Wolf Zheng, Making Pipes on a 30th Floor Balcony

Very cool. It's a shame he isn't selling them, I sure wouldn't mind having one. Maybe later down the line.

"*I don’t know about you, but when people ask me about the hobby I’d love to tell them I’m a Kungfu Pipe Smoker. No reason to explain, just leave it at that."
Why is it that Caucasians refer to everything Asian, but more specifically Chinese as "Kung-Fu" this, and "Kung-Fu" that. To an Asian, it's relatively offensive to refer to everything with a 'Kung Fu' moniker.
Shutterbug

My biggest problem with working on a 30th floor balcony is that I'm always dropping things....

Why is it that Caucasians refer to everything Asian, but more specifically Chinese as "Kung-Fu" this, and "Kung-Fu" that. To an Asian, it's relatively offensive to refer to everything with a 'Kung Fu' moniker.

Click to expand...

Actually, it is the correct way to refer to anything someone does as an intrinsic and ritualistic part of their life. For instance, serious traditional tea drinkers in the Chinese style refer to the traditional way of making tea in yi xing as Gung Fu Te. Gong fu simply means "the way" and is not only applied to the martial arts. This ideal is well expressed in the Chuang Tzu tale of the butcher and I can certainly see pipe smoking as a zen practice of sorts.
"Ting the cook was cutting meat free from the bones of an ox for Lord Wen-hui. His hands danced as his shoulders turned with the step of his foot and bending of his knee. With a shush and a hush, the blade sang following his lead, never missing a note. Ting and his blade moved as though dancing to “The Mulberry Grove,” or as if conducting the “Ching-shou” with a full orchestra.
Lord Wen-hui exclaimed, “What a joy! It’s good, is it not, that such a simple craft can be so elevated?”
Ting laid aside his knife. “All I care about is the Way. If find it in my craft, that’s all. When I first butchered an ox, I saw nothing but ox meat. It took three years for me to see the whole ox. Now I go out to meet it with my whole spirit and don’t think only about what meets the eye. Sensing and knowing stop. The spirit goes where it will, following the natural contours, revealing large cavities, leading the blade through openings, moving onward according to actual form — yet not touching the central arteries or tendons and ligaments, much less touching bone.
“A good cook need sharpen his blade but once a year. He cuts cleanly. An awkward cook sharpens his knife every month. He chops. I’ve used this knife for nineteen years, carving thousands of oxen. Still the blade is as sharp as the first time it was lifted from the whetstone. At the joints there are spaces, and the blade has no thickness. Entering with no thickness where there is space, the blade may move freely where it will: there’s plenty of room to move. Thus, after nineteen years, my knife remains as sharp as it was that first day.
“Even so, there are always difficult places, and when I see rough going ahead, my heart offers proper respect as I pause to look deeply into it. Then I work slowly, moving my blade with increasing subtlety until — kerplop! — meat falls apart like a crumbling clod of earth. I then raise my knife and assess my work until I’m fully satisfied. Then I give my knife a good cleaning and put it carefully away.”
Lord Wen-hui said, “That’s good, indeed! Ting the cook has shown me how to find the Way to nurture life.”

@Daimyo:

If you think that all aspects of life that involves an intrinsic and ritualistic process be called Kung Fu, then everything you do in life should be called the Kung Fu way...

Modelling life occurrences and titling them as Gong Fu is incorrect. Gong Fu when used by non-Chinese refers to the Martial Arts version of Gong Fu, and to Asians, the definition is completely different when used in context. If you are a Chinese speaking person using it as represented in the language, I would agree with you, but not as Caucasians using the term to blanket any merit of work or study. The term and its use is not the same represented in English, and by using it in the context featured, is not only incorrect, but as I say, mildly offensive.

Shutterbug, I don't think we have the same definition of ritualistic and intrinsic. I certainly do not mean aspects of life like shaving, although I could see someone embracing the zen philosophy in regards to shaving. Regalrdess, I'd say that 99.9% of men approach it with no such clarity. I do not think the Chinese have exclusive rights to use this word in it's correct context. While I agree that something like a KUNG FU SLURPEE at 7-11 could be seen as offensive the true meaning of the word can be lent to both artisan making pipes and smoking one properly. In the context that a Chinese pipe maker compared tea and pipes, I do not see how anyone would be offended.

Chinese that speak the language are the ONLY ones who would use it in this context (so yes, they are the only ones to use it in its context because it is CHINESE, spoken in the Chinese language), and as a Chinese man, I never would use it it in its proper context. If you are Chinese, have you ever used it in its proper context? My guess is never.

No, i do not agree. Growing up practicing martial arts and having owned a Chinese oolong importation business, I have used the term correctly many times in my life and have long understood it's actual meaning. I also think Mr. Zheng used it correctly in his conversation with Mr. Miller. I am neither responsible nor concerned with people who do not understand the word or the context. I think it is more offensive that people only apply it to martial arts, especially when referring to those that did not originate in China. I do agree with Mr. Zheng's hesitancy to label pipe smoking "fung fu pipe smoking" because most people who smoke likely do not live it as a way of life or inner silence. That does not mean it cannot be correctly applied to it though. I would venture to say though that most serious smokers here have at one point or another experienced a zen moment with their pipe, even if they have not become monastic in pursuing this moment's meaning.

So, growing up practicing Martial Arts and owning a Chinese tea importation business makes the term Kung Fu Piping makes sense? Having a 'zen' moment with a pipe merely illustrates the improper use of "Kung Fu", and the hesitancy to label it as such is proof that perhaps this isn't exactly the right choice of words. Are you Chinese? I'm pretty sure that the members here don't label their pipe smoking moments and the insights of those moments a Kung Fu pipe smoking technique/moment or thought. I'm merely saying that just because the article is of a Chinese maker, a Chinese pipe smoker, and quite possibly an article written in China, the Chinese that I know of, would not be labeling it as a Kung Fu Piping. If the article was about a Southern United States maker, would it be offensive to title the article "Red Neck Piping"? If you don't find the moniker of "Kung Fu Piping" the least bit offensive, then you are not Chinese, sorry to say. The font doesn't help either, but that's just an observation.

Great story.Very nice pipes.

<br />

So, growing up practicing Martial Arts and owning a Chinese tea importation business makes the term Kung Fu Piping makes sense?

Click to expand...

Yes, yes it does. I was introduced to the concept at a young age, it was explained well and as I grew I studied further. I have read many books and spoke with many people in regards to the concept on top of personal contemplation. You seem to think of the words as sacred, which I do not. That or perhaps you believe the concept to be uniquely Chinese and applied only to Chinese pursuits or great worth and only by Chinese people. That seems a bit xenophobic to me, in all honesty. First off, many cultures, especially those with exposure to Taoism and Buddhism have the exact same concept. There is much written on the subject including such great philosophers as Takuan Sōhō and Chuang Tzu. Both consider it's application to be an extension of the concept of many paths leading to a single place. The butcher story I illustrated above speaks with great clarity to the fact that the term need not be applied to special people or pursuits. Neither butchering nor being a butcher were anything special in China during the period. Yet the understanding the butcher attained from his simple, hard working job, permeated his life and understanding of the universe. It was not his proclamations that were impressive but his actions and his understanding of them. Zen was embodied in his dance with the animal, whether he set out to do such or not. Thus it was a poor butcher than taught Lord Wen-hui the meaning of gong fu. "If one understands things in this manner, he should be able to hear about all ways and be more and more in accord with his own" also applies to this understanding, when one is inline with their way, they understand all other ways through it. Bruce Lee spoke to us about life in martial arts terms because that was his way and where he derived his life philosophy. The man I learned to make tea from did the same with tea for the same reason. So yes, either I think you are dismissing the quite and contemplative nature of smoking a pipe or you have too rigid a view of the philosophical concept itself.
Now maybe I am misunderstanding and you simply find the title, font and subsequent footnote to be offensive? I can see your point there but it's not as if Mr. Miller applied the term because he himself conjured up such imagery (minus the font, I hear you loud and clear on that) but it is clear his interview subject brought it up. I agree with Mr. Zheng wholeheartedly in regards to his basic assertion and comparison. I have myself, reflected on the similarities in tea and tobacco and there ritualistic usage. I certainly would be wary of someone saying they practiced pipe gong fu, as there is no need to self identify such things. So I can certainly see where the title and footnote might have missed the mark on the meaning of the term but again, this is a philosophical concept not a religious or purely Chinese cultural one. I have known a hand full of people who most certainly lived "the way", some in martial pursuits, some in tea and some in completely unrelated pursuits. However, I would say these people by and large, would be identified by others rather than self identifying. In as much, tobacco like tea, is one of the products that captivated the world and became an extremely important commodity. I would be shocked if someone had not followed it as their way in the actual sense of the meaning. That said, like the butcher, they would undoubtedly have a more humble understanding of it.

Good idea to do it outdoors. The dust is not all that good for you.

As we lament another hijacked thread.
Pretty need article on Wolf Zheng. I didn't see anything special about his pipes but he sure is special.

@daimyo: I don't think the words are sacred, nor do I think the concept is limited to only Chinese people. I do however know that the actual words are Chinese, and that the concept is Chinese, and as I mentioned before, as a Chinese man, the concept is mildly offensive to me. I find it interesting that a non-Chinese man can try to inform me as to what I find offensive for the application of a Chinese term. At no point does the Chinese pipemaker refer to his pipe smoking or making skills as Kung Fu, the author asks him to consider referring to the pipe smoking ritual as Kung Fu Pipe Smoking:

"At this thought I press him to consider referring to a very ritualized pipe-packing and smoking ritual as ‘Kungfu Pipe Smoking’,* but he won’t let me go that far. He does, however, share some principles for tea-pairing with pipes."
A non-Chinese is referring to the Kung Fu Pipe smoking.
And personally, I don't care if you have read every Chinese philosopher and studied Martial Arts since you were young...it still doesn't make you Chinese; please don't try to convince me what I do or do not think is offensive, especially if it involves a Chinese defined set of words.

You can be offended by whatever you like but I can also have the opinion that you are mistaken in your assertions about said opinion. I certainly am not arguing that you cannot be offended. Fillet is a French word but I have never heard a French chef claim offense when an English chef pronounces it with a hard T. I think Mr. Zheng is correct even if Mr. Miller is not. I do not think you, Chinese or not, can define "the way" as it applies to people besides yourself. Not everyone in any specific cultural group agrees on what is and is not offensive. No true Scotsman arguments are considered a logical fallacy for a reason. Philosophy, like all pursuits, is shared with the world once revealed. We will simply have to agree to disagree and I respect your right to maintain whatever opinion you have on the matter. As Ghost pointed out, we are now extremely off topic so I will not comment further. I apologize for my part in this.

@shutterbug First of all, I apologize for an offense I offered in writing this. I have lived in China for 9 years, and I speak Chinese with relative fluency, that said, there will always be things I miss. It is my understanding that I was using the term in an appropriate context (people even often say someone uses chopsticks with "gongfu" or skill). If I'm wrong please help me understand how to better use it. ( here is one dictionary definition you could help me with ).
Secondly, I appreciate folks trying to bring the focus back to Wolf. I do get a kick out of his pipe making, his skill in it, as well as his focus on making what he likes for himself rather than for the bigger world. I hope in the future I can write a few articles on some of the more well known Chinese pipe makers. For now I've enjoyed writing about pipe-culture in general in China. The things we take for granted in the West (like garage-pipe-making) are often just slightly different here, and I hope these articles are interesting from that perspective.