The Wu Tang Physical Culture Association
Welcome Everybody from Anywhere to Join Us
the Ninth Annual
What makes our trip so unique?
♦ We are not interested in learning the arts from these casually claimed Chinese Master who are from no where and not a whole life traditionally trained. We are proud learning and carrying-on the traditional system of the arts from THE ONLY LINEAGE MASTER in their arts, and exceptional quality of training with true information! Northern Wu Style Tai Ji Quan study with Li Bing Ci, and Cheng Style Ba Gua Zhang and Xing Yi Quan with Liu Jing Ru. They give special attention to everyone to experience the deep and meaningful level of the internal arts!
♦ Frank Allen and Tina Zhang professionally organized the study program with the masters in
♦ We stay in a central located and comfortable hotel that creates a friendly and fun atmosphere. The trip also provides enough free time and respectful space for each individual to explore more culture in the city.
(Air fare: Approx. $1050 departure from New York, we strongly suggest you book earlier in order to get a cheap ticket. The Airlines tickets to Beijing from Europe are a lot cheaper than departure from the USA).
A non-refundable deposit of $300 due by July 7, 2011, Any questions, please email Tina at [email protected]
Total payment due by Nov. 15, 2011.
Pay by Check: Please make checks payable to Zhang's Wu Tang.
Again, we had another great annual training trip in
What I really wanted to address is that Ba Gua Zhang Grandmaster Liu Jing Ru and Northern Wu Tai Ji Quan Li Bing Ci are the oldest generation Chinese internal martial arts Masters who represent the styles and most respected by the martial arts community in
Our Ninth year�s annual training trip will start
We will have only 8 training days for both masters due to their busy schedules.
Tai Ji Quan training will include the 83 form correction, applications, and 64 Sword study.
Ba Gua Zhang training will be scheduled to learn "Taijiquan, Baguazhang, Xingyiquan" combined form of Master Liu Jing Ru - his own creation of his more than 60 years of Internal Martial Arts experience. This will be REALLY INTERESTING!!!!
Ba Gua Zhang study also welcome NEW PRACTITIONERS to join us - a foundamental course will be happending simultaneously to learn "The Old 8 Basic Palms. No Ba Gua Zhang experience needed!!!
If you are new to Northern Wu Taijiquan, and/or Cheng Style Baguazhang, no worry, since we all will learn something new from Grandmasters!
Training schedule:
Taijiquan: 10:00am � 12:00noon
Lunch break: 12:00noon �
Baguazhang:
Private lessons with the masters can be arranged after the group classes from
Besides home of internal martial arts,
Marriott-Courtyard, aka WanYi hotel is the one we always stay and very satisfied with its very central location, comfortable room, breakfast with huge selections of Eastern and Western food, and a big shopping center connected the property where you get everything you need.
One thing I need to make the coming trip successfully is a deposit of $300 per person for the trip due on July 7, 2010. If you plan to go, please financially prepare early.
Looking forward to seeing you in
Happy & Healthy New Year!
Tina ZhangClick to see PHOTOS of the trips!
Some feedback listed in the order they were received:
First of all, I would like to thank both Tina and Frank for putting together a once in a lifetime trip. Great time, effort, and patience were put into this remarkable experience. Second of all, training with Master Li Bing Ci and Master Liu Jing Ru was absolutely incredible. These two teachers are true masters and living testimonies of the level that one may achieve in the internal martial arts. Studying with them is something you will never forget. Thirdly, besides the training, the itinerary of events that took place was superb. From the kung fu show, the authentic Chinese food, and sightseeing (we visited the Great Wall, White Cloud Temple, Forbidden City, etc.), everything was amazing. Finally, the group of people who went on this trip made it that much better. I hope to be there next year.
- Brian Dexter, 2009
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This is my 4th year on the Beijing training trip and I can't get enough. And I'm not the only one. At least four of us now make this a yearly pilgrimage. The training is superb. It is an amazing opportunity and an honor to study with the greatest living masters of Chung Baguazhang and Northern Wu Taiji. Both Master Li and Master Liu have commented on how pleased they are to teach students that are committed to the martial aspects of their arts. They are both gracious and attentive teachers and Tina is uniquely qualified as a long time practitioner of these arts and native speaker of Mandarine to translate the nuances of internal technique.
And Beijing continues to thrill. Each year I discover new neighborhoods, new markets, extraordinary restaurants and unexpected opportunities. And each year I make new friends and martial brothers and grow closer to ones I already know.
Most of our evenings are free and this year I explored Beijing's nightlife for the first time. Together with friends I attended electrifying musical performances, explored the clubs and pubs of the Houhai district and ate, drank and shopped my way through Zhonglouwan, one of hutong neighborhoods that has developed into a bohemian haunt. And in four visits I still feel I haven't even scratched the surface of this fascinating city, this stew of ancient walls and gates and courtyards and temples and shimmering skyscrapers and flashing billboards. I've been home for less than a month and Im ready to go again. Im
ready to dive back in.
Jonathan Molenar
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This is a really great year of our training trip with Masters�s deep and clear teachings of internal martial arts and Taoist studies:
Master Liu Jingru: Everyone loves his teaching with his strong personalities, humorous, straight forward manners, paying a great amount attention to each student, and most of all, his full passion for the art of Ba Gua Zhang! We were not only leaning the martial art, but also enjoyed the great time with such skilled Master who really close to everyone and really strike at you when comes applications.
Master Li Bingci: We had truly experienced with his teaching about what is the Nei Jia Quan � INTERNAL Martial Arts. Unlike some Tai Ji teachers just teaching by talking, some have a few Tai Ji techniques to show. However, our 80 years old of Tai Ji Quan Master, you can simply put your hands on one part of his body at time to feel what�s going on inside of his body, and he would explained to you, which only came from his 60 years of Tai Ji Quan Nei Gong practice. During this year�s study trip, the practical Tai Ji Quan internal energy and applications taught by Master Li in a great classic way along with entire classical Northern Wu Style Tai Ji Quan form practice.
The course on �Taoist health� by the Priest Li Yulin from The White Cloud Temple was authentically wonderful and educational, especially beneficial for those, who are interested in Taoism, Taoist way of nurturing life, and TCM practitioners and students.
Besides training, we all also have spent time to explore the culture and had a lot of fun in
Massages:
You can get a good massage easily with cheap price.
Getting around by subways:
I had taking taxi to everywhere whenever I came back to
The
Daoism is originated from Chinese culture, it effects strongly on the national spirit, way of thinking, taste of arts, folk traditions, behavior and so on. Apparently, the Dongyue God is the one who judges what is fair in society - appears in 72 different departments with 1, 316 in total, very interesting, extremely well done statues to culturally show what are right and wrong; corrections and punishments are hilariously depicted.
798 � The
This is a no-miss experience if you love arts. A place you can walk around for a few days to see all the displays in details and making stops in those fairly nice coffee shops.
The Olympic Park:
It�s always a nice walk in this huge square with these most uniquely designed architectures of the Bird-Nest and Water Cube around, I also like the special lighting at night that adds an extra beauty to the city.
- Tina Zhang
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Beijing 2008 (German)
Nun bin ich schon das dritte Mal mit Frank und Tina in Beijing gewesen. Mittlerweile f�hle ich mich auch mehr und mehr zu Hause. F�r mich ist so eine Reise ideal: Nach dem Fr�hst�ck geht es mit dem Taxi in die Trainingshalle. Die ersten beiden Stunden unterrichtet Li Bing Ci. Vorher trudeln erst mal langsam alle Sch�ler ein, besonders auch die vielen chinesischen Sch�ler und Sch�lerinnen die uns gleich mit ihren Dehn�bungen beeindrucken. Schnell merken wir, wie steif wir sind, besonders weil die Chinesen wesentlich kleiner sind und trotzdem an der relativ hohen Stange trainieren auf der einige von uns nur mit viel Ge�chze ihren Fu� hochbekommen. Wenn dann Lao Chi, der Lehrer kommt, beginnt flie�end der Unterricht. Immer wieder sagt er ein Wort was f�r mich wie Ebay klingt und meint wir sollen uns fertig machen f�r die Tai Chi Form. Dann muss aber doch wieder was erkl�rt werden und Ebay wird noch ein paar Mal ert�nen, bevor wir mit der Form beginnen. Immer wieder unterbricht er die Form, um die einzelnen Bewegungen bis ins kleinste Detail zu erkl�ren. Somit gibt er uns durch seine einf�hlsamen Korrekturen ein klares Bild von den Bewegungen und ihren Anwendungen in der Kampfkunst.
An anderen Tagen gehen die Dehn�bungen direkt in Teile der Form �ber, wie z. B. den Kicks. Gegen Ende der 2 Stunden Training kommt Liu Jing Ru, der Ba Gua Lehrer, der immer f�r kurze Zeit dem Tai Chi Lehrer die Show stiehlt, wenn er mit seiner l�ssigen Art durch den Raum schreitet. In der Mittagspause jongliert er mit Blument�pfen eine Ba Gua Form, l�sst sich mit Frank sein Bier schmecken und isst mit uns Dumplins.
Sein Unterricht ist f�r mich ein Genuss. Jedes Mal muss ich mir vergegenw�rtigen, dass dieser Mann �ber 71 Jahre alt ist und selbst Ko Chang, sein Assistent der schon 27 Jahre mit ihm trainiert und wesentlich j�nger ist als er (auch als ich) wirkt neben ihm zwar gelenkig, aber es fehlt ihm die Kraft und das in sich geschlossene seiner Bewegungen. Besonders genie�e ich den Spa� den er in seinen Bewegungen hat und der sich sofort auf die Sch�ler �bertr�gt. Irgendwie hat wohl jeder im Kurs das Ziel und den Wunsch mit 70 noch so fit zu sein wie Jiu Jing Ru. Die Flexibilit�t in seinen Formen und der Reichtum seiner Anwendung, seine enorme Geschwindigkeit dr�cken sich auch immer wieder in seinem Geist und seinen Aktionen im normalen Leben aus.
Ich bin nicht der geborene Kampfk�nstler aber bei ihm finde ich einen Spa� an der Sache der sich mehr und mehr auf mich �bertr�gt. Dazu hat Frank Allen seinen Teil dazu beigetragen. Es hat was spielerisches, trotzdem nimmt man beiden ab, dass sie ihr Fach verstehen.
Wahrscheinlich kann ich das n�chste Mal nicht mitkommen und ich bin mir ziemlich sicher � es wird mir fehlen!
- Moritz Dornauf - School of Tai Chi Chuan,Darmstadt, Germany
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I always wanted to go to
when I saw that Frank Allen was taking a group to
I took the time to meet Frank and Tina ahead of time, by going to a seminar in
Gabor), all practitioners of Taiji and Bagua, and all of them people you'll meet if you go to
In
the can't-remember-the-name-of-the-darn-place close to the Olympic City and the Wushu Federation headquarters was exceptional too.... my mouth still hurts from those spicy mushrooms, of course, but it was great!
As for the training, we couldn't hope for more. I had expected the Wu Style Taiji class to be of less interest to me (I practice a different form of Taiji quite different, if not sometimes opposite, from the Wu style), but I have to say Li Bing Ci's classes were great, and I took home a lot of little things, advice, corrections that I think are well applicable to my own Taiji (Yang Style). We also did Push Hands on a couple of days, and I was introduced to some weird and unusual
patterns that I had never seen before. And I can definitely say that even at 80, Li Bing Ci hits like a powerhouse, as I got an elbow strike and a punch that were really �it�!
But the highlight of the trip was definitely training with Grandmaster Liu Jingru, which was after all what I was there for. For about 10 days we gathered for somewhat more than 2 hours a day to train with him. The class was split into two segments: half to review the Eight Palm Changes, and half to learn a Partner Set. This was great, because it allowed me to go over the first four Palm Changes (which I had learned from Frank) and to learn the next four, so I got to take home
the full set of the fundamental Palm Changes of Cheng Ting Hua style Bagua. And of course, I also received a nice straightforward, not overly complicated (and therefore, very usable) partner set. But we did a lot more, including Rou Shou, the two person basic practice of Bagua, we got to see Frank and Liu going at it (!), which was a treat (remember, these are two guys aged 60 and 72, and they seemed VERY capable, and about evenly matched, in different ways, Liu more flexible and coiling, Frank more powerful and �charging in�), and we got to have a bunch of private lessons, which Tina helped arrange for us. I stayed on a for another week after the group disbanded, with
most going home, but a small number remaining, including Frank and Tina, who stayed on for almost 15 days and continued to be great hosts, ready to help me at all times. During this week I got to learn the Deer Horn Knives Linking set, which was another dream of mine � it was hard work, though � training at the
numerous ways of doing the particular Animal and its training methods, and they are quite rare. I loved this form, and have been training it almost daily. And of course, we were impressed with Liu's skill with the umbrella, although perhaps Li Bing Ci wasn't... with extreme boyish good humour Liu proceeded to repeatedly interrupt Li's class with his funny umbrella walk! Not all masters are dead serious at all times and one of Liu's better traits is his continuous and funny good
spirits!
All in all, I can't imagine a better way to be introduced to
I want to thank everybody who went on the trip, of course Frank and Tina, but also most of the students, with special thanks to Moritz, Christine, my two roommates, Brian and Jonathan, Dr. John from
Jos� de Freitas