Sifu Garry's Roots of Wing Chun China Tour 2012

Sifu Garry’s Blog “Roots of wing chun” China Tour November 2012 Only one week to go before my 6th trip to China. The 2012 trip will be much different than our previous tours to China. Generally, the Jee Shin Wing Chun group start from Hong Kong, travel around southern China visiting and performing with wing chun schools in China. This trip will be a whole new adventure for Linda and I, as we have never been to the north of China before. Beijing is around 5000 years old. Starting from Beijing, we will be there for 4 nights; taking in sights and visiting the great wall, where many Emperors trod an ancient battles were fought. The MutianYu section of the Great Wall is about 80km from Beijing. It will take about 90 minutes travel by Coach. This section of the wall also has cable cars for your convenience. While in Beijing my jee shin group will be going to see a kung fu show, enjoy a Rickshaw ride through ancient parts of Peking and then visit the Forbidden City and Tian an Men Square. These ancient monuments are engrossed in the history of China. On out 5th day, we will be travelling 800kms by fast train to the ancient City of Zhengzhou. Zhengzhou is one of the ancient cities of China, which is about 10000 years old. While in Henan I will take the group to the Yellow River about 30 minute drive from Zhengzhou and then we will travel to the Shaolin Temple, the birth place of all martial arts. The Shaolin Temple is around 2000 years old. Guangzhou, formerly Canton is our next destination. During our stay in Canton I will be taking the group to Wong Ni Yim’s Anniversary Party for his Father. Generally, wing chun Sifus from all over southern Chian attend. This function will be akin to the “night of stars” in Hollywood. From Guangzhou we will be travelling to Foshan, the birth place of wing chun kung fu. When the Manchu’s invaded China in 1644, the south of China was the main area of refuge. All the arts, academia, medicine, and martial arts fled to the South. Southern China became the centre of intelligence. There were many revolts in the south against the Qing during the 1800 to 1900’s. An outer area of Foshan is Shunde. The legendary Bruce Lee was born in Shunde, and today, the Chinese dedicate an entire paradise in his honour, namely the Bruce Lee Paradise. The last leg of our trip we go to Hong Kong for 4 days. Hong Kong’s martial arts legacy is Yip Man. Apart from sightseeing and shopping I will take our group to visit Yip Man’s grave site in the New Territories and we are very lucky to be able to visit Yip Ching’s school, being the youngest son of Yip Man. By the time we all get to Hong Kong, we will have travelled over 3000 miles, by train, airplane and bus. The north will be cold and the weather will progressively become hotter as we move deeper into the South of China.