Episode 280 - Mr. Gene Ching
Mr. Gene Ching is a martial arts practitioner and the publisher of Kung Fu Tai Chi Magazine.
There's no point where you can kinda sit back on your laurel leaves and go yeah, I've got this, I've got my blackbelt or what have you...
Mr. Gene Ching - Episode 280
Our guest today had been exposed to the martial arts at an early age when he was playing with toy weapons at home. Mr. Gene Ching is from a family of martial artists and he has found his success not only in handling weapons but through writing for the martial arts community as well. Mr. Ching has trained with a lot of martial arts greats and his story is definitely inspiring. Listen to find out more about Mr. Gene Ching.
Show Notes
Gene-Ching
Kung Fu Tai Chi MagazineMan at ArmsTwitter.com/genechingFacebook.com/gene.chingOn this episode, We talked about:Donnie Yen, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Jet Li, Danny Trejo, Shaw Brothers' movies
Show Transcript
You can read the transcript below or download here.
Good day to you and welcome to whistlekick martial arts radio episode 280. Today were joined by Mr. Jean Ching if you've never heard my voice before my name is Jeremy Lesniak I'm your host for the show I'm the founder @whistlekick sparring gear and apparel and I’m one of the people behind the scenes helping to make these interesting martial arts products and podcasts and websites come to life because I'm a traditional martial artist as I suspect most of you out there are also. I love traditional martial arts and I'm dedicating my life through whistlekick to spread it help it grow. If you've never been over to whistlekick.com you should and if you're looking for the show notes for this episode for any of the other episodes that we have they're all up there for free whistlekickmartialarts radio.com. You can sign up for the newsletter in either one and you know we should probably send out another newsletter. We don't do them very often because we only send them when there's really stuff to say you don't worry about us spamming you don't worry about us selling your name or anything silly like that. We just like to have a good way to get a hold of you because you listen to my voice I don't have a good way to reach through the microphone and talk to you and say hey you person whatever your name is alright I'm getting silly so let's roll forward today's guest Mr. Gene Ching. He's a successful martial arts practitioner as well as a writer and he's the publisher for kung Fu tai chi magazine this was our second go around with our recording because we had some issues with the first recording 100% my fault but you know we had was I had at least as much fun the second time as I did the first time and I think up so came out great so let's welcome him to the show. There we go.
Gene Ching:
We're ready
Jeremy Lesniak:
We're ready.
Gene Ching:
Round two
Jeremy Lesniak:Roun
d two yeah thanks for coming back.
Gene Ching:
Yeah, no worries like I said I had a similar thing happened to me once.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah you mentioned that I actually.
Gene Ching:
I sympathize.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I shared that story, you know we'd just I was lamenting what happened with one of my friends and
Gene Ching:
Yeah
Jeremy Lesniak:
I'm a huge rap fan I mean I grew up with rap music and grew up with Wu tangs so you know for you to mention that that had happened with RZA was just like ah it's I mean I was impressed and also would have been heartbroken I mean that must have been gut wrenching.
Gene Ching:
Oh yeah, I mean it was you know yeah it was tough but I mean RZA's a good friend
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh cool
Gene Ching:
So, it worked out okay and he revisited me and it was all cool.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Does he train actively? I mean I
Gene Ching:
He does yes, he does.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I think you could help out.
Gene Ching:
I don't know man you know I actually haven't talked to him in a couple of years.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh okay.
Gene Ching:
The last time that we kind of interacted was let's see he was doing that thing where he's doing the live sound track that there's a chamber and he was that was originally gonna be a 6-city tour and so we knew he was gonna bring it to San Francisco and he wanted me to come out and do a like a discussion panel but that fell through he's never brought it to San Francisco so but that was a few years ago that was like in the early stages of the 03:45 and he was working with Celestial 03:48 company and yeah so it you know since then he's done it a couple times but not out here on the West Coast and RZA is like he's not a guy that I can call, he calls me you know?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I get it.
Gene Ching:
I mean I can call his agent where is this person but she won't only acknowledge me if he tells her to so it's kinda like you know I mean.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I understand you know I love those crossover martial artists you know and we have a few of them and they're big and I'm sure you for the very same reasons that I would love to have him loved having him
Gene Ching:
Sure
Jeremy Lesniak:
I think as martial artists it can be validating to us when we look at someone who is famous for non-martial arts reasons doing martial arts.
Gene Ching:Right, right, right yeah. Yeah I mean there's a lot to be said for the crossover and that there's definitely 04:55 this aspect of martial arts that you should have a complimentary practice particularly in Chinese martial arts right so you know they will always say like the yin and yang and the wen and the woo the culture 05:09 right so for example our office here is adorned with a whole bunch of calligraphy that's been done by various masters and grandmasters that have had 05:21 so much calligraphy but it's a very common parallel discipline to kung Fu and tai chi is to do calligraphy but there's always music and cooking and what have you there's all sorts of I think there's always something about doing that in that parallel process you know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah and my memory is telling me but doesn't kung Fu translate out to something that's not particularly martial?
Gene Ching:
Right the literal translation of kung Fu is not martial I mean it's something that we've used in the west to describe martial arts but gong really just kinda means work like you know the word like gong ho
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh wow
Gene Ching:
It's the same going right? Gong ho it means like work enthusiasm, and the ho means enthusiasm or work and so and then the Fu is like it's like the character for man but with like an extra set of arms raised to heaven so it's like it's sort of or make it divine or makes it a sacred. So it's often translated as you know to have a good kung Fu you can have good kung Fu in how you play guitar or you rap how you you know how you paint any art and so it's kind of like or any skill you know how you chop vegetables but it's often translated as a skill that you get after a long time of practice and many hard hour many hardships so it's not yeah not literally martial arts but that's what we call it here so.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, I thought that's what I remembered we had
Gene Ching:
Right right
Jeremy Lesniak:
We’ve had a number of Chinese practitioners on the show and that's one of the I don't know it seems like when we talk about Chinese martial arts it gets broader than
Gene Ching:
It gets very 07:15
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah and I dig that because you know I appreciate the way martial arts kind of feathers in to life
Gene Ching:
Yeah
Jeremy Lesniak:
And I think so often people in I don’t wanna draw a hard line here I’m drawing the softest of line that I can
Gene Ching:
Sure sure
Jeremy Lesniak:
But folks outside of Chinese martial arts seem so often to admire what they developed inside their training but it seems like when they're done training it's not there as much. When you hear a Chinese practitioner talk about life and martial arts it gets it seems to get much blurrier.
Gene Ching:
Hmm yeah well I mean I think well that nature that definition of kung Fu is part of it and I think also it's so intrinsic to the culture I mean if you look at Chinese history and all the dynasties, emperors are classified as either a wen emperor a cultural or a wu emperor a martial one and invariably the ones that at the beginning of the dynasties are all the martial ones cause they had to take over and crush out the previous dynasty so those are the warriors but then as time goes on it becomes more of a cultural thing and then you know the later emperors become the one that really contribute more to Chinese culture and developing various culture aspects but that's always sort of the yin and yang and it's so implicit in Chinese culture that it's hard to tease things out it didn't separate out and that's sort of mind body 08:53 simple mathematical way it's very connected and I think that's also why you know Chinese martial arts are cumbersome in many ways because it is so connected, there's so many cultural artifacts within like the very forms we practice so for example certain weapons you know it's not just just learning the weapon but you also have to learn 09:21 who used this weapon and then there's often you know for example the guandao which is a giant 09:29 that very signature weapon in Chinese martial arts. The guandao is named the guandao after General Guan Kung and that's the same Guan and he was a hero of the three kingdom's period and he had this long beard 09:45 long black beard so there's movements in the form we are throwing the beard on your shoulder or you're mimicking riding a horse with this thing which kinda don't make sense but then they kind if do right I mean it's not like a practical thing as you're gonna use in street throwing a beard over your shoulder unless you got a really long beard but it's something that you know that is really it's part of the form you know and there's lots of little artifacts, particularly shao lin style where he you have little 10:15 to put his or even within taichi not to daoism that are just built in the form and I think a lot of those movements get you know people learn just as when you talk about you only learn the skin and then you could just learn the skin of the form and not getting down to the muscle and then not getting down to the bone you're not getting down to the marrow of it you know you just learn the movements but you know what they mean you know there's one level of learning in your applications for your movements for your form but then there's a whole lot of level learning the cultural context then you know it gets really deep really quickly and I often use the metaphor of the Chinese box where every time you open a box you know there's another smaller box inside and there's it's I mean you never kinda get to the end of it so that's kind of exciting and overwhelming at the same time.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, I like that analogy the idea of skin to muscle to bone when you're thinking about a form
Gene Ching:
Yeah
Jeremy Lesniak:
And I'm curious because so many people are I don't know if I wanna say content but so many people stay on that skin level and I think because that's what they're taught to focus.
Gene Ching:
Yeah
Jeremy Lesniak:
How do you talk about going deeper you know like is there a process like if you learn the form tomorrow? How would you get from skin to muscle to bone?
Gene Ching:
Oh, that's digging you know you dig and dig and dig and I mean I think there's two things going on there one is sometimes the instructor only has the skin to pass on you know. I mean they may be physically very strong but never really get to the deep level I mean there's really nothing wrong with that I mean for example I think a lot of Taichi that's being taught 12:04 is only the skin but that's enough you know although they don't really need to 12:10 hands and learn all these other you know weapons and what have you they're just 12:15 prevention and that's fabulous but as a dedicated practitioner you just gotta dig you know you keep researching and then now today it's so much easier I mean you can learn a certain form you can look it up on the internet and like in YouTube videos you can breakdown the characters of you know a lot of traditional forms 12:37 translated to the lyrics it's like the names or the forms I mean like it hails back to that old you know the Bruce Lee in Return of the Dragon where he keeps the guys like 12:49 you know that kind of stuff you know every name in a traditional form has or every traditional form the sequence has names and those names are very evocative you know and so those are clues those are little fossils that if you can pick at can reveal a lot you know sometimes they 13:11 greatness about the people that aren't being inspired or that are supposed to inspire you in these forms you know I mean going back to Guangdong you know if you're interested in guandao you know and you can learn the weapon I mean first of all it's a huge weapon so it's not something you really learn for self-defense I mean you could argue cause it's heavy that you learn it for you know for muscle building and conditioning but it's not something that you know you're not gonna have a guandao and somebody you know assaults you on the streets or something it's just not and there's not 13:46 like it that you could sort of map those skill to your 13:49 more as a discipline as an art form and so when you get that and you figure out that the guandao is this named after somebody you'll look into who that person is and you know that will lead you to in this particular case it leads you to 3 kingdoms without realizing that kingdom's one of the 4 Chinese classics in ancient literature and you know it's a huge, huge novel and so that then you start getting into history because I mean this is this was although the novel is a fantasy it's based on something kind of like archery in legend and you know you just keep going and going you know and then you lift a weapon 14:30 what kind of weapons do exist you look at the modern 14:34 version of it versus actual archaeological versions of it and you know you look at opera you look at story telling you look at puppet shows you know wherever there might be information I mean there it's it goes as deep as you wanna go really you know you'll Chinese history goes back thousands of years you'll never really get to the end of it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Which I guess kinda leads to a question when we talk about martial arts especially the more modern that we can kinda put a box around it and said you know this artist 20 years old or 50 years or 100 years old we can kinda see the edges you talked about you can go as deep as you wanna go you know
Gene Ching:
Sure
Jeremy Lesniak:
But at some point, I mean if we can I don't know if we can assume we can probably expect that that box I guess we would expect was drawn out somebody at some point defined what that martial art is but if yet if it's that deep has it kind of grown beyond what someone said out and thus does have a life of its own.
Gene Ching:
Oh absolutely and then I think martial arts have to be 15:44 you know there's a big thing that's often advertised particularly in the Chinese circles where they say you know we have the original form you know ours is a pure and I think that's an interesting argument because I mean personally there's no way to validate that I mean you could draw some sort of lineage lines saying okay there's the founder and then his student his student his student then he or however how many 16:07 generations go back but even on that sense it's not even I mean ultimately who cares right I mean who cares how you know Beethoven composed the 9th Symphony what was the exact way he played who knows? There's no way of knowing there's no recordings of it and it ultimately it doesn't really matter what matters is how you use it today right how you played that symphony today how you played that form today you know how you just gotta keep it modern and I don't know I mean there's I think there's some limitation there and that certainly you know there's this argument where well we should learn to fight with modern weapons right I mean what good is using that guandao today cause you know 16:55 find a guandao is in a kung Fu school. So maybe I should learn how to fly with a skate board or the selfie stick or what have you and I guess there's some validity to that but at the same time you know it's that root that connection to tradition which makes it really deep and you can really take that for as far as you want you know I mean that there's certainly there's that self-defense thing which is for the fore front of most people's minds but then there's a whole other level of it of cultural transmission that has in its own intrinsic value.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Have your perspectives your thoughts on all these changed over the years? Between your own training and what you're exposed to and we haven't really even talked about 17:46 what you do day to day but you've got a lot of, what's that?
Gene Ching:
We're just gonna jump in yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, we did and you know what I'm fine with that you know honestly, we've had a few of those starting this way and they've been fun for me because it just kinda it's a lot more organic.
Gene Ching:
True.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, I'm curious I'm expecting the way you look at martial arts in your own training has changed, how much of that has changed because of your well actually I don't even wanna ask that follow up. How has the way you look at your training changed?
Gene Ching:
Oh yeah it's constantly changing I mean you know when I was a kid it was just something cool I was doing and then when it kinda became a career you know it that sort of opened up a lot more pragmatic perspectives you know I mean that very sure there's the whole you know self-defense thing when you take care of yourself and then there's that business aspect you know can you make the rent can you keep the lights on in your business and now I'm in my 50s so there's that age factor which is probably the most challenging so far I mean you know when you start when your physical system starts to be less robust when you don't heal as quickly you know you have to kind of reevaluate everything you know I mean and before the you know doing something like sparring it's great fun when you're young you know the next day you feel great but when you get older and you take a bruise some of those bruises don't heal for weeks and so that makes it a much bigger consideration right you gotta protect yourself in different ways plus certain things just kinda disappear like you know not nearly as fast when it used to be and not as flexible not as strong and at that point I think is when the traditional stuff gets really important you know and that's when you come to look to the old masters you know these guys that are in there 60s, and 70s and 80s and still doing it and you look at them and like wow how did they solve it why didn't they quit why can they still do it? Cause obviously they don't have the physicality of a younger person and yet they still have the skills that really gets down to it you know they have the skills so the quest kinda shifts right I think it becomes 20:21 less macho? A little bit more 20:26 I mean 20:30 over the years I there's so many people I know who kinda quit doing martial arts after a certain age or I mean we all kind of slow up and change our training but yeah so many people quit and you know that's really not being a martial artist in my opinion I mean being a martial artist you can say well yeah I used to do martial arts you know however you can say that but that doesn't mean you're a martial artist still you know you have to keep practicing until it's a day to day thing it doesn't there's no point where you can kinda sit back on 21:05 and go yeah I’ve got this I’ve got my black belt or what have you and then I'm the master and I 've got you know you have to constantly keep polishing you gotta constantly keep working.
Jeremy Lesniak:
How much of that that dropping out that fading away and we can look at you know a number of different reasons or different age groups and all that but how much of that bares personal responsibility and how much of that is the fault of us as let's say the martial arts industry the instructor that has possibly mis conveyed or you know lately I'm finding myself in conversations that when you point the black belt as the standard and someone has achieved that standard you know we've spent so many years indoctrinating that that's what they wanna get to then what's the point in continuing you know I see this both I see this but I'm curious how much you would ascribe to each side.
Gene Ching:
Hmm ahm well I mean for me the black belt is kind of it's kind of a non-issue cause in traditional Chinese martial arts there is no black belt I mean a lot of American schools have established the belt systems because they teach kids and they just doesn't you know that's just part of marketing but traditional Chinese martial arts it's a folk style it doesn't come from the military like you see with some with the Japanese and Korean martial arts so there's no way there's no hierarchy in that sense, hierarchy it most familial than it's clan based so you know Sifu the Fu can be interpreted as father you know and you call your senior your seniors older brother, older sister, uncle, aunt you know younger brother younger sister so it's more clannish and so the different is the sort of a different take on it and when I did kendo for a while and now I did Judo too but when I was in a belt system with Kendo you know they really kinda look at I mean you don't really have a belt in kendo they do have kyu and dan but you don't have to claim a physical belt you know you're just a certain kyu certain rank and the way they looked at it you know the first your first dan was when you actually are in the game you know that's when it wasn't like oh you 23:30 black belt you're master of that school, it's more like all the kyu were just leading up to that first dan and then you're now actually part of the community of kendokan so I guess my take on that as a whole is different you know I don't really not that I disdain the belt system at all but I don't really ascribe to it I can't really relate to it but I get back to your question whether it's an industry thing that's a really I mean there's a lot of things I guess you gotta you know look at you know 24:04 goals people have in their practice you know what you gotta look at geographic factors you know in certain areas like metropolis' have much better access to martial arts resources so I think I don't know that's really that's a tough question, it's a really loaded question, I don't have an answer for you right there.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's fine, that's fine I like asking those kinda deep 24:33 questions and admittedly you know that one was kind of 24:36 certainly wasn't on the list I sent you. Let's go to one that is.
Gene Ching:
Okay
Jeremy Lesniak:
You know let's go to our kinda standard starting question how'd you get started?
Gene Ching:
How'd I get started, I got started because my family was kind of involved in it, my cousin had come by when I was a young kid and with his kung Fu team actually and they'd go to a tournament and they'd stayed at our house for a little while and I had this little I was a little kid I must have been more or like what 4 or 5? And I 25:11 right away which you know upset me but then they'd showed me what a real sword or a kung Fu sword and I was like wow okay that's kinda cool I'm in to that and so that kinda just sent me on the path and when I at that time I was living in near Valley Forge Pennsylvania and there was like no all that was available was judo so I started in Judo and which is great actually just as a great starting martial art you know you learn how to fall at a young age and it's good to know how to fall and save you plenty of times but then when I moved back here to California I was doing Shotokan for a while and it was sort of a hybrid it was Judo, Shotokan, kind of a mix of different styles and it didn't work out for me so well so I did a little break but I have always have this lifelong fascination with swords and I kinda came back to that so I did I started doing Western fencing and Kung Fu and then later in college I did Kendo and so you know did the kung Fu you know I got all the there's so many weapons in kung Fu and that was just 26:28 I love working the weapons I just love the history of them they're just fun you know and fencing I got a 26:40 master in fencing I was 26:42 for several years and you know and then you know along the way I picked up a whole 26:51 things cause that's what you do in the martial arts and it's constant quest right so I mean I'm fortunate being the 26:59 where there's a lot of martial arts too much in fact.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Really? 27:06
Gene Ching:
Yeah well it's well like for example right now I'm calling I'm speaking to you from the kung Fu tai chi magazine headquarters and so within walking distance of where I am now there are 3 major schools and there's a Taekwondo school there's a Muay Thai school and there's a kung Fu school and that's all literally the same exit where right off of the freeway so it's almost like it's saturated and what I think what that the down fall of that is that you get these great instructors who are really struggling you know I mean that there's not much education when or not much available to masters in terms of you know just learning to run their business you know they spent all their time learning to master their martial art and while there are like business programs and stuff for martial arts specifically mist people don't engage to that and it makes it tough you know they have these 28:21 schools and they're trying to keep their doors open and there's just so many schools on top of each other that competition makes it really challenging to stay open and to stay vital so yeah too many, way too many, it's ridiculous out here in all styles too I mean we have not just the Chinese martial arts but I think it's San Francisco as you know the Golden Gate to Asia you know so there's a hug Muay Thai community there's a huge karate huge Judo huge Taekwondo you know and even some of the more obscure martial arts like say capoeira really strong in strike force which was 29:06 ufcs some of the years back that started here some of the huge and MMA scene it's ridiculous it's hard to keep up with.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Do you think there's a tipping point? You know is there a point where there become so much martial arts that we're kind if deluding the quality and thus risking people coming in coming to one of those lower quality schools and thinking you know if this is martial arts and getting 29:36
Gene Ching:
Yeah definitely, I think what tends to happen actually I know this tends to happen is you know what drives a lot of martial arts schools with the exception of MMA perhaps since some of the real traditional schools is kids right that's the 29:57 fundamental economy most of them were built on and kids and so you have these parents coming in and you know they're just looking sort of the bottom line you know where is this school how close it is how much it's cost and when you know they'll play the various schools well you know I can go Boston Street and you get cheaper and so at a certain point you know what does a master do to deal with that and yeah I do really think there is a tipping point you know I think that it's yeah I wish more people would spread out. Get out of the area move out, move to other places you know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And I think we tend to see maybe we don't you know I look around our area which obviously is much more lower population that's even like you're saying you know San Francisco to 30:54 Vermont I don't think we have a ton of things in common in terms of our business landscape but when I think about the schools that have started most of them fail you know you mention that you know school owners don't have the business savvy they expect that they're the quality of their instructions because I don't think anybody starts teaching thinking that they're terrible.
Gene Ching:
Sure, I would hope not.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I mean I started teaching thinking I was okay.
Gene Ching:
Right
Jeremy Lesniak:
You know hoping to get better but I don't think I was terrible.
Gene Ching:
Yeah I think what happens is just to keep your business going you have to make compromises and at a certain point you just compromise too much and that's you know that's tough cause I mean 31:44 you just say oh yeah I'm gonna maintain my ethical standards or what have you but you know when you're paying rent and try to keep your door open you'll do whatever it takes really to kinda keep that going, and it's hard out there it really is.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It is.
Gene Ching:
So.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Do you have an opinion on full time schools versus part time schools for that reason?
Gene Ching:
How do you mean?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well some folks will say that inherently martial arts school that is the sole source of income for the owner is gonna lack integrity because of the temptation
Gene Ching:
Oh yeah and I think I don't ascribe to that and I think there's some people that do their you know that are so committed and have you know all they do is their school and that's fantastic you know I do think there are certainly there are people that they discover32:42 and sacrifice things and you know certainly there's people that are teaching other 32:47 that are excellent but I don't think that's really a factor in terms of quality it's more about the individual than it is that particular you know what mode it is you know I mean some people teach better through a garage some people teach better to a big academy I mean it really depends and there's certain again it's sort of that goal state say for example model that gets probably the most criticism in the martial community as we call the Mc Dojos the big franchise schools and I mean there's an advantage of big franchise schools and that you know I have friends who travel you know they would travel a lot for work and then I think about our franchise schools when they travel to another town they can still train and so in that goal state 33:44 wonderful they may end up by getting this incredibly in depth you know intimate relationship with their master but they still get to train and that's the important part right so it really depends on what your goal state is in terms of you know where you wanna go or what you wanna do with martial arts and that's different for every person really it's very individual.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure, we started off talking about interview you've done and I'm sure you've done a bunch of them and when you think back about these interviews that you've done for your magazine what advice you know what you know kinda wisdom jumps out at you from over the years? You know are here common themes that you're finding when you talk to these folks or you know are there I guess I wanna make this really open you know tell us about some of the interviews.
Gene Ching:
Oh man that's a good question in the sense well I mean it depends on the individual cause I range you know from new champions to you know elder masters to various celebrities and movie stars and stuff and RZA rap stars and stuff and everyone's got a different take on it for me personally I am always fascinated by the elder masters cause they had the game for the longest they have the most stories and they've survived you know there's a lot to be said for you 35:17 and so you know like the latest MMA champion well that's fascinating you know 35:24 state in the game and you know a lot of that a lot of things that they might say actually categorized that just MMA but any sort of champion a lot of it could just be natural ability there are a lot of people that are born very gifted and so they don't really have that as much to offer people that aren't gifted the average person, they'll just gonna tell you oh yeah you know train really hard you know be dedicated you know like oh okay you know give me something more of a secret give me something some clue I mean I guess I'm on this quest to right so I'm looking for those person who has done I mean one of my favorite GM John 36:13 who's up in he's 36:16 kung Fu master up in Seattle 36:21 he was in his I guess he was in his 70s back then and he really 36:26 he just come back from jogging that morning in Oakland which is not a great place to be jogging for an old man but you know he has to jog everyday he's gotta work out every day and I was like you know wow what is your secret you would just you know I like to sweat and that kinda nailed it for me you know that's just very simple just work out just keep doing it you know and find the joy in it and you know he's still going strong I have so much respect and admiration for you know his schools have celebrated its 50th anniversary and that's just awesome when you hear stuff like that right?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I've heard a lot about of our guest echo kind of that same wisdom around continuity and simplicity just keep moving just keep going forward or even keep stepping even if you're staying in the same place.
Gene Ching:
Right a little every day is better than trying to do a lot quickly you know just little build right and I think that's also one of the things that's difficult in terms of marching martial arts is that really it's a lifestyle and if you really wanna get good at it it's a lifestyle and you gotta be caution 37:43 I mean you know it's part it's something you do every day you know it's something that you're constantly thinking about you know sort of in the back of your mind you know like you read the news you read you focus on things that might affect your martial arts or have some meaning there you know you watch what you eat you do your practice you know daily and you constantly kind of thinking about that. When you watch other people do martial arts you're kinda looking at what you can 38:17 what you can borrow what you can steal what do they have that I don't, you know and can I get that? Again, it's that quest and you gonna keep shipping you can never kinda become complacent or be like yeah, I got this cause and then it's like well you got that part of it, you got that skin maybe you got that muscle but you can still go deeper keep going deeper.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah and there's almost well not even almost I would say that there's too much to know that if you spend that much time one thing that something else is gonna start to fade.
Gene Ching:
Right.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You can't be good at everything all of the time.
Gene Ching:
Sure, you gotta keep juggling things I mean in my personal experience you know life gives me enough bruises that I have to constantly move things around like oh my knees out I gotta work my legs, my wrist is messed up so 39:17 my elbows or something you know that one's is not working I gotta do something else, gotta kinda keep it 39:23 and vital but you know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
What's been your favorite interview like you know who who's been the one that you said you know I could talk to this person weekly for the rest of my life?
Gene Ching:
Oh, jeez so many good lord.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Really, you've had that many? That you love to speak
Gene Ching:
You know 39:48 this is I’ve been part of kung Fu taichi now for let's see going on 19 years and prior to that I was a freelance writer who not only wrote I mean most freelancers just write about their master but I already expanded to different master because I’ve you know I’ve traded shaolin I had a little you know and there was all these stories at shaolin and so yeah there's so many good lord I mean 40:18 got their stories yeah I don't think I can't answer that one cause someone 40:26 just been too many I mean truly the celebrities are always fun just cause they're celebrities and the grandmasters are always interesting some of them are so 40:37 you know and yeah too many good lord.
Jeremy Lesniak:
When you think back over your martial arts had quit the martial arts career and here you are in a roll where you're not training for a living but you're still doing martial arts as far as I'm concerned for a living.
Gene Ching:
True
Jeremy Lesniak:
And I know there are stories and you know from last time and the listeners know that stories are a hallmark of the show, tell us your great story.
Gene Ching:
Oh well you know my one of my favorite stories about martial arts was actually , it's not so much martial artsy but I was at I was in Bodhgaya which is where Buddha was lined in India I was doing a 41:27 and I was actually in India for some time cause my wife was studying yoga and I mean after we had done our period studying we traveled India 41:39 and we're doing the pilgrimages or the Buddhist sites 41:43 and so I went to Bodhgaya and I had a t-shirt on that's said shaolin kung Fu and I ran into this 41:55 in the middle of the night where eating some 41:58 food place and he's like oh shaolin kung Fu oh very good very good, and he didn't really speak much English and I don't really speak any 42:12 at all we both had a little bit of Mandarin and 42:17 you know long very animate conversation about martial arts and such you know and he would say something like hujao which means like a tiger claw and then he would make a tiger claw at me and then I would do it back and then he’d laugh and 42:37 and which is just this amazing connection to have with this a total stranger and that was just you know it was kind of very affirming, very reaffirming in the sense of what our community is about. I mean in the Chinese martial arts we often say you know you use martial arts to make friends which sounds kind of like a paradox but I think there is something very real about our community and something very Universal that transcends language and culture and you know that just kinda gets down to the ability to communicate with each other in this very sort of sophisticated dialogue but one that's sort of exclusive to our various martial lineages.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I'd like you to tell us about a low point, something that you know went off the rails completely and you were able to use martial arts to set things back on track.
Gene Ching:
A low point in my life ah okay here's is one. So I was the second time I went into shao lin I want to learn drunken style just cause, just because drunken style and drunken style is actually based on this other style called Ditang which literally means like falling like doing break falls and stuff these crazy like break dancing kind of crazy jumps and falls and flips and stuff which I had never stayed at all which is kinda mistake cause you really need Ditang to understand 44:25 style and early on I cracked my little toe which it doesn't sound like much but you know it's your little toe. SO I was going to this local bone center 44:40 and he was getting me treatments as traditional Chinese medicine treatments and you know I was that was great 44:52 hold me together for this month long training and then you know I’ll deal with it when I get home and so at the very end you know I was about to leave he prepares this special treatment and he has his assistant like massage this weird it was like almost like a dried apricot that it was so 45:12 some sort of herb and he massages my foot for I don't know a long time 45:16 hours so he's massaging this weird oil thing and I got a really bad allergic reaction now shaolin temple especially back then was very rural so it was dirty it was hard to stay clean and so this allergic reaction broke my skin barrier my 45:34 and I contracted cellulitis and cellulitis is a brutally painful disease a rare 45:45 and at that time I actually had insurance with this program that would activate the military and fly you out of China and I was thinking about doing that but then I thought well you know I'm training with I was training with some of the people then they're all gonna leave so I just leave with them and not activate it I mean as soon as he thought about 46:10 but then I thought well I'd be stuck in China by myself and that would be really rough so I just sort of 46:18 and you know and my foot swollen up like to the size of a football and I was juts and I could wipe it down for in an half an hour it will be just soaking wet cause we're just seeping with stuff it was just awful and just intensely painful so I get to the airplane and everybody had brought like various muscle relaxants and pain killers cause we're all training you know training for a month and 46:46 gave them to me and I was drinking all these liquor trying to just trying to pass out on the plane I could not cause I was in so much pain and I literally got off the airplane and went right to the emergency room. I got some antibiotics and that was all cleared up and that was cool but a little while later it turned out that because of the cellulitis and because of 47:11 that was used that I developed an allergy to Chinese medicine and to this particular kind of Chinese medicine 47:21 which is a liniment commonly used in kung Fu literally means like fall it 47:30 and it's like an alcohol based herbal liniment that you use bruises and sprains and stuff and I’ve lived off this stuff for you know my entire martial career it's kept me together and so I have this injury this growing injury you know I pulled my leg or some 47:49 and generally you know you can't put like tiger balm or white flower oil or even like bengay near the groin cause just you can't do that right?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right I’ve done it it's not advisable.
Gene Ching:
Yeah yeah totally that's a mistake you make once.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yes
Gene Ching:
And so I was using this 48:08 this liniment which isn't the heat sort of that same way and turns out that you know I had this allergic allergy and I my testicles just blew up like a freakin grapefruit it was so awful it was so painful and itchy I mean that kinda itch that you just wanna take pencil and stab yourself and I mean all my kung Fu brothers are all like oh 48:32 that I'm like dude I'm in serious pain here. So and then I mean I went to the doctor and they put me on steroids and stuff and thank goodness that my doctor at the time was Chinese and so we had like a sense of you know like what this was you know he knew when I said 48:51 and he knew what I was talking about but yeah that was pretty brutal when you're whenever your genitals are severely injured, life is bad that was bad and to date I can't like take any of that kind of medication or attempt to those liniments even certain like 49:09 won't make me have a very strong allergic reaction yeah so.
Jeremy Lesniak:
What do you use instead?
Gene Ching:
Ah I use well I still can use this tiger balm or white flower oil and bengay and there's some ayurvedic stuff I use sometimes but yeah I just kinda have to tough it I can't yeah I mean I’ve had several of my kung Fu brothers and sisters when I did traditional Chinese medicine then they all say well you know I could start testing you we could figure out what herb it is I can make a special liniment I'm like you know I really don't wanna go through that, I'm just gonna live without it and see how it goes you know so
Jeremy Lesniak:
Was there a lesson for you in all that?
Gene Ching:
Was there a lesson? Hmm I guess the lesson is be careful on your medicine, watch your medicine, don't overdose on medicine don't overdose, that's the lesson don't overdose you know I mean I think it's easy to kind of rely on this sort of stuff you know and I mean that's sort of the gateway to addiction when you start relying on something overly you know whether that'd be kung Fu liniment or caffeine or who knows what you know 50:32 whatever it is you just gotta be careful, be mindful.
Jeremy Lesniak:
When you think back over the folks that you've trained with and actually let's open that up the folks that have had influence on your martial arts, who kinda jumps to the top, who are who's the one or you know maybe there's a couple at the top that you look at and you say this person these people were just paramount in who I am as a martial artist today.
Gene Ching:
Hmm well I mean I have a fair long list of masters right I mean. My lung Fu master wing lam who gave me my first complete traditional system, 51:18 under shaolin 51:19 whom I just saw a few months ago and you know he kinda gets me going, my fencing master Michael D'Saro I mean there's been a lot really has this been a long chain of people that I’ve been under. To single out a certain person will be tough yeah there have been I mean all my teachers have given me something you know and even a lot of the people that I interview or work with I try to get something, try to get one thing at least that always doable because of the my time is so limited and sometimes they're talking about something that's so alien to me that I really just can't incorporate it I mean beyond sort of a theoretical level or an 52:13 level that oh well that exist but 52:20 I'm always open I’m always looking for stuff I guess that's part of being a magazine publisher as I kinda have to stay on top of that you know and be you know I gotta have to constantly looking for fresh stories you know, constantly looking for something I mean you know martial arts magazines has been with us for a long time now and so many things we've read before in fact just this morning I rejected an article on knife defenses cause I mean how many times have we knife defenses you know is it a new knife defense or as the same old knife defense, well I don’t really wanna I don't think my readers are really gonna be that interested in that right? I mean you want stuff you want fresh stuff which isn't to say that you know you shouldn't learn knife defenses or that there's anything wrong with basics, it's just even with basic you need to take novel angle that is somehow inspiring or illuminating or would provide you with something that you can incorporate into your training as opposed to just you know her's what you do so may stick a knife in your face.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure, and that's gotta be a difficult reconciliation between new novel material with you know a tradition to practice that values as we've already talked about today being old.
Gene Ching:
Oh I mean the nice thing about tradition and practice is that you know it is old and will keep going further back you know I mean you can keep digging there are so many stories in say 54:06 again and that you know Guangdong and that particular weapon there are so many stories there that I get to tap so in terms of keeping the 54:21 that's actually easier than it sounds you just need to research, you just need to dig at it because a lot of people sadly don't know it and that's very much I see part of my role is building that context in you know I mean retelling those legends and passing that stuff down I mean that really that's the whole sort of I mean traditional just means that you are honoring your ancestors. I think a lot of people misinterpret that to be that you're doing literally what they did which to some degree just would make sense because I mean for example guan gong is a somewhat mythical character I mean he's probably like you know he was I think he was 7 feet tall 8 feet tall 55:15 and of course that's sort of 55:17 combination thing that's a mythic thing he was also bright red I mean so it was like yeah I don't know that really I think that's the mythical thing at the same time there's lessons in that actually there was a one of the things I really liked about Donnie Yen did a version of the Guan Gong legend in a film recently oh man what was the name of that but he interpreted the bright redness as the fact that his face was battered with blood which I thought was really funny but..
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah it can maybe sunburn
Gene Ching:
Yeah that too, but I mean that was that sort of the things you can keep them fresh in the retelling you know I mean like you know that's a classic example what was the name of that movie? 56:05 I think probably like that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You are far more 56:09 up on those films 56:11 I try but
Gene Ching:
Yeah it was actually a beautiful piece of choreography he does with the guan dao I love watching Donnie work the ancient weapons.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So good.
Gene Ching:
So, there you got a situation where you've taken this ancient myth and he sort of reinterpreted it and made it vital again and so I don't have that's not as challenging as it might seem it's just a process of doing a good research.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Who would you wanna interview, if you could?
Gene Ching:
Who I would interview.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Take your recorder 56:48
Gene Ching:
I wouldn't mind getting Donnie again. I haven't actually never interviewed Donnie myself I mean I’ve been able to do Jackie and Jackie's always great and Jet of course I mean there's a lot a oh you know who I'd really love to get who I’ve never been able to would be Sammo Hung. Sammo Hung is one of my actually he's always like one of the unsung heroes of he's just on fire now, the kind of films he's been doing particularly he's been doing a lot of choreography work and I just love his stuff you know he's such a great film maker he's such a great choreographer.
Jeremy Lesniak:
He's fantastic and I think I said this when we talked last time the missing episode that all of the listeners are probably gnashing their teeth at the mention of cause it's never gonna come out but I think it was in talking with you last time I mentioned Sammo Hung as in my opinion the most underrated martial arts actor of all time.
Gene Ching:
Yeah, I would concur with you there. I think people tend to overlook him but you know he just delivered over the course of his career and still even today his latest films are just phenomenal. I mean there's certainly a certain kind of cinema that that's Sammo Hung cinema just like you know the Jackie Chan style of Jackie Chan movies where there's it's not Hollywood it doesn't move like a Hollywood film but he's just 58:18 and I'm just so inspired by him. So.
Jeremy Lesniak:
58:22 fantastic.
Gene Ching:
You know I just love watching him move to see such a big man and an old man now too you know to be able to move like that it's just inspirational you know it's awesome it's just awesome.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Tell us about what you've got going now? You know we'll start to wind down a little bit here.
Gene Ching:
Okay
Jeremy Lesniak:
You know we've talked about the magazine just a bit but tell us more.
Gene Ching:
Well so with the magazine we have our printed magazine of course which is still on the news stand, we're clinging to that news stand as long as we can as long as there's still newsstands but you're getting few 59:03 nowadays and we also do web contents so everyday excuse me every week we publish a new something new in terms of an article but we also have a YouTube channel and we do a sweepstakes giveaways all sorts of things sort of it's kinda like I mean to be honest with you the website has kept the print magazine a lot because it's much easier to monetize the web and much cheaper and much more efficient to 59:37 things on the web than it is to do things in print. However, being in the traditional side I love print and I 59:44 to it as long as I possibly can. The other big project that I'm doing oh 59:50 one more thing with that magazine first is that we put on an annual tournament and this year will be our 10th anniversary.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh cool.
Gene Ching:
The 1:00:01 Kungfumagazine.com championship which we do here in 1:00:04 and it's a 2-day event so and it's you know it's fun because of our Chinese connections we get some nice dignitaries over like this year we are anticipating getting Wu Bin back who is Jet Li's coach and 1:00:23 of Chinese martial arts 1:00:27 all area comes until it's a big fun event and but oh my other project that I'm doing is on 1:00:39 networks man arms art of war which is reality show where we construct ancient weapons and test them out and our main host is Danny 1:00:51 and I'm one of two weapons experts that come on and then we help through 1:00:59 the test so yeah 1:01:02 test things it's pretty fun it's pretty exciting it's from a group of weapons makers 1:01:08 are just phenomenal in what they're doing in terms of making these ancient weapons and it's real fun because I think a lot of people very few martial artists still play with sharks, you know kung Fu doesn't you know I mean there's some people that do cutting in the Japanese and Chinese circles but most of it kind of play with kind of dull weapons and so it's a whole different animal when you're actually sharping something and see if you can actually cut something with it and then also just to kinda get a sense of how these weapons were made and how they feel how they balance how they perform, that's pretty fun you know I mean I get to last season we got to play with 1:01:52 dummies 1:01:53 that's pretty fun you know and we cut up some big 1:02:01 and stuff and made a giant ballista and shot 1:02:04 car of course at parking lot it was great fun you know so
Jeremy Lesniak:
And they pay you for this?
Gene Ching:
They pay me for that isn't that ridiculous? It's so fun.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That is the best job in the world.
Gene Ching:
Get to hang out with you know these great makers and Danny Trejo, Danny's just he is such an inspiration you know what Danny's actually made more movies than Jackie Chan.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I believe it.
Gene Ching:
1:02:27 to like 300 movies now.
Jeremy Lesniak:
But I’ve gotta ask you about that because and anybody who doesn't know that name you know who were talking about you've seen him, you've seen him a dozen times at minimum and his character always seems to be based around being the scariest person imaginable. How scary is he in real life if one end it's funny bunny and the other end is the way we perceive Danny Trejo?
Gene Ching:
He's actually very generous and very sweet and amazingly authentic and he I mean you know the last season the first thing I’ve ever done anything like this and so he actually took 1:03:08 a couple times and you know was very encouraging and supporting and he's in his 70s now and who were doing these things I mean you have to stand on 1:03:19 it was this harsh kind of warehouse that we were filming in and so we were on cement asphalt all day and he was there he was spot on he was always standing there more presently and the rest of us and but I mean you can sort of turn on that 1:03:39 director wanted him to do something again he was oh like well what school are you from where did you go to school and the guy told him oh man when I was young we used to kick the asses 1:03:53 from that school and he just gave him that death stare and then the director just froze for a second and then Danny was oh just kidding just kidding you know I mean he 1:04:02 on but the only thing that was amazing about Danny was that he did a lot of the weapons test himself and he always stuck it now we've got 2 professional stunt people Mark 1:04:18 who do most of the weapons test and I mean both are they make their living as stunt people so they're physically in fantastic shape and very active martial artists and some of the you know doing some of those constant stuff is pretty challenging but Danny never missed he never missed he always just like stuck the cut he always sliced it through I was like wow you know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Does he have a background in martial arts?
Gene Ching:
Well you know he was a boxing champion 1:04:53 yeah that's how he got started actually it was for the movie runaway train he was asked to train Eric Roberts and after he got out of the joint and they liked him so much they out him in as like the boxing character and that should've got him started so he's in great shape he's 1:05:22
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, he always looks solid 1:05:24
Gene Ching:
And it's like I mean I you know we're talking about elder masters I mean you know he's in his 70s and still very strong and very 1:05:39 you know so yeah, he does have that boxing background and you know I mean 1:05:46 boxing champion that's gotta be pretty hard core, right? He just has the new documentary about how to survive in prison which I’ve been meaning to see and it just came available on iTunes 1:06:00 but yeah
Jeremy Lesniak:
I feel like 1:06:06 more material than I have time to watch.
Gene Ching:
Yeah it seems that way huh and then there's a ring I mean not only does he did do these hard core bad ass characters and he's crazy 1:06:18 movies like 3 headed sharks he does like a lot of kids movies and a lot of them always work you know it was the spy kids and stuff like that and so it's a wide range of stuff he does so it's been a real honor to work with him. It's been a real honor to work with that old cast you know 1:06:35 that's Robert Rodriguez' baby and Rodriguez actually appeared in the final episode of season 1 so I got to meet him and talk to him and I interviewed Rodriguez many years ago because 1:06:51 network has the 1:06:53 and they do this thing that every Tuesday 1:06:57 5 pole or 8 pole shaolin exploiting death touch Tuesdays and they do marathons of 1:07:08 of this movies 1:07:12 and you know they 1:07:14 collection they a lot of people had it right I mean 1:07:22 has it you know 1:07:24 but most of them have a lot of dozen of big titles and Rodriguez got the rights to broadcasts like I think some 250 plus 1:07:35 he's got a lot more than anybody else and so they're showing not just that sort of classics like there's this chamber or what have you but they're showed them a lot of the more obscure stuff like house of traps which was 1:07:51 you know those these classic.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Why is that one your favorite?
Gene Ching:
Cause it's absurd it's really absurd 1:07:59 so absurd that it's just the 1:08:03 have you ever seen it?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I haven't
Gene Ching:
Oh, it's like these guys have to penetrate the house of traps and so they go into these things and like blades fly out of them and spit some fire and stuff and it just it's crazy absurd you know 1:08:19 like wow not only somebody you know conceive of this filming actually try to make these you know walls of knives1:08:28 it's a way to force CGI right so wow what it going on here you know. There are some great 1:08:37 they were such a grind house and they turned out some movies are just so wonderful because they're just so bizarre you know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
There's an authenticity I think to that rapid production that we just kinda have to you know I would assume they weren't doing too many takes 1:08:58 got it right.
Gene Ching:
Yeah and I'm sure they were just 1:09:00 as they go you know which is what makes their choreography just outstanding cause you look at the some of those fight scenes where it's just you know 2 dozen moves in a single shot as they're all super complex you know it's kind of a weird looking fight cause people doing flips and crazy things but still if you just kinda look at that from the level of how could you do that fight in one shot that's amazing you know it's really kind of sort of an inspiration for cinema nowadays, I'm excited to see you know a lot more movies now where you're having these long continuous single shot things versus the old John Wayne no cut 1:09:38 cut to the guy getting the 1:09:39 cut back to him throwing other punch you know now you got some beautiful stuff like 1:09:47 had some great stuff and 1:09:49 that staircase sequence you know Netflix Daredevil had some really nice stuff and even Black Panther had that really nice casino fight even that was digitally stitched and stuff it was so complex and a nice continuous scene of action.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I thought the fight scenes in Black Panther were completely unsung every other aspect of the movie was heroic
Gene Ching:
Right
Jeremy Lesniak:
And I'm sitting there in the theater saying why isn't anyone talking about the combat here it's fantastic.
Gene Ching:
Right right yeah I'm so with you on that, yeah there we some really excellent choreography going on there you know and I'm a real sucker whenever you get an extended scene you know any time when you're doing a fight scene and it's one shot and they get it past a dozen 2 dozen moves then you're like wow okay they had to really bare down and pull that together so mean maybe that's you know coming from a kung Fu or we do have things like sparring sets and you know we have to like do a whole sequence of movements with a partner and knowing how tough that is you know seeing that in the big screen is just I mean to me that's really exciting so that's when choreography is super cool you know especially now where with the some of the cinematography that people are getting away with is just awesome you know I'm really drilled to see that happening on the big screen now.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I agree. When we were talking about what you've got going on one of the things that we kind of missed and I wanna make sure that we get this in and for folks that are driving or whatever don't forget show notes whistlekickmartialartsradio.com. I don't want you crashing or you know grabbing the arm of the person on the treadmill next to you and trying to write on them how do we get a hold of you if someone wants to get a hold of you know rattle of some links and email and social media or whatever else you wanna share with us and then we start winding down.
Gene Ching:
1:11:43 our website kungfumagazine.com so that's the main 1:11:49 website and we have twitter account and we have that's what kfm_kftc and we have Facebook which is kung Fu tai chi and we have a YouTube channel which is Kungfu magazine it all 1:12:12 the kungfumagazine.com you just get there and get the links to all other stuff depending whatever social media you're on and that's the easiest way to get a hold of me absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Alright well I appreciate you being here you've been so generous so graceful in coming back a second time for what I'm going to say and then you know 1:12:34 what has been a better episode you know we know each other a little bit now so we were able to kinda dance in a sense but I'd love for you to kinda send us out with some last words some parting wisdom whatever you wanna call it.
Gene Ching:
Parting wisdom hmm keep at it 1:13:01 don't just grab that skin go for that marrow, go deep, play for the long game okay.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Nice no this was good and I hope that it went okay honestly, we're kind of I think transitioning into this kind of dive right in with both feet format it happened accidentally but as I’ve become more confident as an interviewer it's been leading to some interesting stuff.
Gene Ching:
1:13:40 it's fun.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well good yeah and again thank you thanks for coming back I owe you a huge debt.
Gene Ching:
Ah very good well no worries, my pleasure like I said you let me plug my stuff so it's all solid
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, I’ll always let you plug your stuff you know whatever you’ve got going on you know if there something big you're pushing you know by all means shoot over the tournaments stuff or I don't know if I mentioned to you last time we did a calendar site trying to compile everything martialartscalendar.com because I 1:14:13 things as bluntly as possible cause there isn't one source for all the martial arts events we have going on.
Gene Ching:
Yeah that's tricky we have a calendar within our website but yeah, we had to it actually crashed our site at one-point because we had like we didn't have a firewall blowing it off so I think that you filter everything right, they'll send it to you and you filter it?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yes, yeah nothing goes live without eyeballs.
Gene Ching:
Yeah but do they fill out a form or they send you stuff.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah no they fill out a form they do all the work and we just kinda review it and make a couple of modifications if need be and then push it out.
Gene Ching:
Yeah, I’ll keep an eye on that because we had some issues with ours. One of the things that was really key for us cause we had to rebuild it all because it literally crashed our site was having we don't really have a captcha kind of thing but 1:15:15 I mean like a question you know
Jeremy Lesniak:
1:15:19 automated
Gene Ching:
Yeah you gotta watch for the spam bots cause that's what killed us we also did do a sweepstakes thing which is a similar thing where they filled it out and yeah, the spambots just murder cause once they kinda get in it's hard to get them out and then they just come in torrents and yeah. Yeah it took us out.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Good advice I appreciate that thank you.
Gene Ching:
Sure, best of luck with it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Thank you, Mr. Ching, for coming on the show today for sharing your stories and for all the wonderful work you're doing at kung Fu tai chi magazine I really appreciate it please keep it up. Keep martial arts magazines alive. If you wanna check out the show notes I hope you head on over to whistlekickmartialartsradio.com we've got links and photos to all the things that we talked about today and hopefully you'll go check out kung Fu tai chi magazine because it is a really wonderful product with some great writing much of it from today's guest. If you wanna check out our products whether they're at whistlekick.com or on amazon or any of the other places you can find them please do we would've love to count you as a customer. That's all I’ve got for today. Until next time train hard smile and have a great day.