I have been putting off writing a review for the Grandmaster as I know it probably has not been released worldwide, and some of the people who read my blog regularly will not have seen it as yet. I watched it on the second day of release (10/1) with my Sifu... however in the last week, I came across an excellent essay in the Ming Pao Weekly as part of an ongoing series on Hong Kong Martial History that I thought was worth translating in its entirety. The piece is by Zhao Shi Qing 趙式慶 - who is quite active in promoting a revival of traditional styles in Hong Kong and one of the fouders of The Journal of Martial Studies - and deals with the real and the imagined in the Grandmaster and touches on many themes pertinent to my blog - warning there are some spoilers in the Essay.
With regards to "The Grandmaster" directed by Wong Kar Wai and starring Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi, many people had thought that it would be centered upon Yip Man's life. After entering the cinema, I found that more than half the movie dealt with the Gong Family who had once dominated the martial world of the North, and the dissession within that family; in addition a substantial portion is also dedicated to mysterious figure "The Head of the Baji Style" - Yi Xian Tian 一線天 (Chang Chen's character). If the intent had truly been to focus on Yip Man, then a lot of the movie is superfluous, to the extent that 一線天 or Gong Bao Sen 宮寶森，also known as Gong Yu Tian 宮羽田 's elder kung fu brother are not needed. Thus after watching the movie many people have said that the movie is not only about Yip Man but also about the end of the Republican Era and how many of the masters ended up in Hong Kong.
My personal feeling is that "The Grandmaster" 《一代宗師》 is an archetypal Wong Kar Wai movie. From the opening credits, almost each angle is saturated with a sensual beauty, from the costumes to the cinematographic angles, to the almost poetic dialogue, it is a feast for the senses. In somes ways the cineamtography exceeds his previous movies and virtually every moment is infused with each and every kind of beauty. From the folk beauty of the glittering brothels of Foshan to the vast and frozen expanses to the North East, a shining contrast occurs. The Qipao of the courtesans in the Golden Tower, are heavily embroidered, comparable to the thread paintings of Suzhou, demonstrating an emphasis on the orientalism of the 19th Century. The characterization of the protagonists - one is more beautiful than the next. Tony Leung's Yip Man does not stink of the streets, but is akin to a playboy aesthete, or a cultured rich kid. Gong Er's has an elegance that elevates her from the masses, and does much to wash away much of Zhang Ziyi's scandals of recent years. And Chang Chen, who does not appear much in the movie, silently exudes a fierce masculinity in his heart stopping fight scenes and steal the scene from Tony Leung's restrained performance.
In addition, the intersections and relationships of the characters' lives, their chance meetings, the comings and goings of relatives, friends and loved ones, have become a staple of Wong Kar Wai's classics. To a great extent, time and space only function as a structure for the stories to play themselves out. If one looks at it from this angle, what Wong Kar Wai has created is not a story, but a romantic atmosphere, a longing for a time that has past. This is Wong's speciality, so the audience should not ask too much for a narrative, or even a central message of the movie.
What I was most surprised at were the fight scenes in the movie, although exagurated and beautiful, they capture the essense of each style. Especially when Yip Man crosses hands with the three hidden masters in the Golden Tower, we can recognize at a glance - Xingyi, Bagua and the mixed styles of the Southern Arts, it is right proportion of action and beauty. Perhaps it is because Wong Kar Wai is well known for his "Art Movies" and his previous forays into Wuxia did not place great emphasis on the action - a good example is his movie "Ashes of Time" where one many shots cut away from the action - led me to have no expectations for The Grandmaster 《一代宗師》. However this time we can see from Tony Leung's hard work and the production team that much thought was put into the fight sequences. We can say that after Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Matrix, that this is another high point for Yuen Wo Ping 袁和平.
Republican Era Guoshu Academy
After watching The Grandmaster《一代宗師》, many audience members will probably start to have an interest in Republican History. However is the Republican Era depicted in the movie real or imagined?
Under the aegis of Romanticism, I personally feel that Wong Kar Wai did do some research into the early 20th Century China. At least from the aspects of clothing, architecture, background and situation, it is very convincing. When Gong Bao Sen mentions the Chung Hua Wushu Association 中華武術會 and the Jing Wu Sports Association 精武體育會 and some personages such as Ye Yunbiao 業雲表 and Li Ruidong 李瑞東, there are historical records and documentation.
Unfortunately, in terms of the overall treatment, the production team does not have a strong understanding of the recent history of Chinese martial arts. Both the Chung Hua Wushu Hui and Jing Wu were established at about the same time, the former in Tianjin and the latter in Shanghai, and most of the members were northerners. Under the aggressive promotion of the Jing Wu Academy, northern arts - especially those which were included in Jing Wu's cirriculum such as Tan Tui, Mantis and Fanzi - were spread to China's central and southern regions, South East Asia and overseas. However very quickly, Jingwu's importance was overtaken by the Central Guo Shu Academy 中央國術館. In 1928, under the leadership of General Zhang Zhi Jiang 張之江, the Republican Government set up a People's Sports Organziation to promote Guoshu. From 1928 until the New China in 1949, it was the Academy developed the country's sport and wushu. During this time Chung Hwa and Jing Wu could be said to only have played a supporting role. Especially for Chung Hwa, many of its key martial artists like 馬鳳圖 Ma Fengtu joined the Central Guo Shu Academy and contributed to its development; and Jing Wu's contribution came mainly from the promtion of the arts overseas.
Due to reasons of culture and geography, the influence of the Central Guoshu Academy in the South was not as great as in Nanjing and the Central plain and the North East. By 1930, most of the key northern martial artists had joined the Central Guoshu Academy and the Chung Hwa Wushu Hui whose ambition was to overthrow the Qing Dynasty had lost its relevance. So when the movie does not mention the Central Guoshu Academy, this is a key ommission.
Likewise the Gong Bao Sen of the movie gives one the impression of being a man of action like the martial hero Da Dao Wang Wu 大刀王五. However to a large extent, these men were relics of a former era, and during the Republican Era, when Wushu was promoted by men like Sun Lutang and Ma Feng Tu, the prominent martial artists were men who were proficient in both culture and the marital arts, and were both sportsmen and educators. Compared to the pugilists of the former era they were of a different class and would be totally unlike the figure of Ma San 馬三 in the movie, fierce and without any restraint. Characters like that would have been unwelcome in the Guoshu circles.
Conversely, Wong Kar Wai's treatment of the Southern Arts is far more intimate and accurate, especially the treament of postwar Hong Kong, his camera is like a time machine, bringing us back to the characters of that era, to how problems the northern martial artists faced in Hong kong, his characterization and humor is spot on. Actually many of the martial arts, after facing great travails reached Hong Kong only to live in seclusion, and found it difficult to make a basic living in the new society.
Gong Bao Sen and Guoshu Artist Sun Lu Tang
《一代宗師》's characters are what interest the audience the most, and arouse the most discussion. Is there a real character behind Gong Bao Sen? Who is Yi Xian Tian? How does the movie Yip Man differ from the travails of the real Yip Man?
Wong Kar Wai's Gong Bao Sen is one of the most attractive characters in the movie. He has the thoughts of a philosopher, and the character and cultivation to match, superhuman martial arts, and during the country's time of need, he willing to step forward to sacrifice himself. One can say this is a perfect "martial hero". In the internet forums many people say that Gong Bao Sen is actually based on the late Qing martial artist Gong Bao Tian 宮寶田 - a favourite disciple of the Founder of Baguazhang Dong Hai Chuan's disciple Yin Fu. He and his brother Gong Bao Shan's 宮寶山 relationship was very close, at the beginning of the twentieth century, (1905) retired into the countryside and transmitted the art around the regions of Tianjin. The relationship between Gong Bao Sen and his kung fu brother played by the actor Zhao Ben Shan 趙本山 - his character was called Ding Lian Shan 丁連山 was probably based on that relationship (note the same last character). However from the materials that I have managed to get my hands on, I understand that Gong Bao Tian never visited the South, and never took part in any tranmission of the Northern Arts South 北拳南傳. In actuality before the 1950s, Baguazhang was rarely seen in the South. Its main transmission was in 1929, after the 兩廣國術館 Liang Guang Guo Shu Guan was established a direct consequence of "the Five Tigers coming to the South" 五虎下江南. Of the five Tigers the one famous for Baguazhang was Fu Zhensong 傅振嵩 and the movie makes no mention of him at all.
Of course, Gong Bao Sen is a creation of Wong Kar Wai, and we do not need to spend too much time researching his history but I feel that he is the most successful of Wong Kar Wai's creations, because he has blood and bone. We feel his world weariness, and his attachment to the traditional martial arts and their values. He understands that he is old and needs a successor, but there are things that he must do and must not do. He makes me think of Sun Lu Tang, and his fasting until death in resistance to the Japanese. Combining Taiji, Bagua and XIngyi into one art is his greatest contribution to Chinese marital arts. Although we see the shadow of Gong Bao Tian, it is for the greater part Sun Lu Tang's personality, philosophy and life that is reflected there.
Yi Xian Tian Never Came to Hong Kong
After Gong Baosen, I feel Yi Xian Tian to be the most interesting character. The parts in the film concerning Yi Xian Tian are in fits and starts. We know that he is being chased by an underground society and after he arrives in Hong Kong he lives a low profile existence. The film stresses that he is the head 掌門人 of the Baji School, stressing that he is a person of some importance. However was there ever such a person?
First from the viewpoint of martial arts, contemporary Baji is largely composed of two major schools, one is the Ma family Tongbei Bajiquan, the other the Wutan Baji system in Taiwan. The Ma family style was transmitted from Li Yun Biao 李雲鏢 to his closed door disciple Huang Lin Biao 黃林彪 who in turn taught it to Ma Feng Tu, who in turn taught it to his four sons. Taiwan Bajiquan was transmitted from 李書文 to Liu Yun Qiao 劉雲樵. Both branches can trace their origins to the Spear King - Wu Zhong 吳鍾 at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty. As to the origin of Bajiquan, Professor Ma Mingta has done a lot of research and those interested can read some of his work such as 《武學探真》and 《說劍叢稿》. Liu Yun Qiao fled with the KMT to Taiwan, and set up the famous Wu Tan 武壇. The Ma family remained in mainland China, Ma Fengtu under the orders of General Feng Yu Xiang moved from Hebei to the northwest, and was involved with the set up of the Northwestern Guoshu Academy 西北國術館 . In the 1990s Ma Mingta (one of Ma Fengtu's sons) moved to Guangzhou, and set up a base for transmitting Tongbei in the South.
What is worth mentioning is that both lineages took part in the war of resistance against the Japanese, especially the Ma family who were on the front lines and made great sacrifices. Due to the fact that none of the major practitoners escaped from China, Baji never had a presence in Hong Kong. Thus Wong Kar Wai's depiction of a major practitoner of Baji escaping to Hong Kong and opening a barber shop does not respect history. In the North one would be hard pressed to find another school who made as many contributions and sacrifices as the Baji school.
Ruan Qi Shan or Yip Man?
Going back To Yi Xian Tian, his story revolves around escape. As the film provides him with almost no backstory, there is something mysterious about this character. Based on my talks with some lineage holders of the Baji tradition, I have come to the conclusion that the character is based on the Presdential body guard and martial arts instructor Liu Yun Qiao. Liu Yun Qiao was born in 1909, in the 40s he was in his thirties, and his father Liu Zhi Jin 劉之沂 was in command of the Beiyang Army 北洋軍將領. This kind of special family background is quite in accord with the "young princeling" character of Yi Xian Tian. One additional point: Liu Yun Qiao was a KMT spy during the second world war, in charge of assasination, narrowly escaping death a number of times, in 1940 he once escaped from a prisoner of war camp to the North west and finally reaching Xian to convalesce. This would explain Gong Er meeting a wounded Yi Xian Tian on the train. As Li Shu Wen's closed door disciple, he would fit the bill well. However forcing him to escape to Hong Kong in the movie and open a barber shop is very disrespectful to the legacy of Liu Yun Qiao and Baji.
The Master Ma Shan 馬三 does not have any historical precedent so we can leave him aside. According to Wong Kar Wai himself, Gong Er's original inspiration was the Republican Female martial artist Shi Jian Qiao 施劍翹, who quietly practiced the spear for 10 years to avenge her father, and eventually succeeded on the killing the self styled Supreme Commander of Five Provinces - the Warlord Sun Fu Fang 孫傳芳. However Shi Jian Qiao never set foot in Hong Kong, and did not know Yip Man, and as for Yip Man himself he only became famous after he came to Hong Kong. To say that he was the representative of the Foshan martial arts is not accurate. In the 30s Guangdong it was the Hung Kar of Lee Sai Wing that was the most prominent. In Foshan it was Wing Chun's Ruan Qi Shan 阮奇山 who was more prominent and ranked higher in status than Yip Man. Ruan Qi Shan was born in 1887 and Gong Bao Tian by 17 years, and during the 30s was in his early 40s and at the peak of his martial powers. If there really had been an exchange between north and south, having Ruan Qi Shan represent Foshan would have been believable.
A Wing Chun that is more faithful to its original form
As I had mentioned earlier, I most admire the movie for its action sequences and choreography. Since the 1980s Hong Kong martial arts cinema has been under the influence of the new Wushu movement from China. In the 1990s the "Once Upon a time in China trilogy" directed by Tsui Hark and starring Jet Li was the dividing point for Hong Kong cinema when the movies completely removed themselves from the traditional martial arts schools and movements. One cannot find no trace of any Hung Quan influence in Jet Li's Wong Fei Hung. It is only recently that traditional martial arts has emerge onto the silver screen.
For many years Yuen Wo Ping has been at the forefront of Martial arts choreography, and pushed the aesthetic and dance aspect of martial arts onto the silver screen. What is unforseen is how Yuen Wo Ping has brought the abandoned traditional arts back into the action sequences of a martial arts film. With the help of Wong Kar Wai he has combined the action sequences and cinematography to reach a new height.
If we compare this movie to Yip Man 1 and 2's action sequences, The Grandmaster 《一代宗師》is more faithful to the original Wing Chun. There are two aspects I especially admire. First the zai Jiao of Wing Chun is one of its most distinctive movements, Bruce Li often used kicks to attack the lower basin and this is one of the influences of Wing Chun on his art. However, nowadays, those who can really demonstrate the kicks of Wing Chun are few in number, so much so that many people think that Wing Chun lacks leg forms and exemplifies the danger stated in the Boxing Classic of having upper and no lower. The two Yip Man movies neglected the kicks of Wing Chun. One can say that The Grandmaster 《一代宗師》 has done much to remedy this and will bring the audience to a higher level of understanding of Wing Chun. Second, the essense of Qi sao is to have a kind of "thorough understanding of sensation" which is a natural reaction when one touches hands. This kind of reaction is beyond the logical mind, and is of the same principle as the Listening Jin of Taiji, is an instantaneous technique. As Wing Chun is a close distance combat art, Qisao is the most central practice of Wing Chun. Recently English researchers have shown that punching speed comes not from the muscle but from communication between the brain and the nerves. That is to say that the punch of an experienced martial artist comes not from the quality of their muscle but the signal from the brain to the nerve is also much faster. This point, albeit exagurated is shown when Gong Bao Sen and Tony Leung practice "talking hands" 「講手」.
Xing Yi and Baji
Apart from Wing Chun, Yuen Wo Ping did a lot of work on getting the Xingyi, Bagua and Baji right. I spent some time discussing the movie with some other marital arts friends, and we agreed that the highlight of the film was when Yip Man dueled with the first two masters in the Golden Tower. I personally liked the old man's use of Xingyi, the feeling is very pure, and its depiction of Hebei Xingyi's directness and hard jin is entirely correct and I have a feeling that this actor is himself a real practitioner of Xingyi. Many people in Hong Kong do not understand the northern arts, and usually lump Xingyi, Bagua and Taiji together saying they are "internal martial arts". This is a big mistake, as the original Xingyiquan is the most simple and direct form of Kungfu, without extraneous movements, completely reliant on power. Similarly the intricate jin and ever changing body movements of Bagua are what gives its style its character. From a practical perspective the demands on the practitoner are very high but I believe 《一代宗師》is the best marketing for Bagua. Although Zhang Ziyi's frame and structure is a little weak when compared to the older lady master in the Golden Tower, it is clear that the amount of time she spent practicing bagua is no less than that of Tony Leung on Wing Chun and the difference in the difficulty of the movements is of a different magnitude.
Finally I want to talk about Baji. As my personal experience of Baji is deeper than the other arts (the author is a student of Ma Mingta), I believe I have more of a right to comment on the Baji. For Yi Xian Tian's first action sequence, I was only able to guess that it was Baji after watching for a period of time. The reason being that his elbow work had a very strong Muay Thai flavor. For a couple of movements, especially where he jumps up and uses his knee, made be think of Tony Jaa's perfomance in Ong Bak. Baji actually has a lot of movements that use the knees and elbows, but the expression is very different from Thai boxing. Bajiquan's ding zhou 「頂肘」 is extremely hard and powerful and when one uses it, it is usually combined with a horizontal movement of the body, where the contact point is at the sharpest point or ding. Its advantage is to close the distance from afar with a kao 「靠」 movement. For Thai boxing there are few shaking/ twisting movements, and each movement is rapidly combined in a sequence. Actually there are two points where Yi Xian Tian uses a classic ding zhou, but the other movements come from other martial arts leading to mixed impression and is not pure Baji. Baji's footwork was also not expressed well. Baji's footwork when attacking and defending contain hidden leg techniques, and can attack the unsuspecting opponent at any time, and a good Baji player can change his direction at any time, and attack the enemy from different angles, and according to strategic requirements can expand or close the distance. I could not find any of these core techniques in any of Yi Xian Tian's fights.
The original meaning of One sideways movment, one straight movement
Finally I want to talk about two interesting phrases in the movie. The first is when Tony Leung says: there are two words in Kung Fu - sideways and straight (see the trailer above). Yip Man in the movie explains it as being the winner stays standing upright (straight) and the loser is lying on the floor, simplyfying it as saying that wushu boils down to winning and losing, success and failure in a confrontation, this sideways and straight being an absolute standard.
There is some truth to this statement, as any confrontation with fists is always direct. However there is also some irony in this statement as many confrontations in the movie between masters end with a single touch. Confrontations between masters can be like that between Gong Er and Ma San or Ma San and Gong Bao Sen, a duel to the death; or could be like that between Gong Er and Yip Man or Yip Man and Gong Bao Sen, a duel between gentlemen, where winning and losing is not important, but what the masters are searching for is a process or interaction. Can we really use "winning and losing" to measure the duel between Gong Er and Yip Man? If it were purely winning and losing then Gong Er and Yip Man would not have had this long and involved emotional karma, and Yip Man would not have longed to see Gong Er's "64 hands" for so long.
From another perspective, 「直橫」is a boxing mnemonic, and is one of the most important principles in Southern kung fu, like swallowing and expelling「吞吐」floating and sinking「浮沉」twisting and turning「擰轉」it describes how to use the body. The martial artist form Lingnam Lee Sai Wing states in his work 《工字伏虎拳拳譜》 states:
"The Art of Boxing is easy to learn and hard to attain its essense, one has to first understand its rules and practice its standards, afterwards one has to train the qi and power and be proficient in receiving the enemy's attacks. Understanding this, one's kung fu increases, from this [basis] one seeks the straight and sideways, swallowing and expelling, forward and retreat, entering and exiting, the secret of the four places, the method of the five gates, the shape of the eight faces, the road of life and death"
One can see from this that staight and sideways is an important wushu concept, and to treat it as standing up or lying on the floor is to distort its original meaning. The literati have always liked to play with words but to deliberately distort an important martial concept is to me unnecessary and seem to be intentionally misleading.
Entering and Stopping Vs. Entering and Retreating, Movement and Stillness
I want to consider again Ma San's aphorism 「寧在一思進，莫在一思停」- "I would rather always think or advancing, and never once think of stopping". This is meant to encapsulate Gong Bao Sen's wushu and is also perhaps his philosophy of life. Ma San says to Gong Er that he would rather commit a sin than to remain in the same place, and is meant to expatiate his selling out to the Japanese and killing his teacher. Using the words of his teacher to rebutt Gong Er is a clever use of sophistry.
Chinese Kung Fu has transmitted a number of concepts from antiquity, I have mentioned 「直橫」, advancing and retreating 「進退」is another one of them. In a confrontation, martial artists are constantly in a state of advancing or retreating. One entering and one retreating is the relationship between two people seen through strategy, distance and movement and stillness. In most duels, when one is entering, another is stepping back. We can sometimes use movement and stillness to describe this relationship. Most martial arts place an emphasis on movement, but there are some like Taiji which emphasize using stillness to overcome movment. But until now I have never heard of entering and stopping as opposites. A state of stillness is always a sense of waiting for an opportunity to move, where the opponent leaves an opening, and is relative relationship. Stopping is to cease completely, an absolute form of stillness, and one can say that it has no way to counter attack. So martial artists will never use the concept of stopping to describe their state. The biggest difference is between the two is that entering and retreating is a state where both parties can change roles, a temporary state of affairs, according to one' strategy one can enter or retreat. So between the two there is a world of different, on the battlefield once you stop there is only death that awaits you.
Thus this aphorism is not something a marital artist would say, and lacks wisdom, and one can even say that it departs from the basic principles of martial arts.
Finally to return to a phrase from the movie - 「浪漫的鏡子,似是而非」- a romantic mirror, seemingly true but in actuality not so.
Republican Era Guoshu Academy
After watching The Grandmaster《一代宗師》, many audience members will probably start to have an interest in Republican History. However is the Republican Era depicted in the movie real or imagined?
Under the aegis of Romanticism, I personally feel that Wong Kar Wai did do some research into the early 20th Century China. At least from the aspects of clothing, architecture, background and situation, it is very convincing. When Gong Bao Sen mentions the Chung Hua Wushu Association 中華武術會 and the Jing Wu Sports Association 精武體育會 and some personages such as Ye Yunbiao 業雲表 and Li Ruidong 李瑞東, there are historical records and documentation.
Unfortunately, in terms of the overall treatment, the production team does not have a strong understanding of the recent history of Chinese martial arts. Both the Chung Hua Wushu Hui and Jing Wu were established at about the same time, the former in Tianjin and the latter in Shanghai, and most of the members were northerners. Under the aggressive promotion of the Jing Wu Academy, northern arts - especially those which were included in Jing Wu's cirriculum such as Tan Tui, Mantis and Fanzi - were spread to China's central and southern regions, South East Asia and overseas. However very quickly, Jingwu's importance was overtaken by the Central Guo Shu Academy 中央國術館. In 1928, under the leadership of General Zhang Zhi Jiang 張之江, the Republican Government set up a People's Sports Organziation to promote Guoshu. From 1928 until the New China in 1949, it was the Academy developed the country's sport and wushu. During this time Chung Hwa and Jing Wu could be said to only have played a supporting role. Especially for Chung Hwa, many of its key martial artists like 馬鳳圖 Ma Fengtu joined the Central Guo Shu Academy and contributed to its development; and Jing Wu's contribution came mainly from the promtion of the arts overseas.
Due to reasons of culture and geography, the influence of the Central Guoshu Academy in the South was not as great as in Nanjing and the Central plain and the North East. By 1930, most of the key northern martial artists had joined the Central Guoshu Academy and the Chung Hwa Wushu Hui whose ambition was to overthrow the Qing Dynasty had lost its relevance. So when the movie does not mention the Central Guoshu Academy, this is a key ommission.
Likewise the Gong Bao Sen of the movie gives one the impression of being a man of action like the martial hero Da Dao Wang Wu 大刀王五. However to a large extent, these men were relics of a former era, and during the Republican Era, when Wushu was promoted by men like Sun Lutang and Ma Feng Tu, the prominent martial artists were men who were proficient in both culture and the marital arts, and were both sportsmen and educators. Compared to the pugilists of the former era they were of a different class and would be totally unlike the figure of Ma San 馬三 in the movie, fierce and without any restraint. Characters like that would have been unwelcome in the Guoshu circles.
Conversely, Wong Kar Wai's treatment of the Southern Arts is far more intimate and accurate, especially the treament of postwar Hong Kong, his camera is like a time machine, bringing us back to the characters of that era, to how problems the northern martial artists faced in Hong kong, his characterization and humor is spot on. Actually many of the martial arts, after facing great travails reached Hong Kong only to live in seclusion, and found it difficult to make a basic living in the new society.
Gong Bao Sen and Guoshu Artist Sun Lu Tang
《一代宗師》's characters are what interest the audience the most, and arouse the most discussion. Is there a real character behind Gong Bao Sen? Who is Yi Xian Tian? How does the movie Yip Man differ from the travails of the real Yip Man?
Wong Kar Wai's Gong Bao Sen is one of the most attractive characters in the movie. He has the thoughts of a philosopher, and the character and cultivation to match, superhuman martial arts, and during the country's time of need, he willing to step forward to sacrifice himself. One can say this is a perfect "martial hero". In the internet forums many people say that Gong Bao Sen is actually based on the late Qing martial artist Gong Bao Tian 宮寶田 - a favourite disciple of the Founder of Baguazhang Dong Hai Chuan's disciple Yin Fu. He and his brother Gong Bao Shan's 宮寶山 relationship was very close, at the beginning of the twentieth century, (1905) retired into the countryside and transmitted the art around the regions of Tianjin. The relationship between Gong Bao Sen and his kung fu brother played by the actor Zhao Ben Shan 趙本山 - his character was called Ding Lian Shan 丁連山 was probably based on that relationship (note the same last character). However from the materials that I have managed to get my hands on, I understand that Gong Bao Tian never visited the South, and never took part in any tranmission of the Northern Arts South 北拳南傳. In actuality before the 1950s, Baguazhang was rarely seen in the South. Its main transmission was in 1929, after the 兩廣國術館 Liang Guang Guo Shu Guan was established a direct consequence of "the Five Tigers coming to the South" 五虎下江南. Of the five Tigers the one famous for Baguazhang was Fu Zhensong 傅振嵩 and the movie makes no mention of him at all.
Of course, Gong Bao Sen is a creation of Wong Kar Wai, and we do not need to spend too much time researching his history but I feel that he is the most successful of Wong Kar Wai's creations, because he has blood and bone. We feel his world weariness, and his attachment to the traditional martial arts and their values. He understands that he is old and needs a successor, but there are things that he must do and must not do. He makes me think of Sun Lu Tang, and his fasting until death in resistance to the Japanese. Combining Taiji, Bagua and XIngyi into one art is his greatest contribution to Chinese marital arts. Although we see the shadow of Gong Bao Tian, it is for the greater part Sun Lu Tang's personality, philosophy and life that is reflected there.
Yi Xian Tian Never Came to Hong Kong
After Gong Baosen, I feel Yi Xian Tian to be the most interesting character. The parts in the film concerning Yi Xian Tian are in fits and starts. We know that he is being chased by an underground society and after he arrives in Hong Kong he lives a low profile existence. The film stresses that he is the head 掌門人 of the Baji School, stressing that he is a person of some importance. However was there ever such a person?
First from the viewpoint of martial arts, contemporary Baji is largely composed of two major schools, one is the Ma family Tongbei Bajiquan, the other the Wutan Baji system in Taiwan. The Ma family style was transmitted from Li Yun Biao 李雲鏢 to his closed door disciple Huang Lin Biao 黃林彪 who in turn taught it to Ma Feng Tu, who in turn taught it to his four sons. Taiwan Bajiquan was transmitted from 李書文 to Liu Yun Qiao 劉雲樵. Both branches can trace their origins to the Spear King - Wu Zhong 吳鍾 at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty. As to the origin of Bajiquan, Professor Ma Mingta has done a lot of research and those interested can read some of his work such as 《武學探真》and 《說劍叢稿》. Liu Yun Qiao fled with the KMT to Taiwan, and set up the famous Wu Tan 武壇. The Ma family remained in mainland China, Ma Fengtu under the orders of General Feng Yu Xiang moved from Hebei to the northwest, and was involved with the set up of the Northwestern Guoshu Academy 西北國術館 . In the 1990s Ma Mingta (one of Ma Fengtu's sons) moved to Guangzhou, and set up a base for transmitting Tongbei in the South.
What is worth mentioning is that both lineages took part in the war of resistance against the Japanese, especially the Ma family who were on the front lines and made great sacrifices. Due to the fact that none of the major practitoners escaped from China, Baji never had a presence in Hong Kong. Thus Wong Kar Wai's depiction of a major practitoner of Baji escaping to Hong Kong and opening a barber shop does not respect history. In the North one would be hard pressed to find another school who made as many contributions and sacrifices as the Baji school.
Ruan Qi Shan or Yip Man?
Going back To Yi Xian Tian, his story revolves around escape. As the film provides him with almost no backstory, there is something mysterious about this character. Based on my talks with some lineage holders of the Baji tradition, I have come to the conclusion that the character is based on the Presdential body guard and martial arts instructor Liu Yun Qiao. Liu Yun Qiao was born in 1909, in the 40s he was in his thirties, and his father Liu Zhi Jin 劉之沂 was in command of the Beiyang Army 北洋軍將領. This kind of special family background is quite in accord with the "young princeling" character of Yi Xian Tian. One additional point: Liu Yun Qiao was a KMT spy during the second world war, in charge of assasination, narrowly escaping death a number of times, in 1940 he once escaped from a prisoner of war camp to the North west and finally reaching Xian to convalesce. This would explain Gong Er meeting a wounded Yi Xian Tian on the train. As Li Shu Wen's closed door disciple, he would fit the bill well. However forcing him to escape to Hong Kong in the movie and open a barber shop is very disrespectful to the legacy of Liu Yun Qiao and Baji.
The Master Ma Shan 馬三 does not have any historical precedent so we can leave him aside. According to Wong Kar Wai himself, Gong Er's original inspiration was the Republican Female martial artist Shi Jian Qiao 施劍翹, who quietly practiced the spear for 10 years to avenge her father, and eventually succeeded on the killing the self styled Supreme Commander of Five Provinces - the Warlord Sun Fu Fang 孫傳芳. However Shi Jian Qiao never set foot in Hong Kong, and did not know Yip Man, and as for Yip Man himself he only became famous after he came to Hong Kong. To say that he was the representative of the Foshan martial arts is not accurate. In the 30s Guangdong it was the Hung Kar of Lee Sai Wing that was the most prominent. In Foshan it was Wing Chun's Ruan Qi Shan 阮奇山 who was more prominent and ranked higher in status than Yip Man. Ruan Qi Shan was born in 1887 and Gong Bao Tian by 17 years, and during the 30s was in his early 40s and at the peak of his martial powers. If there really had been an exchange between north and south, having Ruan Qi Shan represent Foshan would have been believable.
A Wing Chun that is more faithful to its original form
As I had mentioned earlier, I most admire the movie for its action sequences and choreography. Since the 1980s Hong Kong martial arts cinema has been under the influence of the new Wushu movement from China. In the 1990s the "Once Upon a time in China trilogy" directed by Tsui Hark and starring Jet Li was the dividing point for Hong Kong cinema when the movies completely removed themselves from the traditional martial arts schools and movements. One cannot find no trace of any Hung Quan influence in Jet Li's Wong Fei Hung. It is only recently that traditional martial arts has emerge onto the silver screen.
For many years Yuen Wo Ping has been at the forefront of Martial arts choreography, and pushed the aesthetic and dance aspect of martial arts onto the silver screen. What is unforseen is how Yuen Wo Ping has brought the abandoned traditional arts back into the action sequences of a martial arts film. With the help of Wong Kar Wai he has combined the action sequences and cinematography to reach a new height.
If we compare this movie to Yip Man 1 and 2's action sequences, The Grandmaster 《一代宗師》is more faithful to the original Wing Chun. There are two aspects I especially admire. First the zai Jiao of Wing Chun is one of its most distinctive movements, Bruce Li often used kicks to attack the lower basin and this is one of the influences of Wing Chun on his art. However, nowadays, those who can really demonstrate the kicks of Wing Chun are few in number, so much so that many people think that Wing Chun lacks leg forms and exemplifies the danger stated in the Boxing Classic of having upper and no lower. The two Yip Man movies neglected the kicks of Wing Chun. One can say that The Grandmaster 《一代宗師》 has done much to remedy this and will bring the audience to a higher level of understanding of Wing Chun. Second, the essense of Qi sao is to have a kind of "thorough understanding of sensation" which is a natural reaction when one touches hands. This kind of reaction is beyond the logical mind, and is of the same principle as the Listening Jin of Taiji, is an instantaneous technique. As Wing Chun is a close distance combat art, Qisao is the most central practice of Wing Chun. Recently English researchers have shown that punching speed comes not from the muscle but from communication between the brain and the nerves. That is to say that the punch of an experienced martial artist comes not from the quality of their muscle but the signal from the brain to the nerve is also much faster. This point, albeit exagurated is shown when Gong Bao Sen and Tony Leung practice "talking hands" 「講手」.
Xing Yi and Baji
Apart from Wing Chun, Yuen Wo Ping did a lot of work on getting the Xingyi, Bagua and Baji right. I spent some time discussing the movie with some other marital arts friends, and we agreed that the highlight of the film was when Yip Man dueled with the first two masters in the Golden Tower. I personally liked the old man's use of Xingyi, the feeling is very pure, and its depiction of Hebei Xingyi's directness and hard jin is entirely correct and I have a feeling that this actor is himself a real practitioner of Xingyi. Many people in Hong Kong do not understand the northern arts, and usually lump Xingyi, Bagua and Taiji together saying they are "internal martial arts". This is a big mistake, as the original Xingyiquan is the most simple and direct form of Kungfu, without extraneous movements, completely reliant on power. Similarly the intricate jin and ever changing body movements of Bagua are what gives its style its character. From a practical perspective the demands on the practitoner are very high but I believe 《一代宗師》is the best marketing for Bagua. Although Zhang Ziyi's frame and structure is a little weak when compared to the older lady master in the Golden Tower, it is clear that the amount of time she spent practicing bagua is no less than that of Tony Leung on Wing Chun and the difference in the difficulty of the movements is of a different magnitude.
Finally I want to talk about Baji. As my personal experience of Baji is deeper than the other arts (the author is a student of Ma Mingta), I believe I have more of a right to comment on the Baji. For Yi Xian Tian's first action sequence, I was only able to guess that it was Baji after watching for a period of time. The reason being that his elbow work had a very strong Muay Thai flavor. For a couple of movements, especially where he jumps up and uses his knee, made be think of Tony Jaa's perfomance in Ong Bak. Baji actually has a lot of movements that use the knees and elbows, but the expression is very different from Thai boxing. Bajiquan's ding zhou 「頂肘」 is extremely hard and powerful and when one uses it, it is usually combined with a horizontal movement of the body, where the contact point is at the sharpest point or ding. Its advantage is to close the distance from afar with a kao 「靠」 movement. For Thai boxing there are few shaking/ twisting movements, and each movement is rapidly combined in a sequence. Actually there are two points where Yi Xian Tian uses a classic ding zhou, but the other movements come from other martial arts leading to mixed impression and is not pure Baji. Baji's footwork was also not expressed well. Baji's footwork when attacking and defending contain hidden leg techniques, and can attack the unsuspecting opponent at any time, and a good Baji player can change his direction at any time, and attack the enemy from different angles, and according to strategic requirements can expand or close the distance. I could not find any of these core techniques in any of Yi Xian Tian's fights.
The original meaning of One sideways movment, one straight movement
Finally I want to talk about two interesting phrases in the movie. The first is when Tony Leung says: there are two words in Kung Fu - sideways and straight (see the trailer above). Yip Man in the movie explains it as being the winner stays standing upright (straight) and the loser is lying on the floor, simplyfying it as saying that wushu boils down to winning and losing, success and failure in a confrontation, this sideways and straight being an absolute standard.
There is some truth to this statement, as any confrontation with fists is always direct. However there is also some irony in this statement as many confrontations in the movie between masters end with a single touch. Confrontations between masters can be like that between Gong Er and Ma San or Ma San and Gong Bao Sen, a duel to the death; or could be like that between Gong Er and Yip Man or Yip Man and Gong Bao Sen, a duel between gentlemen, where winning and losing is not important, but what the masters are searching for is a process or interaction. Can we really use "winning and losing" to measure the duel between Gong Er and Yip Man? If it were purely winning and losing then Gong Er and Yip Man would not have had this long and involved emotional karma, and Yip Man would not have longed to see Gong Er's "64 hands" for so long.
From another perspective, 「直橫」is a boxing mnemonic, and is one of the most important principles in Southern kung fu, like swallowing and expelling「吞吐」floating and sinking「浮沉」twisting and turning「擰轉」it describes how to use the body. The martial artist form Lingnam Lee Sai Wing states in his work 《工字伏虎拳拳譜》 states:
"The Art of Boxing is easy to learn and hard to attain its essense, one has to first understand its rules and practice its standards, afterwards one has to train the qi and power and be proficient in receiving the enemy's attacks. Understanding this, one's kung fu increases, from this [basis] one seeks the straight and sideways, swallowing and expelling, forward and retreat, entering and exiting, the secret of the four places, the method of the five gates, the shape of the eight faces, the road of life and death"
One can see from this that staight and sideways is an important wushu concept, and to treat it as standing up or lying on the floor is to distort its original meaning. The literati have always liked to play with words but to deliberately distort an important martial concept is to me unnecessary and seem to be intentionally misleading.
Entering and Stopping Vs. Entering and Retreating, Movement and Stillness
I want to consider again Ma San's aphorism 「寧在一思進，莫在一思停」- "I would rather always think or advancing, and never once think of stopping". This is meant to encapsulate Gong Bao Sen's wushu and is also perhaps his philosophy of life. Ma San says to Gong Er that he would rather commit a sin than to remain in the same place, and is meant to expatiate his selling out to the Japanese and killing his teacher. Using the words of his teacher to rebutt Gong Er is a clever use of sophistry.
Chinese Kung Fu has transmitted a number of concepts from antiquity, I have mentioned 「直橫」, advancing and retreating 「進退」is another one of them. In a confrontation, martial artists are constantly in a state of advancing or retreating. One entering and one retreating is the relationship between two people seen through strategy, distance and movement and stillness. In most duels, when one is entering, another is stepping back. We can sometimes use movement and stillness to describe this relationship. Most martial arts place an emphasis on movement, but there are some like Taiji which emphasize using stillness to overcome movment. But until now I have never heard of entering and stopping as opposites. A state of stillness is always a sense of waiting for an opportunity to move, where the opponent leaves an opening, and is relative relationship. Stopping is to cease completely, an absolute form of stillness, and one can say that it has no way to counter attack. So martial artists will never use the concept of stopping to describe their state. The biggest difference is between the two is that entering and retreating is a state where both parties can change roles, a temporary state of affairs, according to one' strategy one can enter or retreat. So between the two there is a world of different, on the battlefield once you stop there is only death that awaits you.
Thus this aphorism is not something a marital artist would say, and lacks wisdom, and one can even say that it departs from the basic principles of martial arts.
Finally to return to a phrase from the movie - 「浪漫的鏡子,似是而非」- a romantic mirror, seemingly true but in actuality not so.
Komentar
Posting Komentar