Martial Arts

As Kwon Sun Choi talked to a visitor in a tiny office in a San Pedro martial arts studio, barefoot little kids dressed in white robes continually interrupted. "An Nyung He Ke Ship Si O , " each repeated rapidly, almost unintelligibly. The office door would spring open and close almost immediately. Choi, a master in the Korean art of self-defense called taekwondo, was not upset.

Howard Jackson, 54, who parlayed his martial arts skills into stunt work with Chuck Norris in films and television, died March 7 of leukemia at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte. A native of Detroit, Jackson was a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton in the early 1970s when he met Norris at a karate exhibition. After his discharge from the military, Jackson trained with Norris at his Torrance studio and with his traveling team of martial artists.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill Thursday that would ban mail order sales of dangerous martial arts weapons. The committee approved the legislation, 14 to 1, with Sen. Paul Laxalt (R-Nev.) casting the only dissenting vote. Among the weapons cited are the ninja climbing claw, kung fu killing sticks, razor-sharp throwing stars and fighting chains designed to kill or maim.

A Santa Ana man who suffers from backaches has sued a Garden Grove martial arts studio he claims falsely advertises chiropractic care under the guise of martial arts training. Chanh Minh Le, owner of a seafood store in Little Saigon, said in the suit that he sought physical therapy from Bao Truyen Martial Arts Studio after seeing in Vietnamese-language newspapers that it specializes in "straightening and adjusting bones."

Martial-arts amateurs and experts will attend an event at the Equestrian Center in Burbank from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and Sunday. It's the fifth annual Martial Arts Convention and Trade Show, sponsored by the Warrior Information Network. The show will feature live performances and demonstrations of all types of self-defense skills from Japan, Korea, Okinawa and China. Local martial arts schools will take part in the program.

The Commerce Department said it has made a preliminary determination that martial arts uniforms from Taiwan are being sold in the United States at less than fair value. As a result of the finding, cash deposits or bonds to offset the price advantage will be imposed on the imported uniforms, which include tops, pants and belts. If the preliminary finding is upheld and the U.S. International Trade Commission determines that the lower-priced imports harm U.S. manufacturers, the Customs Service will be instructed to collect the final anti-dumping duties.

Nearly 10,000 demonstrators converged Thursday on Tiananmen Square in one of the biggest rallies since the prodemocracy protests of 1989. But there wasn't a dissident in sight. Instead, the masses were participating in a huge display of China's graceful art of tai chi. The demonstration was part of an official celebration of wushu, the generic Chinese term for the country's more than 100 styles of indigenous martial arts, which the government has reconstituted as a sport for the masses.

Chang Cheh, 79, veteran martial arts filmmaker and mentor to kung fu film superstar Bruce Lee and Hollywood action director John Woo, died Saturday in Hong Kong of pulmonary disease. Born in 1923 in mainland China, Chang was one of the most distinguished filmmakers in Hong Kong during the 1960s and '70s. He received a lifetime achievement award at this year's Hong Kong Film Awards.

"The Bride With White Hair" (Monica 4-Plex), aswirl with color and movement, is the period martial arts fantasy at its most romantic--and a textbook example of the virtues of taking genre material seriously. It has the look and feel of a sophisticated comic-book adventure, yet it is also genuinely poignant as well as witty and amusing.

Tsui Hark's rousing "Once Upon a Time in China II" (at the Monica 4-Plex) is more a true sequel than most Hong Kong series pictures, which tend to be self-contained. You need to know going in that its hero, Wong Fei-Hong (again the boyish, personable Jet Lee), was an actual figure, a Canton physician and a proponent for Chinese independence who became a folk hero in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.