Take-Aways

In a vain attempt to penetrate the products of this culture I have now applied my energies to two seemingly opposing endeavours. It fascinates me to see how similar they really are. The thing that drew me most to Kung Fu initially, other than the need for exercise, is the Hutong it takes place in. Hutong are the traditional Beijing neighbourhoods that surround the Forbitten City in a centrifugal or better yet centripetal fashion. All the houses in a Hutong look inward in that approaching them from outside all you see is a wall but once you are in them they are a very social layout. The buildings are organised in a square around a central courtyard where all the family’s daily theatre is acted out. In the old days you could tell exactly who occupied the premises by all sorts of details like the colour of the walls and roof, the door frames or the number of steps you used to get inside. They are pure old Beijing and just being inside one let alone practising Kung Fu in one is a true treat. The setting for the calligraphy class is not as dramatic or atmospheric. It is actually in the University where I do my Mandarin classes. In one of the upstairs rooms of building 3 we enter a simple classroom with large tables covered in some sort of buffering paper with trays filled with ink and brushes. The classroom is steeped in works of calligraphy on all the walls and it looks suitably messy and arty. In both cases, you are asked to dive in at the deep end. No substitute for actually doing what you came there to learn. In the West someone would probably first take the time to explain the theory behind what you are trying to do, the aims you are looking to achieve and the masters you must emulate as well as what you can expect on the way there. Here it’s a case of pick the brush and just get on with it or just do what I show you. In the doing, you will figure out what you do right or wrong. I do not think one way is better than the other, but they are fundamentally different. In both cases the struggle is with yourself. You are aiming for perfection and you will repeat the strokes, in calligraphy, or the moves, in Kung Fu, until they become second nature. I didn’t think I would like Kung Fu so much but I do. I think it’s beautiful. Not so far removed from ballet training. It’s the same principles. You aim for strength, flexibility, stamina and grace and you repeat the same “choreography” or “form” as they call it in Kung Fu until you get there. A form is a sequence of stances and the objective is to perfect not only the pose but the transition from one stance to the next. Some of the stances are truly full of drama and attitude and the descriptives are derived from nature and the animal kingdom; cat stance, horse stance, bow stance. The class takes place in the courtyard which really makes me wonder how they can keep going during the harsh winter which apparently they do. In calligraphy it is the same. Every character follows a strict order, a hierarchy of strokes, left before right, up before down and outside inwards. This accuracy is made to facilitate speed once you get to know what you are doing. It also makes the hand get into habits and automatisms that make the writing flow. What I was surprised by is that we could really start with whatever we wanted, be it a painting or the characters. So all you do during the class is copy. Copy until it’s perfect. In both cases it never is of course, perfect I mean. So you just keep at it day after day, class after class. A long journey that only progresses by increments if you stick at it long enough. But you know what? The real and absolute pleasure is always in the doing, not the result. http://www.kungfuinchina.com/index.html