SYL Wushu Newsletter - November/December 2005 - Volume 5, Number 6

yùn jīn chéng fēng

"Swinging the Axe and Creating a Gust of Wind"
This is used to describe remarkable skill.

A MAN in the state of Chu dabbed the tip of his nose with whitewash as thin as a fly's wing and asked his old artisan friend Jiang Shi to remove it with his axe. Jiang Shi swung his axe and brought it suddenly down on his friend's nose. His movement was so swift that one could hear the wind carried by the axe. The whitewash was removed and his friend's nose was unhurt.

When Duke Yuanjuan of the state of Song heard of this, he asked the artisan to demonstrate it for him. Jiang Shi told him, "I know how to use the axe. But it is a pity that my friend who was willing to risk his nose died long ago."

The Book of Zhuang Zi