Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 8, 2010 18:14:51 GMT
Quite a while back bloodwraith had posted this video:
Now many of you know my wife is a belly dancer and she does plan on using swords as props in her dancing. She approached me earlier today asking me about the Mulan shuang jian form and whether or not I could find her instructions to learn it. While for the most part my wife is not interested in taiji she wants to learn this particular form so she can use some of the movements in her dance.
Therefore my question to you my brethren of the blade, can we find instructions for this form anywhere? I'm turning up jack on google.
Dvd's, Vcd's, even text instructions will work.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 8, 2010 20:09:13 GMT
Okay what has been found out so far: Mu Lan Quan Taiji is a form of taiji designed by women for women. worldtaichiday.org/STYLEMULAN.html "Mulan Quan is a modern form, and perhaps the only form created by a woman master, founded by Sifu Mei Fing Ying. Mulan is named after the legendary young woman Fa Mulan (who’s name translates to “wooden orchid”). Besides its basic hand form, Mulan Quan offers a Sword Style, as do some other forms, and also a somewhat unique Fan Style. Although derived from the nearly extinct form, Hua Chia Chan, its founder simplified its forms and added more wushu (martial arts). The form was approved by martial arts masters and named Mulan Quan in 1988." Apparently this style includes a 24 posture hand form, single fan form, double fan form, single Jian form, and double Jian form. My beloved wife has also decided that this is going to be her choice of martial art as opposed to the Gatka (the martial art of the Sikhs) she had been considering. I found some DVD's by Jian Jianye that cover some of the forms at WLE, and a video from Angela Wong Douglas (co-founder of World Tai Chi and Qigong day) on the hand form, but nothing so far on the double sword form. Anybody who can help me get more infor is definitely up for some karma here. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 8, 2010 23:33:01 GMT
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 8, 2010 23:46:20 GMT
Thanks Opferous. Do you know if there are English language versions of those VCD's? Karma granted by the way.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 9, 2010 0:00:34 GMT
As far as I know, they only come with Chinese subtitles. The VCDs might have fan subs hanging around. I'll dig for them. Edit: Seems like the company never plans on subbing them. The updated DVD version (the VCDs are a good ten years old) is still only Chinese sub. Guess they think the form isn't popular enough outside of the country, unlike their other releases: www.ipmart.com/main/product/Mulan,Double,Sword,,,,,,,,,,,,box,packing,DVD,,China,,Region,ALL,,47,min,,161279.php?prod=161279 |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 9, 2010 0:47:06 GMT
Figures. I know a lot of women who would be interested in a martial art founded by a woman.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 9, 2010 1:26:30 GMT
Well, plenty of English resources for Wing Chun are available, if you believe the founding stories about Yim Wing Chun. Admittedly, it is a bit of an "ugly" martial art and hard to sell to those seeking their first instruction.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 9, 2010 5:23:35 GMT
I believe we have a chinese forumite here, don't we? Maybe you could pay him to translate for you?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 9, 2010 12:23:32 GMT
Not quite sure how that would work in practicality Violent. My wife's thought is since we have found enough English language resources to learn the basics - that by the time she works up to the shuang jian form it's more case of mimicking movement and that can be done almost purely visually.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 9, 2010 12:30:05 GMT
She really likes this form?
You better teach her some proper sword, lol!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 9, 2010 13:12:48 GMT
She really likes this form? You better teach her some proper sword, lol! She loves it and her exact words, "that form just calls to me." I know Mulan Quan is more performance oriented than martial and so does she. However, she wants to learn this for stage performance with her dancing. She even wants the collapsible taiji jians for the performance aspect. (Easier to hide in her dance costume.) She does have access to the same resources I do for proper sword use and will be practicing such but other forms of taiji do not call or appeal to her as much as this one. I'm just happy she found a form of taijiquan the she likes and wants to practice. But the basics and the principles are still the same whether the style is our CMC/ZMQ, Yang Michuan, Beijing simplified, Chen Laojia, Chen Xinjia, Sun, Wu, Wu (Hao), or Wudang. The classics are still the classics and all styles study them. For me this represents a compromise between what I feel calls to me (the CMC/ZMQ style) and the dance that she loves so I want to support her choice as much as I can. I'm certain there will be free play and push hands as she learns and this can help the both of us with learning our respective arts and the more martial side of things. But since my wife is more interested in performance I agree with her decision and just wish to help her. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 10, 2010 5:14:02 GMT
Yeah, I totally understand, same with my wife. She prefers more martial forms, but never wants to train phs or applications, lol.
Where we might have a bit different understanding, is the question on principles. I've done lately some modern competition sword stuff, and it was difficult to get it working with traditional prinicples. Modern Wushu often neglects those old shenfas, and therefore I'm not for that kind of wushu-ified modern competition routines.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 10, 2010 11:33:46 GMT
That tends to be why I'm against the more modern Wushu styles myself. However, since my wife has had zero desire to learn taiji before now her learning even a modern form could result in benefits for my own practice. Like less objections from her at the time I choose to wake up in the mornings so that I have a chance to practice. Also the difference in the understanding of the principles from the styles can lead to discussion of those principles. Discussion can lead to greater understanding of those principles for both of us. In his writings Professor Cheng stated that taijiquan was the ideal exercise for women as opposed to pursuits that relied more heavily on external strength. I do see Mulan quan as supporting the professor's statement even though it is not his form. Plus if I ever want to get a push hands partner I an either get my wife involved in taiji or wait for my son to grow up more. I'm hoping mulan quan will serve that purpose in my wife's case. Once she gets involved in studying Mulan Quan, I'm certain I can use that to get her interested in reading the Thirteen Treatises and then, at a minimum, Lee Scheele's online translations of the taiji classics. I'm sure such writings could lead her to the more martial core of our art if that is where her spirit needs her to go. In watching the Mulan Quan forms I'm also not seeing the forced fajin that is evident in other forms of sport wushu. I have been told that this forced fajin is in actuality oxjin which relies on external strength as opposed to true fajin which is a natural result of being sung. In the Mulan Quan forms I am seeing plenty of emphasis on sung but not much on fajin which would leads me to surmise that Mulan Quan would also support this type of natural development of skills that seems to be in keeping with the professor's concepts. Then again, since I am only a student myself and not a very advanced one this could all be a misunderstanding on my part. But right now, this is making sense to me.  My wife's comment, "I want to learn it because there's some cool props stuff I can use in my belly dance." |
|
