05/12/2020
More on my teacher, Nei Jia & Robert W. Smith.
The Rose Li I like to remember is the one in the picture below. A lao shi with a new generation of wu shu jia, rather than the shell she finally became once her dementia set in. I’d like to continue my discussion of what Smith had written in Martial Musings and to explain how he misunderstood not only her teaching methodology but also the system she was teaching itself. He didn’t ‘get it’. I feel bound, as someone who was honoured enough to be called didi by her, to set the record straight. On p258 he notes the paradox regarding letting students fly the nest and not rely on a teacher as opposed to the reality of some of her students remaining with her for decades. Remember that she was very traditional in her outlook. Students had to work hard enough to obtain tuition. As mentioned previously, it could take decades for a student to gain her trust. Students were certainly turned from the nest: an example of my Chinese language class is a fitting example: week one: 11 students; week two: 4 students. I can only relate my own experience with her of this. She once told me, as I was leaving after a session at 7 the Grove, that I didn’t need her tuition anymore as I was smart enough to figure it out for myself. Ironically, at the time, I thought she was kicking me out. She was in fact paying me the highest compliment she could give.
Returning to Smith. In ‘Martial Musings, A Portrayal of Martial Arts in the 20th Century’ on p259-60 he details the first of the wu xing of xing yi: pi quan. In summary, he states:
• Your body is ‘centred’;
• Always keep your arms close to your body;
• Never lean left or right: your body is always centred between your two legs;
• Lean slightly forward, spine erect, shoulders rounded and sunk and chest hollowed;
• Don’t exaggerate the tigers mouth;
• Step onto the whole foot at once;
• The front foot withdraws; the whole foot is flat but empty and you sit down in the posture hollowing out the inguinal arch.
The rest of the description on p260 is standard stuff with the pi quan finishing off with a follow-step (gen bu) with 60% weight on it.
The text could have easily have been taken from one of Smith’s picture books. He’s describing what he saw not what was happening. He’s describing form, not how it was being done. There’s very little of her actual teaching here. Nothing about the method. More importantly, it’s not the language Rose Li would use to teach. What he describes is not even a slur to the name of Miss Li: it’s a nothing. In summary, he doesn’t give the very basic elements of the underlying mechanics that made up the Nei Jia system that Rose Li taught, let alone specifically for xing yi. What is glaringly missing are the explanations, the fundamentals, that made-up Rose Li’s teaching that were derived from the School at the Temple of the Fire God:
For Nei Jia in general:
• What are the defining 3 characteristics of Nei Jia? How are these characteristics used to analyse the quality of movement?
• What’s the mechanism for releasing strength?
• What are the internal body mechanics that are being used? For example: what’s the phrasing body mechanism used that also defines Nei Jia? How is a foot lifted, and by what mechanism?
For xing yi within Smith’s description:
• What fundamental physical mechanism, that Smith doesn’t mention, is used particularly in xing yi to increase proprioception and to massively increase the force delivered?
• Why is the beginning and ending stance that Smith’s describing fundamentally incorrect?
• What’s the mechanism behind the follow step he’s recounting?
The list goes on…If the above inventory is so important then why doesn’t he mention any of it? If you understand the mechanism behind Nei Jia, you can understand the type of mistakes Smith is making. If you have decades of experience but are still making beginner mistakes you remain a beginner. You do not see the mistakes you’re making because you are unaware that you’re making them. You have kung fu but little insight.
PM me if you wish to have any further discussion or clarification on this topic.
