August 16, 2010 by Adam.

This past weekend was the August Moon festival in Chinatown. The assumption is that it is called August Moon based on the chinese holiday (Jung chow jeet) and that it on the western calendar date of August 15th for…..convenience?

Ironically we actually celebrated the July holiday this weekend as the Chinese Holidays go by a Lunar calendar. (The July holiday is the Chinese Halloweeen. I would assume August/Harvest Moon/ Jung chow jeet is a month away.)

So I ‘ve begun to wonder…. if the Dragon boat festival can be on a sunday that is pretty close to the actual holiday… why not the August Moon festival? Why don’t we have a Moon Lady at the August Moon festival?

I understand that its good to have a summer festival in Chinatown. And we should keep it, but why not celebrate the traditional holidays close to the actual dates? Chinese New Year is done this way… and so is the Dragon Boat festival.  Well…. moving on

Our Kung Fu School, Woo Ching White Crane performed midday at this festival because we had a wedding performance later that day. We also had a wedding performance the day before… but more on those later.

For the festival we were going to just throw something together, but Sifu suggested that since it has been a few years since we’ve done stilts or done a fighting form that we should do them this year. we insisted we didn’t have enough people, would be to tired, etc. but in the end saw that Sifu was right. (he is always right)

We can do this stuff, why not just do it.

I actully did choy chiang on stlits, but we did not parade aroundas we did in the old days, due to convenience, politics, and lacking the manpower to stop someone from trying to intentionally knock me off the stilts.

As it turns out, many of the Kwong Kow kids I tech were there. Suddenly their sometimes mean kung fu teacher was someone they wanted to wave to and even admit to knowing.

Next came Kung Fu. I heard our kids did great and I also saw our friend  Moi Sifu, perform looking more bad-ass than the last performance. Why? The stage was larger and the weather was cool, as opposed to an oppressive heat.

I heard from Grace, who was holding our child and taking pictures that My fighting form looked pretty good. I also heard that the Old ladies near Si Mo were gasping with fear that my blade was so close to cutting my partners head of each time.This was probably the smoothest performance of the form we have done yet.

I also enjoyed watching the audience (especially the old men) during My Si Hing’s Kwan Gung vs. Choy Yerng form. I could see at the part where he does the motions of putting the five beards back in place that the men would turn to each other saying “I told you so… I knew it was Kwan Gung” Th young people just see it as a cool big knife probably.

To end  Ika  Hsiao performed yo-yo. This time the gusts of wind mad it difficult to maintain spin, but Ika’s Performace hi time was stillbetter than last. She moved aroundthe stage more and added new tricks, jumping rope up to three times with the string while the yo-yo was in the air, and then catching it. I could hear the crowd cheering over my drumming. So we brought out many types of things this year for traditionalists, kids, and danger lovers.

Now for the weddings. I have to mention one first that might actually start a trend. The Bride and Groom requested that they do the lion dance as they come in as a surprise.  Then they would come out of the heads and we switchedwith them and that’s how they presented themselves. Never heard of it being done and it must have been pretty cool. Too bad I couldn’t see the audience’s face because I was in the tail.

Posted in AROUND C-TOWN | Print | No Comments »

August 7, 2010 by Adam.

I’m teaching a bunch of mostly Americanized Chinese Americans at Kwong Kow this summer, and so I’m having them learn the names of different Kung Fu names in Cantonese.
I got some negative feedback that one Taiwanese child was crying because it wasn’t in Mandarin but I didn’t see it myself. In fact I tried to teach it in Mandarin one class through the help of a Mandarin teacher but the next week, well, i think she needed a break from shouting out things for the class to do as that class was a very rowdy bunch.
A few of the kids who yell out the names very loudly are from a Mandarin o English speaking background.

But what is most funny is what happened with the kids who are actually Cantonese speakers but someone Americanized. The changed the names to English Sounding equivalents, or indeed Chinese sounding equivalents with completely different meaning. These new names tell you a lot about Chinese American Culture.

It started when Chuen kuen or Penetrating Fist became  Chuen Goon, or Spring Roll.
Then the next obvious one to change was to change Long Jow, or Dragon Claw, into Fun Jow.. Phoenix Claw. Phoenix Claw is of course the name of the popular Dim Sum dish which is delicious and succulent chincken feet that you put in your mouth whole, spitting the bones out onto your plate. The tendons and all that just seem to almost dissolve away.

But that was just the first week. Now these kids have been practicing for a month and have incorporated English into their comedy.

The first basic move “Shuen Yew Joon sun” which means twisting waist turning body is yelled out by me and then they are supposed to yell it back. I hear one boy scream back quite seriously before cracking a smile “Mohegan Sun!”
Then in the form, “Cup Kuen” or stamping fist becomes “Cupcake”

Hei gerk or sometimes they say fei gerk which means “leg up” or “flying kick” respectively, this modification actually makes sense. But then some kids started saying “Hey girl!” instead of “Hei gerk”

I guess you can tell by the names they choose, what is prominent in their lives, or the lives of their parents. American things like cupcake, getting girls to pay attention to you, Dim Sum, and then of course the Casinos.

(This article was also published on my personal Blog 1000monkeycave)

Posted in AROUND C-TOWN, LIFE AND STORIES OF ASIAN AMERICANS | Print | No Comments »

July 19, 2010 by Adam.

A few weeks back my school, Woo Ching White Crane, perormed for the Chinatown Main Street Festival. In addition to our usual crew we had two new guests. One was Master Moi, an elderly Kung Fu enthusiast who at his old age still performed three forms in heatstroke humid heat. (Perhaps I will write another article focusing on him.) But our most popular guest was Ika Hsiao, who performed yo-yo.

As we were waiting to perform, audience members starting going up to Ika baraging her with questions. Was she going to perform yo-yo? When? If she was perfoming then they would stay.

It is true that the audience ad probably seen several hours of Kung Fu and Lion Dance. But Chinese yo-yo is something I have not seen seriously performed in Boston since the early90’s. And although the girls performing it were quite flexible and could hold graceful poses, it took them a while to get enough spin to do tricks, and restarts were often necessary. They also performed to cassete tapes of Chinese music that were copied and recopied until the grainy scratchiness and inadvertent microphone percussion section was wince enducing.

Ika had not performed seriously (as in on a stage) herself since highschool. Never the less, she gave an extraordinary performance which started after our performance with the Lion head taking the yo-yo and then giving it to her. (Video is available on facebook and youtube I’ll try to get that link up later. I have never seen this done befoe, but I checked and I don’t think we broke any lion dancing rules. Although the old man I write about previously who was giving tips on the Tiger Fork left after were done. I actually forgot or was too tired to do the Tiger Fork at the end. If I did something wrong I suppose I will get a good scolding next time I see him.) But back to the yo-yo performances, which was accompanied by drums gong and cymbals. I tried to follow the yo-yos movements using the northern Chinese beats, which again, I guess are not supposed to be played on the southern lion dance drum. But t that point in the performance, we were’t lion dancing. The audience didn’t seemed to care about these details and adults and children alike were truly amazed and impressed. I must say I haven’t seen a better yo-yo player perform live.

My questions to why this was so were answered when I followed up about ow she learned yo-yo. It turns out, she used to be on a team of eight very acrobatic and flexible little girls who compete at performing yo-yo, in Taiwan. They would practice 6 hours a day and when shecompeted she won the all Taiwan championships in elementary school, middle school, and in highschool. Ika actually performed solo as well as in the group of eight.

Performing in Boston’s Chinatown I saw her transformed on the stage. The audience watching could really tell she was enjoying herself. She hadn’t had the oppurtunity to perform like this in such a long time. After all it’s not like she still practices for 6 hours. Instead her day job is restoring Classical Chinese paintings from the Sung Dynasty for the Museum of Fine Arts. She went to school and got her Masters degree for this art also in Taiwan, which I would imagine, probably has the best programs for that sort of thing in the world.

Upon watching the video together Ika exclaimed parts where she chose to do some risker tricks finally right there on the stage, tricks involving throwing up the yo-yo spinning around and catching it once again. Luckily for many audience members she has become addicted to the thrill of performing and will probably be joining our group again as a guest for the August 15th festival in Chinatown, or “August Moon”, though it is near the Chinese August Moon holiday which goes by the lunar calendar. In any event, it will be a party.

If you are interested in learning more about Chinese yo-yo Lion Dance, Kung Fu, Calligraphyor Custom Chinese paintings or restoration of Ancient Chinese paintings  you can contact me and I can put you in touch with the appropriate people.

781-888-0631

acheung-whitecrane@hotmail.com

Posted in AROUND C-TOWN | Print | No Comments »

April 15, 2010 by Adam.

On Saturday April 17th 1pm the Community Music Center of Boston will have a piano recital of western music.
However, instead of the audience sitting in chairs, I will lead them in various meditation and Chi Gung Excercises.
My chi gung background is White Crane that I learned from my Sifu Woo Ching. I studied and teach at that school which is on 90 Tyler Street.
Traditionally we use drums when we perform, but don’t practice with music. In fact my Sifu told me not to mix dance with Kung Fu, as they are two separate things.

So the event at the Community Music Center on 34 Warren Ave, will not be Kung Fu Ballet.
The excercises will all be quite simple and the people doing them will not be performing, they will in fact be the audience.
This event is about a different way of listening to music, combining diffenet senses and endorphins with the experience.

You would expect Chinese or more stereotypically meditation music to be played for this music, but again that is not what the event is about.
I wanted to take limits away from the concepts about what meditation and Chi Gung are about. The idea came from a concert that I went to that was a wine tasting, and from my own Chi Gung Practice, where sometimes I would play music (even though its better not too.) The music ranged from Holst’s “The Planets”, to “take Five” to Jimi Hendrix’s “Along the Watch Tower” and “Purple Haze”. For this concert, there is a lot of Chopin and only the pianbo is used. But I hope to open this up to more types of music in the future.
In many ways this event is an experiment for future concert events of its kind. It is my reinterpretation of what I have learned in this world of the European American Culture and the Chinese American Culture and everything else I have been exposed to. It is a mixed culture event the way I am a product of “mixed” culture, being Half Chinese and Half white, part of the multi-Cultural world village we are all part of on this earth.

This event is absolutely free. If you have time, come down and I would love to hear your feedback afterward either in person or through
an e-mail.

Again, the event is Saturday April 17th 1pm, at the Community Music Center of Boston on 34 Warren Ave. This is in the South End right near Chinatown.

-Adam Cheung

Posted in AROUND C-TOWN, CHINATOWN CALENDAR, LIFE AND STORIES OF ASIAN AMERICANS | Print | 1 Comment »

March 14, 2010 by Adam.

(The following is an  e-mail I sent out to the heads of some student organizations, edited for this blog)

Greetings all.
I am writing from the Woo Ching White Crane Kung Fu School in Chinatown, in the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association building.

I’m writing because I would like to organize an event that would be a social gathering for all of the organizations in Chinatown, as well as all of the Asian Affiliated Student and Professional organizations in the Boston Area  and of course anyone else interested in coming. The idea would be to bring us all in closer contact with each other so that we can build a stronger community.
Of course I would need advice from College Students on how to plan an event that would be targeting college students which is why I am contacting you.

Some upcoming events our school is participating in is the Chinese Resident Association Banquet on Friday March 19th at 6pm in Chinatown and the Tai Tung Village Residents Association Banquet on Saturday the 27th of March. Both these events are in Chinatown, (probably Empire Garden but I’m not 100% sure.) If you would like to come to one of these events to see what we are about we will meet up at our Kung Fu School at around 5pm.
The address will be listed below.CCBA building on 90 Tyler street and we will move around the entire Chinatown. The idea is that if there are more people to witness the brutal beating on old people that have become more commonplace in Chinatown recently, that the perpetrator will choose not to assault that elderly person because of the crowd.
Dressing up in colorful costume is encouraged.

This will be the second time we have done this this month. The first time was March 13th at 6:30am on Saturday. (The assaults are really across the board in terms of times, which is disturbing.)

One of the participants also had the idea of making more of a party out of it with music performance and outdoor grilling perhaps in the park by the Chinatown gate.
I am looking into this further as well.

If you are interested in being added to Woo Ching White Crane’s mailing list which details our upcoming events let me know and I will add you.

I will post a copy of this e-mail on the Chinatown blog, which I occasionally contribute to as well.

I am looking forward to your advice, feedback, and suggestions.

Adam Cheung
Woo Ching White Crane- Instructor
90 Tyler Street Suite 21
Boston, MA 02111
acheung-whitecrane@hotmail.com
www.bostonwhitecrane.org

781-888-0631

Posted in AROUND C-TOWN, CHINATOWN CALENDAR | Print | No Comments »