It's 7:00 am on Sunday and I wake to the sound of a cracking whip. In my mind I can picture its source: a small man with closely cropped grey hair wearing plain, loose fitting clothes. His feet, shod in canvas shoes, shuffle slowly along the uneven paving stones within our complex. Every thirty seconds or so he raises his right arm high above his head and with a loud, "Crack!" he brings his thick, knotted rope down to the ground with impressive force.
On a back road we sometimes travel, in front of a rural sort of car wash business, one of the employees uses his down-time to practice his whipping. His whip, however, is a heavy metal chain about ten feet long. It strikes fear in my heart to pass his solitary form, standing on a small concrete pad, lashing that thick chain above high above his head and bringing it down so hard on the cement that my ears ring.
Apparently, the use of the whip in China originated with shepherding. For a time during the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan (the ruler Marco Polo met in China) outlawed the martial arts. Legend has it that a certain Buddhist priest won favor with the Mongol leader and was allowed to develop Shaolin kung fu (Grasshopper...) which included whip techniques borrowed from the shepherds. Whips were a popular defense as they were portable and easy to conceal by wearing them as a belt. Today, however, many people simply find it a diverting way to exercise their arms and expand their chest cavity.
But trust me, you really don't want to be in the way when these folks are in the midst of their work out. Especially steer clear of the guy with the chain!
On a back road we sometimes travel, in front of a rural sort of car wash business, one of the employees uses his down-time to practice his whipping. His whip, however, is a heavy metal chain about ten feet long. It strikes fear in my heart to pass his solitary form, standing on a small concrete pad, lashing that thick chain above high above his head and bringing it down so hard on the cement that my ears ring.
Apparently, the use of the whip in China originated with shepherding. For a time during the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan (the ruler Marco Polo met in China) outlawed the martial arts. Legend has it that a certain Buddhist priest won favor with the Mongol leader and was allowed to develop Shaolin kung fu (Grasshopper...) which included whip techniques borrowed from the shepherds. Whips were a popular defense as they were portable and easy to conceal by wearing them as a belt. Today, however, many people simply find it a diverting way to exercise their arms and expand their chest cavity.
But trust me, you really don't want to be in the way when these folks are in the midst of their work out. Especially steer clear of the guy with the chain!
I am constantly AMAZED at the differences in cultures. Can you imagine this in the SCV? Thanks for this one. Makes me laugh.
ReplyDeleteI know, Laurie! I often picture what it would be like if people did the same things in Valencia...standing in the middle of the park vigorously rubbing their ears, singing Beijing Opera to the trees, dancing around with swords and fans...There's always something interesting to see!
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