kiddbjj

Hey

I just got back from a trip to China and I can pretty much say that, with the exception of Sanda, Kung fu as a combat art is dead in China.

It is much stronger in the West, perhaps with the exception of Wushu type performance stuff. Even the famous Shaolin temple is a joke for real combat learning.

Just my opinion

jubaji

How long were you there? Did you conduct a complete survey upon which you base such sweeping generalisms?

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Red Rum

Yeah I agree with Jubajii. Its a bit crazy to say that there is no fighting art in the WHOLE of China!!!
It's a big place.

Saying that, one of our instructors was going to open up a class in Hong Kong, but no-one liked the idea of a more aggressive fighting style. But let me just clarify - that doesn't mean the whole of Hong Kong don't like to fight. Just one experience

The trouble with the Shaloin temple is that it has become quite commercial.. Many westerners think that they will go over and in two weeks be able to fight like Jet Li. The Shaloin Monks train for decades and it is intense training.

You won't go to a country and be lucky enough to pick an extremely good fighting style out of thin air. I've lived in the UK all my life and finding good fighting styles were hard. Luckily I live in London where there are a few good martial art schools, but I had to wade through the crap first

So going to China and trying to find a good fighting school would be like trying to find a needle in 20 haystacks on someone elses farm

ggg214

the same opinion as above.
even for a chinese, it's very hard to find a instructor to teach real kungfu. many classes for public or private classes for anyone who pays are fake.
even when you find a real master, it will spend years for you to be accepted as master's apprentice. so you couldn't gain any real instruction in first meet.
but i admit that shaolin temple is not the heart of CMA any more. they are just for show.

Red Rum

Exactly. When I teach, I am looking to earn money in order to pay hall fees, my Sifu, Mr Taxman and pay for my own training. But at the end of the day my ultimate concern is producing good students and making sure they are learning something valuable

That is why I encourage them to have a look at other schools and research what I tell them. Any concerns they have I will answer. Sadly, many Sifus will delude their students into believing that their way is the only way and everything else is wrong. Certain wing chun organisations will not even let you talk about other arts in their schools

ggg214

that's why there are so many quarrels on net or other places.