Calvin Chin:
Master of Martial Art
 Martial arts master Calvin Chin (l) with a student at his Newton, Mass. studio. |
When most people think of martial art, they think of the martial - Block! Punch! Kick! - but Calvin Chin thinks of the discipline, the knowledge, the creativity; in short, the art.
Chin is the owner and chief instructor of Calvin Chin's Martial Arts Academy, housed in a spacious light-filled studio in Newton. One studio wall is adorned by the many trophies won by students in outside competitions. Another wall is covered with mirrors for students to observe themselves as they practice. In the far corner is a shrine centered on four large photographs, framed by gold-fringed red banners, of deceased martial arts masters.
At a recent seminar held in the studio, Chin, dressed in traditional black silk uniform, does part of the Tai Chi form. A form is a fixed series of movements and postures containing all the techniques and summarizing all the principles of a martial art. Now the participants watch in pin-drop silence as Chin softly steps and turns, his hands slowly twisting and twining in the air. His knees, hips, shoulders and wrists seem to be cushioned in velvet. The fluid, powerful motion of the form is like dance, yet somehow more purposeful; like exercise, yet somehow more elegant.
When he finishes, Chin, expert at the articulation not only of joints but also of words, explains:
"Tai Chi is very different from dance and calisthenics. It's guided by a set of principles and it develops muscle memory. Tai Chi is conscious movement that develops the mind-body relationship."
Calvin Chin was born in Boston's Chinatown. When he was six, his family moved to Dorchester because his father opened a restaurant there. But every weekday after public school, he returned to Chinatown to learn Chinese culture and language at the Kwong Kow School.
"By the time I was six or seven, I was interested in Kung Fu and Lion Dance," says Chin, who has a calm, low-key manner. "My father brought me a Lion Dance drum set when I was eight and some relatives taught me the horse stance. Kung Fu was a part of Chinese culture. But Kung Fu schools were hardly known then and teachers were scarce. So at age twelve, I started Uechi-ryu Karate."
Uechi-ryu Karate was developed by Kanbun Uechi, an Okinawan who went to Fujian Province in China to study the martial art of Pangai-noon from 1897 to 1910. He later taught in China, Japan and Okinawa, eventually passing the system on to his son Kanei Uechi who became the grandmaster. As an American serviceman stationed in Okinawa, George Mattson studied Uechi-Ryu with Kanei Uechi. Mattson received his first degree black belt in 1958, and on his return to the United States set up the Mattson Academy of Self-Defense in Boston.
"The first Uechi-ryu school was on Columbus Avenue in the South End. I enrolled and paid for it myself with my ten dollars a month from doing chores. I had to take two buses to get to the school. I studied with George Mattson, who is now the grandmaster of Uechi-ryu Karate.
"For several years, my parents didn't know. I didn't think they'd understand. Kung Fu wasn't taught openly and people only looked at it as fighting. They didn't look at it as an art."
In fact, his parents didn't find out he was learning karate until he was almost a black belt. In 1967, he competed in S. Henry Cho's International Tournament held in Madison Square Garden in New York City. Chin says "there were a lot of high profile people there," including Chuck Norris, the movie and television star, who won first place in his weight class for sparring; and Bruce Lee, the late martial arts legend, who demonstrated his famous one-inch punch.
"I was a brown belt and I won first place in demonstrating forms. When I came home and showed my trophy to my parents, that's the first time they knew."
Later that year, Chin passed the test for black belt which he personally received from Kanei Uechi. At age 17, Chin was one of the youngest black belt recipients ever.
"Mattson brought the philosophy and spiritual aspect of the martial arts to me. That's when I realized martial art was an art. But when I got my black belt, the school was going through changes, becoming more commercialized. So I started looking for more depth. I was also intrigued by the Chinese systems."
By then, Chin's family had moved back to Chinatown, living on Beach Street above the Golden Gate Restaurant. He began to teach at the Chinatown YMCA and the Chinese Knights Athletic Club.
"It wasn't a particular system, just self-defense. Around that time, 1968, '69, '70, the Chinese martial arts became popular in Chinatown, so I was active in teaching. And then, in 1971, I met Grandmaster Kwong Tit Fu."
This would be the turning point in Chin's life. Kwong had extensively studied and researched martial arts in southern China. After many years, he had developed his own system Fu Hok Tai He Morn as a creative synthesis of Hung Gar Kung Fu, Wu style Tai Chi, Mu Dong and Chi Gung. Later he taught in Hong Kong and in 1971 moved his family to Boston.
"Grandmaster had two schools in Hong Kong. But he brought his family here so that his eight children could reap the benefits of a good education and a better quality of life. He had only been in the U.S. a few months and was a busboy at the Diamondhead Restaurant in Saugus.
"When I met this gentleman, I felt he had the knowledge I was seeking. By then I had seen many masters, so I recognized it in his movement. I knew the difference, without really realizing the difference."
Chin solicited Kwong to teach at the Knights. And, after 1 1/2 years, he helped him set up his own school at 33 Edinboro Street in Chinatown above the present Dynasty Restaurant.
"The studio was a warehouse with splintery wooden floors, no heat, no hot water. No frills. It wouldn't live up to today's health spa. In the wintertime, you could see your breath. But we built up the school into one of the biggest in New England, with over 300 students."
Chin says Grandmaster Kwong had many students but only a few disciples. Chin was the first of those disciples and, eventually, Kwong's prot�g� and appointed successor.
Speaking of their unique relationship, Chin says "the grandmaster called it 'yuen foon karma.' Not karma in the sense of past lives but that people meet and have a bonding. The exchanges between us were more a giving of a gift than paying for instruction."
Meanwhile, Chin had opened his own business, Chin's Products Corporation, which grew and supplied packaged fresh bean sprouts and stir-fry vegetables to restaurants and supermarket chains. For 25 years, he worked by day, taught martial arts by night and studied Fu Hok Tai He Morn under the guidance of Grandmaster Kwong.
When Grandmaster Kwong retired from active teaching, Chin faced a crossroads. Aware of the notorious difficulty of making a living in any of the arts, especially the martial arts, should he nevertheless give up his successful food business and risk opening his own school as a full-time venture? He finally decided that the knowledge of Fu Hok Tai He Morn was too valuable not to pass along to the next generation. And so, in 1996, he opened Calvin Chin's Martial Arts Academy at 66 Winchester Street in Newton Highlands (617-527-8890).
"My wife Helen encouraged me. She works alongside me, and is the manager of the school. She runs the programming, the scheduling, the membership drives, the Website. She's brought a level of professionalism lacking in many martial art schools. For a couple to commit to something like this, we both really have to believe in it."
Now, after 2 1/2 years, the Academy, with its friendly, supportive atmosphere, is a qualified success with 130 students of all ages. Chin is training a core of dedicated instructors and will soon open the first branch school in Roslindale. In addition, Chin teaches another 80 students outside the Academy. To elementary school children in the Kwong Kow School in Chinatown and the Newton Community Education after-school program, he teaches Kung Fu; to senior citizens in Waltham, Belmont, Westwood, Watertown and Wellesley, he teaches Tai Chi. His youngest student is five; his oldest, 92.
"Kung Fu provides discipline and self-esteem for kids. I have kids who are very shy, but they're learning to do the forms in front of others. Many are very self-conscious of body movements. This helps them with their composure and helps them to be more assertive."
Chin says that part of the Hung Gar Kung Fu legacy is an unbroken chain of masters that includes Wong Fei Hung, folk hero and subject of many movies (see sidebar). In fact, Hung Gar traces its roots back 15 centuries to the original fighting monks of the legendary Shaolin Temple in China's Henan Province. At that time, Buddhist monks brought Dhyana Buddhism from India. At the Temple, Dhyana Buddhism was blended with Chinese Taoism to create Chan Buddhism. When Chan Buddhism later reached Japan, it became known as Zen.
"The Chinese monks developed self-defense. The Shaolin Temple was burned down many different times. The Emperor tried to kill off the monks. But the monks would flee and teach people on the outside. So different systems developed."
Traditionally, there are five main Southern Chinese systems, of which one is Hung Gar. Hung Gar, which means "Great Family Boxing," has a number of forms, some of which have over 100 postures. Its movements sometimes mimic the actions of five animals: the dragon, leopard, snake and especially the tiger and crane.
"Spirituality is what some people seek in religion. But spirituality in the martial arts can approach religious levels. For example, the movements are sometimes guided by imagery of animals such as the tiger and the crane. It's not just the physical movements of the animals but it brings out the feeling of spirituality. The tiger connotes strength and power. The crane connotes agility and softness."
Just as Kung Fu is especially good for children, so is Tai Chi for seniors.
"Tai Chi Chuan means 'Grand Ultimate Fist.' It uses the symbol and philosophy of yin and yang, the merging of the soft and the hard. It shows the polarity of things. In Tai Chi, you learn to know your limits and to yield. When you feel pain, it's time to stop. You need to get in tune with your body."
Chin, whose Academy motto is 'Fitness Starts With Martial Arts,' continues: "The senior population is growing. In fact, it's the fastest growing segment of society. Tai Chi is getting bigger because of its proven health benefits."
The basic Tai Chi form is a slow, continuous flow of 108 movements through 37 postures. The movements exercise every muscle and joint in the body and the relaxed concentration promotes peace of mind. In addition, according to Chinese theory, Tai Chi improves the flow of chi, or dynamic energy, through the meridians, or subtle pathways, of the body. When students have learned the form and begin to understand the principles, they can move on to Pushing Hands, a higher level exercise with self-defense applications.
In Pushing Hands, two people stand facing each other and make contact with their hands and forearms. Through a series of patterned movements, each tries to cause the other to lose balance. Success comes, however, not from aggression, but from non-resistance.
"Two people work together to use sensitivity to detect force and neutralize that force. You're able to redirect the energy and counterattack. Sensitivity training heightens your senses. You strive to do your movements without resistance."
This non-resistance is the key to Tai Chi as a highly efficient means of self-defense despite its lack of kicks and punches. "You neutralize the opponent's force and send it back against him. It's like a rubber ball bouncing off the floor. Once it's neutralized, that is, once it hits the floor, it can only go back in the other direction. The energy bounces back against the opponent.
"In other forms of pugilism, you use aggression. But in Tai Chi, you train to learn not to use strength. That's why Tai Chi is hard to master. But it carries through to your life experience. Yield, don't meet force head on, re-direct it. Capitalize on situations."
Fu Hok Tai He Morn's third martial art is Mu Dong - Yat Hei Ngm Hahng Morn.
"Mu Dong is a very little known system. Only a handful of people practice it. It's a strategy that works with simple concepts but, over the years, you develop very high skills. The grandmaster Ma Duc-Sun could flick peanuts with his thumb and lodge them in the ceiling. He could flick coins and knock olives out of a tree.
"It's an unusual system because Ma Duc-Sun's teacher was a woman, Sit Wai-Lan. To make a living, she became a traveling show artist. She was famous for juggling seven sharp daggers."
The Fu Hok Tai He Morn system is rounded out by Chi Gung, breathing exercises for health and longevity. "There was Chi Gung in China before the Buddhist monks came from India. So it existed before the martial arts. Chi Gung is mysterious - there are still a lot of unanswered questions - but it's fascinating and it's real. The breathing, posture and movement create stronger musculature of the internal organs."
To the ancient wisdom of martial art, Chin has added structural concepts of modern science. He has studied kinesiology, anatomy, physiology of exercise and mechanical engineering.
"We use basic geometric shapes - triangles, circles - but when you take them from two to three dimensions, it gets more complex. For example, circles become twisting spirals. I studied physical sciences to see how Western people look at movement as well as Eastern people. Then I put all this knowledge together. It's integral to the understanding of movement, to develop skill instead of just a Sunday punch."
Chin places a high value on creativity. He uses creativity to develop specialized learning plans for students of different ages, sizes and goals. He also does carpentry and woodworking as a hobby and, in fact, made all the cabinets in the studio by hand. But for Chin, the essence of the creativity of martial art lies in the forms.
"The forms are like books of movement. They contain a mapping of all footwork and all hand techniques. They organize movement in a systematic way so you can practice and understand it.
"Also, with the forms, the integrity of the style can be maintained over time. The students all learn the same thing. If you taught a new form that you made up every day, there would be confusion. When Bruce Lee said a martial artist should be formless, that was misinterpreted. You need form to develop function.
"Tai chi is essentially one form and you cultivate it for a lifetime. You will evolve with that form. It's the process of going through it that's valuable."
Chin feels that the discipline, knowledge and creativity of the martial arts in general and Fu Hok Tai He Morn in particular will translate well in the new millennium. "As the world gets smaller and more cross-cultural, interest in the martial arts is heightened because of the aspect of cultural exchange. I'm in it at the right time with the right format for the 21st century."