Issue 57 - Tse Qigong Centre
Issue 57 - Tse Qigong Centre Issue 57 - Tse Qigong Centre
PreservedEggsSometimes called Thousand YearOld Egg, these have a delicious butunique flavour.Preserved eggs are not to everyone’stastebuds but eaten with rice soupor as a condiment with a simplesauce, they can be very delicious. Theproper name for preserved eggs isSonghua Dan which means pine flowereggs. They are so called because whenshelled, the solidified but semitransparenteggs show flowery patters.The more numerous the patterns, thehigher the quality of the egg.Songhua are normally made ofduck eggs. The traditional folk recipe wasto soak the fresh eggs in quicklime mixedwith salt and water. Now eggs are soakedfrom 40-60 days inliquid consisting ofcaustic soda, salt and tealeaves. Another method thatis followed in certain regions isto wrap the unshelled eggsindividually in a clay mixture containingquicklime, salt and grain husk, and theywill become quite edible in 2-3 weeks.Some Westerners have been told to callthem “hundred year old” or even“thousand year old” eggs. This isdefinitely an exaggeration which hascaused some to shy away from this tastybut peculiar Chinese food.One method of preparing the eggis to mix a bit of Chinese rice vinegar withminced ginger root and soy sauce andthen sprinkle this on the sliced egg. Thishelps to remove the slightly astringenttaste of the egg.From “Things Chinese and Their Stories” by DuFeibao and Hong SuChinese herbalism has beenaround for many centuries and is afascinating subject. Chinese herbs areused to restore the balance of Yin andYang forces in the body. Illnesses areclassified in terms of excess or deficiencyof Yin and Yang and treated accordinglywith herbs that have their own particularactions.It is said that each drug (herb) hasits own nature which includes neutral,hot, warm, cool and cold. So if someonehas too much fire or Yang in the body,then a herb that has cooling propertiesmay be used to restore balance. Thereare five flavours of herbs whichcorrespond to the Five Element theory.Concise BookChineseReview Book Reviewboth Pinyin and Latin followed by a briefMateria MedicaShandong and Technology PressThese flavours are:- acrid herbs are sweatinducing and promote the ciruclationof Qi and blood; sweetherbs invigorate theMiddle Jiao and relievepain; sour herbs are usedto treat some chronicillnesses; bitter herbsare used to clear heatfrom the body and stopthe uprising of Qi inthe body; and lastlysalty herbs whichrelax the bowels andsoften tumours inthe body.This book iswritten for foreign readers andso the names of the herbs are given inBook Review Book Reviewdescription and a black and white linedrawing illustration of the plant. The herbis further described through its flavourand what its actions on the body are.Lastly a detailed description of indicationsof when the herb may be used along withthe names of other herbs which it mayused in conjunction with.If you know nothing about herbs,you can follow the classification indexof either actions of the drugsor finding the particularcondition. However, this is notreally a how to guide but moreof a reference tool for thosewanting to learn more or forthose already practising asherbalists. Considering thevastness of the subject, a lot ofinformation is packed into thisbook. It makes a good supplementto other more detailed guides, butit would have been even better ifthey had included the Chinesecharacters.£13.95/$18.95Qi Magazine 35
Fine Tuning theFive ElementsThe Five Elements are one of the basic principles underlyingall Chinese skill. Whether you are studying Qigong, martial arts,Feng Shui, cooking, horoscopes, herbs, philosophy etc. you needknow about the Five Elements.The elements are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.They help each other and also control each other. It isthe same as our lives, some people you get with verywell and some people you do not get on with. Alsosome things in life are good or useful and some thingsare not. However, whether it is people or objects there is apoint where the friendship or usefulness might run out. This isthe same as with people and things you do not get on with,suddenly you get on and like them very much. It is very commonto hear people say, “I didn’t know it in the beginning, but nowI’ve come to love it.” So basically, our lives are not black andwhite. Good can become bad and bad can become good. Weshould take things easy and not get over excited or too upsetabout things when they go wrong as well as be overly happywhen they go well.Whenever I give a lecture on the Five Elements, I alwayscome across people who mix up the elements with elementsfrom other systems (e.g. Indian, Earth, Water, Fire and Wind,some people will also say Air).People tend to mix up their knowledge of the ChineseFive Elements because today there is so much informationaround which we try to take in to make us more knowledgeable.However, more information and knowledge will not make youenlightened. Why is this? This is because with more informationin your mind then you will have less time to think about onething more deeply. So you know about things on the surfaceonly.As Laozi wrote in the Dao De Jing, “We do not need somany knives, we only need one good, sharp knife.” This is verytrue. If you look around, at very successful people, they areonly good at one thing. Other things they might not be sogood at, so instead they find people who are good at thesethings to help. Then they will have more time to develop theirmain talent to a more advanced level.From my personal point of view, I will spend more timedeveloping my Qigong and martial arts rather than other things.I am still not very good at using a computer or other electricalthings. I know what I need to know, but I will not spend toomuch time on it. I also know that in the future using all thistechnology will get easier and easier, so why spend so muchtime on it now? But developing my Qigong and martial artswill help more people.Qi Magazine 36
- Page 3 and 4: 1 Editorialwith Michael Tse.3 PO Bo
- Page 5 and 6: what the results will be. It is the
- Page 7 and 8: Dear ML,This type of experience is
- Page 10 and 11: Pushing Hands is a unique skill fou
- Page 12 and 13: Five Levels ofQi Magazine 12
- Page 14 and 15: movement that starts from the insid
- Page 16 and 17: In the last issue of Qi Magazine, I
- Page 18 and 19: JumpingTrainingEverytime when we wa
- Page 20 and 21: Learning Wing Chun and especially C
- Page 22 and 23: Qi Magazine 22
- Page 24 and 25: ecause in the past, the life of the
- Page 26 and 27: Comfort and QuietLying Down QigongN
- Page 28 and 29: Just over Suzhou Creek in north cen
- Page 32 and 33: Coming back to the reasonwhy differ
- Page 34 and 35: Shou GongShou Gong is the ending mo
- Page 36 and 37: The Dragon is a symbol of China, as
- Page 38 and 39: Qi MattersWhile books are informati
- Page 40 and 41: No support for the people who sleep
Fine Tuning theFive ElementsThe Five Elements are one of the basic principles underlyingall Chinese skill. Whether you are studying <strong>Qigong</strong>, martial arts,Feng Shui, cooking, horoscopes, herbs, philosophy etc. you needknow about the Five Elements.The elements are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.They help each other and also control each other. It isthe same as our lives, some people you get with verywell and some people you do not get on with. Alsosome things in life are good or useful and some thingsare not. However, whether it is people or objects there is apoint where the friendship or usefulness might run out. This isthe same as with people and things you do not get on with,suddenly you get on and like them very much. It is very commonto hear people say, “I didn’t know it in the beginning, but nowI’ve come to love it.” So basically, our lives are not black andwhite. Good can become bad and bad can become good. Weshould take things easy and not get over excited or too upsetabout things when they go wrong as well as be overly happywhen they go well.Whenever I give a lecture on the Five Elements, I alwayscome across people who mix up the elements with elementsfrom other systems (e.g. Indian, Earth, Water, Fire and Wind,some people will also say Air).People tend to mix up their knowledge of the ChineseFive Elements because today there is so much informationaround which we try to take in to make us more knowledgeable.However, more information and knowledge will not make youenlightened. Why is this? This is because with more informationin your mind then you will have less time to think about onething more deeply. So you know about things on the surfaceonly.As Laozi wrote in the Dao De Jing, “We do not need somany knives, we only need one good, sharp knife.” This is verytrue. If you look around, at very successful people, they areonly good at one thing. Other things they might not be sogood at, so instead they find people who are good at thesethings to help. Then they will have more time to develop theirmain talent to a more advanced level.From my personal point of view, I will spend more timedeveloping my <strong>Qigong</strong> and martial arts rather than other things.I am still not very good at using a computer or other electricalthings. I know what I need to know, but I will not spend toomuch time on it. I also know that in the future using all thistechnology will get easier and easier, so why spend so muchtime on it now? But developing my <strong>Qigong</strong> and martial artswill help more people.Qi Magazine 36
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