This summer my family and I took a two-week cruise/land-tour of Alaska. While we were immersed in enjoying the tranquil beauty of Alaska, we were also fascinated by the history of Alaska, in particular, how did Alaska leave Russia and become part of the U.S., which is the topic of this article.
Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” and Taijiquan
August 2011
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“The Art of War” written by Sun Tzu (孫子兵法) about 500 B.C. is an ancient Chinese classic on conducting warfare. A large part of this book is about how to lead an army of soldiers to defeat the enemy’s army of soldiers. This classic has been read and studied by many military establishments, including the U.S. Army. Parts of this classic are also applicable to individual combats. This article discusses the relevance of this portion of “The Art of War” to Taijiquan as a martial art as manifested in Taiji Push Hands.
The Shaping of the Life of a Young Student at the University of California at Berkeley
August 2011
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In the summer of 1970, after finishing five years (1965-1970) of study in engineering at the University of California at Berkeley (UCB), a young foreign student from Hong Kong [1] abandoned a bright future and returned to Hong Kong to a remote rural and backward island off of Hong Kong Island to offer free classes to local students who had finished just 6th grade, the highest public education level offered in that island. This is a short account of that story.
918 Incident and the Start of WWII
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the “918 Event” that marked the invasion of China by Japan on September 18, 1931 and triggered the 14-year (1931-1945) War of Resistance by China against the Japanese occupation of China. Many people also consider this date to be the beginning of WWII even though China did not officially declare war on Japan until many years later. The 14-year War of Resistance resulted in the killing of over 20 million Chinese and the additional wounding of over 10 million Chinese, and the many kinds of atrocities that Japan inflicted on China and many other countries in Southeast Asia. Since Japan has yet to acknowledge, apologize, and compensate to the victims of these atrocities, it is critically important for the world to remember this 918 date and incident so that this type of history will not be repeated in the future.
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