For decades I have been a fan and collector of One Hand Videos. This "is a video series composed of demonstrational and instructional titles. Both DVD and tape formats are available. It is dedicated to the preservation of the traditional martial arts of China. In the demonstration tapes the most famous Masters of China perform a variety of internal and external Kung Fu systems. The range of the instructional topics is beginning, intermediate, and advanced including Tai Chi Chuan, Chi Kung(Qigong), Pa Qua Chang, Hsing I Chuan to name a few. Aside from their archival value, the tapes in this series should be of interest to anyone curious about China, and particularly to any practitioner of the these arts."
The quality of the martial arts presented in One Hands Videos is simply superb. Viewing any one of them will give you a better appreciation of the title "Master". Please visit One Hand's website:

http://www.onehand.com

Vincent Lynch is the man behind One Hand who produced this repository of treasures. I asked him to tell his story:

"Prior to studying the Chinese martial arts I studied Kodenkan Jiujitsu. I started first studying taijiquan (my intoduction to Chinese martial arts) in the early 1970's in San Francisco with Master Choy Kam Man. At that time he and Master Kuo Lien Ying ( Guang Ping Yang Tai Chi Chuan) were the best known taiji teachers in SF. Guang Ping is an esoteric branch derived from Yang Ban Hou system which emphasizes "chin to toe" stretching. Master Kuo was not very accessible to the Caucasian students in my opinion. This was a time in the SF Chinese community that there were several factions that were against sharing the inner knowledge of kung fu with non-Chinese. Master Choy on the other hand was very open to teach non-Chinese in the tradition of Yang Cheng Fu. As a result the Yang Cheng Fu form is the most popular practiced worldwide.

Master Choy's father Choy Hok Pang is considered by many as the father of American taiji. In 1939 he was invited by the Seven Companies to teach in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, CA and New York City. His students were all Chinese, but they formed the generation of teachers that my generation would eventually study with. He was a direct disciple of Yang Cheng Fu who he studied with in what was at that time Canton(Guangzhou) China. When the second world war broke out he was in the US and couldn't return to China. He worked in an airplane factory during the war making planes for the US war effort and returned to China after the war. In 1949 he and his family moved to Hong Kong because he supported the Nationalists. His son Master Choy Kam Man returned the US in the late 1950's and began teaching in the early1960's. Master Choy Kam Man's teaching career spanned over 30 years instructing thousands of students in the Bay Area. In this period he only certified 38 students as teachers. I was the last student he chose to certify.

I began studying with Master Choy in the early 1970's at the Chinatown YMCA on Sacramento street and later at the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Grant St. My first experience at the Veterans of Foreign Wars was amusing. It was located on Grant St. on the top floor up an endless single flight of stairs. They had mirrors albeit a bit wavy and old. For the first time I was able to observe my disconnect of what I thought my body was doing following Master Choy and the actual position it was in. I was pathetic, but it was enlightening at the same time. Master Choy taught a course of 12 lessons covering the 54 movement short form. He also had separate classes on the 108 movement long form, and two sword forms. Once a month he held the "club" meeting in the large black topped area adjacent to the YMCA. Often more than 100 people would attend.

In 1983 I met Master Xu Guo Ming aka George Xu. At first Master Xu only taught Chinese students, but in his third year in San Francisco he accepted non-Chinese. We studied next to Spreckels Lake in Golden Gate Park. It is a beautiful setting. We'd start about 9:00 am and go to 1 or 1:30 pm. Over the course of instruction we studied three different systems: Chen taijiquan (new frame), 6 Harmony/10 Animal Hsing-I Chuan and Larn Sou Chuan, a northern Shaolin external system, in that order. What made Master Xu unique is that he would show you everything and challenge you to try to follow him. Many of the other shirfus in the Bay Area at that time were not as forth coming. Master Xu's early students were very into the martial aspects of the arts and practical applications for fighting. Often students would go over into the trees to spar out of public view to perfect their techniques and see how effectively they worked. Most of Master Xu's initial students had an average of 8 years prior martial arts experience before studying with him. This changed as time passed and more students began to study with him. At one point we had to get a permit from the S.F. Park Dept. for our group. Master Xu had purchased for us some custom fitted blue cotton Mao style jackets in China for us to work out in. So we decided to call our group the Blue Bird Tai Chi Club. The juxtaposition of the controlled violent nature of our group and the peacefulness of our chosen name was our own private joke.

In the Spring of 1984 I approached Master Xu with the concept of doing a documentary on the masters of Shanghai before he returned to China for the summer. He liked the concept and said we could discuss it further when he returned in the fall. When he came back he had stills and descriptions of at least 40 of the top Shanghai masters. He also arranged for a coordinator in Shanghai to communicate with the masters further. This is how the seed of Kung Fu Diplomacy was born." (By Vincent Lynch. To be continued.)