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!

Wikinews Screen shot 2011-08-17

Hey guys! I recently did an interview with Wikinews. Today after muay thai practice, to my pleasant surprise I received an email notifying me that my interview is on the Wikipedia news main page – (http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Main_Page) and also a Hungarian martial arts online magazine asked to use the article http://www.budomagazin.hu/cikk.4612.negyszemkozt_egy_wushu-vilagbajnokkal.html

Here is the direct link to the article: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews_interviews_Chinese-American_martial_artist_Alfred_Hsing

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Wikinews interviews Chinese-American martial artist Alfred Hsing

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Alfred Hsing, a US martial artist with Chinese origins, besides having a long history of martial arts training in various styles, such as traditional kung fu, tae kwon do and karate, considers wushu – an athletic sport based on Chinese martial arts – as a form of art that pushes one’s physical limits and stimulates the mind at the same time. After having won the gold medal at the 10th World Wushu Championships, he became international movie star Jet Li‘s personal assistant and went on to do stunts, action coreography, and land roles in movies.

Hungarian Wikinews contributor Teemeah has interviewed Alfred Hsing about his views on martial arts, life and Wikipedia.

Interview

Teemeah Why did you start practicing wushu? Is it a way of retaining your origins?

A. Hsing When I was young my father brought home a lot of Chinese martial arts movies so my brother and I grew up liking martial arts. For a long time we would practice moves at home and play fight each other. There are a lot of styles of martial arts and I took classes in tae kwon do, karate, and some traditional kung fu, but when I discovered my first wushu class I knew it was exactly what I was looking for.

I think at first I wanted to learn wushu because I enjoyed it, but as my training became more advanced and serious I realized that it led me back to my roots and I learned much more about my own culture because of it.

Teemeah What does wushu mean to you personally?

A. Hsing Wushu comes second nature to me and through the repetition of practice it’s like a form of meditation for me. When I practice I can release all of the stresses brought on by the world.

Teemeah Do you have an idol or role model in martial arts?

A. Hsing When I grew up my dad rented a lot of Jet Li and Jackie Chan movies. As I got to learn more about how hard working and dedicated they were, they became more of an inspiration to me and motivated me to challenge myself to my limits.

Teemeah Now you live in China. Do you consider to stay there or would you move back to the US if you had the opportunity to?

A. Hsing I am living in China right now, but I don’t usually limit myself by setting strict plans for the future because we never know what the future will hold so I usually stay open minded and keep myself open to whatever opportunities come my way. Of course since I have family in the US I do see myself being back there at some point, but Asia also is like home for me.

Teemeah How do you find living in China? What is your favourite pastime there?

A. Hsing China is a very exciting place right now because there are so many opportunities and there is so much growth. Most of my time is spent working, but when I’m not working my favorite pastime is probably working out with friends. I enjoy anything with physical activity like swimming, playing ball, sparring, etc.

Teemeah Can you tell us what you have been doing lately?

A. Hsing I’ve been increasing my scope of knowledge lately. Aside from wushu, I’ve been training boxing, muay thai, and tai chi. I hope to keep expanding my knowledge and skill so that I can be versatile and well rounded in martial arts.

Teemeah You have accomplished great results in competitive martial arts but an individual always needs a goal in life. What is yours now?

A. Hsing I have many goals right now. I think one of the biggest ones is simply maintaining balance in life. Another goal is to keep on improving myself. Right now I am also doing more acting and action choreography and following my passions.

Teemeah You seem to travel a lot, have you ever visited Hungary?

A. Hsing I have been around Asia and Europe, but have not had a chance to visit Hungary yet. Maybe you could show me around sometime.

Teemeah And now a different topic: what is your opinion about Wikipedia, as a project [that] aims to collect the knowledge of mankind?

A. Hsing I think Wikipedia has been very useful. The ability to aggregate data onto a single search-able platform is definitely a great contribution. Mankind has [always] been able to improve through building on knowledge from the past and now Wikipedia is making this process more efficient.

Teemeah Do you use it? Have you ever contributed yourself?

A. Hsing I do use it when I need to quickly find out information on a certain subject. I have made some small contributions on Wikipedia in regards to wushu.

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

Essentially reposted from www.wushukicks.com

Alfred Hsing Sport Accord Combat Games

The US and Canada national teams were in attendance at the 2010 sport accord combat games held in Beijing China among many other countries such as Russia, China, Malaysia, Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Brazil, and Japan. The US Team sent veteran wushu athletes Sarah Chang, Peter Dang, and Alfred Hsing.

Aug 28 Changquan Alfred Combat Games Competition

Changquan was the first event of the entire Combat Games held at 9am on August 28th, 2010. There was significant media coverage and the event was in part sponsored by Samsung. I was 2nd in line to compete.. I didn’t make any major mistakes and given that I have been focusing on work in Beijing the past 2-3 months I am pretty happy with my performance today. This will be my last major wushu tournament and I am glad I got to share it with my good friends and teammates in Beijing – the land of wushu and where I always dreamed I would be on the main stage competing in front of hundreds. My dreams as a wushu athlete were finally completed today.

My Longfist – 2010 Sport Accord Combat Games

An Interview with Tom.com – in Chinese (please dont judge my Chinese.. im still practicing)

Peter Dang rocked the house when he took 3rd in the staff competition beating worthy adversaries such as Russia and 2 other Asian countries.

13 Combat Games Ambassadors

In addition the Opening Ceremony held on the evening of the 28th spared no expense as a dazzling display of physical prowess and beautiful music filled the stadium main floor. 13 Ambassadors for each sport were in attendance – among the ambassadors were Don “the dragon” Wilson, mma fighter Fedor “the last emperor” Emelianenko, and many other legends of martial arts. The final closing song of the evening was sung by Jackie Chan who was surrounded by dancers and acrobats as the ceremony came to a close.

There are many more events such as kick boxing, sambo, jiu jitsu that are still occurring since the Combat Games just started. Look forward to these amazing sports broadcasts featured online. I wish I had more time to watch all the other events. =)

It was nice hanging with the US and Canada wushu team peeps… but it’s back to work for me!

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!