project - Concise Encyclopedy of Hung Kyun

[PM]

hello to all,

apart from practicing and teaching, i am working on many projects regarding our system. none of them is finished yet, but some of them are almost done. one of the projects i have been working lately is a Concise Encyclopedy of Hung Kyun. so far, it has cca. 400 entries, covering:

- history (founders, ancestors, masters... ), places (Siulam... )
- principles and concepts (yam yeung, tan tou fau cham, 12 bridges... )
- 5 animals, 5 elements
- stances
- footwork
- typical techniques (tek, da, syut, na)
- sets
- weapons
- other related info (dit da, lion dance, culture... )

each entry is in Cantonese (Yale romanization) plus Mandarin (Pinyin) plus traditional Chinese characters, translation, short text, references to the other entries. some entries have accompanying pictures of masters of the older generation.

i would like to ask you all - what should not be missing in the book? any suggestions are very welcomed!

all the best

[Asmo]

That list looks like you're going to cover pretty much everything you could want in a book on hung Gar.

Is this the project you want to release a book in English as well PM? If so, I think you have a winner. I'm sure there will be much interest for it from the HG community.

What I would like to see being described beside the theory of movement is example drills and exercises and pointers on how to go on exploring yourself.

Good luck finishing the project(s).

[PM]

yes, the Encyclopedy is in English. however, it is not a textbook. first, video is a better tool than a book (and one of my sihings asked me to do a video with him, packed with fighting drills - i can guarantee there is no such HK video out there, it will be closer to Crazy Monkey System, DEFENDO, Keysi Fighting System, but pure Hung Kyun thing), second, to learn personally is better than a video. we will see in the future, too much things to do thanx Asmo!

[Yogicmotion]

Hey PM,

You going to feature realistic applications that would apply to the streets or just drills? This is my biggest issue with most of these kind of works. The applications are total BS when it comes to really throwing down for real.

Application for MMA would be cool. How to deal with grappler, muay thai, ect.

[TenTigers]

lien gung

[PM]

hello Brian,

both drills and realistic applications against most common street scenarios, full contact/MMA like stuff etc., but more important, concepts. it is still just a project on a paper, right now i want to finish the encyclopedy first.

TenTigers: yes, you are right, lin gung methods one of the most important parts, and already there. thank you for your comment anyway.

[Tom Bayley]

I originally wrote this as a reply to a posting by illusionfist on another forum asking for suggestions for what we would like from a hung kuen book. But for technical reasons was unable to post it.

How about an illustrated dictionary of hungkuen? This does pose some problems.

e.g the illustrations themselves. (Although you can get a pretty good illustration style by using a digital camera and converting the image to water colour with a photo editor.)

The biggest problem is that illustrated books cost more to produce which makes the job of selling the idea to a publisher harder. After all you want your book on the shelves in the big book shops so you want a large publisher to distribute it.

On the other hand it would make writing the book relatively easy because each entry can be relatively self contained. And an a to z structure is nice and simple.

E.g. Tarn Sau, : Begin with a literal English translation, follow with an illustration of how to do a correct Tarn Sau, an illustration of how to use it in defence, an illustration of how to use it in attack, end with a brief explanation of its role in fight strategy.

Such a book would be incredibly useful not only to people like me who learnt in English so I don’t know what any of the Chinese means, but to beginners who would use it as a refresher and intermediates who could use it to widen their overview of the art. It would be an excellent “dipping book” since each section would be broadly self contained. It would also be very useful to anyone using forums such as this who are excluded from some of the strands because they lack the correct technical language.

I am currently working on getting my two martial arts books published. I would be more than happy to share what I have learned about good formats for book submissions and how to pitch to publishers.

Tom Bayley

The offer of sharing applies to all authers out there, i know that writing can be a solitary occupation

[PM]

i am working on something similar - please see above. BUT i would like to add that it will not be a textbook, just a reference book.

as for your example - just a side note: taan sau is a Wingcheun term/technique - in Hung Kyun we usually use term jiu geng sau (which could be done like taan sau) or tiu sau (tiu sau is however performed and used differently from taan sau, at least as i know it)

all the best, nice to see you here Tom!

[Tom Bayley]

I suspected as much. I wasn't kidding when i said i don't know any Chinese. The only reason i know of a tarn sau is that i have a win chung friend who is always wittering on about them. Keeps him happy though.

Thank you for the warm welcome.

Tom

[PM]

taan - fuk - bong, yeah, WCH ABC

[PM]

hello,

the encyclopedy will also contain brief biographical info on various past and current Chinese masters of Hung Kyun. please suggest any names, so nobody important would be left out.

[Qasim]

[Tom Bayley]

[Qasim]

[PM]

short update: progress is slow, however, i have so far ca. 600 entries. the hardest part is the stuff from other families/mainland China lineages, but it has to be included!