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.

Landing in Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon

Though I’d been to Vietnam before, I’d never been to Ho Chi Minh City… which according to my friend Andy was “where it’s at” – so of course I had to give him a visit. I had been to Hanoi on a prior trip, but Andy said Saigon had more of a city life so for most of this trip we checked out a lot of cafes, clubs, and local spots.

When I got to Andy’s place, I was greeted with a red Vietnamese flag. It was a national holiday and if you didn’t put up the flag you would be fined Andy said. Haha very interesting, but not a surprise.

Right after I dropped off my bags Andy had some plans ready to go!

First dinner in Saigon

We went to a Japanese style bbq restaurant. It was pretty nice and the water and ice were drinkable without having to buy bottled water. We got too much meat in our system so had to do a little pumping iron pose… and we were getting pumped to go out! haha!

Anyways next up after dinner was a chill hookah place. It was strewn with red satin curtains hung everywhere and had a cozy feel. Andy said it would be nice to open up a place like that in the future. It was a good pre-party hangout location. After hookah we hit up Model Club.

Philip, Andy, and I

We had a group of friends at the table and it was my first experience going to a club in Vietnam. So how was it inside? Comparing to the clubs in China, it wasn’t as big or as packed.. I don’t like it super packed where you can’t move. We had a good group of people at the table and ate, drank, danced, laughed.. so it was definitely a good first night.

Of course afterward we got some late night noodles. It’s funny because normally after going out.. in LA.. I would get either korean bbq or pho.. but in Vietnam we got some other kind of noodles.. and I was totally craving pho. So even though I wanted to try pho immediately, the noodles were still good.. and when I got back to Andy’s place I knocked out.

The next morning however my wish was granted – I wake up all groggy the next morning around 11:30am and stumble out of my room… my eyes half open.. I walk downstairs. Halfway down the flight of stairs Andy opens his room door and groggily says “if you’re hungry just go downstairs and eat some food”. I have no idea what he is talking about.. but I am half awake and a little hungry so I just keep walking downstairs.

I get to the kitchen and Lo and Behold!

Pho Fantasy Feast

I see a freaking entire fresh cooked meal laden all over his kitchen table. There is a fresh steaming pot of beef stew ready to fuse with the freshly cooked pho noodles. There is sliced chicken, basil, fish sauce, and the oh so aromatic toasted garlic flakes. WOW! The smell, the first bite.. I had like 3 bowls.

Best Bowl of Pho

I can’t forget the taste of this bowl of Pho. I think I would have to go back to Vietnam just for this pho alone.

So eventually we all climb out of our half-awake states; I tell Andy I want to do at least one touristy thing and then we can do all the cafes and partying possible. There were 2 touristy things to do on my to do list. 1 was the tunnels + AKs, the other was the Reunification Palace.

Reunification Palace

Reunification Palace, formerly known as Independence Palace, was the equivalent of the White House for the President of South Vietnam. It was also the last stand and site for the end of the war. But yeah… unfortunately when we got there it was CLOSED! I think either we got there too late or it was due to the holiday… so I had no choice but to get some…

Vietnamese Coffee

…Vietnamese Coffee! Also known as ‘ca phe sua da’ is delicious iced coffee with condensed milk. It’s not a trip to Vietnam without some Vietnamese coffee! It’s super strong and got me pretty wired.

After I got all wired we went to dinner with Andy’s friend Tommy and Tommy’s wife.

Tommy throwin down some knowledge

Tommy was hilarious! He was an international model and traveled to all these different parts of the world in the past and over dinner and drinks he kept throwin down all this knowledge. It was interesting and he was comical at the same time. In the picture above we went to a local pub bar type place.. but it’s different from bars in the US because at this bar there are girls that work there that hang out by the bar and you can select for them to accompany you while you drink. The way it works is you ask some to join you and then at the end you give them a standardized tip. In Vietnam and many parts of Asia this is pretty commonplace. At the same time you don’t have to ask them to drink with you. We just sat for drinks and there was also live music so it was a cool spot to chat and hear Tommy’s stories. At night we went to Shadow Club. There are mainly a lot of tables all lined up in there, but didn’t really have a dance floor. Tri dropped by too and we ended going to some cafe afterward.. we ordered food.. the food came.. but by the time the food came we were passed out. hahaha..

Okay, so due to our failure of doing one tourist thing the day before the first thing we did the next day was to check out the Reunification Palace again. This time it was open and I got to check it out (Unfortunately I did not have time to check out the tunnels and AKs this trip because that location was about 2 hours away from where we lived and we didn’t have enough time).

Here’s a glimpse of what’s inside:

Helicopter at the Reunification Palace

Commanding Room is for Commanders

Pictures on the wall in the Reunification Palace

The inside is what you could expect – it’s just some different board rooms, offices, library room, theater room, etc. Then there’s a helicopter and tank on the premises. Walking through it was a little boring, but at the same time when you realize it was a part of history and then see all these pictures of the war and slaughter, it’s pretty moving that I’m standing in the same place where tanks crashed through and people fought with their lives and struggled through so much.

Upon leaving, I was however touristed into buying some over-priced useless artifacts. Anyways, we headed to meet up a friend and get some coffee. I wanted to try some more food and though it wasn’t dinner time I wanted to try the banhi me and beef stew which I often have in San Gabriel on Valley Blvd. I may have not ordered the exact thing I was looking for but it was pretty good. I was hoping the beef stew would be thicker and more suitable for dipping the bread in.. but overall the taste was still good. With that, I will note one thing – at least from what I saw, though Beijing has a lot more modern looking buildings and some bigger more developed establishments.. the one thing that always nags at me in China is that when I’m eating, I’m not quite sure what I’m eating.. I often get this it’s half food, half synthetic feeling… and I did not have that feeling in Vietnam. Everything I ate tasted good and tasted like real food.

Beef Stew and Banh Mi!

For dinner we went to a really local spot and had some other kind of Vietnamese noodles. I was pretty full after already eating like 2 hours before dinner, but I remember the soup and noodles were really tasty.

spring rolls

After dinner we went to a more western club lounge called Lush. It was my last night and I had to catch a flight the next morning plus we had gone out enough so we took it easy and then headed out around midnight.

look at the picture behind me

So the next morning I’m at the airport. I’m sitting by my terminal going doot da doot.. and then suddenly this URGE for pho starts rising and 30 minutes before it was time to board my flight I run upstairs to the restaurant area and frantically search for some pho. haha! I figured it would be a while since I could get some good authentic pho in Vietnam so I should get one more farewell bite. =P Though airport food is not known to be the best ever, I figure it is still a Vietnamese airport so the pho should still be pretty above par.

airport pho

airport fried spring rolls

I was wrong. The pho was very average. The fried spring rolls were slightly tastier. Not the best, but still tasty. The size of those spring rolls reminded me of filipino lumpia.

Anyways, overall had a good trip. I didn’t really go to Vietnam to do anything crazy or do too much sight-seeing. I just moved on from my job and finally had a chance to take a small vacation for myself and I hadn’t seen my friend Andy in a while so it was the perfect timing. I got to see his pad and personally see and hear what he’s been up to in Saigon (and he’s been up to a lot). It was a good breather in the sense that I didn’t worry about work, training, housing, planning, etc for those few days.

On the other hand it was still action packed because we squeezed in so much in these few short days. So the journey doesn’t end here. There was a reason this trip was cut short. Originally I was planning on staying 1-2 weeks, but life slapped me in the face and said I had things to do.

Find out what was so important that I had to reduce my pho eating days in my next post! – The Life of a Stuntman in China!

It was my first time in Vietnam. I went to Hanoi for work where we helped create awareness for Red Cross programs in Vietnam as well as learn about what disaster recovery programs the Red Cross has developed. This trip was earlier this year, but I’d been so busy that I hadn’t had time to post. I think I’ll mainly post up some pictures of this trip. – Following this post I should post about my trip to Singapore which directly following my trip to Vietnam.

Vietnam Antique Shop

Some Antique in the Vietnam Shop

Another creepy antique but what do I know

Alfred in Vietnam

First lunch in Vietnam

Salty Drink

You haven't visited Vietnam without having some Vietnamese coffee

Saw many sights straight out of war scenes because they were

Plants were grown by Red Cross volunteers to reduce flooding

Really tasty meal made at a temple in Vietnam

We did a lot of other things in relation to work, but you can check that out at the red cross site: http://www.redcross.org.vn/redcross/

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

Alrighty! I went to Taiwan to spend my New Years Eve and every time I go to Taiwan you know I have some funnnn adventures! ..and of course this time was nooo different!

and so begins my third adventures in…. Taiwan!!

Taiwan Adventures III - (Sarah, Ngan, Alfred)

Immediately after 2 conferences and finishing up our last day of filming in Beijing I jetted off to Taiwan for some “fun in the sun” per..say. I was like a hitman out to have fun with precision accuracy.. haha… I say this because I had a pretty planned out and packed schedule. Upon arriving in Taiwan, my good homeboy E and I met up at the airport. He was stopping over for about 6 hours on his way over to Malaysia. I hadnt hung out with him for close to 8 months.. I havent really seen a lot of people in the states since I left for China… so we had a good couple hours to chat, get food, and catch up.

A and E

We took a picture “outside” of the airport just so E could say he technically visited Taiwan. haha.. also we thought taking a picture in the mirror at the same time would be cool.. but it wasnt that cool. lol

After the airport I immediately went to meet up my two US Wushu teammates! Ngan and Sarah. I had lunch with Ngan while Sarah was at work.

Pork Chop Noodles with Ngan

Here we are getting some delicious Taiwanese food. Ngan and I caught up and I was talkin to her about life, some recent religious concepts, my businesses, and other goals and such. She really got what I was saying and we chatted for quite a while. When Sarah got off work, she met us up at this little old style coffee shop.

Coffee Shop Time

Sarah just got lasik so she’s wearing crazy sunglasses at all times of the day! So by the time she arrived it was time for dinner! D and Sarah decided to take us to this Beer Factory for dinner.

Taiwan Beer Factory

Food at the Beer Factory

It’s not a beer factory without beer on the table! The place is simply a Taiwan beer factory with tons of beer bottles everywhere. Then you can order some “re chao” and chomp down with your beer.

After beer time we went to a Jazz bar via invitation from my friend Mei!

Mei Yi Ho it up at the Jazz Bar

Last time I saw Mei was in 2009 so it was exactly a full year since kickin it in Taiwan. We had some good chats about her work and her thoughts on the current situation of the film industry in Taiwan. After this I called it a night.. after all it was essentially my FIRST day in Taiwan.

The next day I met up with another friend.. and for the first time too! I think this trip I really squeezed in a lot because I knew I only had about 10 days to hang out with all my good friends in Taiwan.

So yeah, the next day I met up Nadia and we went for dinner. We were going to cook some food with her FT crew I think.. but then plans changed so we ended up going to chill at her friends studio. It was a totally pimptastic spot with a great view. Some pretty awesome beats gettin made there! There was simply too much goin on this trip.. I couldn’t document it all! After a while, we got hungry again and went for a snacky snack. See below!

Oil Treats in a Bun

I’m thinking about how unflattering the name of this sounds if it’s directly translated into English… it’s called “oil sticks” hahaha.. cuz this is a completely vegetarian snack.. and its basically dough dipped in oil… haha.. but it tastes so good.. AND I was introduced to the crack of all sauces. If you look in the background of the pic you see this awesome sauce. I don’t know what it’s made of or what it’s called but it made the oil stick taste pretty ridiculously delicious. haha

Oil Stick Chomp Down

After eating on some oil sticks, I was pretty much ready to call it a day.. the next day was New Years Eve and I needed to charge up. Plus, I was going to wake up early to work out!! Rah!! Also, I think all my exhaustion from work and then flying in to Taiwan and getting settled into my hotelmotel was catchin up.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this adventure… New Years Blast Off!

So I guess I finished off 2009 with a bang by quitting my desk job, winning gold at worlds, and then taking off to live in Taiwan for 2.5 months. I finally broke free of this “path” that seemed carved since birth. Once I had walked this path of getting good grades, graduating college, and getting a corporate job, I felt I could finally venture into what the rest of the universe had to offer. I just started truly discovering the endless possibilities of life towards the end of 2010.. but 2011 was the year that I would start learning more, questioning more, and pushing the envelope on what is capable in life.

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

andy clinton jet alfred

This is just too exciting for me to not post. Last week in HK I had the honor of meeting former president of the United States – Mr. Bill Clinton. It was a very cozy event with limited invitees for the Clinton Global Initiative.

When we first got there people mingled for a bit. As the event formally started Pres Clinton came out and gave a brief speech. I had a chance to hear him speak about 6 years ago at Royce Hall at UCLA, but this time I was literally arms distance away. He warmed the crowd with his usual very personal and exceptional speaking ability. Following his brief speech people continued to mingle. He made his way through talking to all his guests. When he got to Jet they gave each other a big hug and discussed the future of philanthropy in the world. The atmosphere was that they were both interested in getting work done and were both very action oriented. Thus Pres Clinton agreed to Jet that next time he was around in Beijing if it was convenient schedule-wise he would speak at a One Foundation Philanthropy Research Institute forum.

As a college student who had taken speech, our professor pointed Pres Clinton’s speaking skill, which is just another reason for why I went out of my way to hear him speak when he came by UCLA. I had always wanted to meet him up close and shake hands with him.. so this well definitely be another great memory for me. That’s also why I’m blogging about it.. so I can record all the fast paced things going on.. I feel like lately it’s kinda easy to overlook everything that is going on and just get caught up in the details of setting up the events and helping with planning that I might forget to take a step back and realize that I am accomplishing things that I have always dreamed of.

Speaking of dreams.. I finally also watched Inception the other day. I’ve been so busy but that’s been a movie I really knew I would like.. and I did! The movie brings up interesting points about reality and what we can and should accept. I think a good message is to always enjoy the journey and not to get too caught up on the destination only. What do you guys think about the ending?

Last week I had the fortune of squeezing in 2.5 days in Taiwan! I essentially had 48 hours in Taiwan because the other half days were occupied by actual commute time. My parents happened to be in town so I asked my boss for a few days off. Fortunately he graciously accepted my request…. and so I was off to Taipei! My mom actually won a free tour to Taiwan from some raffle (she tends to win raffles all the time) so my dad bought a ticket and that’s how they ended up in Taiwan.

Madame Tusades hk wax figure

I had just finished a wax figure opening ceremony at Madame Tusades in HK and then was continuing work on a film in Hubei when I found out that they would be in Taipei at the last leg of their tour. Since we were just about to switch filming locations I squeezed in 2-3 days to see my parents in Taiwan.

When I first got there I met up with my sis – Sarah! We’re wushu “bros” and every time I visit Taiwan I always crash with her and kick it with her whole fam (minus Cheryl who is not in Taiwan) so we always laugh that I’m basically part of the family.. with that said… right when I landed I met her up at this HUGE family dinner of hers. Her dad’s cousins who hadn’t seen each other in 30 some years were there.

schang's family dinner

Then we went back to the pad to regroup and figure out the plan for the night. Even though Schang had work the next day she was down to hang out since I was only in town for 2 days. She is awesome. Another person that was awesome was Ngan – my scwa wushu teammate. So Sarah, her cousin, Tim, and Ngan planned to meet up for some karaoke at cash box! We were thinking it could potentially be more fun if we had more people, but it was kinda last minute so we rolled over.

Jerry Liau, Jack Tu, Jackie Chan

Guess what? As we were waiting outside waiting for Ngan some guy walked by me and quickly said.. “alfred” and i turned my head.. and it happened to be Jerry! It was pure chance that I ran into him. The week before we all met up for dinner. He is part of the New Seven Little Fortunes – a tour group that performs with Jackie Chan. I met him through my friend Jack Tu who is on that team and who was also the winner of the BTV show The Disciple. So Jerry was waiting for a few friends as well and we ended up all sharing a room and having a huge group karaoking the night away. haha. We had only planned to stay out till midnight but since everyone started singing we forgot about time and ended staying out till about 3am.

Lunch with Ngan

Even though we went out until 3am I made plans to get breakfast with Ngan the next day. I had to make the most of my 2 days! I met Ngan at 101… but totally got mixed up that Hua Na Wei Xiu aka the Neo19 place was a little ways off.. so we had a little exercise while meeting up for breakfast. Fortunately Ngan is super chill so didn’t mind the mix up too much. We met up at this breakfast place I like to go to for lounging, surfin wifi, and chatting. We chatted over pancakes and milk tea. We had some really great conversation – talked about random things but also some very insightful things. Within a few short minutes Ngan had a very thorough grasp of what I was doing and where I was heading with my goals. It was pretty amazing how quickly she was able to assess my situation. We also talked about personality types and recognized that understanding yourself helps you understand the best decision to make.

Eating Delicious Rice in Taiwan

Since we chatted for so long it became lunch and I HAD to visit this delicious “lu rou fan” (a taiwanese rice dish) mom and pops Taiwanese hole in the wall by where I used to live last year. After lunch I took a few steps and found a hair salon and got my hair cut.. then was off to meet another friend.

Environment Friendly Chopsticks

I’m starting to go green. On set we’ve decided to use our own chopsticks and bowls instead of using the disposable ones. I think this is awesome because for ONE thing.. if you use your own chopsticks and bowls your meal taste better than eating out of a paper bowl with splintered wood chopsticks. Another thing is that it’s more sanitary to use your own utensils. Most importantly though is – if you think about how many paper cups, plates, plastic spoons, wooden chopsticks are used PER DAY for a cast and crew of a few hundred. You easily go through a thousand spoons and plates per week! This goes back to www.storyofstuff.com – I am strongly against the increased consumption of our consumer society. I think we all need to scale back on consumption and I am happy to start with using my own bowls and plates. I know I went off on a tangent there.. but it’s something I get pretty heated about. So anyways, I went shopping for environmental objects with my friend and then she had to run to go teach a dance class.

I also saw this random pic while shopping.

Darth Vader Party

TW Star Tour Team

For dinner I met up with some colleagues I worked with on a star tour! Sarah and D met us up as well. We ate at a “re chao” place that was also more local and a chill hang out spot. Good for having some down home taiwan style food and beer. We hung out for quite some time and eventually ran into Tim and his friends! It shows how small a place Taiwan is because at night I was planning on meeting up with Tim anyways.

Re Chao in TW

We rolled to Tim’s friend’s house and did a little pre-partying and then headed to Luxy. I had no preference on where we were going that night since I was more down to just hang out with everyone… since Tim promotes at Luxy that’s where we ended up. This time I didn’t have to flip over any lasers to get in.. but they had lasers there anyways.

Luxy Lasers

The next day despite staying out late I woke up super early again (sarah had work too so she was up early).. and I spent a good 4 hours on my business. I was up at 7 and before I knew it.. it was 11. I took a shower and all that and by then started getting pretty hungry. I saw Leeway online so I said ‘yo’ lets get some lunch.. and he was like ‘yo’ i want to go workout. So we did both. After we ate and rested for a bit.. he took me to this community gym near his place. I showed him this HIIT Cardio program I’ve been workin on.. while we were warming up on the bicycle machine I said “hey u wanna try this HIIT cardio program? its pretty crazy but u might die.. im not sure though..” and then he looked at me like “what??” then i said “but hey! itll be fun!” so he said okay. Normally I go through 14 drills. Let’s just say we only got to the 4th drill… haha…

I’ll let Leeway give u his feedback himself.. or u can just look at this pic.

Leeway after A Cardio Session

Aside from his death cardio workout we had a really good chat about where we both are in our careers in entertainment. He updated me on his band Cool Silly and the progress he’s made since I left Taiwan in 09. I look forward to more awesome jams from Cool Silly. I also look forward to more clips of Tony holding a gun.

By the time we finished hanging out it was about time to meet up my parents! I took them to Kan Pai because that’s where I celebrated my birthday last year. I thought we could have some beers and chat.. and we did. The meat tasted fattier than last year… maybe it’s because I’ve been eating healthier or maybe it was just more oily this time.

i-baked

After dinner I hung out with my parents a little more at Tong Ling night market and then parted ways for a bit to go check out my friend Ivy’s new cookie store called i-baked. It was kinda late when I got there, but amidst customer’s coming in and out we talked about a lot of business ideas. She also caught me up on what I had been missing out on since 09. Since I had left she finalized her cookie recipes, set up a physical store, and designed all her logos and flyers, and etc. I was pretty happy for her and her accomplishments. I always like seeing people hustling, using their brains, and moving up! She also added fuel to the fire on this idea I’ve been moving forward on. It’s been taking me quite some time, but I think things are coming together. My goal will be to have it ready to roll by the end of this year. (If you know a patent attorney out there, let me know.)

Ivy's dogs at her Cookie Store

The next day was my last day in Taiwan before flying back to Beijing. I woke up and caught up on a little work before heading to Breeze Center (Wei Feng Guang Chang) to meet my parents, uncle jerry, aunt tan, and sarahs dad for lunch. We ate some good Shanghainese food and I was off to the airport. On the way to the airport we did stop by i-baked again since the cookies were so tasty and also since my uncle wanted to talk to Ivy’s partner who is an animal rescue volunteer.

Well that’s it for my 48 hour taiwan trip. It was awfully action packed just the way I like it. There were tons of other people I wanted to meet up with but simply did not have enough hours in the day! I hope I will be back soon!

So I’ve been in China and on the job for a bit now. I can say that my Chinese has improved, I’ve gotten to meet a lot more people, and I am definitely getting settled in to Asia.

With that said, a lot has happened since my last update… for one – Hong Kong Colin has come and gone back to China already. Colin and the rest of the Hong Kong wushu team were in Beijng for team training. It was good to see him. I was made into honorary HK Wushu Team when the whole team plus me went to go eat with the team coach. =) Colin even had his birthday at Mix during this span of time. We went out a bit while he was here like old times. =) He just headed back to HK a few days ago. The team is preparing for the Asian Games. Good luck Colin! Jia you!

Danika, Vanessa, and other friends were here from the sates too. It was good to see them in Beijing/at Colin’s Bday.

Climate Group

One of the events we went to during this time of settling in was The Climate Group event with Jet and Tony Blair. It was a discussion about how to improve efficiency in energy consumption. It was a closed door breakfast with a few other company head figures. Mr. Blair had uber secret service types around him… however on his way out from the meeting (to the elevator) as I waited for Jet, he looked me in the eye and said “hi”. Of course I replied hi as he vanished with security into the elevator.. haha =) so that was the extent of our dialogue.

Ritan Park

Last week my friend from the UNDP introduced me to Ritan Park. It’s a very beautiful park with trees that have been around for thousands of years. We ate some really awesome Beijing style food… our lunch wasn’t cheap, but lunch was well worth it for the taste and ambiance (and good company of course!).

Delicious dish and fish

Haha I know that normally you’re supposed to take pictures when the food first arrives and looks all pretty.. but it was so delicious that I decided to take a picture of the aftermath.. after we devoured all the delicious dishes.

So my last update is going to be about Health and Exercise. When I first got here I was wayyy too focused on getting acclimated to my surroundings and job.. as is understandable. I’ve ended up traveling to some very nice hotels, restaurants, etc which means good eats. Good eats combined with pressure from a new job setting plus very little working out created a bad combination for my fitness standards. As a result, I decided to get back into shape!

My good buddy Andy Tong who is a CEO and amateur body builder created a very disciplined diet/workout program for himself and got ridiculously in shape in 6 months. He documented and posted his results for 6 months straight. Inspired by my buddy Andy’s program combined with the fact that the 2010 Sport Accord Combat Games, which I will be competing in, are coming up — I decided to get back into fitness mode. I set a 2 month goal to be way more ripped and have a healthier diet. I started this program for myself August 8th, 2010. I have managed to work out once or twice every day since August 8th so far. I have also decided to minimize red meat and in particular decrease pork consumption. I am trying to eat less simple carbs and more fiber and protein to match my workouts. Here are the results of my diet and exercise execution from August 8th until now:

2 Month Fitness Goal

I’m not planning to be as strict on my diet and exercise program as Andy because my job requirements are a little more sporadic + I still want to enjoy some new awesome cuisines and I’m not trying to enter any bodybuilding magazines. I’m just doing this for myself and to feel healthier. Also for functional wushu/martial arts training I want to stay more flexible and quick as opposed to being too big which could hinder some of the acrobatic moves in wushu.

I’m going to head over to the gym soon and do some swimming and lifting. Tomorrow we head out to a One Foundation event. I think my coworker and I might go for Hutong Pizza tonight! =) Peace!

A Day in the Life of Alfred Hsing – July 24th, 2010

Recently over dinner I met someone who mentioned a project called “Life in a Day“. I saw a short clip of it a few days ago.. and then lo and behold I log in to YouTube today and see it boldly blasting all over the place. Today is “YouTube Filming Day” for the project of Life in a Day.

Life In A Day is a historic global experiment to create a user-generated documentary film shot in a single day. This experimental documentary will be executive produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Oscar winning director Kevin Macdonald. The film will premier at the Sundance Film Festival Jan 2011.

It also just so happens that July 24th and 25th (which is still the 24th in the US) are the only days I will have YouTube access because I’ll be back in China tomorrow (where YouTube is blocked). Thus I felt some calling to document my life on this day… and plus I had been meaning to create a video on “A Day in the Life of Alfred Hsing“.

Let me know what you guys thing because I plan to submit this tomorrow.

In other news, I created a new website – www.alfredrocks.com

alfredrocks.com

I’ve always had the domain alfredrocks.com, but before it simply linked to a blogspot page. Now that I am getting more involved in production and acting, I felt it was only right to have a clean simple page with my head shot, demo reel, and resume – all of which are on the site. =)

There are still a few minor changes I might make to both the “Life in a Day” short and my new alfredrocks.com site. Overall they were both fun to work on. Feel free to leave feedback!