Shi Xing Hong (Wang DeQing)
32nd generation Shaolin Temple monk
DeQing was born March 27th, 1974 in a small mountain city of Tiantai, in Zhejing province. He had the usual childhood, starting regular school in his city of about 10,000 people at the age of 5. For five years he studied the regular childhood school subjects. He was an aggressive boy, who tended to get into fights with other kids on what seemed to be a regular basis. His father, a devout Buddhist, was none too happy about his poor social interactions with other children, and decided, when DeQing turned ten years of age, to bring him to the Shaolin Temple. The father felt that some time at the Temple would straighten him out.
Upon bringing him to the Temple, the father found a Shaolin master who would take care of and train the boy. The Shaolin master liked the boy, as he was strong and gregarious. He decided to take the boy in to the Temple for training. The father left, and didn’t see DeQing again for quite a while. Nine years is quite a while….
DeQing’s master was Shi De Gong. At that time, around 1984, all of the monks lived and trained in the Temple. The wushu guan had not yet been built. The Temple took young children at that time. It was not uncommon for parents, both poor and “wealthy”, to bring and leave their “problem” children at the Temple for some gong fu and Buddhist training, in an effort to “set them straight”. DeQing lived, along with about twenty other children, in one of the smaller pavilion buildings inside the Temple. There were other groups of children who lived in other small pavilion buildings; each group having its own monk master to train them and supervise their behavior, and it was a rare opportunity when one group mingled with another. The groups were organized according to skill level. There were probably well over one hundred other students inside the massive Shaolin Temple, but DeQing rarely came into contact with them. His teenage years were spent solely with his master and the other students in his pavilion. These students became his “gong fu brothers and sisters”.
I found it kind of odd at first when DeQing introduced me to one of his “sister’s”. I had thought that this girl was actually a blood relative. But when I questioned DeQing about his family, I soon discovered that DeQing had many brothers and sisters, so many, that I had wondered in what condition his mother and father were. But after a while, I soon came to discover, that all of DeQing’s “classmates”, that he had spent these ten teenage years with, were all his “brothers and sisters”. A gong fu brother or sister is to be respected and loved as a real blood related brother or sister. To DeQing, the two are indistinguishable. I actually got the feeling that he was closer to his gong fu brothers and sisters than he was to his real family members.
DeQing’s life in the Temple during those years was fairly regimented. His master controlled basically everything. He was not allowed to leave the Temple during those years. A typical day in the life of a student at the Shaolin Temple, back then, was as follows:
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0500-0700: Awaken, train in gong fu with fellow brothers and sisters, and master, sometimes in one of the larger pavilion buildings inside the Temple, sometimes up in the mountain. All twenty or so students would run and train together. When doing solo practice, they would sit in a big circle either out in the fields away from prying eyes, or behind closed doors in one of the larger pavilion buildings (Actually, they trained in the building that DeQing trained me; it is now used as a meeting area for the Abbot to greet outside visitors).
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0700-0730: Breakfast. Usually consisting of a “bread” type bun, sometimes filled with some shredded pork, and a rice soup. Breakfast lasted a half hour, during which the meal had to be eaten and the dishes cleaned. There was an opportunity to wash, but it was with cold water.
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0730–0900: During this time period, they were given the opportunity to rest. But mainly, they had to spend this time cleaning the Temple. Back in those days, there were not janitorial help nor laborers that did construction work. The monks did all of the cleaning and repairs to the Temple. This is one reason that major construction work, such as pavilion construction, did not proceed. At this time, before the Chinese Central Government allocated money to rebuild the Temple, there were still some burnt out pavilions (mainly by the entrance). DeQing, his fellow students, and the monks performed the regular maintenance duties required to keep the rest of the Temple in order. On top of the regular cleaning chores, some of the monks were required to leave the Temple to tend the fields, as at that time, they also grew their own food. As the students were not allowed to leave the Temple (I assume, for fear that they would run away and not return), they primarily were responsible for Temple cleaning duties.
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0900-1100: They again trained in gong fu at this time. Basic maneuvers and forms were all done. Remember, this was at a time before competitions were popular, so most of the gong fu training, if not all, was in traditional forms, and not in competition forms. Regardless, his training consisted of a lot of acrobatic jumps and kicks and the like, as they train now, all of the stuff that ignorant westerners look at and think is just pretty ineffective ballet style fighting.
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1100-1200: An hour rest period was allowed prior to lunch. One must remember, that these students were not only responsible for the general cleaning and maintenance of the Temple, they also had to maintain their own sleeping quarters in a fairly pristine condition. No doubt some of that was done during this time.
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1200-1230: Lunch period, usually consisting of rice or noodles, and vegetables. As for meat, pork seems to be the most common ingredient.
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1230-1500: Another rest period. The students basically had this time to themselves.
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1500-1700: More gong fu training.
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1700-1800: Another rest period.
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1800-1900: Dinner. Again, more of the same food.
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1900-2100: This time period was basically the only time period that the students got some sort of “formal classroom training”. The time was spent studying Shaolin history, Buddhism, and Chinese. DeQing’s Buddhist teacher was Shi Su Xi. (Shi Su Xi was also a gong fu master, but at this time, he was around 62 years old, and primarily taught Buddhism instead).
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2100-2130: At this time, the students were to wash (again, no hot water, though in the winter, some water might be heated for washing), and by 2130, they were to be in bed.
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2200: The master turned off the lights, and all were to be sleeping.
At age 18, he was offered the opportunity to become a monk. One cannot become a monk until one is 18 years of age. So, he, along with around thirty of his gong fu brothers took the vows in what was at that time a fairly large ceremony. The vows were taken at the Thousand Buddha hall (one of the oldest existing pavilions where I took mine; the pavilion that has the “footprints” imbedded in the stone floor). The vows are made to the Shaolin Temple, to Buddha, and to one’s master. He had decided that he was going to spend his life learning Buddhism, and training and teaching gong fu.
As a monk, his life was changed, at least by his daily schedule. It was as follows:
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0500-0700: Meditation, and some gong fu practice.
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0700-0900: Breakfast, and the usual cleaning of the Temple and other chores.
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0900-1100: The new monks would take classes in Buddhism during this time.
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1100-1200: Rest period.
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1200-1500: Lunch, and rest period.
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1500-1700: Train in gong fu with one’s master.
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1700-1800: Rest and wash period.
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1800-1900: Dinner and wash period.
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1900-2100: Study Buddhism.
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2130: Bedtime.
There is an obvious shift towards studying Buddhism after one takes the monks vows, with a continuation, though a diminution, of gong fu training. At this time however, the monks start to learn the true secrets of the gong fu that they had been learning as students.
From 1991 to 1995, DeQing (now Shi Xing Hong) started traveling internationally with other monks to other countries, to do performances and to teach some gong fu. At this time the Chinese government had already built the wushu guan, and was interested in furthering the exposure of gong fu to the country and to the world. He initially went to Italy in 1991 with four other monks to do training and performances. After that, he went with other groups of monks from the Shaolin Temple to Thailand, Malaysia, Canada, Japan and Taiwan. These groups of monks tended to be small in nature, less than ten. They tended not to be large tours or performances.
In 1995, with the 1500th anniversary of the Shaolin Temple, and a European promoter that I met and whose name I cannot remember (Herbert Fechter?) the Shaolin Temple monks, and some non-monks, (but members of the wushu guan gong fu performance team) went on a large tour of Europe. There were twenty-five of them who traveled throughout Europe, giving large performances to many people of many countries. A video was produced of their abilities (and of all people, me, was included on it…) and it was widely marketed, especially throughout Europe. This greatly increased the Shaolin Temple’s exposure to the people of Europe, which no doubt is the main reason why most “foreigners” training here are from Germany, France, Spain and Italy. (It has also had the inadvertent effect of increasing my exposure, as when I run into these foreigners here at the Shaolin Temple, they widely refer to me as “the guy on the video tape”).
In 1996 DeQing started teaching at the wushu guan. Remember, the wushu guan is government built, owned and operated, and after a little “coercing” years ago, got some of the monks of the Shaolin Temple to teach students there.
In 1997, DeQing spent six months in Spain teaching with a martial artist by the name of Juan Carlos. I met Juan in 1995; he is a Spanish martial arts instructor who had spent about six months training here in 1995 (with DeQing as his master). He actually has the distinction of being the only “foreigner” to perform with the monks and wushu guan performance team in professional performances.
In 1998, DeQing, as did many other monks in the past, decided to open his own gong fu school. He has a small school of about fifty students, and five senior instructors, in Deng Feng, about 10 to 15 kilometers from Shaolin village. DeQing was also teaching at the wushu guan, but recently gave it up, as his time demands were too great. He has slowly learned a bit of capitalism here, with the running of his own school, especially since the school is not profitable. Many students from his hometown want to train at his school; I assume in China, as they don’t find their politicians to be their “heroes” (I’m certainly not assuming that we do in the US…) the children find their gong fu masters to be their heroes. And in DeQing’s hometown, he is their local hero. So, many children try to get their parents to take them to Deng Feng to train there. But the economics of running a school are a bit much for someone whose sole training has been in gong fu and Buddhism.
DeQing has a very lenient attitude towards his students when it comes to payment for training, food, and lodging. The average student pays about seven thousand Yuan a year for the whole experience. Included in this is lodging, training, and food. If one does the math, with fifty students, one would expect a yearly income of 350,000 Yuan a year. The school’s expenses are many. The yearly rent for the building and land is around 170,000 Yuan a year; electrical power comes to around 25,000 Yuan a year. Each instructor makes on the average 700 Yuan a month; with five instructors, that comes to around 45,000 Yuan a year. Add in two cooks and food for around sixty people for a year at around 120,000 Yuan, and you start to see that at DeQing is not making much money with this school, especially in light of the fact that not all of the students pay the whole yearly fee of 7,000 Yuan. DeQing does not turn anyone away, and some of the students just pay what they can. From a purely economic standpoint, it is not a worthwhile venture. But the martial arts training is fabulous. And the effect that it has on the students, and I don’t mean from a gong fu standpoint, is incredible. We need more of this kind of discipline in our culture.
DeQing makes ends meet at his school by making money on the side, so to speak. DeQing makes money when he does performances, though the monthly income for a wushu guan teacher (about 500 Yuan) is not all that much. He makes money teaching foreigners, whether he is in another country or here in China. And all of the money that he makes goes towards making his school function. I asked him about all of this, as economically, it was a strain. He strongly feels that it is important for him to teach gong fu as it was taught to him. The tradition here is a strong one, and is one that is not to be played with or insulted. I find in my travels through China that gong fu is almost like a religion to these people, a long standing tradition that is to be respected. DeQing treats it with the respect that he thinks it deserves. And so he goes on, teaching and practicing, all for the end result of continuing the gong fu tradition.
His future plans consist of returning to Hungary to continue teaching at a Hungarian school, and to watch a European tournament in October. As for entering tournaments, he told me that he doesn’t do that anymore. After winning five Chinese national tournaments in gong fu, he thinks that he’s too old to keep doing that (he thinks he’s old at 25, wait until he gets to be my age….) Winning tournaments bores him, now his sole interest is in teaching. After the European gong fu tournament in October, he is thinking of coming to the US to open a school and start teaching in America.
Specifically, he's thinking of coming to the US to spend time with me here in Las Vegas, for a period of a year or two. I've told him that I would help him as much as he needed, to fulfill his goal of opening a school here and teaching gong fu, and he had graciously accepted. This whole thing puts me in an interesting position, as De Qing is not officially my master, that is, I never underwent a ceremony with him. He became my teacher, and my good friend, but he never officially became my master. And as I had already promised Shi De Cheng any and all assistance that he would need to come to the US (as he is my master), the obligation to help one's true master before helping any other seems paramount. But with De Cheng's rapidly growing popularity in Europe, (and subsequent commitments there), and with De Qing's frequent phone calls from Hungary ("I come America"), it looks like I'm going to have a long term house guest at some time in the future.
And that is going to be quite the experience....
(Xing Hong Photo Gallery on next page)
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Shi Xing Hong visits America
A visit with me, March 2000, in Las Vegas, Nevada
"The monk wins". As if there was ever a doubt....
Where do I begin?
It was a terribly rainy Sunday when Deqing (Shi Xing Hong) called me from Primm, Nevada. Again, the usual "low pressure don't be insistent" Chinese approach. Something to the sort of "I'm here, at Primadonna, I come to Vegas tomorrow" He had come over with a Hungarian gentleman who runs the Shaolin school in Hungary where Deqing teaches. This is actually a fairly interesting situation, if I may digress a little.
The owner of this Shaolin school apparently studied with Deqing sometime back in 93 or 95. He had been an accomplished martial artist in Hungary at the time, and is a little older than me. I guess that he made some sort of arrangement for Deqing to go to Hungary to teach with him there; at the time, he had 500 students in his school. Now Deqing has spent a lot of time over there, actually, he spends most of his time there. He teaches at this school, usually most of the day, starting at 0900 with a group of 20 year olds (college? work? Not sure these people have much going on in their lives either). He gets a room from them, living in a small room at a school, but I don't think that he gets food. I know that he does not get a salary from this school, though it does pay for his flights back and forth from China, and, he used this past opportunity to come back to the US with the owner to visit me. But Deqing derives other benefits from teaching at this school; it helps him fulfill his almost self-appointed goal to spread the tradition of Shaolin gong fu. Deqing keeps mentioning that the school is a Shaolin temple (a temple, being a place where a monk lives. Thus, my house is now an ex-Shaolin Temple. God help Shaolin history....) I can see in his eyes that even though financially, it might not be as beneficial as one would desire, it does help him satisfy a far more important goal.
Now, Deqing apparently gets no salary from these people. He does it for, well, free I guess. You cannot imagine the immense sense of pride that he exhibits when he talks about his school and his students in Hungary. But he does make money teaching the Hungarian commandoes at the police force, and does drive (a student's car) to Berlin to teach tai chi. He makes decent money, by US standards, each month doing this, but I don't know how much goes out for hotels and the like. He also sends money back to his schools in Shaolin, Wudan, and some other place that I can't remember. China, being a relatively poor country, doesn't have a lot of paying students, and he doesn't have the heart to send them away. Thus, the work. Every three months or so he goes back to China for a month to visit the temple and his three schools. I did get the feeling that though Deqing was proud of his school and his students (he wasn't very proud of me, I can tell you that, when we went over Tong Long Chuan... My, I have been a very bad disciple this year) he wasn't terribly happy with the financial or living arrangements. He has big plans. Really big plans. And the energy to do it.. (And I've partly become the focus of this. Great. More later).
Back to the day. Having stayed up late "working out" (as my friend Paul calls it), playing Tribes online and kicking people's asses all over the world (I have become a Tribes master, no doubt. But that's going to be the limit of my mastering anything at this point), I drifted off to bed around 130 AM. It had been a terribly successful gaming night yet again, bringing fear into the hearts of my probable 12 year old challengers throughout the internet world. The Russbo name is no doubt feared, and I can imagine the shudders that travel through the fifth grade elementary schools the next day). It all started at 6AM, with the sound of wood slapping incredibly loudly, with a high pitched sound, reverberating throughout the house. It was punctuated with the occasional slam of a 125 pound heavy bag getting the not accustomed to shit kicked out of it. Mindy, my female golden retriever, who had been sleeping soundly under the covers next to me, woke up and looked at me with one of those "what the f-ck is he doing" looks. Max, my male golden retriever, continued to snore loudly through the ruckus, as expected. For a good half hour I tried to fight back one hell of a killer migraine, but finally, succumbed to the absolute uselessness of the whole thing, and got up. The dogs no doubt, were not at all happy with the event. But we all trudged on downstairs to find Deqing, at 630AM, doing a form in my living room, as he watched some horror movie on my big screen TV. He appeared to be in martial arts heaven, as he went back and forth from my wushu guan to my living room, first to kick the heavy bag, then to return to the TV, then to the wooden dummy, then to the TV, then to the kick bag, then to the TV, without missing a beat as to where he was in the form. Then, he sat down and said "Tong Long". Great. I'll be the first to admit my poor daily workouts in gong fu. I had forgotten a few of the pieces of this praying mantis form, and it showed. Having one hell of a migraine with a little hemiparesis didn't help either. But onward I struggled with it, and after an hour and a half I had to stop. Deqing noticed I was hurting and showed me something I didn't know existed; Shaolin Qi Gong massage. I watched in my mirrored wall as he did a combination of qi gong, brushing strikes, and minimal massage. It was interesting, to say the least. But an hour later, with headache diminishing, it was time to start the day. At 0900 we left the house to visit one of the facilities where we would teach in the future.
Deqing really liked the rehabilitation center that I had planned on using for the possible future venture, as it had a lot of room, both inside and outside. The facility in Hungary where he teaches has three buildings up in the mountains, one building as an eating area, one for an office, and a small room-type place for working out. This was far bigger than he was used to, and he liked it. But deep down, it didn't meet his expectations. You see, he doesn't want to build a school here, or a place to just teach gong fu or qi gong. He wants to build a temple, a Shaolin Temple, where the monks can come over and live, and teach all sorts of their arts. (Funny, I had been thinking the same thing...). But this will take some time, and the rehab center was going to be far more than adequate to meet our early needs.
After that it was a trip to the Vegas Buddhist temples. Yes, in Vegas. When he first mentioned to me that he had wanted to see some Buddhist temples here, all I could think to myself was, something along the lines of "You've got to be kidding. Whore houses, well, yes. Buddhist temples, well, ha!" But he was determined to find one, so I looked in the phone book and, after spending some time getting through the two largest groupings in our phone book (escort services and attorneys, you make your own judgment on that...) I had found one. It actually burned incense outside, and had a combination Chinese/Vegas architecture. But, it was a Buddhist school. I was impressed. Real Buddha statues. No slot machines. Yes, I was impressed. But Deqing was not. He had other plans. One thing that I've come to admire in Deqing, is that his mind is constantly churning out thoughts and ideas. There really is a lot of energy in there.
And that was when I noticed something else. Something far more significant. He has changed a bit in the last few years that I have known him. Here was a guy a few years ago, that I had thought might actually leave the monk hood, as I had sensed a possible desire to meet women and the such. Disco's were not high on his list, but he had liked the music and occasionally liked to see them. I had sensed a struggle between being a dedicated young monk, devoting his life to Buddhism and the sacred art of Shaolin gong fu, and being an older teenager, (kind of like, well, me), interested in women and the things that the external world had to offer a good looking highly personable young man (kind of like, well, not me). There has been a change, an evolution in him, and it was clear, surrounded by all of the nastiness that Las Vegas has to offer, that the monk inside him had won.
After our visit to this Buddhist temple, I took him to the Stratosphere tower, where we had lunch. The view up there, on this typically nice Vegas day, was incredible, and it must have absolutely blew his mind. He told me that China has one tower like this, in Shengzhen. No doubt it offers a great view of the typical Chinese pollution. We spent an hour or so walking around, talking, and taking pictures. Taking pictures was important, as he had wanted to show all of these to the monks back home. Vegas was a wonderland to him, much like Disneyland would be to a child, or to me. It was interesting watching him take it all in.
But it was soon to get better. After lunch, we met up with my friend Paul, who had been bitching to me in his typically nice humorous way ("Working out at 6AM? Doesn't he know what sleep is? Wait until I "work out" tonight on the computer in Tribes land. I'm gonna turn my damn speakers towards his room, and wipe out some 12 year olds in Tribes. How's that feel!") On and on I heard it, all day. I had showed Deqing the Tribes world on the internet the night before. One would think that a Chinese monk, who had little computer experience, would show a terrible fascination with this horribly interactive and addictive game (as Shi De Cheng did years ago, when I showed him Doom and Quake on my laptop. Talk about a fascinating evening in the heart of Shaolin....) But no, he had been more interested in getting on the internet and looking at my web site. (We had also tried to find his school in Hungary, and the one in Spain, to no avail). Yes, the monk had won....
We went down to Lake Mead with the idea of showing him a large beautiful lake in the middle of the desert. Instead, we ended up renting a speed boat. Deqing, who just started driving a few years ago (he's 27 now), had never been in a boat in his life, with the exception of those shuttle ferries in Hong Kong. It was an overwhelming experience for him, to say the least. He definitely enjoyed it immensely. I saw a little of the teenager coming back out, as, without regard for any sort of safety, he just spun this little unstable but fast boat around Lake Mead. Thank god we were the only ones out there.
After that, I took him back to the house, where again, he spent more time reading my web site. He gave me an interesting revelation then, that even though he wears regular clothing when traveling, he doesn't like having photographs of him published when he's not wearing monk garb. (He wears his monk garb when he teaches in Hungary, and I've seen him in monk garb in China, but usually when he teaches. Needless to say, many of the monks, especially the martial monks, wear work out clothing as opposed to the monk robes, contrary to popular belief). Again, the monk in him was coming out. There was an image that he had felt that he needed to portray, and he was well aware of the monk wanna-be's, and the faux schools out there, claiming to teach Shaolin gong fu. He was angered by foreigners who came to Shaolin to learn some basic forms, only to leave and open schools, claiming to be Shaolin masters (It is common in Europe, and rarely in America, as few Americans go to Shaolin. The Americans just open schools and claim to teach Shaolin gong fu without going to China.... I would say that we Americans are just more "time efficient" than the Europeans...?) Deqing just doesn't like the whole thing. I told him that unfortunately, it was common here in the US to teach that way.
We then went to one of the schools that I train with, here in Las Vegas. He met my instructor, who was very happy to finally meet him. The students were absolutely enthralled, all wanting to have pictures taken with him. And that is when I noticed something else about him. He and I are fairly close, and it is not uncommon for me to punch his arm or his stomach, or grab his shoulder, in a fun kind of way. There just didn't seem to be a problem with it. But when some of these students touched his upper arm or shoulder, in an absolutely friendly gesture, he froze up. The friendly Deqing turned into stern Shaolin master. I kept telling him to chill out a little, as these people just didn't understand, and that they didn't mean anything bad by it. But he told me that this type of behavior was wrong, and that he was offended by it. He wasn't at all interested in what he had seen, nor was he impressed. But then again, he told me he hasn't been impressed by any school that he's seen in Europe. The only thing that impresses him is Shaolin gong fu. Pure unadulterated Shaolin gong fu. From what I gather, the only thing that is real to him, is Shaolin gong fu. The rest of it is just watered down stuff. I tried to explain to him that what he was watching was a distant derivative of Shaolin gong fu, having been altered as it passed through Taiwan, Japan, Okinawa, and Hawaii. Then again, we Americans have changed the art to some degree. What he was seeing was the end result of a mix of many different styles and cultures. It was no matter. It didn't mean anything to him. Shaolin gong fu is the only thing that matters. And there is a good reason for that.
Deqing feels that our martial arts schools, like those in Europe, emphasize too much the whole concept of the martial art being a fighting skill. We train in these arts to be able to kick other people's asses. We train to feed our egos. Ego. Now there is a concept. We had a long discussion about that. Another discussion, later. He feels, much as I've come to feel, having been at Shaolin too much for my own good, that there just is no substance to martial arts training here in the US. He says, "there is no heart". And he's right. We emphasize the martial arts as a method of fighting. To him, fighting is anathema. To him, gong fu is more for the heart, for the mind, for the health, and for tradition. This whole concept of being better than one another (the idea of multicolored belts here in the US and in Europe amuses him) is just wrong, and doesn't belong in martial arts training. As Shi Xing Xi told me, there is only master and disciple. There are no levels. There are no stages. One just trains to continually get better. Not to be better than anyone else.
We walked around downtown for a bit, so that he could see the older part of Vegas. He was fascinated by the casinos and the lights. I tried to show him how to use a slot machine, but, in a very uncommon response for here in Vegas, he wasn't interested at all. (I also purposely walked by a local strip club, with it's well advertised "assets" outside, and again, he showed absolutely no interest. Yes, the monk had won). Remember, this was as much an opportunity for me to learn about him as it was for him to learn about Vegas. I pushed him, and challenged him, and, well, he won. After that, we got my little companion, and the three of us went to Chinatown for dinner. He wanted real Chinese food. Enough of this expensive high quality American food. (He had complained bitterly that his lunch was cold. Well, Deqing, you did order a chicken salad sandwich....) The food that night was better for him, as it was prepared by a chef that had lived in Henan province China, and our waiter was from a small village nearby Shaolin. Quite the coincidence. He was happy with his fried tofu, and as I watched him eat his meal, all I could think about was, I'm going back soon, and I'm going to have to eat that shit yet again. The thought just made my ever increasing migraine that night, worse.
It soon became 2130, and knowing damn well that his Hungarian friend was leaving for LA at 0600 the next morning, I offered to bring Deqing back to his friend's hotel. Staying at my house was not going to be an option because of the early hour that they had to leave. (They had a flight to catch back to Hungary in the afternoon). No, he wanted to see more. So, off to some of the major casinos to see some of the sights. And to cap it all off, a trip on a 3D IMAX magic motion ride at 2300. He was really fascinated by that technology. (I had become incredibly ill by it, to the point of not being able to walk straight. Not a good thing to do when you've got a migraine condition like I have). But I knew it, but I also knew that he would like it. So, we did it. And that ended the night. I didn't think it would be too "disciple-like" to puke my guts up at the front desk of the Excalibur, though it took all of the mental energy I had to prevent it.
He had definitely had a wonderful time. And he expects to return here, in America, very soon. It is our hope to eventually start a training center/temple here, and no doubt, there will be more stories....
Photos taken in my personal wushu guan, Las Vegas.
Click to see slideshow
