By Beth Sung
Once when passed by Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on my bike, something drew my attention away from the traffic. I stopped my bike right away and had a closer look. Then I realized that it was people practicing kung-fu. But somehow it looked different from the people doing Tai chi on campus every Tuesday afternoon. To satisfy my curiosity, then, I went up to ask a man who happened to be the coach. It was “Long fist” that they were practicing. Long fist (長拳), as the name suggests, has characteristics such as open, extended and large movements of the body along with jumping, kicking and spinning. Generally speaking, the Long fist family includes Cha fist (查拳), Hua fist (花拳) and Pao fist (砲拳). One popular and widely renowned Long fist style is Cha fist. Rumor has it that its presumed founder, Cha Mi-er (查密爾), was designated by the emperor to cast away alien tribes from the north and the west. Unfortunately, he came down with a disease on his expedition and was forced to stay in a village in Shandong until he got well. Because the villagers practiced kung-fu to keep in shape and to defend themselves, he taught them a certain kung-fu style in return for their kindness. What the villagers learned from Cha Mi-er was organized later on as Cha fist. Long fist is said to be the best threshold for beginners to pick up Chinese kung-fu. It emphasizes the basics that enable beginners to use every part of their bodies to build a solid ground for future training. In contrast, other styles of kung-fu tend to emphasize a certain part of the body right from the beginning. For example, eagle claw and mantis fist both use lots of wrist and finger techniques while the Chuo jiao style uses lots of kicking techniques. Instead of limiting learners to one specific technique at an early stage, Long fist provides learners with comprehensive skills from which they can choose to specialize afterwards. Therefore, Long fist is often compared to the mother of northern Chinese martial arts. Long fist is more than just a physical activity. It also puts strong emphasis on the expansion of the mind. However, its mental training is not always obvious for learners at the beginning phase. They usually don’t realize it until teachers point out for them. Learning to focus plays an important part in mental training. Learners need to focus on the front, the side and the back of their bodies because Long fist requires both arms and legs to perform in various ways at the same time. Sometimes arms and legs are required to move at different speeds in order to reach a specific point respectively. Large movements as such easily distract attention. Nevertheless, it indeed leads learners to develop all-dimensional awareness of body movements, space and time. Long fist is a very good exercise. Not only will it keep you as fit as any other western sport, but it is also unique in enriching your life physically as well as mentally. Unlike western sports that only involve physical movements, Long fist is truly a combination of internal and external movements. #Volume 8 Issue 2#sportsandentertainment a
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May 2024
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