There is an interesting article in this month's
"Classical Fighting Arts" magazine by Brian Kennedy and Elizabeth Guo reviewing some of the best martial arts books from China.

cool, ill have to look that up.if there from china then they gotta be good.

live long and prosper. rob.

Tim, thanks much for mentioning the article, Liz and I appreciate that. I should have let you know that the piece was coming out as it mentions a teacher you know, Zhao Da Yuan, and his book (which you know well since you translated it) Practical Chin Na.

Doing that article was interesting because it provided a chance to take a close look at a couple of the early Chinese police training manuals. In particular it was interesting to see that Chinese cops understood in the 1920s that you better be able to fight on the ground because in the real world, a fair percentage of the time, that is where you and the other guy are going to end up. Liu Jin Sheng (who was a police academy instructor) shows in his book (which came out in 1936) a number of ground fighting techniques.

Somebody should translate that book too.

Take care and thanks again,
Brian (and Liz)

Hi Brian,

"Liu Jin Sheng (who was a police academy instructor) shows in his book (which came out in 1936) a number of ground fighting techniques.
Somebody should translate that book too."

I've already finished translating it. I'm going to submit it for publication as soon as my Shuai Jiao translation comes out.

TIm, since your Shuai Jiao translation is out, when can we expect to see the Liu book?

Is it a "police" book or Liu's martial arts showing groundwork?

I haven't submitted the translation to a publisher yet, I will soon.

The book has Liu demonstrating various joint locks and chokes, both standing and on the ground. He was hand to hand trainer in a police academy.

The book contains the most Chinese ground fighting techniques of any work I've seen, all explained in much detail.

I have read an english translation of that book. It was translated by Wang ke Ze and Leonid Serbin and is on www.kungfulibrary.com called "skill of catch and hold"
Not sure if its a good translation or not!

Hi Tim,
That's right, you told me at some point that you were doing a translation of the cop chin-na book; sorry, I spaced out and forgot. That will be a great addition to your other translations. And congrats on getting the Chinese Wrestling book out; that is super news.

take care,
Brian

Cool, can't wait!