As He Jingde's been a close friend of mine for quite a while, I'll try to keep everyone abreast of any performances or seminars he conducts in the coming months through this news page.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beijingwushuteam/files/

(you will need a yahoo login to download it though, but feel free to unsubscribe yourself from the group once you've finished DLing it if you want). Please take a look and let us know what you think on the message board. Please feel free to pass it along to whoever you think might be interested in it (wushu fans, star wars fans, disco fans...)

Star Wars Meets Wushu Parts 1 and 2 (mpeg - 4.0mb)

Enjoy! Again, a work in process, I'll probably go back and add flashes and clean up part 1 if I get a chance (like making the red saber actually extend instead of just popping up all at once. ;)

ps - I'm ging to update the events page cause there's some good stuff coming up...

But in the meanwhile, I know we all have STAR WARS FEVER - as a huge star wars fan my self, I decided to try my hand at mixing my love of wushu with my love of star wars stuff. Here's a little clip I whipped up -

Star Wars meets Real Wushu (mpeg - 2.3mb)

Check it out and let me know what you think on the message board, I'm thinking about doing the rest of that set if there's enough interest.

But on to a more serious, negative note (aka 'the goh report') -

First off, Brandon shared some interesting email he got from Goh's office this week:

http://boards.gamers.com/messages/message_view.asp?name=raffi&id=zytit

And click here to read the original email he sent them that prompted that response:

http://boards.gamers.com/messages/message_view.asp?name=raffi&id=zytis

Sound absurd? How dare a paying member actually ask a question and want a response! Apparently Mr. Coleman feels he has the right to ignore members of our community that he doesn't like. (can you say Blacklist?) If Goh's WKF wants to be our sport's governing body they have to learn that that means they have to accept the people they don't like in addition to the people who they do like (or rather, like them, kiss their asses, give them money, show up at their events, etc). [hmm, is there any relation between Mr. Coleman's admission that the WKF is 'aware' of Brandon's behavior and the fact that he got shafted at Goh's team trials? Think about it...]

And speaking of that...

Sunday will mark the one year anniversary of one of the darkest events in the history of American Wushu. I'm talking of course of Anthony Goh's "team trials" event held in Baltimore on April 28th, 2001.

This 'trials' where stacked against non-pro-Goh athletes from the get go. Only new compulsories could be used to compete even though the world games had no such requirement. An All-around scoring method was to be used, despite the fact that world games has no such scoring method.

The person who created the selection criterion, organized the event, invited the judges and served as one of the most important judges /ALSO/ happened to be coach of about 2/3 of the athletes participating in that event.

Is it any coincidence that 6 out of 8 of the members of the team "selected" by this event happened to be students of this very same coach?

The dust has settled and it has only become more and more clear what a shame this whole event was. No scores EVER posted for the public, no video tapes released... and let's not forget what happened to athletes who tried to video tape the event themselves... they were threatened with expulsion from the trial.

[Sorry if I sound like a broken record, but i ain't going to let this drop, people need to be continously reminded of how Mr. Goh is reeming the US Wushu Community, and even if it takes me 50 more petitions to do it, I'm not going to drop it].

And here we are a year later, a joke of a world games later, a joke of a 'US team olympics demo' later... has Goh gotten any better? No, now that it seems like legal action against him won't be forthcoming, he's even more intransigent then ever. His lackeys even all but admiting that athletes who raise questions about emperor Goh are being blacklisted for having temerity to 'abuse' the internet to express their minds. Hmmm, maybe Operation Enduring Freedom should forget about Iraq and instead look at the Taliban-like behavior coming out of Baltimore?

Another thing I did since I last wrote here was finish the final two All China Games VCDs! Taiji and Sparring Set divisions! (yes, thats what I spent my spring break doing!) Go to the All China Games VCDs page to check out the info, including framegrabs and the Trailers for the two new discs, in addition to the 4 previous ones. People have really like the trailers, check them out, I had a lot of fun creating them. For those of you attending the upcoming UC Berkeley Wushu tournament on April 13th, I will be there selling the discs, so if you don't want to use paypal and the mail to get them, this will be your chance to get instant gratification. Please bring cash though!

And yes, that brings us to the UC Berkeley tournament. As I've forwarded over the message board (I suggest you check their for the latest news/goings on) - There will be a plethora of special visitors in the house that day. First and foremost will be Wu Bin, former coach of the Beijing Wushu Team, (current IWuF Technical Committee Chairman, Former coach of Jet Li, etc etc). In addition he is bringing some Chinese wushu VIPs, including Beijing Team member Jian Zeng Jiao (got silver in Broadsword/Staff at the 9th All China Games, btw). Liu Qinghua, recently retired wushu superstar extraordinare is supposed to make it too, but she apparently is having visa trouble, so there is still some question as to whether she can make it. (keep your fingers crossed).

Also straight from China, my good friend He Jingde, also recently retired Beijing Wushu Team athlete He Jingde will be attending, demoing and yes, even conducting seminars the following day. Cal Wushu has just released some info on it:

He Jing De will be holding seminars, held on April 14th in conjunction with the 10th Annual UC Berkeley Chinese Martial Arts Tournament. The seminars will be held in the Combatives rooms, which is located in the Recreational Sports Facility. $25 for one seminar, $40 for both, free for paid Cal Wushu students.

12:30 - 2:30 - Nanquan
3:00 - 5:00 - Broadsword (please bring your own broadsword)

And I should also note that Zhuang Hui, several time wushu champ of China and now coach of the National Martial Arts Academy in Albuquerque, NM will also be judging and demoing. If we're lucky maybe she will demo her famous double straightswords (actually the set she performs was actually taken from my coach, former double straightsword champion, Beijing Team member Zhang Hong Mei).

I can't hardly wait! The competition looks to be good, there are a couple East Coasters coming out as well as some good talent from the rest of the country. Check it out. If you're going to compete you need to register right away though, there's no at door registration. Go to the tournament website to register (although it looks like they're having some technical difficulties right now).

PS - in case you were worried where my anti-goh rant of the day was, there is plenty to rant about, but I'm busy so you'll just have to wait a week or two for me to memorialize his latest slap in the face against the wushu athletes of the US. :P

Full results (with a few spelling mistakes) are here. Much props to Ava 'The Canadian Sensation" Choy and Phillip 'All-Around' Dang for taking the Womens and Mens All-Arounds. Also Peter Wolf for getting the 'Outstanding Internal Competitor' Award. As one of the founders of the collegiates, it was really satisfying to see the tournament handled so well and taken to the next level.

Now from a positive note to a negative one, a very, very negative one. Mr. Anthony Goh, has been up to more monkey business with his personal incarnation of the USAWKF again. First let me remind everyone about the fundraising scam he pulled for the so-called "US Wushu Team" performance at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics (see the previous entry). All reports have it that very few of the people performing were actual members of any US Team, his or anyone else's. Furthermore members of his version of the US Team were not invited perform, despite the fact that money was being collected in their name. Sounds like dishonest business practices to me! Someone want to call 'Eyewitness News' on this guy?

Secondly, he's getting even more blatantly shifty, check out these two news releases from his website, Feb. 9, 2002 Notice of Special Meeting for USAWKF Members and Feb. 26, 2002 Notice of Additional Meeting for USAWKF Members. So just to summarize, Mr. Goh calls a meeting with only two weeks notice, and miraculously discovers that thats not enough time for enough people to attend, so there's not a quorum! So what do you do? You call another meeting, also with an absurdly short amount of warning, and you also pull some citation of Maryland law out of your ass that says no matter how few people show up, the votes there will count! But the fact that Mr. Goh cited this law in his first announcement shows us that he already knew he probably wouldn't get enough people the first time, so he could call the second meeting and not care about how few people come. Sounds like good business practice from a fair and just president to you? No, I didn't think so. Does Mr. Goh have a good justification for the absurd lack of prior warning on these meetings? (if so, I welcome an email explaining it, or you can put it on your own website, Mr. Goh). And how about explaining why you never bothered to call any other meetings for the benefit of the members in the past? (or am I wrong? please tell me when).

Shady! And this is the character that wants to lead US Wushu to the Olympics? I hope you're as outraged as I am. If you live anywhere near Baltimore, I encourage you to go to his meeting and represent the true majority of the wushu community who doesn't buy this bull. (again, someone please email me to point out where I'm wrong?)

 Capacitor
performance group of San Francisco will hold auditions for upcoming
performances in the Bay Area. Capacitor is seeking male and female
performers with strong skills in either gymnastics or a martial arts form
(wushu, kung fu, tae kwon-do, capoeria, etc). Dance training a plus.

Rehearsals will begin March 2002 with performances in
April, May and June and Fall 2002.
6-month commitment with possible touring
opportunities. Capacitor offers paid rehearsals and
performances.

Please email Rebecca Johnson at:
rebecca@capacitor.org - or - call (415) 820-4860
include a current resume in your email and photo if
available.

Also its been reported that Anthony Goh has organized a wushu demo at the Winter Olympics. Details are quite sketchy, but it was apparently scheduled for today. Read the Original announcement here. While it is disheartening to even contemplate Anthony Goh and his cabal getting anywhere near the Olympics, it is good to see wushu promoted to a wider audience, this could possibly even help for Olympic Wushu in 2008. BUT what really annoys me (and unfortunately, I am really easily annoyed at times), is the fact that Mr. Goh is using the term 'US Wushu Team', despite the fact that the group that is performing is not the US Wushu Team (his unfairly selected version or the other, fairly selected version). By his own statement "we will send members of the US Team, as well as a few supporting members" -- I find this unacceptable, there are US athletes who worked hard to try out for the US Team, and have made the B or C team, despite the fact that Anthony Goh's trials held in Baltimore were a travesty of justice (refer to the numerous conversations ad nauseum about this on the message board or email me for the concise version for more details).

These B and C team members were NOT given the opportunity to respresent their art and their country, while non-team members were? This is unacceptable, especially when you look at the reason WHY Mr. Goh is labeling this group the US Wushu Team --- I'm talking about his other announcement - Sponsorship Package for US Wushu Team - so now he's using the US Team name to solicit funds for non-team members to perform in the place of team members who haven't even been asked to perform. And let me also mention that in ALL the proceeding World Games before 2001, Mr. Goh never bothered to sponsor any costs of athletes actually going to compete. And I like this gem here... "When appropriate, we can also offer commission for those who can help us in soliciting sponsorships. " -- when is that appropriate?

Ok enough ranting. Let's try to be positive, the Collegiates are this weekend, I hope to see you all there, I'll be putting my ass on the line and proving to everyone that my skill is as poor as I've been alluding to all these years -- but its all worth it, Collegiates is a fun competition organized BY wushu practicioners FOR wushu pracitioners, not personal fame or power.... don't you wish they were all like that?

Oh and last but not least, thanks to everyone who ordered the compulsory books, you should have gotten them by now I hope, sales were quite brisk. You guys have brought me that much closer to affording the much needed DV camera I've been saving up for... so I can finally return Brandon his! :P

OK, second big announcement. Last time I was in China I was able to get my hands on some of the New International Compulsory Instructional Books(Sorry, sold out already!). After all my friends, relatives and classmates got their hands on them, I've still got a few sets left. So I'm using the infrastructure I set up for the All China Games VCDs to sell them off. The price is $35, which I feel is a fair price considering the quality of the five volumes, and the fact that they're not available anywhere else outside of China and last but not least, the fact that I personally carried the box across the border on my back!

Last but not least, I wanted to share a few pictures from my last trip to China:
Me in front of the Elephant Nose Rock in Guilin
In the Small Three Gorges, in front of the entrance to the Small, Small Three gorges

I've been doing a lot of framegrabs from my video tape and hopefully I'll grab a few vid clips. Once I get everything together I'll put it up here. But don't hold your breath, I've got a lot on my plate. Don't forget that collegiates is only two weeks away! It looks like it'll be a really good competition. See you there?

I'm pretty busy right now, but slowly but surely I'll be sticking stuff up here from my trip. And last but not least, the IWUF has a new bulletin on their website. You've got 24 hours to put in your bid for the 2003 world games, hurry up!
http://www.wushu.com.cn/004_Iwuf_info/Iwuf_00014.htm

Also want to let everyone know that my pal Kong Xiangdong of Beijing wushu team fame (and/or Taiji champion of China!) is currently visiting the US and teaching in San Diego, CA, check out the info here - http://www.sdtaichi.com.

Last but not least, I've finished editing the third and fourth volumes of my All China Games VCDs. Check them out, I think you'll like it, the response for Volumes 1 and 2 has been very positive. I've also added a new trailer for the straightsword/spear disc. Check it out here - http://www.beijingwushuteam.com/BeiJing/2001/vcd.html

See you all at Nationals! If anoyone has net access down there, please post results on the message board, I probably won't get back online til monday night!

So just to give you something cool to read while I'm gone, here's something from sinowushu.com I translated:

http://www.sinowushu.com/sinowushu.php?id=1005430707&ruleid=5

"Jacque Rogge watches Wushu practice," interview with Beijing Wushu Team leader Wu Bin (11/10/01)

The Beijing Wushu website (sinowushu.com) editor recently collected the many letters from foreign friends recieved recently. To understand trends in Chinese Wushu, the reporter tonight conducted a telephone interview with Mr. Wu Bin.

Recently Mr. Wu Bin just came back from Armenia to accept the invitation of Chinese Wushu Association Chairman Li Jie and Vice Chairman Yan Jianchang (who just took the position of International Federation Secretary), still hasn't had time to rest, he went directly to Guangzhou to attend a wushu training job, at the same time 20 national wushu coaches and outstanding athletes went to Guangzhou. The Chinese Wushu Association leaders will accompany the International Olympic Committee president Jacque Rogge to watch this Wushu practice.

The author interviewed Wu Bin by phone. When Wu Bin was contacted by phone, he just came back from the training center and was quite busy, but he agreed to be interview. From that side of the connection, his voice was still strong and clear: "Currently, I'm in Guangzhou to attend the Chinese Wushu Association planning wushu training, also an International Olympic Committee also will inspect this wushu training session. This has such major significance to Wushu getting into the Olympics, so I haven't paid attention to anything else, after I'm done with this event I will return to Beijing, where I still have a lot of work to do..."

Learning of the event, the International Olympic Committee head Jacque Rogge will also attend the 9th All China Games opening ceremonies. He will particularly pay attention to this event's wushu demonstration. Athletes attending the Wushu demonstration have just returned from the World Wushu Games as champions, also there are top athletes from different areas. The Chinese Wushu Association president Li Jie and the newly appointed International Wushu Federation Secretary and Chinese Wushu Association vice president Yan Jianchang will also attend the opening ceremonies. After this event, the Chinese Wushu Association leaders will also accompany International Olympic Committee officials to watch the Chinese Wushu practice.

In viewing this news, the interviewer understands many things now, Mr. Li Jie is still taking charge of important work for the Chinese Wushu Association. At the same time, the Chinese Wushu Association leaders are united, to realize wushu entering in the Olympics they are working hard!

Nice to know the people in China are working on that whole Olympics thing! :)

And in case you were wondering why the Wushu part of the All China games were two months before the Opening Ceremonies. The wushu events were moved up to August so as to not conflict with the World Wushu Games which as we all know were two weeks ago (although originally supposed to be in October).

[Once the official results for the World Games are posted, I'll put a link (sorry, I didn't have time to compile everything this time!)]

One reason I'm so busy lately is because I've been editing my videos from the All China Games last august. Since there has been a lot of interest in getting copies from people all over the place, I figured the easiest way for me to do it would be to input it n the computer and make a VCD. Not that hard to to actually. So I'm about 1/2 way through the Changquan (men's and women's, compulsory and individual), I'm hoping to have a final edit done by Nationals. I can also mail them out, I'll have more info in the coming weeks as I get more editing done!

In the meanwhile, enjoy this little test I did (just to test my editing software) - Sparring Set clip (AVI format - 4.8 Mb).

And while you're in the downloading, download this clip I did of Kong Xiangdong competing in the Men's Taijiquan division - Click here to download it (MPG format - 5.3 Mb).

Click here to read the article on the controversy around the incident on the All China Games page.

Everyone be sure to be on your best behavior, I'll try to check in once in a while, and I'll also be leaving the keys in the hands of some trusted friends so they can erase and delete as needed.

* Don't forget that Kiss of the Dragon opens tomorrow. Some interviews with Jet can be found here:
http://www.studiola.com/jetli/
http://mrshowbiz.go.com/celebrities/interviews/612_1.html

* Also, the Canadian Wushu Team Trials were last weekend. A good bit of discussion over the results and the judging. Here's what I've got as far as results:

Female--------- Barehand Long Weapon Short Weapon All Round
Amy Wong----- 9.23------- 9.25------- 9.21 ------- 27.69
Katrina Leung- 9.26------ 9.15 ------- 9.23 ------- 27.64
Cindy Luo------ 9.08 ------- 8.68 ------- 9.20 ------- 26.96
Ava Choy------- 8.70 ------- 9.01 ------- 9.11 ------- 26.82
Carmen Lau--- 8.71------- 9.05 ------- 9.06 ------- 26.82
Catherine Luk- 8.71------- 8.90 ------- 9.11------- 26.72 
Wei Hsin Lee-- 8.76------- 8.91 ------- 8.73 ------- 26.40 
Hayley Ng------- 8.73 ------- 8.91 ------- 8.73 ------- 26.37

Male
Alan Tang ------- 9.33 ------- 9.30 ------- 9.33 ------- 27.96
Marvin Wong ------- 9.31 ------- 9.25 ------- 9.31 ------- 27.87
Sam Li ------- 9.23 ------- 9.18------- 9.20 ------- 27.61
Kit Poon ------- 9.13 ------- 9.11------- 9.28 ------- 27.52
Chris Chin ------- 9.23 ------- 9.08 ------- 9.20 ------- 27.51
Doug Chin ------- 9.31 ------- 8.80 ------- 9.35 ------- 27.46
Nathan Lam------- 8.88 ------- 9.13------- 9.10 ------- 27.11
Rick Sue ------- 9.11 ------- 8.81------- 9.10 ------- 27.02

* Last but not least, a friend of mine who surfs the net too much brought this to my attention - Famous pin-up model and aspiring actress Sunghi Li apparently has started training in our favorite art. According to the news page on her website, she's taken up classes. Here are the pertinent blurbs:

"As you already know, I have been taking martial arts lessons so that I can do more of my own fight scenes for film and TV. Well, I have begun my wushu classes just for that reason. Wushu is a form of Kung Fu that is used by Jet Li and Jacky Chan. They used it for Crouching Tiger as well as for Charlie's Angels. It's becoming increasingly popular in the films and I thought it's one more thing that will help me with my work. Besides, it's a great workout. I am so sore from my first class that I can barely touch my toes! There is a lot of stretching involved so that in itself should be great for me. I need it! I have definitely lost a lot of flexibility in the last 6-7 years. Anyway, I really enjoy it. I have so much to learn but it's fun and I thoroughly enjoy it."

On a serious note, her news page also mentions that she was recently injured in a bizarre softball accident and broke some of the bone around her eye. So I hope she resumes her wushu training after she recovers. [due to the adult content, I'm not going to give a link to her page, gotta keep things PG-13 around here!]