Episode 144 - Bauhinia Blakeana (II)

These photos were taken at the podium of the Haking Wong Building of HKU earlier today.

It is flowering time for the Bauhinia Blakeanas. These Hong Kong Orchid Trees blossom in around October and November each year. Apart from HKU, there are quite a number of them in the Botanical Garden and the Harcourt Garden.

On my way home, I inspected the Bauhinia Blakeana which flowered in May this year. The tree is growing well but I cannot find one single flower bud on it.

You get it here, you lose it there.

Episode 143 - Birds of a feather

The first photo was taken at a lake in Luzern. The second photo was taken at the Northern Sea in Beijing.

Mallard is said to be the ancestor of domestic ducks. These migratory birds are often seen in ponds and lakes in many parts of the world. Apart from Switzerland and China, I have seen mallards in the UK and Japan.

The Luzern mallards appeared to be fatter and round in shape. The Beijing mallards had longer beaks and coloured tails.

Episode 142 - Fishing Birds

This picture was taken at Zhou Zhuang near Shanghai.

Common cormorant can be trained as working birds. The birds are captured and trained to fish for their masters. These birds are great fishermen. The bird keeper will install a ring around the bird's neck before setting it to work. The bird jumps into the water and catches the fish as soon as it identifies one. The bird will of course try to eat the fish but the ring around its neck prevents it from doing so. The bird keeper can then take the fish out of the bird's throat.

Nowadays, fishing by common cormorants has become a tourists attraction activity. The birds and their masters become performers of fishing shows.

Episode 141 - The Art of Chin Na

When I was young, I was facsinated by the arts of those sifus who could easily submit a big guy with chin na technique.

It looks as if the rationale behind a chin na technique is simple: You use the strength of your arms / body to control a weak point (usually his joint) of your opponent (the "Weak Point Principle"). However, you will soon find that this is not the case, as you can not do it as smoothly as your sifu.

Your opponent will never cooperate with you as your training partner does. Your opponent will move his limbs and body instinctively, and naturally, when he feels a pain in his joint. Once he changes his posture, the optimum position to control his weak point changes. Either you let your opponent go and you change to another technique. If not, you will find yourself end up locking horn with your opponent.

Ironically, the Weak Point Principle easily becomes another version of the Strong Man Principle.

The reality is: Whenever a sifu perform a chin na technique, he will first do some tricks to destroy the balance of his opponent. Once the opponent's balance is altered, he loses his ability to adjust his body position and is easily submitted to the chin na technique of the sifu. The best sifu can do the unbalance together with the chin na at the same time - the chin na technique is also the unbalance technique.

The key is to control your opponent's balance, not just his joint or weak point.