Taoist Sanctuary

ShareThis

This all started back in September 2007, when Bill and I attended Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang's seminar in the Bay Area. It was on the first day of the public seminar that GM Chen made a quiet announcement about a "certification seminar" in the Czech Republic that would take place in late November. We kind of perked up our ears and said "What? Certification?"

And that's how it all began.

To give you some history, some years ago, GM Chen left China to teach taijiquan around the world. Needless to say, China wasn't terribly pleased; they prefer to keep their talent in the fold. GM Chen had a mission, though, and set out to spread taijiquan across the globe. Today, he has accomplished his mission, and more.

A governing board of sorts exists in China, set up for the sport of martial arts, or "wushu". This board is called the Chinese Wushu Association. It is comprised of experts in the field of martial arts, and the individuals range from professors to practitioners. Together, they have an incredibly broad knowledge of all things wushu. Their governance is focused on the Chinese martial arts; European martial arts are a different entity.

The CWA set up a system of ranking practitioners called the "Duan", or level. There are 9 levels, with the first 3 being student levels, the next 3 being teacher levels, and the top 3 being master levels. Each level has requirements for achievement that include theory, form, and eventually publication/research. Typically, practitioners of Chinese martial arts will test for an initial level, and work their way through the system as they improve their skills. GM Chen is a 9th Duan in this system.

When GM Chen left China, he broke with the CWA, as they did not support his decision to leave. Now, many years later, the CWA has a new president, and there has been a move toward reconciliation between GM Chen and the CWA. The first step in the process was to invite a delegation from the CWA to the Czech Republic to provide a certification opportunity for GM Chen's top students from around the world. The organization of this event took place over some months, and culminated in the test on 11/29/07 and 11/30/07.

Our involvement grew from that first mention of the seminar in September. GM Chen played down the importance at the time, but later expressed the hope that all of his students from the US could attend. Several of us managed to pull together a trip - Bill and I, Kim Ivy and her husband Kevin Fetherston, Derryl Willis, Betty Dong, Jim and Angela Criscimagna, and Liu Yu (who is already a 7th Duan practitioner and would not test with us). As we planned our trip, we had no idea of the true importance of this trip to GM Chen.

The event took place in the region of Zlin, western Czech Republic, in a small spa town called Luhacovice (pronounced sort of like 'Loohotsovichey'). This area is known for its healing waters, mineral water that comes from under the mountains of the area. We were told that "the old and infirm" travel here for the "cure". Someone wondered why healthy people such as ourselves would go somewhere like this. Only for taijiquan and our teacher.

We all made our reservations separately, some of us at hotels and some of us at "pensions", or rooming houses. There were a few weeks of panic - once GM Chen announced the certification process, people from all over the world wanted to attend the seminar, and the town only has so many rooms at any given time. We filled them all.

The certification test was nested within a bigger public seminar of 6 days, which included lessons on the 6 healing sounds, silk reeling and standing, laojia yi lu and laojia er lu. At the start of the seminar, the certification plans were not firm, and no one really knew how the certification would proceed. Every hour, there was some change or new information. Our anxiety level grew with each passing day. There had even been a question about the presence of the delegation from the CWA - would they come? Would there even be a test? Under normal circumstances, none of us from the US would have traveled to Europe to attend a seminar on such short notice, and such a big undertaking so close to the holiday season...

But travel we did, and here's how it went. All the US people arrived in Prague on the 26th of November. We were able to spend a day in Prague, and hired a private guide to see "Prague in a day" (no small task). Our guide, Sharka, was fabulous, and we were able to see all the important sites, have a "hog feast" at a monastary , drink holy beer, and eat chocolate, all in 8 hours. Thanks to you, Sharka, the best guide ever! Visit her here if you are ever in Prague.

Allison, Bill, Betty, Kim, Kevin, Sharka

On the 27th, we took a train to Luhacovice. That was an experience - trying to find our assigned car was tricky as few people spoke English, and we were traveling with loads of luggage.

waiting for the train...

The trip was about 6 hours. We arrived in Luhacovice after dark, and found another group of taijiquan enthusiasts from another country standing outside the train station wondering what to do. We didn't see any taxis, couldn't read the map, didn't know which direction to even set out walking, and there was the load of luggage again... Finally someone managed to call a taxi, and we were all deposited at our respective hotels (which turned out to be within a few blocks of the train station - who knew?). Bill and I , Jim and Angie, and Liu Yu and her friend stayed at the Palace Hotel, a big old treatment facility, with special access to the healing waters and lots of massages, inhalations, and esoteric treatments available. Unfortunately, we couldn't take advantage of any of this (other than drinking the water) because the seminar took all of our time. Betty and Derryl stayed at a rooming house that turned out to have the best food in town, and it stayed open until 10pm, luckily for us.

The Palace Hotel

The next day, we went to the Radostova (Sports Center) for the seminar. Controlled chaos. Registration for the seminar, paying for the possible certification test, paying for lunch, meeting people from all over the world who had arrived for the same purpose. It was fantastic to meet people we had read about, heard about, with whom we shared this common interest of Chen style taijiquan.

Did I mention that it snowed?

At lunch that first day, we were told there would be a special meeting following the seminar. The delegation had indeed arrived, and we were to be given information on the certification test. Great! We couldn't wait! At the end of the very long day, which involved lots of standing and breathing and healing sounds, we enthusiastically welcomed the delegation of 4 experts in Chinese wushu. They proceeded to explain the testing process, and told us that we would all be able to test for the level we felt appropriate, that the test would consist of a written test of theory (what! a written test??), an empty hand forms test and a weapons test. We were given applications to complete, listing our experience, our accomplishments, and a line to choose our desired level. That very evening would start our lessons in the theory of Chinese wushu. What followed this meeting was a 2 hour and 20 minute lecture that was delivered in Mandarin, translated to Czech, and finally to English. We took notes feverishly, not knowing when our written test would be. At the end of the night, we met with GM Chen, and he helped us to decide what level was appropriate to test for - most of us decided to go for level 5, with a couple of people going for level 6. He was very excited for us, but we could see how nervous he was, and it made us nervous, wanting to do well for him.

The next day, we did the laojia er lu seminar, then were told that following the seminar, we would walk to another location to take our written test. That evening, after the seminar, we trecked down the hill to a classroom in town, and here we sat for our theory test. It was sort of a group effort, almost comical in its volume, with groups of people discussing the questions among themselves. The test was in English, which caused its own set of issues for the non-English speaking people taking the test.

I will mention here that 14 countries were represented at this general seminar, and 57 people tested for certification levels. It was fantastic to see this scope of GM Chen's teachings - he has truly accomplished his mission of teaching taijiquan over the globe.

The next day, we were to test the form section at 1:30pm. In the meantime, we were still continuing with the laojia er lu seminar (which was not what we would be testing). On the breaks, people were practicing sword, which most people were using for the weapons test, and laojia yi lu, to be used for the empty hand form test. Lunch time was almost all practice, no eating.

Finally the time came. The test was in a side room, and the judges were the 4 delegation members. GM Chen sat on the panel but did not take part in the judging process. We were assigned to groups of 4 and 3 for the empty hand and weapon test. People testing for level 2 and below only did empty hand form; levels 3 and up added a weapon. We were called in according to our groups (which were randomly assigned, we didn't necessarily know the people in our group). We were placed in a square, and told to "start". Each person performed as if alone, with mostly no concern for the other people in the group. Sometimes people were doing different forms in the same group, and almost always at different speeds. This caused some tense moments during the sword test. Anyone was allowed to come in and watch, and people also clustered by the door to watch. The room got progressively more crowded as the higher levels tested, and by the time Jan Silberstorff tested, it was standing room only to watch (lucky for me, I tested in the group right before Jan's, so I had the joy of testing before a capacity crowd). Not only were many people watching, but there were at least 2 video cameras filming, and several cameras flashing throughout the performances. A bit disconcerting and a great time to practice keeping one's center. Intimidating, to say the least.

We all finished, and were called back in by the judges. They informed us that we had done well, that they could see we had a great teacher (we all gave GM Chen a standing ovation here, several of us with tears in our eyes when we saw his pride), and that we would have a celebration dinner that night to award the certificates. We would have to wait to learn our final outcomes.

We returned to the seminar (yes it was still to go on), and finished the laojia er lu. Immediately following the seminar, we were told to go to GM Chen's room in the Radostova to learn what level we had been awarded. All of us from the US learned that we had been given Level 5, as we had hoped. We were so relieved - you could see everyone visibly relax and start to smile again.

post test

That evening, we had a fabulous dinner at local hotel, attended by all of the participants, the mayor of Luhacovice, and entertained by a traditional band with wine tasting and dancing. All of the awarded levels were announced by the delegation (the certificates would be given out the next evening in GM Chen's room - there were too many for the dinner) and we all toasted our achievements.

What we came to realize, which wasn't clear until the end, was the importance of this entire process to GM Chen. By having his students test for the CWA, and having us achieve our levels, the CWA was able to see the fruits of GM Chen's work since he left China. It was important to him that the CWA realize how hard he has been working to spread taijiquan, and to raise the level of skill around the world. This was his part of rebuilding the relationship with the CWA. For their part, the CWA delegates said they were highly impressed with the level of Chen style taijiquan outside of China. We are so grateful to GM Chen for devoting his time and energy to us, and for providing us with the level of instruction necessary to demonstrate the skill needed to achieve our levels. It meant the world to us to see the look on his face when the CWA complimented him on his students.

 

 

We finished up the seminars, traveled back to Prague, and returned home on December 5th. It was a fabulous experience on so many levels. Bill and I are now certified 5th Duan instructors in the CWA, and in the process we met so many wonderful people from around the world that we consider our friends. GM Chen's ultimate goal in life is to build a community of taijiquan lovers, in essence a family, and I think he has accomplished this tenfold.

 

A special thanks to the following people: Liu Yu, for keeping all of us calm, and for making clear to us the true meaning of the event; to Kevin, for putting up with us; to Vit and Teresa, for their flawless translation and their unending patience; to Jarek, for the store that provided stress-free shopping breaks; to Ben, for being an American with us; and most of all, to GM Chen, our sifu, for his love of taijiquan, and his love of all of us.