Chinese Boxing

There are many manuals of Chinese boxing. This is not one of them.The author, then a US government employee, arrived in Taiwan when that nation's government was extremely grateful to the US. He was given introductions to many of the leading Chinese martial artists of the time, and took up every one -- adding what they had to teach him to what he had learned earlier in the US and during a posting in Japan.Virtually all of the masters he describes in the book are dead and no longer available for interview. His accounts of what he saw, heard and experienced can never be matched, and Asian principles of loyalty to a single master mean that nobody other than he was able to study as widely from the leading teachers of the day. The more you learn personally about Chinese boxing, the better this book shows itself to be. For those on the first steps of this study, the book's a profound inspiration.

I read this book some years ago when it first came out, and thought it was excellent. The book is basically a chronicle of Smith's trip to the Orient and his encounters with a number of different masters with descriptions of their methods and ideas. Smith's travelogue makes for an absorbing account, and he includes many interesting anecdotes and stories about the various masters he meets. It is not a picture book or instructional book in that sense, but more of a personal memoir.It is also interesting in that it bears a strong resemblance to the books written by John Gilbey, a purported textile heir and martial arts master who also travelled the world meeting many intereting and unusual masters, and who returned to write about his experiences. The writing styles are quite similar--both Gilbey and Smith like to pepper the text with quotes from their favorite writers--the main difference being Gilbey's experiences are probably fanciful. It is likely that Smith was writing under the pseudonym of Gilbey for these entertaining books, so you should take his accounts with a large grain of salt, lest you be taken in by Smith's engaging, conversational style and his fascinating stories.To give you just one example of this, in the most recent of the three Gilbey books, unfortunately the title escapes me right now, but anyway, he describes an encounter with an Icelandic master who claims to use the energy of black holes to obtain fastastic power, and which occurs in a train station. Well, there is no train system, or train station, in Iceland and never was one. The only thing that ever existed in the way of a train was a small-gauge railway that wasn't for passenger service and which I understand no longer operates.To give just one more example, in one of the other books Gilbey describes a Pakistani art by the name of Fiz-Lez-Loo whereby the energy of the attacker's blow is directed and reflected by the adept back into the attacker. This expert asked Gilbey to strike him on the nose, but Gilbey instead punches him in the groin as hard as he can. Gilbey passes out and spends the next week in the hospital recuperating.While I have been a martial artist and instructor myself for almost 40 years, having started studying when I was only 11, and have seen some pretty amazing things myself in that time, I am fairly certain that this art doesn't exist, and that it couldn't be developed.That having been said, I think Gilbey's books are worth reading for their entertainment value alone, as long as you keep in mind my warning about maintaining a healthy dose of scepticism and don't take what he says too seriously.

This is a real account from a real person. Bob Smith's book does exactly what it sets out to do, to showcase the personalities of the martial arts masters he encountered during his stay in Taiwan. He lived the dream. He went, he sought, he learned from the masters who made the art great.It was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who wrote, through the voice of Sherlock Holmes, that reality would always be far more interesting and challenging than fiction. Smith's book is reality.

This was the first English language book by someone who had actually studied Chinese martial arts in Asia (Taiwan, as China was 'cleansing' all their old school martial arists at the time--before their potential as $-making tourist attractions became evident). Some of Smith's observations seem exaggerated, but he is a believer in chi gung, so this deosn't surprise me, and shouldn't annoy skeptics who can read around the personal beliefs/handicaps of martial arts writers. Smith is a VERY knowledgeable martial artist (even if you don't buy into all of the chi stories), and his experiences are worth reading about. He discusses many teachers whi have made a huge impact on the Chinese-martial arts world without trying too hard to sell himself. Other good books in this vein (Chinese martial arts books which are semi-autobiographical works describing the training and experiences of the authors) include Mark Salzman's two books, "Iron & Silk" and pre-quil "Lost In Place", and a book by Howard Thomas called "Tai Chi Training in China". Smith's latest book, "Martial Musings" is worth a read too.

I read this book some years ago when it first came out, and thought it was excellent. The book is basically a chronicle of Smith's trip to the Orient and his encounters with a number of different masters, with descriptions of their methods and ideas. It's an absorbing personal account, and Smith includes many interesting anecdotes and stories. It's not intended to be an instructional book for the beginner, since most of the book is text, and as I said, has more to do with Smith's exploits and encounters with various masters, both famous and obscure. But if you're already an experienced martial artist in at least one art, especially in one of the Chinese arts, you'll find much to think about and mull over in Smith's book, since he often compares and contrasts the personalities and methods of the different masters. Overall, Smith's personal memoir of his fascinating trip makes for enjoyable and informative reading.