CH'IANG SHAN ITALIA

wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, bravery

The Ch'iang Shan, Italy Pa Kua Chang School located in Padua and Sirmione (BS) is led by Sifu Jacopo Silicani, a practitioner of martial arts since 1984.
After long and intense training in the external styles of Kung Fu and later much-deserved national and international recognition, he embraced the way of internal martial arts, considering them more complete and appropriate to his own character. After much diligent research, his faith and loyalty were rewarded when he met Sifu Park Bok Nam, resulting in a major change to his life and career. In 1997 he was named by Master Park disciple of the 7th generation of the Pa Kua Chang (Ba Gua Zhang according to the Pinyin transliteration) style with the assignation of the name "I Shih".
The "Chi'ang Shan Italy" school is the only associated Italian centre with the competence to spread the Pa Kua Chang style of Master Park.
Master Park Bok Nam started the study of the art of the Pa Kua Chang in Korea in 1960. President of the Korean association of Kung Fu and founder of the Korean Pa Kua Association, Master Park moved to the United States in 1987 where he worked with the A.A.U. (American Athletic Union) and the NACMAF to establish rules for Pa Kua Chang competition. For many years he has also been president of the association of internal martial arts of the State of Virginia.
He visits the Italian school once a year, personally verifying students' training level.

The importance of proper instruction

It is an unescapable fact that no sophisticated or comprehensive martial art, such as Pa Kua Chang, can be learned or mastered without the direct, continuous supervision of a qualified and experienced instructor.
You cannot learn simply from a book, a video, or the internet or from someone who "picked it up" at a seminar or workshop or from someone who only attended a few classes and, you cannot learn Pa Kua Chang properly from someone who has little true experience, no matter how many years they have practiced.
At best, you may be able to copy the movements or patterns of a form, a technique, a method, or an exercise. This is mere choreography. It has little true value or substance, and represents only the "surface" of a system.
To reach the depths of an advanced art such as Pa Kua Chang, formal instruction is required. There are many important elements that are necessary for the correct and complete development of the Ba Gua Zhang practitioner that simply cannot be placed in a book, put on a video, or posted on the Internet, no matter how much detail is provided.
The most important and critical element that is missing here is the direct and personal guidance of an expert instructor. Without the watchful eye and personal direction of a qualified and experienced instructor, no student will progress very far.
No book, video, article, or unqualified, self-proclaimed instructor can ever replace, or act as a viable substitute for, the direct and personal guidance of a qualified and experienced instructor. In fact, unqualified instructors cause great harm to their students and to the art that they claim to represent...
While some of these individuals may have attended some seminars or may even have been students for a time: we claim that no person, student or ex-student, can rightfully claim lineage affiliation except for whom be granted by Master Park himself.

CERTIFIED INSTRUCTORS IN EUROPE

Jacopo Silicani → Italy and Europe

Tony Briggs → Switzerland

Jason Reardon → United Kingdom

Ilya Tolchinsky → France