Interview of GM Su Kegang

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采访蘇克綱老师/

Interview with GM Su Kegang (ZH/EN subs)

0:00:01.043,0:00:03.143
Well, it’s pretty useless to discuss…

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especially since
the Cultural Revolution

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wiped out
all of China’s culture.

0:00:09.200,0:00:11.786
So, when’d it start back up?

0:00:12.000,0:00:14.028
That was after Mao Zedong died.

0:00:14.029,0:00:16.128
When Deng Xiaoping rose to power,

0:00:16.129,0:00:19.005
it became his special focus.

0:00:19.114,0:00:22.285
But his policies were
never fully implemented.

0:00:22.377,0:00:27.071
And so, at all the martial arts
competitions across China,

0:00:27.071,0:00:32.567
they have all these rules and
mostly just perform a bunch of tricks.

0:00:32.567,0:00:36.871
You do some tricks and
that’s it. You’re done.

0:00:37.129,0:00:42.795
They keep whoever’s more adept and
focus all their research on them.

0:00:44.071,0:00:48.086
Make some comparisons,
write a few things down…

0:00:48.286,0:00:50.343
That’s it. You finished.

0:00:51.163,0:00:52.542
That’s how it is.

0:00:52.829,0:00:55.548
See, traditionally,
we had names for each set.

0:00:55.714,0:00:57.013
Not them.

0:00:57.529,0:00:59.443
They’ve lost their roots.

0:01:00.086,0:01:05.071
It’s just bare-handed, broadsword,
straight sword, spear…

0:01:06.829,0:01:11.700
That’s how it gets passed down,
without our complete Chinese heritage.

0:01:11.871,0:01:17.186
The stuff I have was all
inherited as a complete system.

0:01:17.714,0:01:23.064
-Each set has a name, [but] not them.
-No…

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And so,
what they don’t realize

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is that the stuff they’re
training is a total mess.

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It’s like they’re
studying a set of plays

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to make them look good,

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but instead have made the culture
totally incomprehensible.

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Can you believe it?

0:01:43.330,0:01:46.314
Frankly, it’s
just the mere reality.

GM Su Kegang (蘇克綱), a student of Liu Xiwei (劉希偉), brought Ground Boxing (aka., Digong Boxing; 地功拳) to Taiwan from Shandong in 1949. As a graduate of the Qingdao Martial Arts Insitute, GM Su, hailed as the “Ground Boxing King,” was adept at Longfist Boxing, Sun Bin Boxing, Xingyi Boxing, Taiji Boxing, and Ground Boxing, and is credited with having had the most complete Ground Boxing system and extensive knowledge of the style. After relocating to Taiwan, he often taught in the Taichung Park in Taichung City, Taiwan, where this short interview was recorded.

Notes:
1. This interview was filmed in the 1990s before a lot of traditional martial arts rejuvenation measures took effect in China;
2. Shandong-accented materials can be very challenging to understand and, therefore, to translate well, which is why it took so long to publish this interview—in fact, there’s a short “Part 2”; however GM Su is in his 90s and speaks so extemporaneously that pinning down his meaning has proven exceptionally difficult (akin to GM Wu Shaolin, many of his students in Taiwan had a hard time understanding GM Su—and they still do);
3. More information coming soon. Please stay tuned!

Produced by ZTMedia!
Music: Ströer Duo – Step Song
For more information, visit:
The Great Grandmaster Su, Ke Gang (蘇克綱老師)

Translated, subbed, & edited by ZhongwenTranslation