiles at
seven, Tuberose releases its fragrant smell
at eight? In the morning from three to five
oclock is the Yin time (this Yin refers to
the third hour of the Chinese clock, not as in
Yin and Yang). The Qi runs through the lung
channels, strengthening them. This is a good
time to practise, at this time your Qi will be
stronger.
Although little Yang Meijun was
young, she found that when she put the
Qigong principles together with the
principles of Chinese medicine she learnt
very quickly and found it interesting.
Time had gone by very quickly. She
completed Dayan Qigong 1st 64 and 2nd

64. She even learned higher levels : Dayan

Palm, Three Forks Spiral Gong, Dayan Fist,
Twining Hand Bagua, Sun Gong, Moon
Gong, Long Distance Vision Dan Gong, 24
Stars Gong, Sky Eye Gong and many other
high level Qigong skills. She also learnt a
lot of weapons: sword, spear, etc. She can use
two small swords to transmit a Qi ball with
a very strong light.
After many years of practise, one day
she found herself very light! She could jump
onto walls and even onto the roof of her
house, like a wild goose flying away. She also
noticed that on the 1st and 15th day of each

She listened to her

grandfather and
followed all he taught.
lunar month her grandfather wanted her to
practise harder than usual. She asked him
why?. He said You know that on the 1st
and 15th day the moon is full. There is more
energy than usual and the moon is closer
than usual, so you can gather more energy.
Once her grandfather asked her a
question to see how much she understood.
He said Little Jun, do you know why we
start and practise on the left side first?. She
pretended it was nothing serious and
answered The left side controls the blood,
the right side controls the Qi which runs
faster than the blood. So we practise more

Qi Magazine 20

on the left than the right to get the Qi and

the blood to balance. Am I right Sifu
Grandpa?, and she blinked at him with
cunning eyes, hoping to receive a reward.
This made him very proud of his granddaughter.
With many years of industrious
training she really tasted the benefit of
Qigong. Her body got healthier and stronger.
Sometimes she did not eat: she didnt feel
hungry. Often three to four hours of sleep a
night was enough for her. These
improvements went unnoticed by her
parents.
H e r
g ra n d f a t h e r
saw that little
Meijun had
picked up his
skill, and he
happily left her
for heaven.
After a few
years
her
mother also left. Then all that remained of
the family was her father and her.
One evening her father was
transporting a Japanese by rickshaw. Upon
arriving at the destination he asked for the
fare but the Japanese man was drunk and
refused to pay him the money. During the
argument he pulled out a knife and stabbed
her father killing him. This greatly saddened
little Yang Meijun upsetting her and making
her feel very lonely. She did not know what
to do! She was all that was left of her
immediate family
to be continued...

by Michael Tse

Meeting Sigong - the Hard Wayy

To the rest of the world, 1 July 1997 was the day Hong
Kong went back to China. For me, it was the day I met Chen
Xiao Wang, my Sigong.

think in the future taiji historians will

look upon Chen Xiao Wangs coming
to the West in the same manner as we
view Yang Lu Chans leaving Chen
village and going to Beijing: a
milestone in the development of Taiji.
Sigong first talked about his
philosophy of life. Your life should be like
the taijitu (what is often wrongly called the
yin-yang symbol), constantly flowing,
never stagnant. Some people are lucky they have a lot, so their taijitu is a big circle.
Others dont have much, and their taijitu is
a small circle. What ever your situation, how
big or small your taijitu, so long as you keep
it rotating you will be O.K.
If you are very rich
or famous then there will
always be a chance that you
may lose your position or
wealth. When this happens
you could say that your
taijitu has become small.
This in itself is not fatal,
however if it happens often
you lose hope, and your

taijitu stops rotating. This is the worst thing

that can happen, and sickness and depression
are sure to follow. If you keep your taijitu
rotating however there is always a chance
that things may get better again.
Towards the end of the evening,
Sigong showed a self defence technique for a
knife attack that involved a lock. We practised
it on each other for a while, and then he
asked for two volunteers to demonstrate it
to him. When I looked around, every one
else had taken a step back except for myself
and Darryl Moy, so we were on the spot.
After our valiant effort, Sigong said, Now
try it on me.

other in the small of my back. The effect was

to spin me through the air a full 180 degrees.
To my horror, when I got back up
Sigong said, Now try again, with both
hands. This time the position of my hands
meant that they became trapped against my
body, and Sigong used a single push through
my trapped hands and into my chest. The
effect was to send me horizontally through
the air several metres and crashing down on
my shoulder blades. The
crowd made an Oooo noise,
much like you hear at
Wimbledon.
Now this has made me
realise a few things about
fajing. If you push someone
hard, and the point of contact
is not at the centre of gravity,
then they are going to flip over.
It is like watching two cars
collide. After impact the least
stable car will spin away from
the other, and maybe roll over.
If you want to transfer as much force into an
object as possible, you should be very relaxed
until the point of contact, and then apply the
force. If you have any tension when contact
is made, the object will tend to bounce away
from you before you have fully unloaded. You
can see this if you hold a tennis racquet too
tightly: the tennis ball will bounce away from
it before you have completed your follow
through.
Sigong travels around the world
demonstrating and teaching true taiji. I know
that he doesnt always show how powerful
he is. I guess that day he must have been in a
good mood. He will be here again in April,
so dont miss the chance to see some real
taiji. We all know taijiquan is good. But
unless you meet Chen Xiao Wang, you dont
know HOW good

The last thing you want

is the inheritor of Chen
Taijiquan trying to stab
you, even if it is only
with a ball point pen!
Now the last thing you want to be
faced with is the inheritor of Chen Style
Taijiquan trying to stab you, even if it is only
with a ball point pen. However he gave me
plenty of time to manoeuvre and apply the
wrist lock he had shown us. Then came a
moment that every martial artist is familiar
with. The feeling that what you have just done
hasnt worked and something very nasty is
about to happen. Before I knew what was
happening I was in mid air, upside down,
looking at the ceiling between my feet, on
my way back down to the ground!
I didnt notice any tension in
Shigongs hand, but trying to twist his wrist
was like trying to twist a metal bar. The
spiral like movement that released the
lock also allowed Sigong to close in. The
throw was achieved using two opposing
forces: one across my chest and the

by Daniel Poon
Qi Magazine 21

Tong
to Ta

Qi Magazine 22

MA YUE

beiquan
ijiquan
Master Ma Yue has a long and illustrious
career in the martial arts. He was born into a
family famous for its martial arts, one that
has helped to shape their development in
recent times.
Not only does he have his familys skill
behind him, he is a graduate in Wushu of the
Peking Sport University, the most highly
regarded Sports University in China! And,
if this is not enough, he was twice Chinese
National Wushu Champion.
Now a resident in the UK, Master Ma has
been working hard to develop the many
different things he has learnt over here.
Qi Magazine: Could you tell us how you got involved in martial arts?
Ma Yue: I started when I was six with my father. That was in 1966 in
my own Family style called Tongbei, and Baji, Fanze and Piqua.
QM: So your family have a strong history in martial arts?
MY: Yes, from my grandfather. My grandfather and my father were
both famous martial artists of their generations. My father has been
teaching martial arts and physical education for 35 years and in the
last three or four years was made one of the top ten martial arts
professors in the whole of China by the Chinese government. This
year he told me he has been recognised as one of the most famous
martial artists in the world.
QM: How did martial arts actually come about in your family, how
did your grandfather come to learn them?
MY: My grandfather studied with a Master called Wang, in Hebei
Province, Tanzhou village. Tanzhou is where the Ma family originally
come from. That is why he learned mainly Tongbei and Piqua. Mr
Wang was his Master. He went through a private ceremony and was

taken in as a student. But all his life he has developed his Tongbei,
Piqua, Fanze and Baji to a very high standard.
On top of that, my father, in his time, made these martial arts very
popular throughout the whole of China. He made the Tongbei style
popular by teaching at a sports university for martial arts and wushu
education. At the same time he taught the professional wushu team,
and from that time, Piqua, Fanze and Tongbei slowly became popular.
Now all the wushu players use them in competitions. In the 80s
through to the nineties all the top wushu men followed them, people
like Jet Li, Zhou Chanjing, Li Qijou and Tu Fangliang. During this
time you could call these people the Wushu Kings and Queens of
China. Jet Li, as we all know, was five times champion and the others
won many championships, although outside China people may not
know their names, in China and in the Wushu world everybody
Qi Magazine 23

recognises them. That is why Tongbei is so popular as all these top

people used my family style.
QM: What are the origins of Tongbeiquan?
MY: There are many different styles of Tongbeiquan in China and a
lot of people confuse my familys Tongbei with other styles. I think
you understand how martial arts develop. They are like a tree. If I
am the first tree, the original, then there are no others. The original
Tongbeiquan was created by martial artists who had a great deal of
experience of the philosophy of the fighting side. They also used a
lot of animal movements, like the monkey. They watched the
monkey way of moving, how it moved its arms, how it moved its
back. So that is the original Tongbei style. At first, if I am the only
one doing it, then there is only one Tongbei, but if I have lots of
students, once they graduate, they start to go their own way and
follow their own understanding of the skill. On top of that, maybe
they learn different martial arts and so they will develop in a different
way. So over the years their Tongbei develops in a different way, at
another angle, and this is why there are other forms of Tongbei. My
familys Tongbei is different and unique as it has Baji, Piqua and
Fanze and Chorjiao - the kicking. Chorjiao is very rare and not
many people in China know the real Chorjiao very well, but my
grandfathers knowledge is very good. So in China my familys
Tongbei is known as Mas Tongbei. If you say this in China people
will know which Tongbei you are talking about.
Tongbei originated around Tanzhou, it goes back many, many years
over many generations, but what the actual original Tongbei was, I
dont know. Every style developed from natural fighting - fighting
with people or animals. With time people acquire experience and
knowledge and thats how all martial arts started, whatever the style.
QM: How did you come to be in England?
My: Thats a long story. I came to England to study English and see
with my own eyes the Western way of life. I also thought I could
promote and develop martial arts in the West. But it has not been as
easy as I thought. A lot of things are different.
QM: So what is your emphasis now?
MY: To be honest all these years I have lived in the West, Ive found
that my knowledge of martial arts is too much for the Westerners
basic interest. It is too much above what they want to know. If I
talk to Chinese people who have been interested in martial arts for
many years, they will be interested to listen to me, but if I talk to
some body with only two years or, even ten years, of Karate they
wouldnt understand what Im talking about. So I am planning a
simple way to promote martial arts. My aim is to keep as much of
my knowledge as I can, waiting for the day when I have people who
have achieved a high stage who will say I want to talk about real
martial arts with you and learn real martial arts from you. But before
I can achieve that I have to bring myself down and teach very
basically. I could teach self-defence, maybe people want to enter a
kickboxing competition or maybe a basic Chinese wushu foundation
to start with. I am also interested in developing health and promoting
taiji. I can see the potential in taiji and I am happy to help people
improve their health. It is a good thing to do, so from now on I will
concentrate on the taiji side, but I will not leave other skills aside. I
will try to do both.
QM: So how is it going? Are you getting there?
MY: Ive been doing a lot of things throughout my years in England
and I have only been concentrating one hundred percent on martial
arts for the last four years, with an emphasis on taiji.

Qi Magazine 24

In 1994 I established my Level 1 taiji students. In 1985 I demonstrated

in Birmingham at the National Exhibition Centre. In 1996 my
teaching commitments increased and the number of students loyal to
training with me has got bigger and bigger. In 1997 I was invited to
Washington DC to attend a World Conference by the World
Federation of Martial Artists as a representative of international
martial artists.. More recently, in 1998 I have started as resident taiji
instructor at the Springs Hydro Health Farm. Taiji students at level
2,including an English student, Mr. Steve Croghan, have been trained
to teach taiji introductory courses on my behalf.
One of my ambitions this year is to produce my own English
instructional video.
QM: Do you have your own gym?
MY: No, not yet, but I would love one. As far as I can see it is hard to
make a living just teaching martial arts. Ideally I need a sponsor, so
until one comes forward I have to look at other ways of promoting
taiji and martial arts. For example if I get a chance to get back into
the movie business then I will. I was involved in the movie business
for four years in China. Also if I get a chance to make a TV. series
then I will. There are actually a lot of ways to promote the martial
arts, I dont think I will be teaching for the rest of my life.
QM: Do you find that teaching is the hardest way?
MY: Yes, it is a hard way because you are like a farmer. If you want
to grow a tree you have to plant a seed and look after it for many
years until you have a real tree. Thats what teaching is, the students
are like trees. At first they know nothing about what they are doing,
until they grow. Its tough and there is a lot of responsibility. The
best way is to take care of everything, take care of your teaching
and keep it going and look for something else. If you can do that,
then it is good.
QM: You mentioned you studied taiji at university, but did you study
any with your father?
MY: I didnt learn taiji from him, but he taught me Tongbei Qigong.
A lot of martial arts have their own Qigong exercises. This is because
a lot of styles are physically very tough and so they need something
to relax them and balance themselves.
Also in old times people fought a lot, maybe in competitions or
outside. So Qigong helped them to release the pain and also build
themselves up to withstand the blows. Now people can see the
benefits of Qigong for the health and so it has developed for health
as well.
QM: Is the Qigong you learnt mostly moving or standing postures?
Did you learn special breathing methods, or was it more natural?
MY: It had both moving and standing, and also breathing exercises
and the natural way. Outside of China a lot of people think Qigong
is something different, separate from martial arts. Actually it isnt.
It was created by the oldest martial artists, from their experiences.
For Medical Qigong you have to have a lot of knowledge on the
medical side, but the Chinese Qigong doctors learnt a lot from
martial arts Qigong. They add to this their medical knowledge, and
use this to treat their patients. Sometimes it is hard to judge as
Qigong is something we cannot see, but Qigong definitely works.
The only way to measure it is to see how the patients feel.
This is one part I never touched in China. I learnt a lot of Qigong
and taiji sets, but never went into this side. The reason I never went
into it was I could see so many people doing taiji in China I thought
I dont need it. I was also very young. When I left China I was only
twenty-five so I thought, if I really want to start a Qigong or taiji
career I have got twenty years to go. Thats what I thought. Even

My aim is to
keep as much of
my knowledge
as I can, until
the day when
people will say,
I want to learn
real martial
arts from you.
Qi Magazine 25

My aim is to
taiji and get it as
If it gets very big,
good.
now I am still young, but with all the years of teaching, people often
came up to me and said, why dont you tell us something about
Qigong and taiji. I also see the potential in taiji and I have come to
an age where I need the taiji too!
QM: What are your aims for teaching taiji?
MY: It depends on the students interest. Of course I will start with
health, but I would prefer that they would want to go to the
professional taiji level, that they want to go to the performance side
and the taiji philosophy, push hands and things like that. I have
confidence that I will have students who want to go further, but if
some say to me, thats enough, we only want health, then they can
go that way.
My aim is to promote taiji and get it as big as I can. If it gets very
big, then that is good. If not, then I will keep what I have now.
In the future maybe we can do things together. All the people who
have been teaching taiji and are interested in taiji, we can discuss
things together and help each other out and promote taiji. I would be
more than happy to do it.
Qi Magazine 26

QM: Do you think taiji is established in the UK, or is it at a promotional

level? Are there still a lot of misconceptions?
MY: It is still at a promotional level. I know a lot of people may
have started teaching twenty even twenty-five years ago, but they
were not good enough to make it (taiji) big. If they were then there
would be no problem and we could all enjoy the success. After all
these years, taiji should be more popular than it is now.
QM: Do you feel that is due to the way it has been presented to people?
MY: Thats right, it is the same as martial arts. There are not enough
true taiji instructors here. There are some, and they are very good,
but there is still not enough and there are those that do a negative
job for taiji.
If you want to attract people in a big way you have to be very
professional. If you are professional then even if people do not know
that much about taiji, they will see something of real value is there.
If you are not professional enough then people will not see it. I feel
the only way to promote it is to do demonstrations and shows.
Then people will have a first impression about it. You have to let
them feel what you are doing and touch them in some way. If you
touch them then they
will think, Oh I like
that, I dont understand
it, but there is
something there.

promote
big as I can.
then that is

QM: Is a lot of the

problem due to the fact
that there is nothing
equivalent in the West,
nothing people can
relate it to?
MY: Yes, Ill give you an
example of myself.
Before I left China I
had heard of tennis, but

I had never seen any real tennis, the same with snooker. The first
time I saw it on TV, I thought, what is this? Just two people with
sticks hitting balls on a table. I didnt understand it. I saw all those
people at Wimbledon, sitting in the hot sun turning their heads,
watching a ball, I didnt understand! But slowly, because of the players
professionalism and because they were so good, I was slowly drawn
in and now I like tennis! Now I dont just see the game, I see the
players. People like Boris Becker, Peter Sampras and Ivanisovich. I see
their emotions and
how they think. I even
feel the same if I see
them lose a game and
go boom and smash
their rackets. I go with
them. That is what taiji
needs.
Nobody is good
enough to let people
feel taiji. If you do not
know anything about
taiji I should be able to
show you the Yang 24step and if I can let you
feel two percent of
what I am feeling, then
I will catch you.

How could tennis or snooker catch me? The first time I saw snooker
I thought, this is disgusting! They get 100,000 just for hitting a ball
with a bloody stick! I could do the same with a pole! But slowly you
get into the game and the psychological side. We need to be able to do
that for taiji, from the combat side or your own emotions. If you can
attract people like that, then that is good enough. That is why people
like watching Jet Li and Jackie Chan. They perform brilliantly and
people can feel it and are fascinated by them. Why do so many people
from different cultures love them?
There are forty million people in Britain, but you dont need all of
them. Maybe only two thousand, personally I would be happy with
five hundred dedicated students in my whole lifetime. If I can achieve
that then I will feel that I have done well.
We need people who are professional and who also understand
Western thinking and have a high level of taiji or martial arts. If you
have these then you will be a winner.
QM: So you really feel taiji has a future?
MY: Yes, definitely. It has been proven in the Far East, in Japan,
Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. The people in England and
the whole of Europe all need something instead of pills and medicine
or alcohol.
At the moment I am resident taiji instructor at the Springs Hydro
Health Farm in Leicestershire. Each week throughout my classes I
teach between 100 and 150 residents and each week we have a
different 100 to 150. I ask before the start of the class if anybody
has ever experienced taiji before. It is very unusual if any of them
say yes, but it is very common for them to ask at the end of the
class, Do you know of any instructors in my part of the country?.
I dont know where any instructors are, so if there are any good
instructors teaching please let me know where you are and I will
direct people to you.
Taiji is still at a promotional level and all instructors should work
together.
At Spring Hydro alone, nearly 4,000 people from all over the country
have been through my classes during the last nine months and it is
frustrating when I am unable to help them further their interest in
taiji.
QM: The Western mind is starting to open to it?
MY: I think so, yes. Thats how I feel. But without the proper taiji
then we will get no-where. People can see how you move. It is like
music. Music is for your ears. If you have not heard some music
you wont buy it, you will say let me hear it first. Taiji is the same
thing. You cant say to someone who knows nothing about taiji,
Come on, taiji is brilliant!, no, you have got to show them
something unique. Of course, you know that when he walks into
your class he will not be able to do what you showed him. You
know he has got to go through the first steps, but that will attract
him to stay with you. How long he stays will depend on how much
you have touched this person and how you encourage him to follow
you.
To attract him, you have to show him movements. You have to let
his eyes tell his brain he enjoys it. What we are doing is body
language. Music is for the ears and what we do is for the eyes.
I believe we will get there with all these talented people.
M: Do you have anything special planned for this year?
MY: Yes, we are planning a residential taiji weekend in April. If
anybody would like to come, please get in touch.
to be continued...

Interview by Darryl Moy & Daniel Poon.

Master Ma Yue can be contacted on 0116 255 0124

Qi Magazine 27

sReviewsRevi
e
wsRevi
e
w
Reviews
WILD GOOSE
QIGONG
By Master Yang Meijun
Today many people have heard about
Wild Goose Qigong. It was not so less than
three decades ago when it was still practised
in secret by those who had been passed the
skill secretly, from generation to generation.
Master Yang Meijun is the twenty-seventh
generation inheritor of Wild Goose Qigong
and learned the skill from her grandfather
who learned it from a Daoist who told him
that he could not pass on the skill until he
reached the age of seventy. When Master
Yang was thirteen years old, her grandfather
taught her in the quiet hours between 3 and
5 am. He taught her Wild Goose Qigong
and other forms which were part of the
Kunlun system.
Wild Goose Qigong is a profound
form that in addition to its obvious beauty
has many health benefits for the practitioner.
Its movements connect with several of the
bodys acupuncuture points and helps to
open the channels. This book illustrates both
the first and second sixty four movements
of the form and discusses the benefits of the

Qi Magazine 28

movements in detail in the concluding

section. It also relates cases of people who
have been helped by the study of Wild
Goose.
It is not suggested that you try to
learn the form from the book, however, it is
a useful guide for reference for those learning
the movement in classes or for someone
wanting to know more about Qigong. It
discusses the history of the Wild Goose form
and Master Yang offers advice on the types
of hand movements in particular which will
be used throughout the form and advice on
the practise itself.
I have had my copy for many years
now and it is looking a bit worn around the
edges, but everytime I pick it up I find I
understand something that more practise
and time puts into a different perspective.
by Jessica Blackwell

The Official
Martial Arts
Encyclopaedia
This is
the first CD
ROM product I
have found that
deals with this
subject. It is
called Official
because it has
the endorsement
of 18 or so
different Martial
Arts federations
and
organisational bodies.
As with all
works that try to
deal with all martial arts comprehensively, I was a
bit sceptical
when I was
asked to review
it. However after spending a couple of hours
surfing around it, I must say that it is
absorbing stuff.
CD-ROM is a superb medium for a
publication such as this. It gives textual
descriptions with pictures, but it is when

video clips are woven in that the

Encyclopaedia comes alive. You can watch a
technique, pause it where ever you want, step
through it frame by frame, you can even
watch it backwards if you want to! Also, the
material is presented like a book, so that you
can jump from page to page without having
to wade through material, which is the
problem with videos dealing with the subject.
There are four main sections:
Japanese Martial Arts, Chinese Martial Arts,
Korean Martial Arts and Other Martial Arts.
Due to their popularity over here, much of
the material is devoted to Japanese and
Korean systems. However there is a sizeable,
if somewhat uneven, section on Chinese
Martial Arts which would be of interest to
the reader of Qi Magazine. It is interesting
to note that the popularity of a countrys
martial art is proportional to its economic
strength, so given the current problems in
the Pacific Basin, I guess Japan and Korea
had better watch out.
The involvement of martial arts
organisations in its production is both good
and bad. Good, in that it allows them to get
people who know what they are doing to
give input, but bad
because what they say
is published without
criticism. Some of the
entries were a bit ropy
or a bit one sided, and
I hope the publishers
continue to research
to find out definitive
performances to add
to their work. In
particular, a bit of film
work from Tokyo,
Beijing, or Soule
would make the
product more of a
heavy weight.
However that
is my brain speaking.
My heart says I cant
remember spending as
much time reading a
martial arts book or watching a martial arts
video for a long time. You will definitely
enjoy this product, and the time it will save
you from surfing the net will save you a
fortune in phone bills.

ReviewsReviews
by Daniel Poon

Useful Self Defence

San Sau Quan Fa
Throwing a Hook Punch
The attacker, A, throws a hook
punch towards Bs chin. B quickly blocks
the punch with his forearm and
immediately steps forwards whilst
grabbing As wrist and elbow.
B then twists As arm out and down
causing him to be thrown to the ground.

Countering a Grab
B grabs A by the shoulders. A
ignores Bs hands and attacks the weaker
parts of Bs body. First he hits the floating
rib area, head-butts and then finishes with
a knee strike to the groin area.
B

Locking a Punch
B throws a punch at As chin. B
remains very calm steps back and blocks
the punch with his palm. Without pulling
his hand away, he grabs Bs wrist. He then
twists it in and down thus locking the arm.
A

by Cheng Man Guang

Qi Magazine 35

TCM & Obesity (Part 2)

In the last issue 35 of Qi Magazine, I had prescribed 4 prescriptions of Chinese
Herbal Medicine for the treatment of Obesity, now I am going to introduce more
Dietetic Chinese Herbs for losing weight
A)
Kuan Bun (Japanese Sen
Tangle) 30g per day.
Contra indicated for those who
suffer from insufficiency and coldness of
the spleen and stomach.
B)
Dong Gua (Waxgourd).
Cut 500g of the waxgourd into
thick slices and then make soup. It is
advisable to use a bit of sesame oil and
salt to flavour it. Waxgourd contains no
fat and little sodium and is therefore ideal
for reducing weight. Not only is it
suitable to be eaten frequently by obese
people, but it does a lot of good to those
who suffer from Kidney diseases and
diabetes.
C)
He Ye Shan Zha Yin
(Lotus leaf and hawthorn fruit drink).
Ingredients:- Lotus leaf 9g,
Hawthorn fruit 9g. Decoct the lotus
leaf and the hawthorn fruit in
water for a while and take it
as a drink. To treat simple
obesity it is advisable to
take such a drink frequently.
D)
Sweet corn
and radishes
These are good for
lowering the cholesterol
level, getting rid of fat and
losing weight.

You can eat corn on the cob or

cornflower. Radishes can be eaten raw
or cooked.
E)
Ninghong
Health
Protection Tea.
With its long history, it has been
known all over the world since 1930.
Ninghong Tea is the finest in China and
the best in the world. In recent years
Ninghong Tea has been awarded gold and
silver prizes several times at national
levels.
Ninghong Health Protection Tea
was developed on the basis of Ninghong
Tea with help from experts and
Professors of the
Shanghai
Traditional
Medicine

Diet Therapy Association. The new

product, which has Ninghong Teas
functions of reducing human fat, diuresis,
being a refreshing drink and preventing
cancer, becomes more effective than
Ninghong Tea with additives of
Chrysanthemum Pollen and Liquorice
Root. Therefore it has been considered
as the first in a series of health protection
teas in China.
Ninghong (diet) Tea has the
functions to reduce human fat, diuresis,
halitosis and relieve itching, it is effective
for patients who are fat, have halitosis,
itch,or are constipated,and is especially
good for Cholocystitis. This tea will aid
in long life. You are encouraged to drink
it often.
Acupuncture is another method
to treat obesity, it can help suppress the
appetite and regulate the digestive system.
Common points are:- Qu Chi (LI 11)
He Gu (L.I. 4) Xue Hai (SP10) San Yin
Jiao (SP6) Bai Hui (DU20).
If fat stomach add: Tain Shu
(ST25) Shuidao (ST28) Ji Men (SP11).
If fat on the thigh add: Feng Shi
(GB31) Huan Tiao (GB30).
If fat in back add: Shen Shu.
In order to lose weight, apart from
the above treatments, we have to try
hard to have a good diet. Do not eat
too many fatty foods such as
Chocolate, Cheese, Milk,
Lamb, Beef. In addition it is
important to do more
exercise to keep your body
in good health.
For further information please
contact:Dr Shulan Tang
50 Sandy Lane, Chorlton,
Manchester M21 8TN. Tel:
0161 881 8576.
or Owen Road, Skerton,
Lancaster
LA1 2DX. Tel: 01524
69864.
Qi Magazine 37

FENG SHUI

Twenty-Four Mountains

hen studying Feng Shui,

understanding theTwentyFour Mountains is very
important.
Without
knowing the Twenty-Four Mountains

you cannot do Feng Shui, no matter what

style of Feng Shui you study.
In the previous Ba Zi articles I have
already described Tien Guan (Heavenly
Stems) and Di Zi (Earthly Branches)

together with the Bagua. From these

three we pick the more important parts,
and these are the Twenty-Four
Mountains.
Let us take the Tien Guan first:-

Tien Guan
(Mandarin)
(Cantonese)

Jia
Gaap

Yi
Yuht

Bing
Bing

Wu
Mou

Ji
Gei

Geng Xin
Gung San

Ren
Yum

Gui
Gaai

You
Yau

Xu
Sat

Fire

Ding
Ding
South

Me
t al

Centre

West

od
Wo

East

Di Zi

(Mandarin)
(Cantonese)

Zi
Ji

Chou
Chau

Yin
Yun

Mao Chen
Maao Sun

ter
Wa

North

Si
Jih

Fig 1

Wu Wei Shen
Ngh Mei San

Fir e South

M et a
l

West

Earth

Wood

East

North

r
Wa te

Qi Magazine 38

Fig 2

Hai
Hoi

Ba Gau
(Mandarin)
(Cantonese)

Qian
Kin

Dui
Dui

Li
Lei

Zhen
Tsun

Xun
Sun

Kan
Hum

Gen
Gun

Kun
Kun
South
Fire

Fire

Fig 3

ar
th

Wo
od

We only use some of these. From

the Tien Guan we use all except Mou and
Gei, because these are in the middle and
cannot fit in and from the Di Zi we use
all, as these are much easier. Fig 4.

West

East

M et
al

Tien Guan
+
Di Zi
Water

North

Fig 4

Fig 5

Tien Guan
+
Di Zi
+
Bagua

Fig 6

Fig 7

The Compass with the Twenty-four

Mountains on the inner most ring

Tien Guan
+
Di Zi
+
Bagua

However we have to add the

Bagua to it and so we choose the four least
important directions because in the
Twenty Four Mountains the Di Zi are the
most important. So we choose Kin, Gun,
sun and Kun. Fig 5-6.
This gives us the Twenty-four
Mountains we find on the Feng Shui
compass, Fig 7.
by Michael Tse
Qi Magazine 39

The martial arts have always been dominated by men.

If you go into any class you will be lucky to find more than
two or three women who have been training for more than a
couple of years. However, in todays society,
martial arts are becoming ever more relavant
for women, so is there a martial art that can be
trained equally by all?

The
Non-Discriminative Art

omen are very often

the minority in the field
of martial arts. Those
that do test the water
are usually attracted to
external disciplines believing them to be
the best option for their self-defence.
They are mistaken. Be they black belt or
not, when it comes to the crunch, if they
are attacked, a strong member of the
opposite sex would realistically triumph;
this observation is by no way meant to
appear derogatory to the art they practise.
It is just a matter of body mechanics.
Womens bodies in general are soft,
sensitive and yielding; they are not
naturally muscular and built to carry
home the days hunting (only a couple of
bags from Tescos maybe). Yes, they are
mentally equal to their male counterpart,
but it is physically unnatural for them to
be as strong. I believe we are much better
suited to the sensitive art of taiji, where
we can use our softness to our advantage,
and make the odds more even.
Women do not have to try and rise
to the mans strength. We can draw them
into our softness and use the element of
surprise to re-direct or take their balance.
After all, do we women really want to
appear hard and aggressive when there is
no need. You can achieve much with a
great deal less effort, and retain your
Qi Magazine 40

femininity. As this extract from my taiji

bible, There are no secrets by Wolf
Lowenthal shows:
Professor Cheng said that women
are naturally much more gifted in taiji.
Their understanding of sensitivity and
softness usually takes men years to
achieve. However, it can take a decade
for their talent to pay-off . In the
meantime, in an insensitive push hands
environment, they will be shoved around
and, probably most frustrating of all, be
taught by stronger men who assume
that because they are winning they
must know more.
Applying the virtues of
softness is frustrating and
difficult. All sincere push
hands (both men and women)
must confront this problem.
It becomes clear that to reap
the health benefits from your practise of
taiji, relaxation and softness are essential,
and this is the great gift we women can
bring to the class. Over my years of
training in push hands, women students
have often complained to me that they
dislike pushing with their male
counterparts because the mans ego
sometimes gets in the way. It is very hard
for a man to Invest in loss, which is
essential. But to invest in loss to a
woman, well I can see this must be doubly

pr
to
to
difficult. In most cases as soon as the
woman gains some advantage and the
male student starts to lose his balance
(dare I say face), out comes brute force.
This may not be a problem for the woman
who has learnt to harness her opponents
strength, in fact the harder he becomes
the easier it is to take him down; the stiff
body is inflexible and unbalanced.
However the newer lady practitioner who
has not yet acquired understanding and

skill to cope with the attack, may

feel too threatened to want to
continue.
One of the problems
experienced in class can be that
students cannot free spar, and
therefore are unable to
realistically test their ability
as a fighters. Push hands
will allow them to find spaces
in their partners defences,
improve sensitivity, and develop
their root, but because the nature
of the art is for powerful fast take
downs of your attacker it would
not be safe or practical to go
further in a training situation.
We also sometimes
forget that as your fellow
student is practising taiji as
well, there can be no real test
of each others ability, in the
event of a real life situation.
So how do we solve this
problem? I personally
practise any new techniques on my 6 foot 4 inch
son, who luckily has no
experience of taiji. Due to
my success in eluding his
grabs, throttlings, and
lunges and his frequent
requests for a cold compress,
we both have to accept that it does

not choose one in which success does not

depend on their strength, will hopefully
improve their health, and last but not least,
should keep stress levels down, the biggest
killer of all.
I am a registered nurse and firmly
believe that at least 50% of all the patients
I see are suffering from stress related or
provoked illness. Whether it be stomach
ulcers, skin problems, heart disease, blood
pressure, migraine, asthma or muscle
spasm, the list could go on and on.
Therefore I see
no benefit from
practising an
external martial
art that works
on the basis of
stimulating the
body to pump
out adrenaline,
which increases
the heart rate,
stiffens
the
m u s c l e s ,

The newer lady

actitioner may feel
o threatened to want
continue.
work. However as I improve and his
bruising increases, he seems to have lost
his enthusiasm, and I seem to have lost
my fall guy Kateo.
It is a sad fact, in this day and age,
that we all need to be aware of the threat
of violence, and the unprovoked attack
that is especially relevant to women.
Some may feel that training in a martial
art discipline would provide them with
confidence and peace of mind. Then why

quickens the respiration and prepares you

for fight or flight, which to my mind
says stress, stress and more stress. Surely
we encounter enough of this in every day
life without deliberately setting out to
invoke this response once or twice a week
in class.
I realise that some people do enjoy
the rigid training methods, and find that
hard sessions seem to somehow release
their stress and aggression. Physically

and mentally I tend to feel these people

are the exception rather then the rule. In
the long term their joints will remind
them of their former training days.
As the founder of our style of taiji,
Professor Cheng Man Ching so
eloquently put it, when asked by a student
Why learn taiji ? he replied, When
you get to the point in your life when you
know what you want, youll have the
strength to enjoy it. Who are we to argue
with this!
by Jenny Peters
Jenny is an instructor with Kai Ming Martial
Arts Association.
Qi Magazine 41

History Part 3

Michael Tse has studied with some

of the most famous teachers in China
and Hong Kong. Last time we
discovered how he came to study with
Master Yang Meijun the inheritor of the
Dayan Qigong System.
In this issue Michael begins to tell
us about his Hard Qigong training and
studying with Master Lee Hok Ming.

still
remember
watching
martial
arts
demonstrations out in the street. They were a
bit like people busking for money today.
Actually, back then theses people wanted to sell
some Chinese medicine. They had medicines for many
different illness and problems, like backache, headache or
internal injury etc.
What they would do was first make a lot of noise with a
Chinese bell to draw the attention of the audience. Then they
would do some martial arts forms or display feats of strength
or power. They might put a big slab on a persons chest and
another person would hit it with a large hammer until it broke,
or they might put some bricks on the head and again another
person would use the big hammer and smash them all.
I thought this was very impressive and I always
thought to myself, How can they be so strong and
do that? It was not until I grew up and met
Masters Lee Hok Ming and Zhan Jia Liang did
I understand. This skill is called Ying
Qigong, which means Hard
Qigong.

Qi Magazine 43

Everyone who studies martial arts wants to be strong

and powerful, either externally or internally. When I was twentythree I had done some Wing Chun and some simple Qigong,
and I had just started Chen Style Taijiquan. Then, I was hungry
for all different
kinds
of
Chinese skill,
even things like
Yijing, Feng
Shui, Chinese
H o r o s c o p es ,
palm and face
reading and of
course, Qigong.
I never came across any Hard Qigong, but reading about it
always excited me. I thought I would never have the opportunity
to study it, because it was always kept secret. Some martial arts
called it Nei Gong, which means internal training. This meant
that without studying with your teacher for a long time he would
not teach you. This I did not mind so long as I could study.
Fortunately, the Qigong heat from China had started
and there were some Qigong magazines where you could get
some information. From these I started to understand more.
I always looked in the newspaper advertisements, because
that is what brought me to study with Master Ip Chun. Then
one day I saw an advertisement for Hard Qigong. I called the

number straight away and went to see the master. His name
was Master Lee Hok Ming. When I went to see him, I found
he lived in a very busy street, on the first floor of a building.

With the Postnatal Breathing

you breathe in with the mouth
and suck the Qi in for as long as
possible.

Qi Magazine 44

I rang the bell and a man opened the door and smiled at
me. I went in and introduced myself to him. Looking around, I
could see I was in a Chinese clinic. I sat down and he offered
me some tea. Then he told me he was Sifu Lee Hok Ming. He
was not very tall, about five feet six inches, but he had a very
strong body. You could tell from his arms and his hands, which
were very strong and thick, that he had done a lot of training.
He then started to tell me about his training history.
Master Lee Hok Ming started training when he was a
teenager. When I met him he was about forty years old. He had
recently come to Hong Kong from Nanjing, China. He told
me his Hard Qigong style was called Ermei Seven Stars Hard
Qigong. It was a Daoist style of Hard Qigong and was based
on breathing skills and external training. In Hard Qigong you
need to develop internally so the Qi is strong. You also develop
externally, the bones, muscle and skin. Then the Qi can protect
your internal organs so you do not get hurt or injured when
someone attacks you. You can also release powerful strength
together with internal Qi.
Studying Hard Qigong is not just to make you externally
strong. There is a lot of internal training that is different to
Soft Qigong. Hard Qigong uses prenatal breathing and postnatal
breathing. Without understanding the breathing the Hard
Qigong will not work. It is not a case of just hitting the body
until it is tough, because if the internal body does not have
enough Qi to protect it then you will just damage yourself.
There are many people who do the movements without
understanding the breathing and correct internal training and
they can damage themselves.
Ermei Seven Stars Hard Qigong originally comes from
the Daoists of the Ermei Mountains, and later it developed in
Nanjing City. With the Prenatal Breathing you naturally breathe
in and out through the nose. With the Postnatal Breathing you
breathe in with the mouth and suck the Qi in for as long as
possible. At the end you swallow the Qi down to your Dantien,
like you are eating it. You let the Qi settle to the Dantien and
breathe out naturally through your nose.
Ermei Seven Stars Hard Qigong has three levels. The
first level is called, Beginning Seven Stars Hard Qigong.
This has seven exercises:
1 True Qi Sea or it is also called Iron Belly.

2 Dry Land with Stabbing Needle. Also called Thousand Pound

Sinking Root Gong, which is for developing the strong legs
and stance.
3 Jade Belt Around the Waist. Also called Iron Back and this
develops the Kidneys.
4 Toads Gong, also called Iron Shirt.
5 Looking at the Stars, also called Iron Head and Back Gong.
6 Strong Arms Moving the Mountain, also called Pushing
Mountain palm.
7 Ten thousand Qi Back to the source. Also called Strong
Power Gong.
Ermei Seven Stars Hard Qigong is done with the eyes
closed or half closed, so you do not focus on any objects. Thus
its training is very internal. Every part concentrates a lot on
swallowing Qi and postnatal breathing until the internal Qi is
strong, then you can develop the external body. You lead the
Qi to different areas of the body, like the Dantien, legs, waist,
as well as the head and arms. So your Qi covers the whole body,
and then you can develop the outside.
The second level trains the external body and is called
Thirteen Strong Man. This part develops the bone, muscle
and skin. When you come to this part you can become exhausted
if your first level is not good enough. You start to use pieces of
wood and metal to hit yourself. You even hit trees and walls to
develop you external body so it is strong.
After the external body training, we go back to the
internal training. This time you concentrate more on the weak

areas, like the throat and hidden areas. You also start to develop
Light Gong. So having covered all areas, you come back to the
soft and develop the mind. This is the second part of Seven Stars
Hard Qigong training.
Once I started to visit Master Lee, I went to train four
or five days a week. This was for many years, until I met another
Hard Qigong Master, Master Zhan Jia Liang. He opened my
eyes to a Buddhist style of Hard Qigong and this had both very
simple and very difficult exercises
to be continued ... by Michael Tse
please note: Michael Tse is teaching Heavenly River Monastery Hard
Qigong Level 1 on 20/21 March 98, in London, as taught by Master Zhan
Jia Liang. Contact the Tse Qigong Centre for details.
Qi Magazine 45

Raymond Lo

Lectures on Feng Shui

The energy of the dragon will be dispersed by wind, will stop at the boundary of water - The Book of Burial.
Raymond Lo is currently one of the best known names in Feng Shui. He has published seven books on Feng Shui
and Destiny Analysis & has been writing for the Hong Kong Standard for the last eight years. He recently visited
Britain to give a lecture in London & teach a short series of seminars in Stratford.

aymond Lo is a small round

faced man, extremely open,
friendly and polite to everyone.
He possesses the almost ever
present smile of someone who
has the good fortune to be doing exactly
what he wants, which in this case is
introducing Britain to subjects that runs to
the core of Chinese
culture: Feng Shui and
Destiny Analysis.
The Chinese say
that there are five factors
that affect the quality of
life. In order of
importance these are:
Destiny, Luck, Feng Shui,
Philanthropy
and
Education.
Raymond Lo
explained that the most
important two of the
above are fixed. There is
nothing you can do to
change your destiny, or
your luck but you can gain
a passive knowledge of
them. Destiny, when
explained by Raymond
Lo, is a quite concrete
subject, understood
through analysis rather
than mysticism. Someone
living in the sixteenth century
would have been destined never
to fly in a plane, but it is quite
possible for someone in the
twentieth century. There is
nothing that you can do to
change the date of your birth
and it determines many factors
relating to your life. The best
that you can do is gain a passive understanding
of your destiny and your luck so that you can
make the most of them.
You may want to take a day trip to
Neptune but because you live in the twentieth
century it is not possible yet. However you
should not let this stop you from making the
most of the possibilities that are available,

such as scuba diving in the Mediterranean or

skiing in the Alps. Similarly, you may find
you have no luck gambling but have really
great luck with the opposite sex. You cannot
change your luck, but you can learn to make
the most of your good luck and minimise the
harm of the bad.
One of the key things about
Raymond Lo is
the way that he
brings a very
clear logical way
of thought to
his subject. He
is largely self
taught and his
approach is
extremely
practical and
a l m o s t
scientific. It is
because of this
that he is
uniquely able to
explain the
mysteries of
Feng Shui in a
way that a
We s t e r n
audience can
understand.

based on the laws of motion and gravity

Chinese metaphysics studies the laws
governing destiny.
In the West, predicting the future has
a bad reputation. It is associated with crystal
balls, hocus pocus and the irrational. The
approach of Raymond Lo is not like this.
His approach is similar to that of a business
manager who wants to forecast the future of
his company. A manager uses the best
available economic theories to make rational
projections about what is going to happen,
based on past performance. However, as any
manager will tell you, even the best of
forecasts can be thrown out by unexpected
contingencies. While such forecasting
cannot avoid the unexpected it can at least
build in sufficient flexibility to deal with some
such contingencies.
The study of Destiny Analysis has
found that understanding a persons luck is
very important to predicting their future many important events in a persons life
depend on the intervention of chance occurrences. The study of Destiny has to
explicitly study luck: to discover the rule to
the exception to the rule.
The first move for anyone who
wants to understand Destiny Analysis or
Feng Shui is to study the basic principles and
rules by which the universe functons. For
Raymond Lo this
means studying the
five-element theory
until you have a good
knowledge of the
two cycles (one of
production and the
other of destruction)
and
how
the
elements interrelate.
These, he asserts, are
the cycles of order in the universe and they
cannot be escaped.
He illustrated this conception of the
five elements with a humorous story from
Chinese literature. In Journey To The West`,
the Monkey King runs riot in heaven. Even
the Emperor of Heaven and his army cannot
control Monkey. So, the Emperor of Heaven

Many important events

in a persons life depend on
the intervention of chance.
Feng Shui and Destiny Analysis, he
explained, help people understand their
situation and their future. The basic principles
are very similar to Western science. Both are
founded on the notion that there is an order
to the universe; that this order can be detected
understood and used to forecast the future.
Just as astronomers can predict an eclipse

Qi Magazine 47

asks Buddha for assistance. Buddha challenges

Monkey to jump off his right hand. Monkey
knows that he can easily jump a hundred and
eight thousand leagues in one bound so he
accepts the challenge. He makes an enormous
leap and flies through the air like a shooting
Star. As he is going along he sees five huge
mountains in front of him. This
is the end of the World, Monkey
thinks, so he lands at the base of
one of the mountains and leaves
his mark, which being a monkey is
in the form of urine, as proof of
how far he had jumped before
leaping back to Buddha. Monkey
claims his prize but is astonished
when Buddha shows him that he
only jumped as far as his middle
finger, and that he has pissed on
Buddhas palm. Then Buddha
shows Monkey that his five fingers
are the five elements. No matter
how far Monkey jumped he could
not escape the fundamental laws
of the universe. This story also
gives a name to a special five-peaked
mountain in China, which is called
Wu Hsing Shan.
The second tool that
Raymond Lo introduced as
essential for understanding a
persons position in the universe
is the Chinese Calendar. The
Chinese Calendar is different from
the Western calendar in that it is
understood as a series of
interrelated cycles which all have
different meanings. A Chinese
Year is composed from two basic
elements: a Heavenly Stem and
an Earthly Branch. This pair
forms a yin/yang relationship
(with the Heavenly Stem being the
yang part of the pair). They also each give an
element from the five elements.
This yin yang pair for the year of birth
is the first of the Four Pillars of Destiny.
From this information you can make some
rough, very general statements about a
person. If you know all Four Pillars you can
make a more accurate analysis. The month,
the day and the hour determine the other
three Pillars.
Raymond Lo estimates that his
forecasts, based on Destiny Analysis, have
about eighty per cent accuracy. More
importantly though he suggests that
understanding the elements of your destiny
should be used as a tool to balance your life.
The whole of Chinese metaphysics is based
around the concept that balance and harmony
are an ideal state and that extremes should be
avoided.
Qi Magazine 48

Of the five factors affecting the

quality of your life (Destiny, Luck, Feng Shui,
Philanthropy, and Education) Feng Shui is
the most important of those that you can
positively affect and change for yourself. An
understanding of Feng Shui is thus a positive
tool.

There are two sides to Feng Shui. The

first concerns yin houses, burial sites, and is
an important factor in enhancing your
destiny, and the second relates to yang houses
- the places that we choose to live. Raymond
Lo spoke mainly about the Feng Shui of yang
houses in his London lecture.
Raymond Lo identified a number of
benefits that you can gain from knowledge
of Feng Shui:
1. The creation of a healthy and prosperous
environment
2. The selection of prosperous sites and
locations for offices and residences
3. The enhancement of harmony, health,
prosperity and the avoidance of
misfortune through practical interior
design

4. The achievement of individual prosperity

and harmony through interior
decoration
5. A tool with which to plan for and forecast
events (this is a speciality of the Flying
Star School of Feng Shui)
6. An understanding of the cyclic change of
luck over time.
The
fundamental
statement of Feng Shui comes
from The Book of Burial. It
says, The energy of the dragon
will be dispersed by wind, will
stop at the boundary of water.
In terms of the landscape
mountains are considered to be
like dragons. Energy is dispersed
by the wind but the mountain
provides shelter. In order to stop
the dragon from leaving you also
need water. Thus, the statement
describes the ideal site: one,
which is sheltered by mountains
to the rear and sides and which,
has water (or an open space) at
the front.
Feng Shui is composed of
two main areas of knowledge:
Form and Compass. Form deals
with the physical form or shape
of the land. Many of the rules of
Form analysis are like rules of
thumb, but the more important
part of Feng Shui analysis comes
from an understanding of the
Compass which explains time
and space (directions).
The Compass is essential
to explain change over time.
There is no house that will have
good Feng Shui forever. It is
only through the Compass that
you can understand how the cycles of energy
may affect particular sites at different times,
allowing you to make the most of that
location.
The Compass is based on the Lo Shu
diagram. Most people will know this diagram
from the Yijing, and may know it as The
Magic Square. The Lo Shu is used as the
foundation of the Star Chart, which is used
to calculate those aspects that influence
human harmony and money.
In his London lecture, Raymond Lo
gave an extremely good overview of the
potential interest of Feng Shui and Destiny
analysis. In a short period of an evening he
outlined a massive subject with extreme clarity.
In the following days, Raymond Lo taught
several seminars explaining Feng Shui and
Destiny analysis in more detail
by Glen Gossling