|
Post by chefying on Oct 5, 2014 10:39:09 GMT
More weapons... these are short range weapons:- Crescent Moon Daggers Twin bladed Crescent Moon daggers, short sword and bi'shou (dagger) ZiWu Yuanyang Yue, E'mei spikes, short sabre
|
|
|
Post by chefying on Oct 9, 2014 17:25:36 GMT
This display discusses Qi Gong - Breathing Exercises - and Wrestling Qigong (breathing exercise) is a type of exercise to prevent illnesses, strengthen body, increase longevity and is a means of self cultivation.
The development of Qigong had gradually incorporated the different styles of different schools of martial arts.
The Confucian School emphasises self cultivation. Martial Arts Schools emphasises on the increase in stamina. The Medical Schools concentrates on the use of Qi for healing and strengthening of the body. The Buddhist Schools teaches the use of breathing exercises to dispel superfluous thoughts to achieve the state of Zen.
The multitude of Schools of Qigong is due mainly to the long development of Taoism.
I am too lazy to translate the passage on wrestling, but generally speaking, it just describes wresting as a grappling match between two persons of similar weights, and it is popular among the Mongolians, Koreans and the Khazaks/Cossacks.
|
|
|
Post by chefying on Oct 12, 2014 7:50:34 GMT
In this post under the thread "Armed Escort", there were displays of the code words/lingo used by those in the Armed Escort Agency. This here is a display on the code words/lingo a.k.a. Chun Dian 春点 commonly found in the martial world. I shall not be translating these as it would probably come out as gibberish - after all, that is the whole point of having code words. The above display explains that Chun Dian, the martial world's code words, is often used by those providing armed escort or in-house security, and compresses many meanings into very few words. The code words are very much kept within the user group; the saying is "rather offer an ingot of gold rather than teaching half a world of code." Meanwhile, this is a book on the code words This is a close-up on the page on the right... ... and this is a close up on the page on the left.
|
|
|
Post by chefying on Oct 12, 2014 10:53:29 GMT
The main banner, right on the top of this is display, indicates that code words are used by those in the martial world. The display on the left hand side gives an explanation of the code words and how they are used. The right hand side of this display are darts, a picture of which I have previously posted in this thread. This is a close up of the panel on the left, which explains the code words and show how they are used. There is no real point in translating them.
|
|
|
Post by chefying on Oct 25, 2014 15:17:48 GMT
The panel following the one shown in the above post is also mainly about Jianghu lingo. This is the large panel on the left. This panel tries to define "Jianghu" and this was what this panel has to say:- Jiang Hu is a strata of society made up of wanderers in towns and villagers who make a living from acts/means not accepted by the mainstream society.
|
|
|
Post by chefying on Oct 25, 2014 15:38:41 GMT
On 17 Oct 2014 in a newspaper in Malaysia was an article discussing JiangHu... This article suggests that the term JiangHu came about in the Tang Dynasty, where a "Xia" - an Errant Knight, if you will, and his wife lived on a boat in DongTing Lake - 洞庭湖 (near city of Changsha in Hunan Province) off the Yangtze River. In the day, this couple were merchants mixing, mingling with, and befriending many people; by night, they right the wrongs of society. Since they live on water, the term JiangHu - literally River and Lake - came to apply to their type of world.
|
|
|
Post by chefying on Oct 25, 2014 15:41:38 GMT
Meanwhile, this panel talks of the martial world lingo of the 5 types of "flowers" and the 8 categories of trades:- Of the flowers, this is what it had to say:- Chrysanthemum - flower seller Kapok (latin: Bombax ceiba) - medical healer (usually wandering type) Narcissus - songstress (present day equivalent is Guest Relation Officer) Fire chilli flower (this is not the correct translation, I cannot find this flower in my dictionary) - odd-jobs man Earth Cow Flower (again, this is not the correct translation, I cannot find this flower in my dictionary) - runner Worthy of note is that the names of the above 5 flowers all start with the elements Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth, the five elements according to the Chinese belief. However, the Eight categories of trades do not have an eight trigram equivalent.
|
|
|
Post by chefying on Oct 27, 2014 16:20:57 GMT
On the same wall was this panel on SanJiao Jiuliu 三教九流 - but I saw only the definition of the the Jiuliu but not the SanJiao. The phrase Sanjiao Jiuliu means people in general, or the masses - hoi polloi, if you will. Sanjiao mean "Three Religions" - being Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, while Jiuliu is the definition of the nine classes of people. The display explains which are the nine classes. Perhaps it would be of interest to note that the term hoi polloi, as explained by wikipedia,"is used in English to refer to the working class, commoners, the masses or common people in a derogatory sense." I have been taught that the Chinese term Sanjiao Jiuliu is also a derogatory term for the masses. This display explains the nine classes thus:- (This list was compiled with much assistance from forumer yenchin.) Upper Nine Classes:- 1) Buddha 2) Dewa/Deity 3) Emperor 4) Ministers 5) Secretary/Officer 6) Landlord 7) Brewer (of wine, etc.) 8) Pawnbroker (I never knew they were treated with such high regard!) 9) Farmer Middle Nine Classes:- 1) Scholar 2) Medical doctor 3) Physiognomist - by extension, would include feng shui readers 4) Fortune teller 5) I think 丹青 here means colour/ink/dye maker 6) Painter 7) Buddhist monk 8) Taoist monk 9) Chess and Zither - I presume this would be the social escorts, present day guest relations officers. Lower Nine Classes:- 1) Pedicurist 2) Head shavers - I presume barbers 3) Footmen 4) Cart/Rickshaw puller 5) Cook 6) 从 - Servant/follower (I initially read 众, which meant Public - that's one 人 too many!) 7) Prostitutes 8) I presume this 戏 refers to 戏班, stage performers 9) Musicians Personally, I find it sad that the musicians are classed as the lowest of low.
|
|
|
Post by chefying on Oct 27, 2014 16:23:40 GMT
This wall talks about the code words/lingo used in the martial arts world. This wall makes up the third and last wall display in the room. I know I have posted quite a few display panels on martial world lingo. I have quite a few close-up, but I am refraining from posting them in case it sends everyone to sleep. This is an example of some of the close-up of the "codewords display panels" that I have. This one is quite easy to understand.
|
|
|
Post by chefying on Oct 27, 2014 16:24:25 GMT
Meanwhile, this panel is an example of how the martial arts world's code/lingo would have been used.
|
|
|
Post by chefying on Oct 28, 2014 15:15:39 GMT
In another room, there were displays about three mainstream schools of martial arts, Shaolin, Wudang and E'mei. This one here was about E'mei Martial Arts. E'mei school of martial arts developed in Mount E'mei in the Province of Sichuan during the Ming Dynasty. E'mei style is the leader among the minor schools of martial arts, with its own unique strikes and style.
Its distinctive features are the minimalistic moves with many variations, using softness to counter brute force and its use of inertia and momentum. It uses stillness to create action, and in turn, use action to create stillness. When striking, it often uses a twisting motion, utilising the opponent's momentum and emphasizes speed to achieve victory.
E'mei style of martial arts has elements from the Four Main Schools, being Buddhist, Yue (Peaks/Mountains) School, Tu and Zhao, and also the Four Minor Schools, these being Hong, Hua, Zhi, and Yi.
Its five main sub-schools are Huanglin, DianYi, QingCheng, TieFo, QingNui.
|
|
|
Post by chefying on Oct 28, 2014 15:17:38 GMT
This panel talks about Shaolin School of martial arts. Note that it did not state when Shaolin style started, but there was a reference in the end that said it had been around for 1,000 years - which brings us to approximately year 1000 A.D. It is oft quoted that the Shaolin warrior monks helped Li ShiMin of the Tang Dynasty in the Battle Hulao (621 AD). This would mean the reference in this panel is off by about 500 years. The cradle of Shaolin martial arts is in Shaolin Temple located in SongShan, Henan Province. The contents of Shaolin martial arts is very rich, of which the essence is called "The Five Fists (Styles) of Shaolin" - these being the Dragon Fist, Tiger Fist, Leopard Fist, Snake Fist and the Crane Fist.
Shaolin Style is classified under more than ten categories such as Minor "Hung" Style, Major "Hung" Style, Arhat Style, Plum Blossom Pile Style, Cannon Style, etc.
Weapons training include Sabre, Spear, Sword, Spade, Cudgel, etc., and the Shaolin creations include Shaolin Yijing Breathing Practice, Minor Martial, Yinyang and Hunyun Yiqi Breathing Practice.
Shaolin Style has more than a thousand years of development, and is separated into the Northern Shaolin Style and the Southern Shaolin Style.
|
|
|
Post by chefying on Oct 28, 2014 15:22:29 GMT
This is the panel on Wudang School. I find there are similarities between this description of Wudang unique points and that of the E'mei School. I do not know which came first, but in Jin Yong's Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, there was mention of similarities in the development of the Wudang and E'mei Schools of martial arts. Wudang martial arts stemmed from Hubei, and derived its name from Mount Wudang. Wudang martial arts came to fore during the end of the Yuan Dynasty and beginning of the Ming Dynasty, a became well known during the end of the Ming Dynasty and beginning of the Qing dynasty.
The characteristics of Wudang style is that It uses stillness to create action, utilizes softness to counter brute force, uses close contact to counter long strokes, uses slowness to strike fast motion, uses the will to move void and use qi to move the body.
Wudang style includes Wuji Style, Sparrow Hawk Long Style, Primate Prostrating Style, Liu Shui Generic Strikes, Wudang Taiyi Five Element Style, etc. Wudang weaponery includes the Wudang Sword, White and Red Swordplay, Six Harmony spear, Six Harmony Sabre, Relaxed Brook Cudgel, etc.
Taiji Style is considered to be Wudang’s most well known fighting style, and has the greatest influence on (the name/fame of) Wudang. In Taiji’s long history, it had evolved into a few branches, and the more widely known and influential branches are the Chen 陈 Family School of Taiqi, the Yang 杨 Family, Wu 吴 Family, Wu 武 Family and Sun 孙 Family Styles of Taiqi.
Latter year developments include the Simplified Style of Taiqi, 48 Stroke Taiqi, 88 Stroke Taiqi, etc.
|
|
|
Post by chefying on Oct 29, 2014 15:36:05 GMT
In another room, there was a wall of details on Taiji Style.
|
|
|
Post by chefying on Oct 29, 2014 15:38:40 GMT
This panel talked about Taiji. More specifically, it talked about the "spirit" on the practice of Taiji. I use the word "spirit" quite loosely, this panel is not exactly about the essence of Taiji nor it is purely about the practice of Taiji. However, it quotes Zhang Sanfeng as saying, "To practice Taiji, it is necessary to enter into the basis of Dao (the Path/Way) 道, and Dao is principally the cultivation of one's spirit, the calming of one's emotions, the gathering of one's breath (stamina) and the collecting of one's concentration."
|
|