Rising Crane

16/04/2026

Why do some people write "Hop Gar" and some "Hap Ga"?
It's to do with the method of 'Romanising' the same Chinese characters. Here is my 2 cents.

10/04/2026

Yesterday, I reposted an old video about learning online. This was something I posted back in the first COVID lockdown. I recorded it on my phone and the audio was really bad. I used an AI tool and it made the audio very clear. This is a good use of AI.

Unfortunately- it is very easy for people now to use AI to make their forms look better, sharper, make them look stronger, faster etc. this is harmful and misleading.

I mean, it is good for entertainment- Superhero/Wuxia movies etc. but people are depressed because their real life doesn't match other peoples online 'perfect lives'- it never can, because you are seeing something which is edited, filtered, and now: AI enhanced.

Now you can also be depressed because your kung fu can never match an online 'perfect form'!

The most fundamental exercise in Zen Buddhism is called 'wall gazing'. Da-Mo who, according to legend, founded Kung Fu and Zen, having travelled from India to the Shaolin Temple in China, spent nine years in a cave looking at the wall. The challenge is to just clearly see what is arising in the present moment. No distraction, just open awareness. Thoughts come, boredom comes, pain in the legs comes- it is all just the stream of passing thoughts and perceptions arising in consciousness.

Most people cannot do this for half an hour- never mind nine years! There is a constant need for distraction, for entertainment. And now, with portable electronic devices- we need never be 'bored' again. Unfortunately- this means never facing the wall, the reality, the present moment. We are always 'running away' from the immediate experience and experiencing life from an illusory safe distance.

'Consciousness' is what is understanding these words on the screen now. AI doesn't have it. It is your 'original face' as the Zen Buddhists say. It is the real miracle that arises continually, in the present moment. It can't be 'enhanced' because it is already perfect. There is nothing to compare it to, because everything else arises within it.

When your Kung Fu, or any area of your life comes from this insight, you are no longer interested in 'self improvement' per se. The idea that you need improving is already a delusion, in fact- the idea that you are a 'self' is a delusion, ha!

So- why do we do it? Because it is a beautiful expression of this principle. Birds sing, not to make a 'hit' song, flowers bloom, not to make a perfect social media picture. When you just do something for the pure joy of it - you are expressing your true self. You are partaking in the act of creation.

I am currently travelling in Asia. After seeing my teacher in China, I have travelled to Vietnam, to an area which is a hotbed for 'digital nomads'. This is something that appeals to me, because of a boyhood fantasy about 'non attachment': wandering the world like 'Kwai Chang Caine' or more recently, 'Jack Reacher'. Teaching online, I am free from the constraints of a physical school, and can teach people in any location, from any location.

But now I am older, I see that you can never really 'get away' from anything. 'Wherever you go- there you are!' as the saying goes. It is always 'here', it is always 'now'.

So, for some people, the apparent 'non attachment' of the 'digital nomad' lifestyle is actually a subtle form of escapism, a wish for things to be different, more exciting.

Here, lots of people who are 'surgically cosmetically enhanced' are walking around with 'selfie cameras'. People back home are seeing their perfect faces, bodies, perfect lives. Then they turn off the camera, and something changes. You can feel it. It is almost as if they only exist when they are being filmed. Many really do not seem happy- they are impatient to get to the next location- turn on the camera and become again the avatar that really has a good time. It feels very inauthentic to me, but perhaps that is just my judging mind.

I can see this same tendency in myself: I get a nice meal, and there is a need almost, to photograph the meal to send to my girlfriend or my kids. I certainly like it when they do that to me (Perhaps a primal instinct, to make sure your loved ones are well fed?)

In Canton, they say: "相機食先"- 'The camera eats first.' It has become part of the culture.

The first time I saw somebody do that I laughed to myself- how ridiculous! Ten years later, I was doing it, too. I guess because we have our camera phones with us always, and it's easy to do. I mean, when I was young you wouldn't take a camera to a restaurant, never mind going to the chemist to have the film developed, and then traveling to your friends to show them your pictures- they would think you were mad!

Perhaps now, it is just easier to be mad?

Anyway, this has been a little musing before going out.

If people like this kind of a thing, please comment and get a conversation going. If you would prefer I stick to the kung fu/tai chi posts, let me know too. I have some free time in the next couple of weeks and happy to write/film whatever you guys want more of.

Stay Well,

David.

09/04/2026

09/04/2026

Originally posted during the first Covid lockdown, but this is still a question I get asked a lot, so I am reposting it with improved audio.
Here is where I teach online:
https://risingcrane.thinkific.com/

01/04/2026

New blog post:

I have just completed the 7th Hap Ga Instructors Workshop. Deng Sifu is in his eighties now, and hinted that this may be the final workshop. […]

30/03/2026

Seventh 'Hap Ga Instructors Workshop' finished! We covered the 'Bac Bin Jeung' second form- this time with a longer stick. Sifu taught how the movements can adapt from empty hand, to short weapon to long weapon: Same principles- different applications. I love to see him with a stick- his grandfather was called the 'Canton Stick King'- straight out of a 'Shaw Brothers' Movie! Then he shows the 'real fighting applications' and the moves are complete functionality and he drops the performance and it's scary.
Here is his philosophy in a nutshell:
1) Your practise should make you feel good, enhance health and well being (Chi Kung, Breathing, mobility etc.)
2) It should have a nice aesthetic and 'spirit'- rhythm, eyes, body, hand, weapon, stance and hips all in harmony.
3) You need to know the application of every movement otherwise the 'intent' will be missing and its just dance or exercise, not 'Kung Fu'.
(You should be able to perform your Kung Fu/Tai Chi in three distinct ways, depending on the intent of the session.)
4) Learning the routines itself does not give you fighting skill. Many people can perform the routines convincingly, and then not be able to use it in a real situation. You must train the individual moves both solo and with a partner- working on power generation, distance and timing, and then gradually introduce more realistic 'san sau' (Free fighting) practise to gain experience, develop confidence, strategy and reflexes.

27/03/2026

Lee was the head coach at Rising Crane and now has his own studio and continues to be a force for good in the world. His blog post is well said: Strength is not inherently good, and it must go with a strong set of values. Strength without values can become ‘toxic’. However- values without strength (whether of the body, or of the character) are ineffective.

The relationship between martial arts and the manosphere is more complicated than it first appears. On the surface, both spaces talk about discipline, masculinity, strength, and self improvement. But in practice, my experience with martial arts, especially MMA, has often kept me at a distance from t...

20/03/2026

RIP, Legend.

20/03/2026

Today’s best-known lineage of Hung Kyun comes from Wong Fei Hung. It is sometimes called “New Hung Kyun” (San Hung Kyun). Compared to the “narrow stance, short bridge” of “Old Hung Kyun,” it also features “high stances and long bridges,” originally derived from the famous Sino-Tibetan style Hap Kyun, making it a truly comprehensive style, suitable for both long-range fighting and close-quarter combat.

Pavel Macek Sifu of Practical Hung Kyun and David Rogers Sifu of Rising Crane discuss the origins and core features of Hap Kyun, the benefits of cross-training, David’s comprehensive Tai Chi and Kung Fu online academy, the unique “new frame” of Hap Kyun, “Needle in Cotton,” and its three core sets—“Cotton Fist,” “Cotton Palm,” and “Eight Changes Palm”—and much more.

Pavel Macek Sifu of Practical Hung Kyun and David Rogers Sifu of Rising Crane discuss the origins and core features of Hap Kyun, the benefits of cross-training, the unique “new frame” of Hap Kyun, “Needle in Cotton,” and its three core sets—“Cotton Fist,” “Cotton Palm,” and “Eigh...