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Eighteen Palms of power to kick a dragon's butt

By Alexis Hooi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-07 07:58

It unleashes enough internal energy to dispel a legion. It bulldozes foes with a frightening force. Those foolish enough to stand in the way risk having their innards mashed.

Roaarrrrrrrr!

This is the Dragon-Subduing 18 Palms, one of the most powerful kungfu techniques in the Chinese martial arts universe and a skill I have dreamed of acquiring since I was young.

The 18 Palms is just one legendary move to fulfill my kungfu fantasy.

There is the Six Meridian Mystic Swords skill - this allows the user to harness his internal strength and channel it through his fingers, which become deadly power beams that pierce through enemies.

Or consider the Universal Shifting Stance, which redirects and reverses opponents' attacks through uncanny manipulation of energy streams within the body. Maybe even the Toad Technique, which uses absorbed poison to increase internal energy for lethal blows.

Okay, all of these might sound baffling or even downright ridiculous, especially the last example.

But therein lies my point. It is nearly impossible to appreciate these imaginary kungfu skills in English on their own because a large chunk of the cultural and literary connotations are lost in translation.

Those who persist in understanding these pillars of the Chinese martial literary tradition, or wuxia, might want to start by watching the numerous TV serials and screen editions of Louis Cha's 15 seminal works to see how the 85-year-old author continues to delight generations of Chinese at home and abroad with his feats of fighting.

Cha himself is one of the best-selling Chinese authors of all time. More than 100 million copies of his works have been translated into multiple languages since he churned out his first wuxia series in newspapers in 1955.

Listen carefully to what a Beijing cabbie is tuning to the next time you are in the capital.

You might wonder how your driver gets blissfully lost in the wuxia world read out on the radio waves, soothing him as he navigates the congestion in the capital.

Catching up on the wuxia background might also help audiences in the West better savor surreal takes on the genre, such as Ashes of Time Redux, the latest offering by auteur Wong Kar-wai. The movie is actually a re-edited version of his 1994 piece.

Still, anyone can identify with the wuxia world's timeless themes of a hero's code of honor, courage and social justice.

Read into Cha's novels, like Demi-gods and Semi-devils or Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber, and you might also find the foremost ingredient in any successful story that transcends language and culture is true love.

Yes, for all the gravity-defying, boulder-smashing and bone-crushing duels between the best fighters in wuxia, the top pugilistic prize often involves getting the girl.

Do these subjects sound familiar? They should, because they also appear in classical novels like Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Outlaws of the Marsh, works that any expert on China worth his salt will say is essential reading for those who want to understand this country.

For now, I'm happy delving into the mysteries behind one of the most elusive wuxia manuals - the Jiuyang Shengong treatise on ultimate inner strength - and maybe even learning a thing or two from it.