wing chun to eyes

It’s amazing how the universe works. Just as another example of “ask and you shall receive” – this year I had been asking the universe to give me a fight scene in a feature film in Asia before my birthday in November. I kept pursuing my goal and working but it seemed like chances were slim. Suddenly in mid-November I get a call from the director of this film and he asks if I am available to help with fight choreography. After we worked out details — the exact day I officially arrived at the studio was Nov 22nd — 1 day before my birthday. Pretty interesting how everything worked out. =)

wing chun hand to eyes concept

Without giving away too much of the story, it’s essentially about a kid who learns wing chun to help him overcome obstacles. The movie’s storyline is definitely not like Ip Man and is meant for a younger audience… though I think all ages could still check it out.

This particular movie situation was quite interesting. When Antony (the director of “Wushu – The Young Generation”) and I got involved with the project the movie had actually already been partially filmed. In fact a good amount had been shot, but towards the final cut the executive producer realized the action was severely lacking… and since it was a martial arts movie it was supposed to have super action. This is where we came in.

wing chun movie set

Before I continue any further I must highly thank and appreciate Antony for having faith in me as a first time action director for a feature film. Antony has worked as a stuntman in Australia and has directed a movie with Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan as producer so it was a truly a great honor to be working with a professional at his caliber who also gave me a lot of respect and freedom with my ideas. Speaking of Sammo and Jackie.. I also want to mention another of the Seven Little Fortunes – Yuen Wah (the landlord in Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle / villain in Dragon’s Forever) is one of the actors in this film.

wing chun wooden dummy techniques

Since we were re-shooting all the action plus a decent portion of the drama we had a lot to do. On top of that we had a smaller budget than the original crew, less resources, and no time. I didn’t even know this until I arrived in Guangzhou, but apparently I had to design roughly 10 fights to be filmed in about 10 days… because in total we had 14 days to film and 7 days to do pre-production work (including new casting, location scouting, set design, fight choreo, etc). Also we had almost no stunt guys originally and the lead was a 12 year old.

But first…

alf with wing chun sifu

…we had to learn a little wing chun. So fortunately I actually studied a little wing chun here and there, but of course not on the level of 7th generation wing chun master. We had a wing chun master on set as consultant and sifu of the wing chun movie. He was a bodyguard for a prince and also at one point taught in London where Bruce Lee visited when he was in London. The sifu was 67 years old but his arms were as strong as an oak tree.

Now that we had the wing chun training in order we had to bring in the rest of the artillery.

Heavy Artillery on Wing Chun set

Enter Alberto and Kyle.

Both of my friends had been working on feature films in China and I knew they were perfect to help out on this expendables style intense mission which required 10 fights in about 10 days. These guys had so many different fights to do in such a short time that I’m definitely glad they were able to come out.. without them it would have been a totally different experience.

I mean after all we wouldn’t have been able to add in some dope JCVD moves like this!

JCVD Lineup

..or party like rockstars with hardcore rap blasting rollin deep with hunnies to tha left and right.

How we party in Guangzhou

I actually got more than I bargained for (in a good way). I was coming under the expectation that I would be simply designing the fights. Aside from a few shorts I had never directed a feature film, much less operate a Red One camera.

operating the red one camera

Because timing was so tight, we had so much to cover, and I knew all the action… just a few days into production we sort of broke into 1st and 2nd units. I learned to operate the camera to follow the action on fight scenes.. and directed for the action scenes. This made my head start spinning in terms of camera angles and so much more.

directing a fight scene

A few surprises along the way included:

A visit from Mark Moran and Ruhi.

mark moran and the green screen fireball

I was really happy Mark visited in Guangzhou. He happened to be stopping through the area and then was able to drop by set. I showed him the studio, the green screen room, and we had a nice dinner with Ruhi, the actors, and the director.

Also a visit and cameo by AliveNotDead’s very own JuJu Chan. Speaking of cameo’s.. the director, fight coordinator, and 3rd AD all make a little cameo as well. =P

Alfred and JuJu

Another fun fact: During the period of the shoot 3 birthdays passed – mine, the director’s, and the main star Xiao Long’s birthday. Happy birthday Xiao Long!

Xiao Long's birthday

As I write this, we are a few hours away from being completely wrapped. The past 3 weeks have been intense and non-stop. We all worked over 12 hour days and everyone is starting to feel the wear and tear… but I think for the time we had to work with we got some good results. I hope people will enjoy the action.

takedown caught on camera

There were some ups and downs with the producer side with last minute changes with story, plot, characters, etc.. but it can’t be completely unexpected. Overall I had a great experience working with the Ace Studio team and learned a great deal. I developed fun and lasting memories with my kung fu bros Alberto and Kyle. It was also really interesting to go from all this tai chi training to learning wing chun – both happen to be the top 2 on my list of traditional Chinese martial arts styles that I  wanted to learn… so of course it’s AMAZING when your job is to learn those martial arts styles. I am going to end with an awesome quote that Antony said on set today.. sometimes I get so excited about what I’m doing and think to myself.. so I’m learning all this cool stuff “…AND I get paid for this??!”

Guangzhou wing chun xiao long team

Chen Tai Chi in the Chen Village

Training tai chi in the Chen Village has been something I’ve wanted to do for some time now. Ever since I started getting more into the history and practice of tai chi I knew that I had to make a trip to the Chen village. To give a little background on the Chen village, the Chen village is essentially where Chen style Tai Chi originated. Chen style tai chi is the root of pretty much all known forms of tai chi including Yang, Sun, Wu, etc… so the Chen village or Chen Jia Gou is essentially the birthplace of modern tai chi.

Chen Wang Ting

The picture above is taken inside of temple grounds in the Chen village made to commemorate the different generations of notable Chen tai chi descendants.

Chen Wangting is known as the founder of Chen tai chi. He was a Ming dynasty military general who supposedly combined his martial arts and combat knowledge with Chinese medicine and Taoist philosophies.  Another notable Chen descendant is 14th generation Chen Changxing who taught Yang Luchan whom became the founder of Yang style tai chi.

Below is some art on the walls of the Chen village temple.

Tai Chi in the Chen Village

Tai Chi in the Chen Village

Well that’s enough of the history lesson.. the urge in me to go to the mecca of tai chi kept growing and growing until it couldn’t be contained. Then one day I talked to Wang Zhanhai laoshi who said his father Wang Xi’an was in town in the Chen village and that I could go train there.. and that was that.. no more deciding. I hopped on a train first thing the next day to Henan and got my training started.

Wang Xi'an Chen Style Tai Chi Master

Wang Xi’an is a 19th generation disciple of Chen style tai chi. He is one of the “Four Buddhas” or “Four Tigers” of Chen Tai Chi. After the Cultural Revolution in China during the period of reconstruction the Chinese government made Wang Xi’an, Chen Xiaowang, Chen Zhenlei, and Zhu Tiancai official traveling ambassadors of tai chi chuan. Wang Xi’an laoshi is known for his combat applications of tai chi chuan. While training at his school some of his elder students told him to demonstrate some moves on me… now since he is around 70 I thought he probably would be tired of demonstrating and decline their requests. To my surprise he signaled for me to “come here”. He told me he wouldn’t use full strength at which point I thanked him and prepared for his move. In the blink of an eye he had hit me and launched me flying!… and while flying back he quickly grabbed me back. It seemed lightning quick!

My time there I spent 6 hours a day training tai chi from Wang laoshi and his students. Of course technically one could train anywhere as long as you have a good teacher, but the air and water breathes tai chi in the Chen village so it just puts you in this mentality to focus and take in all the tai chi you can.

View from below in Chen Jia Gou

Tai Chi in Chen Jia Gou

In the picture above I am doing tai chi in the “gou” of Chen Jia Gou. “Gou” literally is like a “ditch” or “ravine” and the Chen village is literally surrounded by some ditches. We walked down the small pathway into the ditch and did tai chi where hundreds of others had all trained before. It was a very peaceful place to train.

Sipping Tea in between Tai Chi Practice

What else can I say about training in the Chen village? Life was more simple. I notice that all the teachers and practitioners of tai chi in the Chen village seemed to have balance in their lives. They seemed to practice more than Tai Chi Chuan; they practiced Tai Chi philosophy which essentially is about yin and yang, black and white, heaven and earth.. and that there is balance in life. Given that I only had to worry about eating, training, and sleeping it was quite relaxing and intense training at the same time. I learned a lot – I learned the Wang Xi’an 42 form which comprises a lot of moves from the Old Frame and New Frame forms. I learned applications and proper instruction on generating the “fa jing” energy. “Fa jing” is that explosive force of energy that is delivered as a push or hit in tai chi. It looks crazy and looks unlike a normal punch that purely uses the muscle in the arm and or movement of the waist.

On my last day I went out for dinner with Wang Laoshi and my other teachers. We had some good food and drink and then they sent me off. I felt great kindness and hospitality from all these tai chi teachers who were all my elders and could kick ass. That is another particular thing I really like about Chen style is how grounded it is in combat application as well as a calming practice that promotes longevity and balance in life. I am truly grateful for the experience and being treated like a family member there. I definitely want to go back again. There is so much to learn.

My run in with life happened a few months ago. I keep falling behind on posts because too many things are happening and they are all worth posting about, but I’m too busy running with these things that I’ve hardly had a minute to just write and reflect.

Sometime though we are too busy with our fast paced lives that we don’t look at the big picture and remember to enjoy the journey. This was another reminder for me. So about 2 or 3 months ago I had an operation. I had this benign cyst that I had for a long time. It was no big deal actually as people will get cysts from plugged pores or irritation or whatever. I had this one for many years but recently it seemed to be getting larger so I wanted to remove it. Work kept me so busy with travel and all these “urgent” things that I never had the appropriate space of time to get a surgical procedure done. I knew it was important to monitor my health but I thought it could wait. Every day I delayed checking it out, I psychologically created more and more anxiety in the back of my mind.. like “what if it was something worse?”

A year later than I had wanted to drag it on, I finally had the right opportunity to get it checked out. Fearing the general health practice in China, I decided to go to Taiwan – which is known to have quite exceptional medical practice. Sure enough the doctor in Taiwan said it was most likely but not for certain a benign cyst that got inflamed but should be removed. He wouldn’t know what it was until he could remove it and sample it. All of this happened within a medical break I requested when we had no events going on.. but I would have to be back in Beijing as soon as possible. The day of the procedure, I was pretty antsy for sure. Sure enough all went smoothly and I was down to my last day before my flight to Beijing. It wasn’t over yet though. I got a call from the doctor who said I should stay a few more days in Taipei because there was a possibility the removed tissue was cancerous. He sent the tissue to the lab to be checked because the material seemed pretty hardened which could be an indication of cancerous tissue. Upon hearing that news my heart skipped a beat. I tried to stay positive because nothing was confirmed yet.. and since I had booked my flight to Beijing I was pretty set on keeping that date.

I would have to wait 3-5 days to get the results back. Those few days were hard to describe. I carried on as usual but just with a much more open mindset… I looked at everything with an added hint of “life is short”. I think I normally view life that way already but it gave my mindset an added jolt of that. Those few days my outlook grew more vast and I think it stamped in my mind that we must do something worthwhile and that we enjoy. Fortunately a few days later I got a call saying the results came in and it was in fact benign so I would not need to go back to the hospital.

New Beginnings: The Plunge Back into the Darkness

Back to Training

After my surgery I was pretty much not supposed to be active until the opening healed up. This was pretty tough for me and I started getting restless. Especially with my boosted outlook that I had to be active and push myself, I really wanted to start training again and focus on making the most of life. Plus all my time working with Jet we were so busy I barely had time to train. 2 things happened – not directly due to the cancer scare, but of course I’m sure it had some influence.

I decided I wanted to get back to focusing on personal travel, development, training, and health. I also decided that the timing was right for me to move on from my full-time job.

So there it was.. the plunge back into uncertainty. No regular paycheck. No guided set of tasks and direction. No place to live again. Another leap towards my goals, but at the same time not being able to see the ground where I would hopefully land.

When the decision was made, I knew I would have to fight. I guess it’s both physical and metaphorical… but it so happened that I found an awesome Muay Thai / Boxing gym in Beijing.

Hero Gym

So I checked myself and realized I was getting a little flabby from being surgery incapacitated, lack of training, too many long nights, and not eating carefully. My friend in Taiwan also commented that I was getting a beer belly. I was also motivated by my buddy Andy who did a very intense 6 month diet and exercise regiment where he transformed himself from average Joe to 3.75% body fat diesel. I didn’t go as hardcore on the strict eating, but I decided to go light on carbs, high on protein, fish, chicken, no sugar, and many meals throughout the day as opposed to 2 big meals. I also stayed consistent with muay thai training, wushu, jogging, and lifting pretty much 4-5 days a week for about 6 weeks.

sparring

bag work, getting in shape

I need to find some before pictures, but I finally felt back in shape after 6 weeks of intense training. It really felt good to move again especially after I healed up.

A lot of other intense things were happening during this time as I was transitioning work, preparing to move, and also going on a trip due to visa reasons. I think keeping busy keeps me motivated because at least I feel a direction to improve in my fight training.. and with that progress it pushes me forward in my other endeavors. I think this is definitely a new stage in life and it’s not my first time taking this leap. I am rather excited about the opportunities and looking forward to having more time to train muay thai, boxing, tai chi, sanda, weapons, etc.

Next post – Vietnam Adventures!

Visit to Handan

Jet and I visited Han Dan in Hebei province to pay our respects to Yang Lu Chan the founder of Yang style tai chi. They have strong roots in the practice of tai chi there and when we went there were hundreds of tai chi practitioners showcasing the art. Yang Lu Chan is not the creator of tai chi itself but is supposedly the one who helped spread it to the world and there is a lot of interesting history behind it.

Adidas All In Campaign

We also went to an Adidas pr event which showcased the WuJi training program. This program is in many gyms in China. It is a blend of aerobic and martial elements.

Adidas Event with Olympic Gold Medalists

There we met Adidas sponsored athletes. They were China olympic gold medalists for taekwondo, boxing, and soccer. They also tried out the martial arts aerobic program with the fitness instructors. The taekwondo olympic athlete adapted quickest (for apparent reasons).

Getting ready for tai chi training

I have been immersed in the history, culture, and techniques of tai chi this past year so of course I have also been doing tai chi training. I started learned tai chi before, but since I started focusing on my training for the world games in 2009 I paused all other training. This year however I have been privileged to learn with 19th generation direct descendants of the Chen village for Chen style tai chi. The way they can feel your generation of power and use your force against you is almost superhuman. I’ll have to continue this discussion later as my practice progresses. In summary, I have been learning both the compulsory tai chi sets from China wushu team world games gold medalist as well as the traditional chen style forms and applications from the descendants of the Chen village.

Eating Dinner with Wang Zhan Hai (my right)

One of the people I have been honored to interact with is Chen style tai chi master – Wang Zhan Hai. He is the eldest son of acclaimed Chen style descendant Wang Xi An. Wang Zhan Hai’s entire childhood and early adult life was dedicated to learning Chen style tai chi. He competed in tai chi push hand competitions and various mixed martial art style competitions and has fought with top masters in other traditional styles. He could basically knock someone across an entire room using what would seem to be little to no strength.

In the midst of tai chi philosophy and business talk, we went to meet some friends of his to further some tai chi projects. We had dinner at an interesting restaurant… that served “exotic” food. Let’s take a look.

Fried ants and scorpions

Some people will say it’s not a big deal and they’ve tried crazier things and some will say they would never touch it. I say… hey! I’m thankful for food on the table and… I’m having what the tai chi master is having. Bon appetit!

Mmmh Chips!

Stunt team friends

Last but not least, I’ve made some cool friends who are working on action and stunts in an upcoming martial arts movie in China. Since I have been involved in everything tai chi.. a couple of the people I was learning with told me to drop by some stunt rehearsals.. so I got some good work outs in, tai chi practice, as well as helping out here and there with some of the choreography.

These guys are super skilled, professional, and have awesome personalities. It’s definitely a different lifestyle doing stunt work in China. You are required to be able to help out with everything with no such things as bumps and bonuses and little more than a boxed lunch. On the plus side you learn a lot in a short amount of time.

Chuan Ge Stuntman Extraordinaire

Here I am kicking it with one of the stunt guys who’s frequently worked with JC stunts and was on Ip Man stunts. He has been in the game for over a decade. Super cool guy and loves what’s app! haha!

Here’s the back of his shirt. Looks cool!

Ip Man Stunt Team

So that’s my summary on tai chi developments for this year so far. I will continue training tai chi and researching its market interest and basically keep being involved with the growth of tai ji as a martial art and a social enterprise. Stay posted for further developments! =)

Fanmail

I get some fan mail and emails from time to time.. but usually rarely.. haha so I guess it’s still pretty fresh for me. I got one message from Germany today that I’d like to share.

” Dear Alfred,

I dont know what I wanna reach with this, but I want to tell you that I appreciate your hard work and I’m jealous of your Life-Style.
There are many guys out-there who are jealous just because of your Kung-Fu abilities, but I am because your life just fits into my “Life & Thinking” although I will never achieve something like this and meet some of the greatest warm-hearted Persons like Jet Li who puts so much effort in helping people like I do but will never be capable of(One of my BIGGEST favorites).
I’m following your career just for a short period of time but you seem great and lucky.
I just hope for a little recognition out here in germany, without any possibilities at this moment…

best regards
Dennis B

your upcomming fan ”

Thanks Dennis! You got my recognition! I support your style of life and thinking! Just be positive and believe you can achieve and you will achieve more than you think you can achieve now!

In other news- BDAY SHOUTOUTS!

Happy Bday to my co-worker Andy Toung (April 28), my boss Jet Li (April 26), and my brother Alvin Hsing (April 22)!

Happy bday Andy and Jet!! (Note this picture was not taken on their actual bdays nor was the picture for a bday party.)

Happy bday to this guy in orange too!

Hopefully another year older another year wiser right?

Jet Li Adidas WuJi

The new line of WuJi apparel is out. WuJi is Jet Li’s Adidas line of clothes – it is currently a top selling line for Adidas here in China. I believe the line is expanding distribution to more parts of Asia and the world. We’ll have to stay posted to see how that develops!

Anyways! Now that the Adidas marketing campaign is already in full motion and we’ve attended a Q4 promotion event and all the posters are up.. I can finally see the results of some fun and hard work put in from a few months back. Knowing that I also had a wushu background, I got put to the test to come up with some choreography and poses that Adidas, the photographer, and Jet would be happy with… and that was also in line with their theme and so on…

Here are some photos from the day of the photo shoot.

Jet Li Adidas Photo Shoot Choreography

The picture above is me on the monitor (we both had shaved heads at this time!). After I discussed the pose and angles with the photographer, he would set up all the lighting and take all the test shots with me until we were satisfied on a result. For this shot all parties involved decided to go with a more powerful and grounded feel.. so I decided to go with a lower stance that felt more solid, but at the same time avoided the typical horse stance and fist pose or front stance and punch pose. I feel we see Jet in this pose less often so although it’s a small drop in his large bucket of poses.. and we are trying to fulfill a certain marketing need, it was my 2 cents of freshness for this shot.

Jet Li Adidas WuJi Q4 Campaign

Here is Jet’s poster in the main Adidas store in Beijing. I think initially I made the pose a little more aggressive and he slightly modified it to make it feel more upright / a more holistic healthy feel. I know most might be thinking.. “whatever, it’s just a simple wushu pose” but truthfully our body language speaks a lot… even a slight lean forward or down can make someone seem more imposing or threatening, whereas having your chest and body upright might feel more comforting.. etc.. so these were some thoughts that went through my head while aligning everyone’s requests. I just wanted to put my full effort into it since this is what I enjoy doing.

Here we have an outdoor shot. It was shot by the Great Wall – very beautiful view of the sunset.

adidas wuji choreo

So first Adidas specified they wanted a kicking motion pose. We wanted an action pose, but we also wanted to keep a wushu element in the shot… so my idea originated from a front snap kick or front push kick and sort of evolved from there.

After seeing the initial poses and options Jet decided it would be more exciting to catch the pose “in motion” meaning.. seeing the kick before final extension. His creativity and uniqueness always amazes me.

Jet Li Adidas WuJi Pose

The way he pulls off the moves is always just right. I think that for me his style is his style and has definitely had a huge impact on the sport of wushu… but it’s not something to be consciously “replicated” – I think as a sense of self becomes more and more strongly defined you can offer your own “style” and in this way can offer more in the way of innovation and creation.

Anyways, for me this is just a look back at some of the work I did last year and now I get to see some of the fruits of that! =)

It’s every working stiff’s fantasy: saying goodbye to the daily grind and embarking on an exotic journey involving movie stars and occasional bodily harm. That’s exactly what Alhambra resident Alfred Hsing, 27, did two years ago. He left his finance job to focus on wushu, an athletic sport derived from traditional Chinese martial arts.

So far, the risk is working out. In 2009 Hsing became the first American to win gold in the taolu (??) category, which focuses on form, at the World Wushu Championships. Now he’s jet setting around the globe to choreograph fight scenes for feature films (he’s even landed a small role in Jet Li’s latest project). He’s incurred a few bruises along the way, sure, but as he tells The Alhambra Source, it’s all part of a hectic life spent in airports, foreign countries and movie sets.

It doesn’t seem like a lot of people are familiar with wushu. What makes it unique? Physically and philosophically, what sets it apart from the other martial arts?

First I would like to clarify the definition of wushu. Directly translated from Chinese it means “martial arts.” In the definition most used today, “wushu” or “modern wushu” is a particular style of martial arts created by China as an athletic sport. Modern wushu as a style is characterized by speed, grace, and power. The art form requires high acrobatic ability, flexibility and precision.

I think it’s one of the most physically challenging martial arts styles in terms of basic training. In competition, a standard form must be at least one minute and 20 seconds and have a combination of jump front kicks, aerials, jump inside kicks and more. These difficult moves must be performed precisely and without any extraneous movement.

My philosophy on wushu is that it has pushed me in regards to physical limits, but it has also helped enhance my mind. I believe that when you train in a repetitive motion—the same punch or kick a hundred or thousand times—it is a form of meditation and helps you grow. Wushu’s focus on rhythm and flow help make it a physically challenging martial art, as well as a meditative art.

You’ve recently landed some roles in action movies and short films. When you’re performing your own stunts and fight scenes, are you put in a lot of dangerous scenarios?

I have done high falls, wirework, fight choreography, et cetera, but I don’t think my response can do justice to the situations that many working stunt men and women face. There are many dangerous scenarios out there and that’s why the stunt profession is not for everyone. I have had bruises, fractures, and occasional injuries from my 15 years of martial arts and film work, but I believe I have been very lucky to have remained relatively safe.

I think the important thing is to know what you are capable of and have good control of your body. If you know how to control yourself and minimize risks then I think it’s possible to maintain your health in the field.

You’ve worked with the likes of Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Did anything about them surprise you when you met them? Or were they what you’d expected them to be like.

Yes and no. There are elements of their on-screen characters that really seem to match their real life personalities, but movies are still movies.

One thing that was surprising: Although I knew they were both incredibly successful and hard working people, until you see it in person, it’s hard to fathom the charisma, intensity and drive of both Jet Li and Jackie Chan. They have their own personalities, but one thing they both have is a special drive. Although they are of course physically skilled at martial arts, there is something special they have that has made them standout among the millions of other talented martial artists out there.

Do you follow a certain regiment in diet and exercise?

I don’t have a strict diet. In general the food I like just so happens to be relatively healthy. I am pretty much always happy with chicken and vegetables. I don’t have a strict rule with this either, but I usually avoid soda, red meat, and sweets.

As far as exercise, I used to work out twice a day six days a week when I was training for competitions, but now that I am working in Asia with a demanding schedule I work out whenever I have downtime from work.

You had a job in finance before switching to an entirely different career. Were you hesitant while making that transition?

Leaving something stable is not easy, especially considering that I had great co-workers and a good paycheck. At the same time the stability made the answer very clear to me. One path I knew exactly where I would be 10 years from now; the other path was uncertain—it offered opportunity, hope and excitement. I knew that I didn’t want to be behind a desk my whole life with a couple extra dollars in my pocket when I died. After that became clear, the decision was simple.

You travel a lot, but it seems like you return to Alhambra for downtime. Do see the city as a safe haven? Does it help you retreat from your hectic career?

I fly on average almost once a week—sometimes short flights, sometimes long flights. Traveling wears a person down after a while. It’s definitely nice to have some consistency and a home base. Even though I currently work in China, Alhambra is where my home is and it’s nice to look forward to coming back home. I really think Alhambra is a perfect blend for me—a combination of local businesses, good Asian food, proximity to main street, good location to downtown and Hollywood without being too close to the traffic, and great neighbors.

Follow Alfred’s journey through his personal website www.alfredrocks.com, and his business website www.wushukicks.com.

The Team

Well… we did it!

In my previous post I mentioned I was going to produce a short film while I was back in the states. I was in LA for less than 2 weeks, I personally only had 5 available days to film not even mentioning other people’s schedules.. but… well…. we did it!

I’m not even sure I can express my excitement for this project. I guess I’ll start with how difficult and unlikely this project was to shoot so you can understand where I am coming from with my excitement. My friend Dave and I had this concept a year back while getting some delicious Taiwanese food for lunch.. suddenly at the blink of an eye I get whirlwinded to China to work for Jet Li and Dave discovers that editing the pilot he had finished filming was going to take more work than he had expected. We are both pulled in separate directions so the idea gets pushed to the back of my mind. Though in the back of my mind.. it was always there and I thought it would be a fun idea and an interesting challenge so… practically A YEAR LATER when I discover that I am coming back to the US for a few weeks, I immediately call up Dave.

Mind you, I was only sure that I was coming back to the US 2 weeks beforehand.. Dave and I know we want to shoot something fun while I’m back, but he is not 100% sold on our original idea. We fiddle with a few concepts.. all pretty cool.. but eventually come back to the original one.

Now let me give you the time crunch countdown. We know we want to work on THIS project 1 week before I come back from China. I fly back to LA for about 3 days, then nor cal to visit my family for 1 week, then back to LA for about another 7 days. That gives us 1wk+3days+1wk.. roughly 10 actual days in LA.. but some of which I have to run errands, see family/friends, etc. Also I sold my car so for part of the trip I had no transportation to even get to and from set (just cuz I didn’t want things to be TOO easy u know)… and jet lag? That’s not even part of the equation.

The Stunt Crew

Pre-Planning Pre-Return
So although we had a cool premise in front of us.. it was purely a concept. Dave and I started off big with an entire feature length movie before us with spectacular characters and hyper realistic fx and the whole nine yards. After many 3 hour long conversations it dawned on me.. we had to be precise and narrow it down to a key moment in our story – suddenly the entire short visualized in my mind. We remained practical to our timing and budget limitations, but not in any way that would short change what needed to happen in the movie. I yapped away with Dave and told him what I saw the beginning of the film to be and after I finished he said.. he felt relieved because now we had a more solid grasp on the direction we were going.

In my mind, this is when everything started moving… kinda like in the opening credits of Fight Club.. you knew you were going to be taken for a wild ride. With the specific scenes in mind, Dave went to work on the script and I started planning the action sequences. Yep, I just spilled the beans that there will be some action in this.. is that a surprise? =P

This is all while I’m in Asia. One week passes and it’s time to return to the US of A.

(1 week – 1week) + 3 days + 1 week = 3 Days and 1 Week Left
I’m only in LA for 3 days before going to Nor Cal. Draft 1 of the script is ready and draft 1 of the fight concept is ready. We meet up and discuss. When it comes down to details everyone is going to have their own vision and subtleties… we go the distance on our thoughts for EVERYTHING and it’s good because a day later I have to go back to nor cal.

Bonus Week – Nor Cal
I wouldn’t really call this a bonus week.. this is the heavy lifting week for Dave and Al – our other producer. While I go back to nor cal, I work on revising aspects of the script, revising the choreography going in line with what elements we agreed to add in, and work on getting various equipment and stunt actors. Meanwhile Dave and Al are casting for additional roles, picking up props, dressing sets, and revising the script.

Game Week – 7 Days Left
“You can get a good night’s sleep the night before the shoot.. when you’re well-prepared”. – Al Brocca

Day 7 – I get back to LA in the evening. I’m able to jump start my bike and it starts running after sitting idle for 8 months. I have wheels now.

Day 6 – I go to the studio and we hammer out the final kinks to the script, characters, and to the choreography. Al films the action blocking for reference. We make functional adjustments to the set. Call times go out!

Day 5 – We film! I know, yet I don’t know how these guys did it, but in that 1 week we managed to get 2 camera operators, 1 sound, 1 super-grip (lighting, sound, slate, etc), 1 makeup artist, and all the actors/actresses. We were cautiously pessimistic, but somehow we got through the first day.

Day 4 – Action day! I mean.. it was all action with how much running around we did for the shoot, but today was the heavy lifting in terms of a lot of the stunt work and action choreography. Though I gave all my energy each day to my performance and work, I was the most daunted by this day because all of the action choreography was my responsibility… and everyone was working at such a high level in all other areas that I could definitely not disappoint. We got off to a rocky start.. and at some points I wanted to kill someone more than my character did. haha… but in the end we wrapped for the day and pretty much got the shots that we needed without too many casualties.

Day 3 – Could it be that we only had 1 more major day of filming left? People were feeling a little worn down by Day 3 of filming. The actors were on set for a while, but even after they left we stayed behind to plan for the next day. This week we had probably consistently been doing 15 hour days. With a little Emergen-C, coffee, zipp fizz, and fresh & easy we made it through our last major day of filming. I slept at the studio this day.

Day 2 – Backing up the footage and just getting some much needed rest. We felt pretty pumped that something purely in our head was captured in a digital box now. I asked Dave if it was possible that everything worked out? We had such a crunched time frame and had 1 thing not gone right the project would have been on hold indefinitely or never finished. I would’ve had to go back to China and we would have to wait until I got back and then try to get EVERYONE back maybe 6 months to a year later. He said sometimes you just get pumped and everything happens and it’s like catching lightning in a bottle. You capture the energy of everyone around you and that essence hopefully can be felt in the film.

Day 1 – I come in to the studio for some voiceover and sound work. This is a couple hours worth of work and its an opportunity to come off our high.

Countdown Over
I pack up and fly back to Asia. There will be more thanking to come, but for now let me briefly thank Jeff our super grip, Jacqui our talented actress, double Brocca time, Nelson runnin the 1s and 2s or more like As and Bs, Pej for the equipment, and Phil and Yanwei for taking hits and doin it in style.

So if you ask me what this film is.. I can’t even respond right now.. not because I don’t want to but because… I don’t even know. It’s like what Sean Parker in “The Social Network” says.. we don’t even know what it is yet.. we just know it’s cool. For me, I just know we wanted to make a short and it all came together. There is still going to be a lot of editing, filming inserts, sound, and other work.. but we know it’s cool and we had fun.

Night View of Taipei 101 on New Years Eve

It was officially New Years Eve and I started the day off right by going to workout with my friend Susan. I hadn’t worked in a while because work was taking up a lot of my time. Any chance I get to work out.. I get pretty excited. I think I ran 3 miles, did a little weight lifting, and then did some kicks in one of the studio rooms.

Working out aside, the main event of the night was New Years Eve celebrations. After working out, eating lunch, and going back to change… I rested a little and before you knew it there was not much time left before the countdown. I got showered and got ready for the new year and head out to meet my friends Elaine and Alan.

Crowds of people in the background

Alan ended up having some work meetings so I had to meet him up a little later. On New Years Eve in Taipei there are tons of people on the streets. Exciting atmosphere.. but still reallly crowded! There was NO PLACE to eat! I tried to find a simple restaurant but there was nothing! We ended up waiting for a bit and finally a spot opened up. Whew! After dinner I met up with Sarah, David.. and the crew!

NYE in Taipei

Lasik Terminator Mode

David’s friend had access to some news or office tower building where you could watch the fireworks. We kicked it there for a while but this would not be our final location for the night! As planned I met up Alan at Marquees. This is where I watched the countdown.

I must admit, this years fireworks were AMAZING. It was Taiwan’s 100th yr celebration and they spent twice the money on fireworks this year. I was in Taiwan last year for the fireworks.. and I can’t even compare.. there’s just nothing to say. Fireworks zigged and zagged up and down the 101 building they shot out of every direction.. they were like missiles blowing up everywhere except they formed hearts and didn’t kill anyone… to my knowledge. Anyways, youtube some Taipei 101 fireworks for this year.. I am sure everyone will agree it was pretty amazing.

ROC 101

After the spectacular firework display this is what lit the sky after the smoke settled. Pretty epic.

So at Marquee, I basically ran into every single possible ABC (American Born Chinese) from LA in Taipei. I felt like I was at a club in LA because so many people flew out to visit and spend new years. For those who have been to Taiwan or have an opinion.. what changes do you see in ABC life in Taiwan in the past decade? How has it affected Taipei and what lies ahead for the future? I ended the night at Primo. Lot’s of friends runnin around and met some new friends as well. Did lots of walkin and runnin around on New Years Eve, but it was all worth it! Had a blast and was happy to have spent my new years in Taiwan. This year was already off to a great start!

The rest of my trip in Taiwan was all quite busy and fun. However, it can basically be summed up in 3 categories: Meet ups, Parties, and Martial Arts.

Meet ups!
It’s nice to follow people on “facebook” or “twitter” to stay in touch… but I MUCH PREFER meeting up my friends face to face and just speaking your mind, hearing what they’ve been up to, and just having a nice cup of tea or coffee or boba! haha!

I met up with my mei Sarah and her fam for dinner. I checked out her new place in Xin Bei Tou – far! but it was a really nice place with like a time travel capable bathroom/shower. haha! Got to meet up with Ngan’s fam as well and take them out for dinner! It was cool that they came to check out Taiwan.

Glad I met up with tha Cool Silly homies Tony, Leeway, and Ray at Primo. They always have concerts and events.. plus every time I’m in Taipei it’s usually for a couple of days only.. so it was good we bumped into each other and said wsup. Too bad for Leeway though.. we didn’t get to go workout this time =P haha next time though! Better start training now. haha!

I had a few Beers with my friends Ryan and Vanessa. Last time I was in Taiwan they hooked me up on an affordable place so it was good catching up with them. My coworker AND roommate Andy was also in Taiwan so of course we met up and then aside from a meetup with some new friends who work at the Golden Horse Film Festival, I also had lunch with my family friends, aunts and uncles.. and that’ssss about it!

Kareoking with Andy

Parties
Luxy.
Primo.
Marquee.
Spark.

Check, check, check….. and check.

Party mode Jess and Tim

Martial Arts + death day workout
Muahhaha! This category is good. Now.. one day.. and I don’t know why.. but for some reason.. I ended up doing A LOT of working out. Sometimes I schedule things and don’t think or care about the physical repercussions as long as it fits with my schedule I’ll just stick it in. So one day I had scheduled to go workout with my friend Susan. Okay… no big deal.. just a workout in the morning. I go workout.. run 3 miles, do some lifting, and do a little light shadow kick boxing and flips in an open studio room. We go and grab lunch.

Behold! I had scheduled to meet up with Ngan to go meet up the Guo Ti wushu team right after lunch… so Ngan meets us up at lunch and straight from lunch I go to Linkou to train wushu! We train for about 1-2 hours.. it was a relatively light workout. We mainly went there to say hi.. but nonetheless, we still ended up doing basic kicks, jump kicks, and short sections.

THEN…. I had made a promise to MYSELF that I would visit Taiwan BJJ – an MMA training place in Taiwan. I had already tried to go once before, but they were closed the day after New Years… so this time I was resolved to check it out. I figured if I didn’t go I might never go this trip.. so riiight after wushu.. I ate 9 pieces of sushi at the train station and went directly to practice.

It’s my first time at Taiwan BJJ and today happens to be a Muay Thai class. Everyone comes in pumped after renewing their new years resolutions. They also all seem pretty serious when it comes to kick boxing.. in other words I think it was a good class.. people weren’t there to do some light cardio kick boxing stuff. The instructor is kind enough to let me sample a class… so we start warming up and doing drills. No one knew or cared that I had come from 2 other workouts already… then to top it off this is no light workout. We started doing jump rope and cardio drills where you go for 3 minutes at a time. I was pretty much dying from the start. Then we switched into doing some Thai clinching drills followed by pad work and finished up by doing some more high intensity conditioning. Whew!

I think if I had been more in shape overall (gettin fat from no working out on the job) and hadn’t run around the whole day working out I would’ve still been tired… but in alright condition. Instead though!!!!…. the next 3 days I pretty much couldn’t walk normally and had a hard time doing anything that required movement. I also had a major pain in my foot so I was limping and sore. (Somehow magically Sarah’s dad had some light device that apparently healed my foot, but that’s another story).

As if that day of 3x workouts wasn’t enough.. I had one last martial arts session in Taiwan. My friend and MMA promoter Holly took me to her friend’s BJJ school near bei tou. We joined in on a more beginner BJJ class.. did some more conditioning and BJJ basics. I still came out learning some good stuff. I was in much pain though still.. haha!

after mma workout at sarahs new house

If only this picture could express how sore I was.. haha! We did do some hot spring therapy and Sarah’s dad used this crazy light to help me heal my gimp foot. I don’t know for certain if it healed my foot, but the next day after I got some rest, I felt significantly better.

Alright.. well stay tuned for the conclusion of Taiwan Adventures III: Ninja Battle

Let me take a look back at the fruits of my labor for 2010.

It was definitely a year of meeting people! Not that I ever cared too much about merely “meeting people” but if there were ever celebrities or idols that I wanted to meet, I more than definitely got that out of my system this year. So to start out.. right after watching the fireworks at Taipei 101 I finished my enjoyable trip to Taiwan and headed back to LA. I headed straight back to LA just in time to rehearse and perform at a demo for Jackie Chan!

Jackie Chan at the Lionsgate's Movie The Spy Next Door Premier

Immediately after the demo before my body had even cooled down I caught a flight back to SF bay area to perform with my brother at an event my mom was helping out with around the Civic Center in San Jose.
Here I am with my brother working on our fight choreography for the performance.

Aside from all these demos, 2010 was also a new year for “wu shu” for me. Taking a gold at the world games was as far as I could have ever hoped to go with competitive taolu wushu. Immediately when I got back to LA I started training with world games sanda medalist Jason Yee. I was really excited to hear that he had moved to LA and was also working in entertainment. Including some wushu private lessons that I started teaching, I basically trained every day of the week – sometimes 2 times a day. My training would consist of sanda with Jason, wushu at LA wushu, tricking at white lotus, and gym time at LA fitness.

Me and Jason

A little sampler of my training at White Lotus.

For me, it was also a really meaningful year for wushu in another sense. 2010 was my last year doing competitive wushu. I was invited to the 2010 Sport Accord Games in Beijing, China based off of placing top 6 in a qualifying event at the world games.

My Last Wushu Competition

After more than 10 years of training wushu and competing, part of me looks back and thinks, it’s hard to believe that this part of my life is over. A couple years ago I couldn’t imagine a day where I wasn’t focusing on making the US wushu team. Of course everything has it’s time and place. I am so happy to have finished off my final competition at the Sport Accord Games. It was a high level first of it’s kind event recognized by the IOC to be held like an olympics for martial arts. I got my chance to compete in Beijing – a birthplace of modern wushu. Best of all I got to spend this trip with my US wushu teammates Sarah Chang and Peter Dang as well as my Canada wushu buddies. =)

Plus I finally got some espn-like wushu coverage with one of those high flying dolly-ing cameras. Check out my final performance.

Jackie Chan even congratulated me after the tournament. He ended up being an honored invited guest performer for the 2010 Sport Accord closing ceremony. You can still see my competitor badge below.

Alfred Hsing and Jackie Chan

It’s amazing how things are all connected. Before getting a job in Beijing, I was going to fly to China anyways because I was invited to compete at the Sport Accord games. Then I happen to attend the games to compete AND for work because Jet was an honored international wushu ambassador. Meanwhile Jackie Chan was singing as an honored performer.. and I had just happened to perform for him earlier on in the year for his movie premier at The Grove in LA.

As I mentioned earlier, this was a year of meeting people – part of that was because I became a News Correspondent / Interview Host for Pac Rim baby!

I had the opportunity to interview a lot of artists and performers that I have a lot of respect for.. such as: Mike Shinoda, Cung Le, Tia Carrere, ABDC dance crews, and many others.

Cung Le Interview

Mike Shinoda

Outside of meeting some awesome peeps on the Pacific Rim team and on the red carpets.. my celebrity streak didn’t end there… but first! let me do a little summary on my business developments.

2010 was actually a very interesting year for WushuKicks.com – my online martial arts business. Aside from acting projects and training all my other time was focused on WushuKicks. WushuKicks went through some good clean ups. The site design and functionality was improved; it was the first year we were incorporated; sales increased month to month; vendor relationships developed; and I grew new lines of business. WushuKicks was also a sponsor of CMAT this year. Overall the scale of WushuKicks definitely grew.. and in fact I am looking for another person to possibly join the team to help out in a learning and assisting capacity (contact me at alfredrocks(at)gmail.com).

WushuKicks sponsors CMAT 18

Martial Arts Complete

One of the new lines of business under WushuKicks was Martial Arts Complete. My good homie and buddy Adam McArthur and I had this idea to promote martial arts nutrition. I started talking to him about this in 2009. Finally in 2010 our idea came to fruition and was finalized. We set up the site www.martialartscomplete.com (after being scammed by some guy who only half finished our site). Then we finished the designs, product pictures, legal work, certifications, and got our first sale not too long after our product was completed. =) Look forward to more development for 2011.

I guess the most interesting part was that in the middle part of the year I ended up moving to the other side of the world and still fully remotely managed WushuKicks. With less time spent I even noticed sales continued to increase! Life is good!

NOW.. why did I move to the other side of the world? I guess most know by now. I got a life changing email (and skype call) that landed me a job to work for my childhood role model Jet Li.

andy alfred jet clinton

The job has had it’s ups and downs in terms of how draining and demanding it can be… but I never regret making this decision to up and move from LA to China. Oh yeah, so the picture above is with Clinton at a Clinton Global Initiative event in Hong Kong. Also the reason I shaved my head is because I landed a small role in a movie WITH Jet. I shaved my head to play a monk. I actually got lines, a close up, and some work with the stunt team as well. I mean.. wow.. from driving hours in traffic just to audition for scattered roles in LA to working with China’s most famous directors and being in a scene interacting with Jet Li… this alone made 2010 an amazing year for me! Unfortunately I’m not allowed to post up pics from the set yet, but when the movie comes out I will definitely post up some news.

Some other good memories on the job include: meeting other celebs like Rob Cohen, Ekin Cheng, Jay Chou; working with top entrepreneurs and philanthropists like Jack Ma, Wang Shi, Ma Hua Teng; emailing Bill Gates and Warren Buffet; shaking hands 6 times with Bill Clinton; helping choreograph Jet’s Adidas Q4 clothing line poses; hitting up movie premiers; changing history (watching the One Foundation achieve status as a public NGO in China).

Jack Ma and Alfred Hsing

adidas front kick pose

Despite all the cool people and fun sounding events… moving to China and working for Jet was one of the most draining and demanding jobs I have ever had in my life. For the first 3 months, every day I passed out from exhaustion. Within the first 3 weeks on the job one time in Shanghai I woke up in a hotel and didn’t know which city I was in for about 2-3 minutes. When I got here, I couldn’t read Chinese as well and I was much more unfamiliar with how everything works. I am so thankful that my reading ability has improved and my listening comprehension for business and philanthropy terminology has increased as well. I still feel I have a ways to go, but I sincerely want to make a push to improve my Chinese to a near-native level this year.

It has definitely been a year of accomplishing goals. I got the chance to work with both Jackie Chan and Jet Li this year.. and that’s a goal I had set upon achieving since the 7th grade. Also I had always wanted to move to Asia and live here for 6 months – 1 year and now I’ve made that happen as well.

I rounded up the year and made everything come full circle as we finished up 2 movies by the end of December and I took a short vacation to Taiwan. So again, for the second time I spent my New Years Eve watching the fireworks at Taipei 101. This year was a 100 year celebration for Taiwan and it was also 2010, a nice round number, so apparently double the money was spent on fireworks. The firework display was in fact AMAZING this year! Fireworks zigged and zagged and flooded up and down the 101 building. It also lit the sky with all kinds of shapes and lights! I think this was a great great great way to kick off 2011.

Taipei 101 2010 NYE

New Years in Taiwan with homies

It was great to spend the end of 2010 in Taiwan with friends. Ngan, Sarah, and I joked about all the former US wushu team members moving to Asia and kicking it in Taiwan. It was a fun vacation and my Taiwan trip will surely have it’s own post.

Overall this year I think I reached new heights in my understanding of the universe. If last year I pushed physical limits of the human body (training and training and more training till it hurt all over) this year I started to push the limits of the mind… my mind.. human minds.. and questioning more deeply on how our human minds limit ourselves. I hope and sincerely believe that the relationships I have developed this year were many and far reaching. I believe the fruits of labor that will be sown in 2011 will be seismic!! even in comparison to past years. I hope for success in the acting and entertainment field for 2011. Even beyond acting developments.. I think I am growing in knowledge around spirituality and life’s truths. I know there will be further developments in this area as well. If 2010 was pushing boundaries.. 2011 is where we break the tipping point for goals and possibilities.

I hope you enjoyed my recap of 2010. Welcome 2011!
- Alfred Hsing