As the legs sink into the earth, the ox bends the knee and extracts the limb – this is the squat-kick, and as the broad back carries the plough and the farmer – this is the back-raise of the gongfu practitioner. Finally, for many Hakka gongfu practitioners, standing in ‘Horse Stance’ (馬步 – Ma Bu) is actually holding the ‘Ox Stance’ (牛步 – Niu Bu).
Category: Hakka Ethnography
The ‘Hak-gar’ or ‘Guest People’ live in South China but follow a Northern Chinese culture.
Semyon Nomokonov (1900-1973) Evenk Soviet Sniper
Despite the long distance, the shot hit the Nazi German in the centre of the fore-head. This was remarkable considering that Semyon Nomokonov did not make use of a modern telescopic sight. When this incident was reported to the Soviet Authorities, Semyon Nomokonov was immediately transferred to an active-duty sniper platoon.
Joe Lewis (1944-2012) – US Intelligence Operative?
Why did he not emphasis hard body-conditioning, detailed kata practice and application, and sparing with bare-hands and feet? Why did he ignore the Okinawan spirituality that imbues all that island’s (Chinese originated) martial arts?
Chinese Syncretism & Hakka Taiping Uprising (Email)
In the 19th century, the Hakka people rose-up against the Qing Dynasty (Taiping Uprising), combining Missionary Christianity, with Chinese Cosmology – with a ‘new’ Chinese ‘Son of God’.
Post-Modern Hakka (Letter 21.6.2016)
I noticed then that even the traditional Hakka clothing was nolonger worn, and the language spoken was a mixture of Hakka and Cantonese (with the occasional English word). Those who have left this village have spread all-over the world and changed in the new environments they have encountered, and yet there is something distinctly ‘Hakka’ that holds it all together!
Blond Hakka?
I think that given the right circumstances, any group of human-beings can migrate anywhere if they need or have to do it. After-all, a small group of homo sapiens left Africa around 140,000 years ago, and eventually populated the entire planet! I mention this because there are three issues of Hakka identity that are curious to me, 1) recurrence of blond hair throughout Hakka-Chinese populations, 2) Hakka women are equal to Hakka men, 3) Hakka women never had ‘bound’ feet.
