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Mystery Accommodation for Health Qigong Tournament & Exchange in Melbourne 2019

Wushu & Tai Chi NSW supports the global movement of Health Qigong as a holistic system of coordinated body posture and movement, breathing, and meditation used for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial arts training.

Wushu & Tai Chi NSW recognises International Health Qigong Federation (IHQF) as an international body coordinating the development of Health Qigong world-wide according to the directions from the leading experts in the area.

For a long time, Wushu & Tai Chi NSW has maintained friendly relationships with Tai Chi Australia Pty Ltd which is based in Melbourne and, as a member organisation of IHQF, has the exclusive right for dissemination of all essential resources provided by the IHQF to all Health Qigong practitioners in Australia.

Currently, the IHQF is organising the 8th World Health Qigong Tournament and Exchange and 4th World Health Qigong Scientific Symposium in Melbourne “to provide a platform for international Health Qigong exchanges and friendly communications in order to promote and strengthen the rapid development of Health Qigong world-wide in a positive and healthy way”.

Tai Chi Australia Pty Ltd was appointed as a host to this event and it was perceived as a unique opportunity for all Australian Qigong practitioners to update their skills and confirm their qualifications on the international level locally, not being forced to travel to China to do so.

Quite a few Wushu & Tai Chi NSW’s members are keen to attend the event in Melbourne. However, they are required, along with paying the reasonable fees, applicable to all participants, to book the mystery “compulsory accommodation” organised by Tai Chi Australia Pty Ltd in 3 and 4-star hotels around the event’s venue (so far undisclosed). This requirement, claimed to be originated from the decision of  the Second Executive Board of the IHQF and allegedly aimed “to ensure the safety and security of the participants of the 8th World Health Qigong Tournament & Exchange and the 4th World Health Qigong Scientific Symposium and improve the efficiency of work relating to the event”, does not apply to Melbourne residents (who, apparently, are able to take care of their own safety and security) which specifically disadvantages Sydney delegates. Numerous attempts were made by the Wushu & Tai Chi NSW to negotiate with Tai Chi Australia and convince it to lift this requirement, but they were unsuccessful so far.

Resolution:

Wushu & Tai Chi NSW does not support unfair and discriminatory practices employed by Tai Chi Australia Pty Ltd that are prohibited by the Australian Consumer Law and therefore will not offer any financial and/or organisational assistance to its individual members who, nevertheless, may wish to exercise their freedom of choice and attend the event by paying the exorbitant accommodation fees imposed on them by Tai Chi Australia Pty Ltd.

Damon Bramich | Whistler | May 2019

Tai Chi in the snow at Whistler where the winter Olympics* were held.

Damon Bramich

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* The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Vancouver 2010, informally the 21st Winter Olympics, was an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 12 to 28 February 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the surrounding suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University Endowment Lands, and in the nearby resort town of Whistler. [Wikipedia]

The patriotic narrative of Donnie Yen: how martial arts film stars reconcile Chinese tradition and modernity

Celebrity Studies

Stevey Richards

11 April 2019

Abstract

Mainland China’s rejection of various traditional institutions and the Maoist political doctrine in the period following Chairman Mao’s death in 1976 resulted in ideological disorientation. To address this, the Chinese government has begun to promote traditional martial arts as a practice and as a cultural object to foster a renewed sense of national identity. However, this process of ideological fortification is complicated by Chinese martial arts’ connection to the country’s imperial system, which collapsed in the face of colonial aggression at the end of the 19th century. This article will explore how Chinese film star Donnie Yen negotiates traditional Chinese martial arts’ problematic ideological position via the Ip Man film series (2008–2015). It draws on Ellis Cashmore’s notion of celebrity narrative and Richard Dyer’s concept of star image to examine how these films have rendered Yen as a patriot and allow him to reconcile ideological contradictions within Chinese martial arts’ status. Finally, it establishes that this operation is reinforced through Yen and the Ip Man franchise’s relationship with the deceased star Bruce Lee, and concludes that martial arts film stars’ images may effect ideological reconciliations between contemporary and traditional Chinese culture.

About the Author

Stevey Richards is currently studying for his PhD in film studies at the University of Winchester, where he also frequently teaches Film Studies. His thesis deals with the semiotic analysis of Kung Fu in mainland Chinese and Hong Kong cinema. He has been studying Chinese martial arts, including Wing Chun, for over fifteen years.