Fake kung fu

Kung fu came to west as early as Chinese migrants but they kept their arts secret. After WWII first westerners started to learn Chinese martial arts, however for various reasons, mostly political, very few people were aware that Chinese martial arts even exist until Bruce Lee died. After untimely death of young actor a global phenomenon, known as “kung fu craze” took over the world. Chinese martial arts became extremely popular, kung fu schools started to pop up like mushrooms after rain. Far eastern religions, philosophies, various spiritual system and Japanese and Korean martial arts already came to the west in previous decades and became extremely popular. Their popularity prepared terrain for Chinese martial arts which took over the western world like a forest fire.

Kung stopped to be purely fighting orientated in the second half of 19^th century and started to transform in something much more complex than simple way of fighting. Social status and social role of CMA changed and they grew in complexity of meaning and purpose becoming an important political tool in newly formed republic as well. Kung Fu as we know it today got it’s final shape by the end of the republic of China and end of the civil war. In times since the end of Taiping rebellion till 1949, CMA changed entirely form purely martial systems to complete philosophical, health and spiritual systems and everything in between.

New Age movement happened and changed for good complete western society in all its aspects. Society at large was already prepared to accept CMA and their holistic nature which offered practices that can answer to all spiritual, health, safety, philosophical and to some point social needs of the practitioner. Whether CMA really fulfill all these roles and how successfully is a matter of debate, never the less, that is what CMA offer.

Demand for CMA was enormous at the peak of “kung fu craze”, on the other hand not enough teachers were available. Kung fu was never extremely popular among Chinese people, at its peak less than 1% of the population actively practiced martial arts and percentage of fully qualified teachers was significantly less. After WWII, martial arts were forbidden in China, teachers persecuted , killed or sent to labor camps. China was also closed country and very few foreigners could even travel and visit it before more recent times. In Taiwan many teachers also fell as victim of Kuomintang purge of potential enemies and the practice its self was strictly under government control. Hong Kong had its own problems, many prominent teachers didn’t have enough students to support them self so they quit practicing and turned to other things in order to earn enough money to support them self and their families.  Also, as always as demand is so high there are people who will although incompetent, try to capitalize on that demand. In the atmosphere of high demean for CMA that offer much more than simple martial practice, full of people eager to learn those exotic systems who were and still are completely ignorant about real history and content of traditional CMA,  over time many completely fake kung fu styles appeared, some more elaborate than others.

As we have seen “traditional” kung fu is not as old as it is often believed but there are several things that separates traditional kung fu from fake, newly form styles. Traditional styles, although some not older than 60 or 70 years are based in much older systems that naturally evolved over time. Fake styles often appear out of nothing and their founders do not have enough or sometimes any experience in CMA.  Traditional styles are often a fusion of two or more older styles. Fake styles are also often fusion of two or more styles but the difference is in the time that fusion happened. Traditional masters spent decades in practice and the fusion happened naturally in a way that one style fill the gaps of the other until they finally become one complete system of fighting. Fake kung fu styles are mixed instantly without any experience or understanding or with only superficial understanding. That mixture of styles, even if those styles are similar technically, can’t be good, techniques and principles overlap and create confusion. Traditional kung fu has deep roots in traditional Chinese culture and heritage. Although kung fu looked radically different 200 years ago it was still rooted in the same base values which were passed down to every next generation. Fake kung fu, although often been made by Chinese does not have any roots in any tradition. Chinese tradition and heritage are used as a marketing point but are not really part of the system, there is a lot talk about it but even a superficial examination of the system shows what is really going on there. Traditional kung fu often absorbs some techniques from other sources, other kung fu styles or arts of other origin. This happens over time, after a period exposure and real exchange with other arts and realization and deep understanding how new addition can improve the art on fundamental level. In fake kung fu, because of the lack of understanding and lack of technical knowledge new things are absorbed indiscriminately in unlimited proportions and usually declared to be part of the system form the very beginning.  Fake kung fu often incorporate parts of religious, healing and spiritual practices that are not Chinese, like Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, Yoga, New age spirituality ect.

Separating real from fake kung fu is not an easy task. Some of these frauds are working for decades and they have elaborate stories( “histories”) to support their claims, some even spent some time with certain famous teacher and they claim connection to some legitimate lineage. Some even spent years with some legitimate teacher but they never reached any significant level of skill. In times before Taiping rebellion, when kung fu was still practiced for solely fighting purposes fake kung fu didn’t exist, simply, something that can’t stand a test of reality would be destroyed soon. Today, there are legitimate teachers, I can’t call them masters because they are not, even lineage holders who never had a fight in their life, yet they are teaching others martial arts. Kung fu has focus problem as it is and there were always some elements of cult like behavior in CMA, that is how kung fu functions in its traditional setting, fake kung fu is usually a full blown cult and insists on very few things their founder is comfortable with. Usually, fake kung fu has some unsupported claims about its origin and content. It is always the oldest, some times thousands of years, the most or the only original and the most effective style. There is also a great deal of “energy” exercises, promises of extraordinary skills and abilities. Of course all these claims are unsupported and with little research it is easy to find them false.

So, what are the dangers that come from fake kung fu? First and most obvious is a fact that those styles take people’s money but in exchange do not give what they promised, which is classical example of fraud. Some of these fake kung fu teacher take enormous amounts of money from their victims. Like every cult, fake kung fu will influence practitioner’s life in almost every aspect. Not that just they are selling fake spiritualty that in a long run really harm people psychologically and emotionally and teach you completely useless martial system that can only get you hurt or killed, they are often openly abusive, there are numerous cases of sexual harassment, they shut down any critical thinking  and if you leave the cult or question their authority in any way they will stalk you, your family and friends, internet persecution, threats, attempts to discredit you in wider community by spreading rumors and outright lies. Remember, behind those faces with serene smiles and all that talk about high spiritualty, heritage, history, energies, secrets and every other crap they are selling , hiding merciless criminals who are after your money and often psychopaths who want to ruin your life so they can satisfy their dark and sick desires.

Be careful and check everything that is possible, these days there is no such thing as over cautiousness. If you are not sure maybe best solution is choose some proven martial arts like boxing or kick boxing because there you know what will you get for your money and these arts are proven as effective. If you are after some healing practice ,consulting medical professionals is always best option, do not seek advice from  people who practice “alternative” and “traditional”  systems of healing and preserving health, they are all frauds or deluded. Spirituality is best to be pursued within your own heritage and culture but if there is a need for something more exotic, stick to well recognized organizations with verifiable history, teachings, heritage and tradition.