Wen Hsiu Quan

Hi, everyone! Last week I said that I am especially going to enjoy writing this post. This is mainly because I am particularly fond of pointing out the advantages of working alone. It is three years now that I am working alone as an attorney. During the time I have worked in a firm with fairly strict oversight I have quickly learned that your opponents can make a lot happen while you still have to get instructions from your boss. In a firm where I have virtually full autonomy I usually had my opponents phoning me for postponements and extensions of time. Most fun with taking steps nowadays is blocking opponent's phone numbers at those critical times when I know that a lot of trouble is in store for their clients. Aside from work- I have never known much about Rugby, but the All Blacks' ability to pull off the most amazing plays that flip the script at the most unexpected of times in a match has had me hooked on the game for years now. A while after following the All Bla...

Hi, everyone! I have just been reminded that our merry band of martial arts enthusiasts on Google+ will cease to be on Google+. Many of us have already established our blogs and regular posts on Facebook and Twitter. I trust that Gmail and Youtube will remain unaffected, though. Nonetheless- this series still has 3 more posts after this one to go before it's through, though. So- while it is here- let's get on with it... As you can probably guess with what you have seen in the previous post- I am not going to write about how to use troops in battle. I am no military strategist in any event and have absolutely no military background anyway. Still- it is clear to anyone who has read Art of War that Sun Tzu was not a fan of overkills. He advises against pursuing troops that are retreating. He advises travelling regiments to travel lightly and to rather try to use what they find than to pack large amounts of supplies. So- proportionality is qu...

Life is not simple. Period... You may think you have the recipe for the perfect life here in this world then life shows you that your recipe does not work in all situations. One of those recipes is the belief that violence and confrontation is never to be resorted to. Before Christians get up to stone me I will remind them that there was once a time when their God had ordered the destruction of entire populations. And... David did not beat Goliath by turning any cheeks either... That being said- I am sure that you all know that everything under Heaven has its time and place. Same with fighting. In today's chapter on Sun Tzu's passage on the 5 ways to know who would win a battle we look at the first way- knowing when to fight and when not to fight. So- In general terms I am sure you will agree that fighting at all times is a certain path to one's own destruction as never fighting at all will be as well. So- it is necessary for us to ...

"So there are five ways of knowing who will win. Those who know when to fight and when not to fight are victorious. Those who discern when to use many or few troops are victorious. Those whose upper and lower ranks have the same desire are victorious. Those who face the unprepared with preparation are victorious. Those whose generals are able and not constrained by their governments are victorious. These are the five ways to know who will win." - Sun Tzu- Art of War Who is up for some ancient Chinese wisdom? I think this generation of martial artists desperately need some just to ensure that the martial arts of today are not all about tournaments, planking, plyometrics, sports science, nutrition, cage fighting and hardcore entrance music. Did I leave anything out? Well- I guess you know what I am talking about. I can remember when I read a remark by one of China's famous martial arts teachers in the 1970's in which he said that students have come to call ...

Sun Tzu wrote in the Art of War wrote "If you know yourself you have one third's chance at victory. If you know yourself and your enemy you have two thirds' chance at victory. If you know yourself, the enemy and the battlefield victory is certain." All good and simple until you realise that the time at which you will know all 3 of the above shall very rarely occur. What it tells us about tournaments- where we can leave the battlefield out of the equation since we can safely assume that both fighters would know it ( fighting area, rules etc.) it means that your chances in a tournament should be 50/50 right? Well... if only the outcome of fights or sparring matches hinged on knowledge alone... The fact remains, where fighting is concerned, victory is seldom if ever guaranteed...  This is not only true for fighting, but for many areas in life. Growth, be it in financial investments, business or our personal lives, require the taki...

When I am not practicing martial arts- I am at work. I find my occupation as a litigation attorney quite suitable to my personality as a martial artist and have applied the principles that I have learnt through not only training, but also education in martial philosophy, with great success. Most recently I have met a fellow litigant in Court who got sent to court with a file on which he has no knowledge of his clients' instructions, but only had his employer's instructions to proceed with the motion. It has also happened before where my employer instructed me to fight and I ended up wanting to settle. Because of the above I have a strong dislike in lawyers who consult with their clients only to hand the work over to candidates or support staff. That is not necessarily where the fault lies, though. If we look at what Master Sun is saying the problem is ignorance, not handing over of work or giving of instructions. In a one-on-one fight knowing what yo...