Wuyi Shan and the Forbidden Kingdom

Part of making a good movie is the location of the shoot, it can make or break a good film. Forbidden Kingdom goes to the countryside of Fuzhou to tell it's story.  Wuyi Shan looks like a place out of the pages of a kung-fu movie.  In ancient times, this area was a place of contemplation by Taoist Monks, Confucius,and a place to write poems. As such this area has lots of lush vegetaion, forest, and many interesting hills and mountains. Then composition of the soil and the mountains........gives the mountains a purple color so that the countryside looks like someone painted it .  The hills in this area all have resting places where in ancient times scholars and monks would stop to rest and contemplate nature. The area also contains the 9 turn Gorge.......it winds itself thru the hills of Wuyi Shan.................and along each turn a famous poet has written a poem.......................I can't imagine getting out of your boat and painting on the side of a hill......Some of China's finest Teas are also found in this area.....Da Hong Pao, is China's most expensive Oolong Tea, and it only grows here! Jackie and Jet  could not  have picked a  more perfect place to make a movie.  I went to visit this area during the Wushu Summer Training 2005..........the students spent one week sight seeing and 2 weeks training....we were the first Americans to visit Wuyi Shan without a doubt.  I have uploaded some picutres of Wuyi Shan if you are interested please check it out!!  And don't forget to check out the movie...opens tomorrow!!

I almost forgot to mention the San Francisco Wushu Team did perform at the Cherry Blossom Festival.  At first I was really worried as we were missing many performers...some got sick or injured themselves others had homework or work........fortunately Loren and Ryan took time out to perform and Aya arrived just as we were to go on stage. The show went off without too many problems............but Kevan continues to loose his shoe during his sparring set.......he just continues by picking it up and throwing it at Ryan........Lol!  Cass jammed her finger...hope that's not too serious....................Angie did not destroy the canopy with her double chains...good job!!  Finally, I tweaked the Beijing Team group Set with a lotus kick to half kneeling stance earlier....and it turns out it looks ok...makes the form have a dramatic flare.  Alot of present day wushu has more dramatic flare, but often sacrifices rhythm and smoothness for the dramatic look leaving the form to look choppy and have pauses through out the form.  I don't mind as long as it doesn't detract from the overall flow of the set.  This weekend there are no performances, but a seminar on Chen Style Taiji by my Classmate Chen Xiang and the Grandmasters daughter Feng Xu Chien.  Feng's Hun Yan Chen Taiji is a synthesis of Chen Taiji with the Qigong of Xing-i, and the the footwork of Bagua.  Feng Zhi Qiang, the last member of the 18th Generation Chen Taiji studied not only Taiji but Bagua and Xing-i as well as Shaolin,Praying Mantis and Tungbeiquan.....all of which he manages to incorporate into his forms.  Anyway should be a great weekend.......seminars but also we will get to celebrate the Cherry Bloosom Festival in San Jose...so it'll be fun,cya.......peace!