Ip Man

On the flight back to Taiwan, I watched this movie Ip Man in the classics category. It is an action movie, a genre that rarely interests me, not to mention on the little personal entertainment screen. I heard of this movie long time ago back in college but I couldn't recall much of what people said about it back then more than the positive recognition. After watching it, I could not stop thinking about it; this movie haunted me for a while.

I almost forgot how emotional I'd get when reading stories of people fighting for something they believe in so much - justice, equality, freedom; for a group of people, a country, or a species of animals. When the opposite of the belief is applied to a whole race, how many of them are brave enough to stand up and show how strong they could be? Some people bent for personal or short term benefits, and some others care more than the lives of themselves.

Another scene that haunted me for a while was when Ip Man said, "Even though martial arts are a type of armed force, our Chinese kung fu includes the ethics of Confucianism and martial arts - benevolence, and considering others in one's own place. It's something you Japanese will never get. Because you abuse the force and turn it into violence to bully others, you are not in the position to learn Chinese kung fu."

Not until after I came to the US for some years did I start feeling how those quotes by Confucius and other Chinese philosophers I had and hated to read and memorize in school came back to me. Those quotes in the form of verbal record, poem or traditional article basically laid out the foundation at the back of my head. Those values that I learned, like not being selfish, reflecting myself, being grateful and paying back to parents, being patient and gentle dealing with situations etc., I hope they could stick with me wherever I am.

Never forget who I am and where I am from. I am grateful for most of what the Chinese culture has taught me. In any case, "I am just a Chinese/Taiwanese. :-)"