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

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!

Fight Practice from Pitch Films on Vimeo.

Filmed this right before I left for China with my good buddies Sam Tjhia, David Brocca, and Pej Peik. We got Sam on the action, DBrocca on the cam and cuts, and Pej on the gym usage.. and me on the receiving end of Sam’s fist =P

Dave just finished editing this and I think it came out great given that it was more of a practice shoot for some things we had in mind and just for fun.

Watching this 3 months after we shot it is strangely making me miss/think about home. It just reminds me of all my friends I would train with and people I would kick it with back in LA. I totally miss waking up during that time where I was only managing my own business and I could roll outside and see the sun… then hop in my car and drive to the gym to do some wushu/stunt practice. I remember sitting with my legs stretched out with my gym bag flung to the side and a bottle of liptons ginseng green tea. Then after some warming up I get to hit some heavy bags and drill kicks… anyways, hopefully I’ll be back at that when the time is right =)

As for the practice fight, I had a much more complex choreo and storyline even planned out, but we only had like 1-2 hours to shoot since there was a class in the afternoon and people had other things going on that day… I was going to add takedowns, elements of mma/jiu-jitsu, and more acrobatics… anyways it was just a quick fun thing… regardless, I want to thank Sam for coming out on short notice and just training/messin around.. then gotta thank Pej for lettin us use his gymnastics studio.. and Dave already knows he is awesome.. I mean.. just listen to the music he used in the background! He really put the clip together with some good editing skills.

Here is the clip on youtube:

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!

Cung Le Interview

May 6, 2010.
Cung Le Interview by Alfred Hsing

Last Thursday I had the privilege and honor to chat with former US Wushu Team member, former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion, and current actor/action star CUNG LE.

Cung might not know it yet, but he is actually the perfect spokesman for the theme of my blog “business, entertainment, and martial arts”. Those are the 3 areas that I strive to reach the next level on and Cung has achieved it. In business – he started his own martial arts school and brand (USH!). In martial arts – he was a medalist at the world wushu championships, he won the middleweight champion title in strikeforce, and he has won countless tournaments in various styles of martial arts. In entertainment – he has worked with action star Donnie Yen and is going to be in the upcoming Hollywood film “Tekken”.

To see Cung in action check out this highlight reel.

So to sum it up- Cung has been an inspiration in more ways than one. To top it off he has helped promote Asian Americans in a positive light AND he is an EXTREMELY humble guy. For a guy that could throw you upside down on top of your head, he is super calm and super chill. Much respect!

Now to the interview! He was in town in LA to promote his recent movie “Bodyguards and Assassins”. This is a movie that was released in Asia, but it was playing at the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival. I interviewed him for the Pacific Rim Video Channel. In our interview he talks about what it was like working with Donnie Yen, his thoughts on wushu/sanshou in MMA, and his strategy on his rematch with opponent Scott Smith scheduled to fight June 26, 2010!

Without further ado, here is the interview.

For the martial artists, what are your thoughts on his upcoming fight with Scott Smith and do you guys think its possible to juggle a competitive martial arts career with filming and making movies?

Also thoughts on Cung Le and the UFC? Dana White has mentioned that he would like to see Cung in the UFC. Anyways, just food for thought. Feel free to leave comments.

To check out more about Cung, the man, check out www.cungle.com!

This video interview was brought to you in part by Pac Rim Video and WushuKicks.com.

Original post at: http://www.wushukicks.com/chinese-martial-arts/wushukicks-exclusive-interview-with-alfred-hsing-world-wushu-championships-gold-medalist/

alfred hsing gold medalist at world wushu championships

These are the full responses to interview questions for Alfred Hsing (First US Wushu Taolu Gold Medalist at the 10th World Wushu Championships in Toronto, Canada) posed by Kung Fu Magazine in Q & A form exclusive at WushuKicks.com

Let’s start the Q&A –

How did you train for competition?

It was actually very tough to train for this competition. I think a
lot of other US wushu team members would agree that after the US Team
Trial competition you feel a little burnt out from training. I trained
as intense as I possibly could to ensure I could make the US team
because making the US wushu team has been a lifelong dream of mine.
After 3-4 months of rigorous training when you make the team, you
realize you have to keep it up for another 4-5 months. Imagine running
a 26.2 mile marathon but right when you approach the finish line, you
are told you have to run another 26.2 miles non stop. That’s how I
felt.

Training for this competition became more of a mental challenge than a
physical struggle. I was already at the peak of my physical skill
level in terms of being able to perform the difficulty moves like 540
outsides, butterfly twist to tornado kick, and so on. Also, at the
time I was training for worlds I had a full time job, my own side
business, and classes to teach so it was very tiring getting myself to
practice.

I usually train by myself and it gets very boring sometimes. Something
that helped me the most was training with people who are excited about
wushu as well. When others are excited it helps to keep you motivated.
Also training with people who are at an elite level is also motivating
and it pushes you to want to do better.

In training for the World Championships I knew that there would be no
room for mistakes so I practiced focusing on perfection. Perfect
speed, perfect difficulty moves, perfect stances, everything. I did
not hit everything all the time, but whenever I would mess up on a
jump or spin or kick I wouldn’t let myself go until I re-did it and
did a clean successful one. Every time I practiced a full form, I
would pretend it was the real thing – that this was the ONE that
counted. We train so many hours and years just for that 1 minute and
20 seconds on the carpet which is why it is so important to over train
your abilities to the point where you could do all the moves 10 times
perfectly in your sleep.

What was it like to win the medal? What do you think of your performance at
the medal-winning event? What feelings did you have before, during, and
after the event?

Winning the medal was everything I dreamed it would be. It was also a
little unreal that such a big dream became a reality so fast. It’s a
little bittersweet that I don’t get to wake up chasing that big dream
anymore, but it just means I have to set bigger goals.

I am absolutely proud of my performance in my medal winning event. In
fact I am happy with all of my events. The day of my events I did not
think about medals or places. I just wanted to give my best possible
performance and enjoy the moment and I did that so I have no regrets.

A lot of people said it would be impossible to win a gold medal at the
World Wushu Championships, but the few people who didn’t know much
about wushu that said “go for the gold” made me think that it was
possible. I adjusted my mindset a few weeks before the competition and
felt that it was achievable. When you don’t believe you can do it of
course you won’t be able to.

Before my actual event I was relatively calm. I put in my time
training and I was prepared. I came to do my best and wasn’t competing
with anyone else there except myself so there was nothing else to do
but wait for my turn. After I finished my form I felt really good. I
knew I nailed everything. My score came out on the monitor and it said
9.72 and tentatively I was in first place after only four other
competitors. There were still many competitors behind me. It was
actually more nerve racking after my performance because each score
after mine could have potentially bumped me down. After all the
competitors had gone, “Alfred Hsing” was still 1st on the monitor. I
was relieved and excited that I had accomplished it. After
accomplishing such a goal, I realize what the saying “It’s not the
destination, it’s the journey” means.

You were selected to the C team in 2007. Do you feel that anything changed
(your training, your attitude, etc.) between then and now to enable you to
progress to the point where you could win a gold medal at the worlds?

Not too much really changed with how I train. It was more about
preparedness. I tried out in 2003 and did not make the team and after
that I almost gave up. Also I became really busy with college and
work. I basically stopped training and competing until 2006 when I
noticed a lot of people I knew continued to advance in wushu. My
hunger to make the US team and compete at worlds never died. I trained
really hard from 2006-2007 which allowed me to catch back up to a top
level US standard, but still it wasn’t enough. I was at a crossroads-
get back to reality and focus on my career or risk my corporate job
and focus on wushu for another 2 years. I chose wushu. Instead of
giving up, my hunger to make the team only grew. Failing to make the
“A” team in 2007 infuriated me to the point that I vowed I would be so
much better that there would be no doubt I would make the A team at
the next team trials. I went to a lot more competitions, got more
experience, and made sure to fix all my mistakes from 2007. By the
time 2009 rolled around I was a lot more confident because I prepared
off the competition carpet. I think since I wasn’t willing to settle
and I made a point in my practices to not make a single mistake that
the training carried over to my results at worlds games as well.

What memories do you have of the championships? The city? The rest of the
team (other athletes, officials)? The organizers? The venue?

I am going to have great memories of my trip to Toronto, Canada for
the 10th World Wushu Championships, not just because of the victory in
my competition but because of all the interlaced positive memories I
have had in the city. It just so happened that along with bringing
home a good score, I also had great teammates that all got along, a
good roommate on the trip, a venue in Toronto that was close enough
for my parents and friends to come watch, and so on. I was very
honored that I had the fortune of having my parents there witnessing
such an important moment in my life. I also met great people from
around the world and ran into international friends that I had trained
with from abroad. I have not been to past World Championships so I can
not compare, but the organizing committee aimed to be as professional
and organized as possible. I want to thank everyone who was involved
in the event, my US wushu teammates for being awesome, my parents for
all their help and support, and all coaches far and near who have
given me advice and help whether it was for a day or for many years.

Thanks again everyone for your support!

-Alfred Hsing

*you can see more clips of alfred at his personal website www.alfredrocks.com

Below is an article posted by Kung Fu Magazine. I was asked a set of interview questions which were used for this article. Anthony Roberts actually asked me a lot of stimulating questions that prompted me to think about my wushu training, career, and development. A lot of those responses are in the article below, but I will be following up with the direct Q&A on Casualiscool.com and WushuKicks.com as well.

—————————————————————————

Has American Wushu Finally Arrived?

A Report on the 10th World Wushu Championships
by Anthony Roberts

Wushu in America has had its ups and downs. Even with a large immigrant Chinese population on the West Coast and in the Northeast, the sport has not seen as much growth here as in many other parts of the world. In Southeast Asia, wushu is thriving, in Europe it is well-established, and even in the Middle East, governments subsidize it.

None of this is to say that wushu has done poorly or been neglected here. Past teams, in whom we take great pride, almost always posted good results at the biennial World Wushu Championships. At the 7th World Games in 2003, for example, Elaina Maxwell won the gold in women’s 65 kg sanshou. More recently (in 2007), six athletes finished in the top eight in one or more events at the 9th World’s.

Still, perhaps we can be forgiven for an American pride that leaves us unsatisfied with anything less than number one. When would the time come for a U.S. team to crush the competition – or, failing that, at least bruise them up a little?

It appears the time is now.

Kung Fu Fighting with Canucks
On October 24, 2009, over seven hundred competitors from seventy-four nations converged on Toronto, Canada for the 10th World Wushu Championships. The U.S. team had a rocky start even prior to the first day of competition, losing athletes and officials in the weeks leading up to the championships. Instead of twenty competitors, the U.S. fielded only nine for taolu and five for sanshou.

Compounding the uncertainty about America’s prospects was a new selection process adopted for the taolu team trials. For the past several years, the sole deciding factor for selection to the team was score; now, spots were reserved for specific events, such as taijiquan and nanquan (though there was still a minimum score requirement).

On the very first day of competition, however, it became clear that the U.S. had chosen a great team. Alfred Hsing, representing his country for the first time in a world championship, came out of the gate in style, scoring a 9.72 in men’s straight sword. Flawlessly executing degree-of-difficulty movements, he captured first place early on. When Etsuro Shitaokoshi of Japan also scored 9.72, there followed some tense moments for the U.S. team as the judges applied the tie-breaking rules. But Alfred came out on top, winning America’s first-ever gold in taolu competition at the world championships.

More great news followed on this banner day for American wushu as U.S. team veteran Colvin Wang captured the silver medal in men’s spear. This came not long after he had scored eighth in men’s straight sword (just 0.5 points behind Alfred).

The results for the U.S. team did not end with Alfred and Colvin’s medals. By the end of the tournament, seven other U.S. athletes (five taolu and two sanshou) would finish in the top eight in at least one event, for a total of ten top-eight finishes.

Portrait of a Life in Wushu
Looking back on the experience, Alfred Hsing says, “In training for the world championships, I knew that there would be no room for mistakes, so I practiced focusing on perfection. Perfect speed, perfect difficulty moves, perfect stances, everything. After I finished my form I felt really good. I knew I nailed everything. Winning the medal was everything I dreamed it would be.”

It had been a long road for Alfred. After failing to make the U.S. team in 2003, he almost gave up on wushu; but in 2006 he noticed that his friends had continued training and were making progress in the sport. This inspired him to begin chasing his dream again.

“I trained really hard in 2006 and 2007, which allowed me to catch back up to a top-level U.S. standard, but still it wasn’t enough.” Indeed, he only qualified for the C team at the trials that year (the second alternates, way down on the totem pole). “I was at a crossroads,” he says. “Get back to reality and focus on my career or risk my corporate job and focus on wushu for another 2 years. I chose wushu.”

Even after making the team, it was not easy for Alfred. “I think a lot of other U.S. wushu team members would agree that after the U.S. team trial competition you feel a little burnt out from training. I trained as intense as I possibly could to ensure I could make the US team… After three or four months of rigorous training, when you make the team, you realize you have to keep it up for another four or five months.” He compared this feeling to finishing a marathon only to see you have another 26.2 miles to run.

But Alfred stuck with it, showing the true power of positive thinking. “A lot of people said it would be impossible to win a gold medal at the World Wushu Championships, but the few people who didn’t know much about wushu that said ‘go for the gold’ made me think that it was possible. I adjusted my mindset a few weeks before the competition and felt that it was achievable. When you don’t believe you can do it, of course you won’t be able to.”

Colvin Wang had posted impressive results at the last world championships and competed at World Wushu Tournament Beijing 2008 (the unofficial “Olympics” tournament). At the 2nd World Junior Wushu Championships in 2008, he had also won a silver medal in spear. The medal he earned in Toronto thus represents the evolution of a talented athlete, still in high school, whose wushu star is on the rise.

“Training wasn’t easy,” he says, “because I’m trying to balance a very crucial period in school and train at the same time. I never had enough time to do enough of both. I still tried to manage an hour or two each day. By competition time, I felt pretty ready.”

Colvin’s high expectations mean he could never be completely happy with his medal-winning performance. Still, he says: “It’s always good to let go of any expectations you have before a competition, so I made sure I had no expectations before doing my form. It was definitely nice to have my accomplishment awarded with a world championship medal – not something that is given to many people. I will keep the medal as a token of all the hard work I put in to earn it.”

Memories and Reflections
In addition to athletes, coaches, and other officials, family and friends were also part of the U.S. team. Keeping everything organized and all team members in-the-know was Malee Khow of Connecticut, team manager and chairperson of the USAWKF Competition Management Committee. “It was a great honor to lead this team,” she says, “and to watch as Alfred, Colvin, and all the athletes did such an outstanding job. It makes all the organizing work in the months beforehand feel worth it.”

The team took away many great memories from the championships, meeting friends old and new from all over the world. “I think we worked well as a team,” says Colvin Wang, “had a lot of fun, supported each other, and all have valuable memories to take away from this experience.” Alfred Hsing concurs: “I am going to have great memories of my trip to Toronto… It just so happened that along with bringing home a good score, I also had great teammates that all got along, a good roommate on the trip, a venue in Toronto that was close enough for my parents and friends to come watch.”

Many team members remarked that the Chinese were not as dominant as in previous championships, where the taolu team in particular always takes first place. This year, while still leading all countries in medals won with six in taolu and eight in sanshou, China posted more modest results than in previous years. Whether this signals a true leveling of the playing field in worldwide wushu or, more likely, a decision by China not to send its best athletes, is a question others can concern themselves with. Let us Americans not speculate on what we cannot know – rather, we should be filled with pride and joy for the accomplishments of our athletes.

Indeed, Americans were not the only ones to notice that our athletes made a breakthrough this year. “Many people from other teams mentioned to me how much our team has improved,” says Malee Khow, “even though our athletes are all students or have regular jobs. Many other countries are able to send career athletes, whose job is wushu, or hire coaches to train their athletes full-time. Here in America, wushu is still very much an amateur sport – but that makes our accomplishments at the world championships this year even more special.”

Does this mean, then, that American wushu has finally arrived? Will future teams continue the successes of Toronto? If we look at the results of recent U.S. teams, the indications are that this event was no fluke. At the 9th World Wushu Championships, held at the end of 2007 in Beijing, China, six athletes finished in the top eight of one or more events. In 2008, at the 2nd World Junior Wushu Championships, the young U.S. athletes won four medals, including one gold. The same year, the U.S. brought home eleven medals from the 7th Pan American Wushu Championships held in Brazil.

In wushu as in life, fortunes can change quickly. However, Americans now have good reason for optimism about the future of wushu in our country. Only time will tell.

The U.S. Team Officials

• Delegation Leader: Anthony Goh
• Deputy Delegation Leader and Taolu Team Leader: Malee Khow
• Championships Vice Referee of Taolu: Xiaolin Lu
• Taolu Coach: Zhang Guifeng
• Assistant Taolu Coach: Bangjun Jiang
• Assistant Taolu Coach: Stephon Morton
• Sanshou Team Leader and Coach: Ian Lee
• Sanshou Coach: Jeff Chow
• Assistant Sanshou Coach: Carmine Downey
• Sanshou Judge: Anthony Sims

Taolu Team

Male

• Alfred Hsing
• Peter Dang
• Colvin Wang
• Max Ehrlich

Female

• Sarah Chang
• Joana Pei
• Ashley Chung
• Stephanie Lim
• Elaine Ho

Sanshou Team
Male

• Michael Lee (65 kg)
• Maximillion Chen (70 kg)
• Alex Cisne (80 kg)
• Kasey Corless (90 kg)

Female

• Sonia Mejia (52 kg)

Medal-Winners

• Alfred Hsing (gold medal, men’s straight sword)
• Colvin Wang (silver men, men’s spear)

Other Top Eight Finishes
Taolu

• Sarah Chang (8th place, women’s chang quan)
• Peter Dang (8th place, men’s broadsword)
• Max Ehrlich (7th place, men’s southern broadsword)
• Elaine Ho (8th place, women’s taiji sword)
• Joana Pei (5th place, women’s broadsword)
• Colvin Wang (8th place, men’s straight sword)

Sanshou

• Maximillion Chen (8th place (quarterfinals), men’s 70 kg sanshou)
• Alex Cisne (8th place (quarterfinals), men’s 80 kg sanshou)

Original source: http://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=859

Me and Kevin at Babe18

This week was filled with craziness from clubbing to bar hopping to club hopping to lounge hopping to more drinking. Yes, it was a very productive week for my liver. I went out probably 5 nights in a row- Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, and Sun.

Wed- Jazz lounge near Shi Da with Kiyoshi, Ray, Doug, Christina from HK, and a few others.
Thurs - Babe18 with Kevin. The only night I really get pretty messed up. The other nights I did take a little easier.
Fri - Room18 followed by Primo with Kevin and Max.
Sat - SOHO with kev, sarah, monica, kiyoshi, followed by good food place with Ma La spicy ass food and then Sarah going crazy and still wanting to go KTV at 5am and me wanting to pass out.
Sun - Barcode and then Babe18 again with Jeff and Charlie. Jeff just flew in from the US that morning I believe.

So anyways! FRIDAY I lost my precious casio exilim digital camera which I have been using to document my trips around the world and specifically documenting tons of stuff here in Taiwan. =( I was sitting on the curb with Kevin and Max and I was making some video commentary. Then I set the camera down to relax for a bit. After a while we got up and walked 20 feet to go get our hands stamped at Room18. Not more than 10 minutes pass and I realized I left my camera on the curb. I run up to find it and lo and behold… its gone! It’s obviously my fault for leaving it there, but it was snatched up pretty quickly by someone looking to slang my camera for a few bucks probably. At this point I am pretty bummed because I just lost my digital camera along with my memory card that has pictures and videos on it!

I still make the most of our outing and have fun. Max gets a call and has some friends at Primo so we head on over. It was lightly raining this day so we had our umbrellas. Long story short, at the end of the night, I get in the cab to go home and realize I left my umbrella at the umbrella check-in and forgot to pick it up so in one day I lost my camera and umbrella. Losing the umbrella just tops off the night.

I am and have a been a believer that whenever bad things happen that means something good is about to happen. It’s my own personal idea of karma or a circulation of energies. Also, having a positive outlook on negative situations tends to help turn the situation around anyways so whether I’m right or wrong, it’s been working for me. Also a quick interjection – whenever something good happens I don’t believe something negative will necessarily happen because that “good thing” is probably the result of hard work, energy put in, or positive attitude that helped cultivate that positive situation. Additionally, I do try to repay any super awesome good luck by giving back in some way or helping others in some shape or form. (This is my random tangent on positive vibes.)

The night after I lose my camera, I wake up to find a fantastic surprise in my gmail inbox. In fact the email was justly titled “got a little surprise for ya.” Well to me, it was much more than a little surprise. A friend who I recently got to know through common interests in wushu, entertainment, and business knew that I was going to HK in a few weeks and decided to reach out to some Hong Kong actors/stuntmen. This act alone, I am already really grateful for. It means a lot that someone has faith in your abilities and capabilities that they would refer you. However, on top of this, Les also helped me make this incredible resume package! I have a few headshots and a film resume in a word document. I was just planning on cleaning up my resume and making something a little more professional looking when I got back to LA. I was so surprised when I opened this attachment and found this:

Alfred Resume. Thanks Les!

You can click it and see it in slightly higher resolution. It is a professionally done alfred hsing entertainment resume package! I’m pretty excited about everything and how this turned out. I’m not going to go into all the details, but I know a lot went into making this. You should see my old resume. It looks so wack compared to this. In the midst of all the hectic cool and crazy things that have been going on, I think this really stood out and surprised me. I honestly can’t express my thanks enough so I just wanted to blog about this and share it with everyone. Hope that’s cool. It means a lot to me!

Other good news that I need to report on.
* Angels Tea SOLD OUT in the 2 stores that they are being sold at in LA. In the process of restocking them. It would be easier if I were in LA, but not a major problem.
* Cirque du Soleil contacted WushuKicks and made an order with us. We at WushuKicks are very excited to work with Cirque du Soleil because it is such an awesome show and I have friends in Cirque! Cheers!
* Randomly found this article online on 2 sites.

http://www.cn.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1011/1/9/3/101119381.html?coluid=49&kindid=972&docid=101119381&mdate=1030102106

http://big5.chinanews.com.cn:89/hr/hr-mzhrxw/news/2009/10-30/1938857.shtml

I can’t really read it that well, but I think the reporter thought there was another gold won in female sanda in the past. The US sanshou coach said there were no sanda golds in the past so I’m not sure where the reporter got her info. In any case, cool article. I am glad I am getting myself out there in Asian news.
*I was interviewed by CTV and on the 7 oclock news in Taipei. They had me demo and talk about wushu at Bei Ti Sport University. Been on TV in Taipei twice within my first week here!

US Wushu Team with Taiwan Wushu Team

I have a few more videos to upload for Taiwan Adventures part 2, but until I get a new camera… I won’t have any more awesome picture updates. This is the new camera I plan on getting to replace my old casio exilim.

Hopefully my new camera soon.

Do you guys know if it would be cheaper to get this in the US, Taiwan, or Hong Kong? =P
If I get this camera I will probably do a mini review on it and let u guys know what I think of its functionality.

Time to get some chong you bings now. I haven’t eaten all day and its 3:50pm.

Chong you bing's on yong kang jie

Original article from www.wushukicks.com

10th WWC Gold Medal - Alfred Hsing

Alfred Hsing, member of the US Wushu Team brings home the first US GOLD MEDAL at a World Wushu Championships. The US has not taken a gold in wushu taolu at this tournament since the 1st world wushu championships over 20 years ago.

Alfred Hsing placed first in the jianshu or straight sword event with a 9.72 edging above competing Asian countries – Japan and Indonesia who took second and third respectively.

Hong Kong national wushu team coach remarked to Alfred Hsing “It’s an amazing day. You have been etched into history, the wushu history books, as the first USA wushu athlete to win a gold at the World Wushu Championships and become a World Champion. Congratulations.”

The straight sword (1st) and spear (12th) events were on day 1 of the competition. Hsing also competed in Chang Quan or longfist (9th) and placed 9th out of 83 enrolled competitors. He is also the first US team member to beat China in the World Championships. China chang quan team member made some very slight mistakes which bumped his score down. Hsing completed perfect nandu and technical requirements for a final long fist score of 9.65.

Here are both his longfist and straight sword videos:

This year was a great year for the US wushu team. Other notable achievements were Colvin Wang who took 2nd in spear only losing to China’s Wu Di. Peter Dang placed top 8 in broadsword. Sarah Chang placed 8th in women’s longfist… and Stephanie Lim, Joanna Pei, and Max Ehrlich all took top 8 in one of their respective events! Congratulations to all!

10th WWC Alfred Hsing Takes First First Place for USA

teenage mutant ninja turtles casting

Film
Saturday I went to a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles audition! No, it was not for the role of Michelangelo or Raphael. It was to cast for the foot clan soldiers. I hear that the movie has no official funding yet and that the casting was more of a publicity stunt (It was held open in public in the middle of Hollywood and Highlands). Nonetheless, it was good times because I got to see a bunch of martial arts / wushu people all in one place. I ran into Phil Dang, He Jing De, DY, Phil Sahagun, Yan Wei, the rest of EMC, Xin, Roy, Andrew, Jacob R., Aoni, Matt, and the list goes on and on. I performed longfist, dropped off my headshots and demo reel and then headed out for my other shoot.

I am shooting a web series / pilot where I play an asian camera-man / film editor. It is in Bruno/Borat style where I am documenting the adventures of a crazy Australian. This is less of an “action” role and more of an opportunity for me to try different things (I have an accent!) and play someone other than a “hardcore badass”.

Due to my various online promotion pushing to play the Kato role, 2 editors contacted me wanting to interview me to discuss my quest for the role of Kato in the Green Hornet.

Wushu
Fri I went to Wushu practice. Sat the TMNT casting was the extent of my wushu. Sun I just dropped by to say hi to Tamiko and Ming. Ming is awesome. She is such a good instructor and person. I didnt train because I slept 20 minutes too long, but went to say hi nonetheless. I did some light jogging then went to eat at Tea Station.

Met a friend of a friend who is sponsored by TapOut. I am going to talk to him and see if we can get the team jackets sponsored by TapOut. I need to compile a video of US wushu and sanshou. I am excited to see how this turns out. It would be awesome to be sponsored by TapOut.

Business
PokerBling – Emailed and faxed out and followed up with all the contacts that I have for now and will wait a week or so to see where this goes.
WushuKicks – Want to plan a restructuring and reorganization / clean up site / add more unique products / renegotiate with suppliers.
Clothing – Got an email back from pattern maker. Some aspects of production are still on hold.
Tea- Promotional shirts are done!

Misc
Went out to Hollywood on Fri. and hung out with Matt B by Venice Beach on Saturday. Sunday was an errands kinda day. Spent most of the day tearing my harddrive out of its external case. =P