Hing Dai Wolf Pack

When I was a 14 year old kid starting out at Woo Ching White Crane, in addition to the Si Hing's that were students, there was this group of friends that would continue to come by and hang out with our Dai Si Hing, Jing, because in addition to having been part of the Lion Dance and Kung Fu team they had also been his school friends. Or closer then friends for Chinese. They call it "Hing Dai" or brothers.



My Uncle Francis was talking to me about growing up and it's true that Americans don't have a one single word to describe this concept, they might say brothers or boys or that sort of thing. But anyway, Uncle Francis said, "If you don't have a group of guys who your hanging out with and fighting with side by side." and then he didn't really finish the sentence with words. It was more like shaking of head and expressions that conveyed the meaning that if you don't have that "wolf pack" as Zach Galifianakis terms it in the Hangover, then it's like you don't have a real adolescence.



But when these guys went up to sing this song, although some of them asked to join in. I didn't want to intrude on their moment. I mean in a way I was a scrawny wolf they had adopted into the pack. I respect and love that pack. But I wanted this moment to be special for them. Not all of them could gather that day, but there would not be so many opportunities when they could I don't think. I also saw that it might be important to get that moment recorded.







The song is from Young and Dangerous. A series of movies that optimizes that modern version of Yi Hei spirit and Hing Dai emotion. I guess I also looked up to this group because they were 6 years older and since my Dad was Chinese and had passed away, I needed that Asian Male role model type of thing in my adolescences and they filled that void.



Did I have my own wolf pack?



I had a group of friends my age. But we ended up not going to different high schools before hitting that teenage time. I'm still friends with them and I occasionally join up with that group. But it's more like I am visiting.



I think the closest thing to my own pack has been me and my two sons. And even then I notice that Dai Dai, is sort of visiting in our pack. The thing about me, Dai Dai, and even my Mom, is that even when we are in a group, somehow we are natural loners, doing our own thing. We can go over and see what the group is doing. But somehow we are also not fully part of it. I saw Dai Dai  do this at JP soccer when he seemed to be part of the team, but if you watched carefully, he was just kicking balls any which way he chose.



I hope that my boys can have their own pack, a positive pack, like these guys that went on to be very successful in their careers and business and independent, much more so than I have.



A lot of people see groups of teens like this and try to label it a gang.



In fact authorities only become accepting of a group if they are somehow joined together by some activity that you can point to as positive. Basketball or something.



In this case and today's day you can say Lion Dance and Kung Fu, as all of these guys did that. But back in their generation Lion Dance was still seen almost as a gang activity. Not so today in Boston (I would argue thanks to Gund Kwok)



This type of social bonding becomes somehow harder to come by as you get older and have kids. I've heard that keeping such a social bond, through sports or other activities, actually prevents Alzheimer's.



In any case, yesterday I talked about how story telling was one of my favorite parts of my Kung Fu experience, more so than the sport aspect of it.



I would say that is true and so was the spiritual aspect. But Another vital part of Kung Fu and Lion dance, was and is this Hing Dai Wolf Pack social bonding. And it's my favorite part of going to the Chinese Performances on the street, because chances are you run into all these guys at some point like a big wolf pack reunion.



And even as you get older, it is still possible to get on the head and do Kung Fu, but even if you are injured and out of shape, the cymbals and gong and drum are open for play.



A school is brick and Mortar. The Moh Goon can be like the Lion's den, or like the womb or nursery which gives birth to your Kung Fu self (if you are a serious student)



But for the average student who just passes through and then goes on to focus on business or other parts of life (but still learns some Kung Fu) then the Mun Pai, the system, the herd, the flock, the pack, is more than the brick and mortar walls that hold the school in a location. That Moh Goon is a meeting place. A place of gathering. A focal point. But the Mun Pai, the system, the group, the gang, the religion, the team, the troupe, is in the people gathering and socializing outside of that school as well.



It's that brotherly Hing Dai Loyalty feeling that we crave as humans, as primates even, and it is so ingrained in our DNA that it is sometimes difficult to put into words.