Interview Of The Week with Ewart Chin: Humbled by martial arts
Ewart Chin is a legendary martial arts master, actor and producer. He talks about the energy that surrounds us and about how it can be used in our everyday lives.
What kind of martial you practice?
I am a kung fu master in the style on Hung Ga or Hung Kuen which is a southern Chinese shaolin style martial art. I also studied Qi gong for more than 10 years. It is an energy healing system that uses coordinated movements, body-postures and breathing. I learned karate as well but I found it too aggressive. I prefer the ideology of kung fu that goes hand in hand with the spiritual world.
Why did you start learning martial arts?
I was attracted to martial arts from an early age. I used to watch a lot of old Hong Kong movies and Bruce Lee was my idol. At the age of 7 I started to train with a shaolin monk grandmaster, Wan Hsu for Hung Ga, and grandmaster Zhou Ting Jue for Wu Dang. Later on I crossed over to the inner spiritual part of kung fu.
They say martial arts is a way of living. Do you agree?
Absolutely. I live every single day by the “way” how martial arts teaches. In every aspect of my life. My outlook is so much different from most people. I can truly say that it has impacted my life for the positive lifestyle I live and I am so humbled by it. It encompasses not just the training or spiritual awareness but how you treat the world and everyone and everything in it, and also how you treat yourself as a being. I studied martial arts for becoming a light for others and for myself. We are all energy and everything and everyone is connected by energy. Energy is what keeps us functioning in our existence, so we have to treat it with respect and with all positivity. That’s what I believe in.
And this positive energy helps you get over the hardest times…
I used to run a very successful business. And then the economy crashed in 2008. I managed to keep my business going for many years after but the economical climate changed so dramatically that at some point I had to close down utilizing all my gained wealth. I learned, no matter how hard you work you can loose everything in a second through no fault of yours. So be ready to cut your losses and start over again.
To move forward one must learn to let go of the past.
What about your film career?
That came to me thanks for my martial arts skills. When I moved to the United States I got called upon to be in films and started working on the different productions as an actor and stunt person. It happened mainly because my martial arts brothers who were also involved in films drew me in. Now everything slowed down because of the Covid but I believe everything will fall into place.
I’m in a transitional period of my life where I have started over but doing things very differently from before and valuing my time much more. I have many projects but as anyone knows these days it takes time to put them into reality.
We live at challenging times indeed. What would be your advice to those have to restart and reconsider their lives?
Be the example of who you want your world to look like. Be open and be kind and forgive quickly, and love everyone and everything!
If you’re running a business just give your best and always treat your clients as how you would want to be treated.
And for those who might be interested to learn martial arts, consider the reason why you want to learn it. Be open minded and know that martial arts is not just a few training sessions, it’s a way of life.
