Tag: movement

China: Zhang Zhilei (张志磊) – Professional Heavyweight Boxer! (16.4.2023)

His punching combinations are fast, fluid, well-timed and accurate – whilst his evasive upper body movement and lower body footwork is both precise and compact! He skilfully makes the opponent miss whilst always staying in range to counter continuously. His fast (combination) hitting is reminiscent of that seen within advanced Chinese gongfu practice – particularly when Zhang Zhilei initiates exchanges! I suspect that somewhere in his training background lies the Internal Martial Arts of China! As he progresses through the ranks, he stoically faces the racist disdain he encounters in the West – and lets his ability and ever-growing tally of victories speak for themselves! Indeed, although 39 years old at the writing of this article – this might work for him in a sport that is usually merciless in its treatment of older competitors! Chinese martial tradition and culture possesses an entirely different approach to interpreting the ageing process!

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China: History Classic (Shujing) and the Concept of ‘Time’! (22.9.2022)

Seldom does the West Treat non-Westerners with respect. Since 1945 and the rise of US dominance, this anti-intellectual approach has become far more prevalent, powerful and normalised! Racism is an ever threatening ogre lurking in the darkness – but in this short extract (in 1971) – Clae Williams ‘revitalises’ the ground breaking translation work of James Legge, who began the translation of the Chinese ‘Five Classic’ texts in the mid to late 1800s! Although both cultures (the West and East) are still learning about one another, Legge was able to ‘see beyond’ his own socio-economic and cultural conditioning, and ‘see into’ or profoundly ‘glimpse’ how the ancient Chinese people developed a distinct cultural view of the world! The following extract is an ‘Introduction’ written by the American ‘Clae Williams’ in 1969, his modernisation of the work of James Legge, with much of its content deriving from the ample notes left behind in the James Legge Library. The ‘Shujing’ (書經) or ‘Document Classic’ is often referred to in China as the ‘Book of History’ as the ‘Documents’ concerned are ‘Historical’ in nature recording Chinese history from around 2205 – 771 BCE. It is an interesting attempt by non-Chinese people to contextualise the Chinese cultural perception of the world!

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Email: Socialist Martial Arts – ‘Systema’ (система)! (8.6.2022)

The cultural and religious baggage within Asian cultures generally means that it takes decades to finally arrive at the ability that Systema teaches from the first day of training (and only then, if the practitioner of the Asian arts has found a competent Master). This signifies the ‘Socialist’ egalitarian nature of ‘Systema’ where there were no coloured belts representing a fascistic and hierarchical grading system – as is common within Japanese culture. In the original Soviet – (and now ‘Russian’) – martial system (Systema), the highest form of inner and outer awareness, body-alignment, organisation and movement, as well as advanced technical manifestation – is taught first without any hesitation, whilst an individual’s psychological and emotional (spiritual) understanding of what a practitioner is physically experiencing has to catch-up over the many years of training.

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