Let's help fellow martial artist

Here is Peter's story :

Hi, my name is Peter Hoogduin and I'm raising money to return from Taiwan back to the US to teach Wushu (Chinese Martial Arts) and do what I love to do again. 

 

Here is my story. I was forced to leave the US and move to Taiwan in 2014 due to high medical bills and loss of income due to a sustained injury from a soccer game. The injury to my ankle was misdiagnosed in the US, which led to plantar fasciitis on both heels, making it very painful to stand up all day and teach Martial Arts. With hardly any income, I had to leave the US and stay in Taiwan with my wife's family and teach English until my condition improved. After 5 1/2 years, 3 surgeries, and countless hours of Physical Therapy and lots of medical expenses, I am eager to go back to the US and become a professional Wushu teacher again. Although I have several jobs in Taiwan, it is not providing me with sufficient income to look after my family and save money to fund moving back. With the setup of a GoFundMe campaign, I would like to ask for support to make it possible for me and my family to move back to the US and teach Wushu. In the US I can generate enough income to give me and my family a much better future. 

My business plan for the US is to teach out of my friends’ school. He is in the process of opening a MMA school in the Sacramento area and would host my business. I am also planning to go back to the Fremont area, where I used to teach, and run some classes there as well several times a week. With the GoFundMe support I would like to bridge the gap of the move back to the US while setting up the business. I am happy to say that at this moment my body condition has improved to the point that I can teach and practice again. I love teaching Wushu and I'm still young and fit enough to do so and built a better future in the US for me and my family.

Any donations given will go to the following: 1. Funding my way back to the US. 2. Initial costs of living while I set up my business. 3. Any equipment for teaching needed.
Any amount - no matter how small - will make a BIG difference for me and my family. Thanks!

If you want to help follow the link below 

Peters dream

Wing Chun Lineage Charts part one

SNAKE CRANE WING CHUN LINEGAE

LEUNG JAN WING CHUN LINEAGE 

CHAN WAH SHUN LINEAGE 

                                      CHEUNG BO LINEAGE

CHO FAMILY LINEAGE

FUT SAO WING CHUN  LINEAGE 

                            HUNG FA YI WING CHUN LINEAGE 

JIU WAN WING CHUN LINEAGE 

                       LO KWAI WING CHUN LINEAGE 

                 

                             MAI GEI WONG WING CHUN LINEAGE 

                        PAO FA LIEN WING LINEAGE  

SUM NUNG WING CHUN LINEAGE 

WUDANG WENG SHUN 

YIU CHOI  &  YIU KAI   WING CHUN LINEAGE

True people behind Traditional martial arts idols

In traditional martial arts, especially on the West there is a strange trend of worshiping certain historical figures involved in those arts. What is interesting is complete absence of common sense , critical thinking and analysis in this worship. People who are objects of worship are either notorious killers, psychopaths, fascist,racists, frauds or simply people who became famous by pure accident. When real facts about these people are brought to light, worshipers find all kinds of excuses to justify their heroes and get really angry. Why and how people fall in this state of mind and what kind of personalities and issues these people have was explained in one of the previous articles. Let's see now who famous martial heroes were in reality.

Yip Man- today worshiped as a deity, is depicted as a philanthropist, with perfect  moral and ethics. In reality he was the total opposite. Yip Man  spent six months with his first teacher and maybe two years with second. There is a story about his third teacher but that story can't be proven in any way and it is full of discrepancies.  He was an opium addict till the end of his life and he was a gambler. He left his family on mercy of the communists and escaped to Macao where he gambled away everything that he had (he left nothing to his family that stayed in China). Without money he went to Hong Kong and because he hadn't any real qualification he couldn't work. Being from rich family he didn't work a day in his life so he started teaching kung fu. Interestingly his system lack many key points found in all other styles. He also taught different people different things, depends of his mood, clarity of mind at the particular moment and amount of money they gave him. Yip Man basically had no fighting records, no one really know the level of his skill and he became famous only because his connection to Bruce Lee. Funny thing ,Yip Man expelled Bruce from his school because he was not pure ethnic Chinese. Today followers of Yip Man's style worship him as a deity and after a few more movies he even may become an ultimate kung fu god.

Bruce Lee- an actor who is worshiped like a martial demigod. In reality he was just an action movies actor with no real acting skills, he had bad attitude toward other people, especially martial artists, he wanted to become famous no matter what and that is all about him. Just and athletic, average talent actor like so many others at that time. He became famous after he died and his fame is a matter of  much larger global  political game at that moment but that is a story for another article. 

   

Leung Jan- local osteopath from Foshan who became a popular  character of pulp fiction novels after his death . People today take things written in those novels as real history although Leung Jan didn't have any fights and we don't even know did he and what martial style he actually practiced. This man has a status of a deity in Wing Chun circles.

Mas Oyama- Fascist willing to die for fascist Japan and later an asset of US government whose job was to be a face in front of campaign to suppress spreading and influence of Chinese culture in general. Besides that he was also a fraud. He was strong but all the stories around him are pure fantasy, hype and exaggeration. For example people think he fought bulls, in reality he fought oxen already prepared (hit in the horns whit heavy hammers by  Oyama's students), he fought only one real bull in Mexico and he almost died there and was saved by other people. Number of fights he had are vastly exaggerated, also people think he always fought some top fighters when in reality he fought amateurs with little to no skill and we have no real proof of any of these fights, just oral claims of his followers. About breaking things, anyone can do that with little training. Story about his years on the mountain are pure lie, he was on the mountain only for a few months. And he had all the media support he needed, very few people in martial arts had such media coverage ever. He used his "karate" to spread his fascist ideas just a little bit hidden behind "karate" teachings and his "philosophy" is at elementary school level  of writing and thinking. Unfortunately he is still worshiped by large number of people who spread his fascist ideas and often violence.

Choki Motobu- a low life celebrated by some karate people. This character has kicked a man from the back and broke his spine while he was leaving a dojo. That man came to challenge Motobu but he refused just to cripple a man seconds later with a sneak attack. This is a person worshiped today by some people as a top fighter and karate genius

Miyamoto Musashi - notorious killer. He killed a bunch a of people( some from behind) among which unarmed 13 years old boy . He was killing people for pure pleasure of killing , to "perfect" his technique. Later he wrote a book about his experience in killing. 

Wong Fei Hung- rich man who liked to gamble and beat his wives. He won only one fight , he beat the  man who came to worn him about his gambling debts. Later gang came and killed Wong's son. That is about all that is know about the most celebrated and worshiped kung fu hero. Like Leung Jan , Wong Fei Hung also became a hero of pulp fiction and later movies. More than 100 movies about him were made. Today people know only what they see in the movie, real Wong Fei Hung will remain hidden behind motion pictures





/ 

Morihei Ueshiba- a member of a dangerous cult forbidden by Japanese government who used his new founded martial system (Aikido) to lure and brainwash new members. He cheated his teacher for money that he owed for lessons. Today he was celebrated and worshiped as some kind of a saint.

Li Shuwen- known as God spear Li, Bajiquan master who went around and fought with people for the pure excitement of the fight, or in today's term "street fighter" or more precise a bully. He made a lot of enemies and even killed a few people. He was always on high alert being afraid of assassination. He never went anywhere alone and often he changed traveling route and always entered his house through the window to prevent and surprise and ambush. He was poisoned at the end.

Yang Lu Chan- founder of Yang Tai Chi. He was a body builder , more than 180 cm tall and more than 90 kg of weight. Average Chinese of his era was around 150 -155 cm tall and 50 kilos weight. As we can see Yang Lu Chan was double size of an average person at the time and he was a trained fighter, of course his Tai Chi worked better than other martial styles, just like heavy weight fighter can fight any lighter category with ease. 

Kambun Uechi- Okinawan peasant who worked some time in China and learned some basic level Kung Fu. Today karate style founded by his son is full blown cult and Kambun Uechi is worshiped as a deity although there are no records that he ever had a fight and non of the stories that surround his character cannot be proven

Problems in martial arts historical research

The term history has become an ubiquitous word conceptualized differently by various scholars. Traditional conception viewed history as any written narrative of events. This definition today is inadequate and unacceptable. First, the definition did not acknowledge the development of history overtime. Second, it did not recognize the division of the discipline into such fields as political, social, economic, military, intellectual, constitutional and educational history and their sub brunches. Third, the conception of history as mere narration of events is now archaic because history has metamorphosed from mere description of events into critical and analytical interpretation of events .

Arthur Marwick defined history as “the entire human past as it actually happened”, second, as “man’s attempt to describe and interpret the past” and third, as “a systematic study of the past” .

History on the other hand, as a field of knowledge encompasses not only past events but also their consequences. In addition, not all events of the past capture the interest of the historian, rather important historical events with consequences are usually preferred.

Barraclough states that  “the history we read, though based on facts, is strictly speaking not factual at all, but a series of accepted judgements”

Evidence is the pillar of historical research. This is because without evidence there will be no historical interpretation. The submission of the historian is not a product of speculation or imagination. History is not fabricated and thus cannot be manufactured. Instead, evidence is the rubric upon which history stands.

Finally, history is an outcome of diligent research. History is critical in the selection, interpretation and analysis of available data. It is these features of history that have made it look science. These aspects of history imply that what is presented as history is a product of honest inquiry and not that of the historian’s sensibilities or imagination.

Researching history of martial arts is incredibly hard. There are several major problems that obstruct and make almost impossible to conduct any meaningful historical research of martial arts, especially Chinese martial arts. 

In Chinese academic circles anything connected to martial arts is considered as a sort of forbidden area. There is no scientist who would engage in any kind of research of martial arts because that would be the end his academic carrier. Academic society outside China has pretty much the same attitude about the subject. All martial history researches come from other areas of life, almost all of them are martial arts practitioners and unfortunately without high education in any discipline or science. Even those with high education have degrees in areas that have no connection to history what so ever.

All this not only mean that researchers have no necessary qualification to do any historical research but also means that they have no support of any kind from academic institutions which conducts such researchers , which leads to the situation that any finds cannot be validated and even more, cannot be considered even remotely acceptable on any level. Simply, martial “historians” because of total lack of professional qualifications, complete lack of professional research resources such as various laboratories for validation of physical findings, access to experts of other disciplines necessary for processing the data and complete lack of any connection to academic circles simply cannot provide any valid result out of their research.

Another big problem is strict government control of data in China. During cultural revolution chairman Mao declared that “working people of China is master of its history”. This says enough. Disregarding any scientific standards and being aware of cultural influence of martial arts in China and especially on the West and of course the economic potential , history of martial arts is simply written to fulfil current socio-political and economical demands. Probably the best example is Shaolin monastery which was purged from monks and left in ruins for decades only to be rebuild and established as one of the most successful multinational companies in China today with enormous social, cultural and economical influence all over the world although historically martial arts were never practiced in Shaolin. Same thing is currently happening with so called Southern Shaolin which historically never existed and was a part of legends ,but because of ever growing interest for that particular place ,especially from the West ,Chinese government went a lengthily road to prove its existence and today we  have not one but three Southern Shaolin monasteries , each claiming and offering evidence it is true one. Another example is  “suggestion” to Fujian practitioners of various White Crane styles to publicly support Japanese theory that Okinawan karate originated from Fujian White Crane in order to increase not only grater influx of Okinawan tourists and “researchers” but to establish stronger cultural influence to Karate practitioners all over the world . These are just few most obvious examples how politics and economics influence “history” research in China.

Close to this problem is objectivity of the researches in general. Like it was said before, majority of martial arts “historians” are martial arts practitioners them selfs, involved in one or more particular styles. Desire to find and prove historical significance of the particular style on one side and lack of proper historical research training  on the other often leads to completely wrong interpretation of the findings, selective gathering of the evidence and sometimes to deliberate distortion of the findings and outright forgeries.

Next big problem is lack of historical sources on the topic of martial arts of any kind. The quality of a historical study is determined largely by the manner in which sources are collected and used. Sources are basic in historical research and they are many and varied. The absence of written sources upon which conventional history rests presents  problem for any field of historical research, even more for martial arts history because written evidence is the only source of information for this field of research. For centuries martial arts were restricted only to army personal, common people didn’t and more than often couldn’t practice martial arts. Not only that, martial arts were almost completely military oriented. Like toady, complete military and martial education was reserved for officer core, common soldiers were trained only to certain extent and specialized for specific tactical tasks. What we know today about martial arts came from work of just a few military leaders of the past but they didn’t feel necessary to give any details to actual martial arts training system. We have just a few rare manuals that present some basic fighting techniques with infantry weapons of the era but nothing else. Majority of martial practitioners through the history were illiterate and what was passed down to next generations in the form of oral histories soon got lost in myths and legends. Those who were literate and did practice martial arts didn’t recognize the danger of not making  records of their practice. Lack of written evidence leads to other sources of information such as oral tradition, mainly in the form of myth, legend, song, and popular history. However, the use of oral sources in historical reconstruction is replete with difficulties of which the problem of chronology is outstanding. Accurate chronology was hardly taken seriously as emphasis was on specific events. Even when there are specific references to years, generations and periods, they may relate to ‘structural’ and not chronological time. Frailty of human memory makes it difficult to chronicle events in specific detail for more than four generations. Distortion is yet another limitation of oral tradition. Distortion in oral tradition occurs either due to alteration of traditions or adaptation to provide the basis for the elevation of a particular society above another and this is more than obvious in Chinese martial arts. Another problem with Chinese martial arts oral tradition is that it is extremely hard to make a distinction between reality and phantasy. In the core of Chinese culture is to give ‘face’ to the ancestors and objective truth has nothing to do with that. Not only that distorting the truth and sometimes outright lies are socially acceptable in martial oral tradition they are even desirable. It is almost a rule to invent completely false stories which will elevate ‘ancestor’s” skills, morality and ethics on highest possible level completely disregarding the real person behind the story. Each generation feels obligated to give a little (or a lot) more ‘face to the ancestor and each generation will add more and more fiction in their oral tradition until the real person and real events are totally lost.

Why is Snake Crane Wing Chun important?

Snake Crane may be the most important Wing Chun style today. Someone unfamiliar with the style or familiar with other , more popular styles may ask what separate this style from all other and makes it so important. It may come as a surprise to many but it is not its history that makes it more "original" than others or some "secret, superior techniques" or any of the other things exploited in merciless marketing for decades in almost all other styles.

What makes Snake Crane Wing Chun so important is the fact that this low key style is probably the only island of sanity in otherwise completely crazy and cut-off-reality Wing Chun world. Infantile behavior , complete absence of rational or in most cases any kind of thinking, cult like organizations , Sifu worshiping, lies , hype, exaggeration, politics and constant in fighting for money, members, prestige ...that is Wing Chun world today.

On the other hand Snake Crane Wing Chun and people who practice it, and there are not more 200 in whole history of the style are totally different.

While "ancestors" of all other styles were superhuman and they achieved feats impossible for a the rest of us  mere mortals and biographies equal to old gods , ancestors of  Snake Crane Wing Chun were just average people with average jobs and common lives. Their kung fu abilities did not surpassed the ability of common people, Yes, they were masters of their styles but without god like powers all that bullshit that follows other "ancestors" like fighting 300 dead fights or breaking a gun with two fingers or fighting twelve people with knives. On the other hand Snake Crane Wing Chun ancestors have no one else has, a documented history that proves everything said about them, making them what they already are , real , verifiable historical figures who participate in real, again documented historical events , Not only that Snake Crane ancestors  are real people without any doubt because we have their photos personal documents , school certificates, public records...we have no doubt in actions they did during their lives. Maybe having an "ancestor" who did not have superpowers nor saved the worlds is not romantic and it is probably boring for most  people, but for normal , adult , rational person that is exactly the reason why would be he interested in that style.

Snake Crane history, unlike other stories called by the same name in other styles , is actually a history in full meaning of that word. History of the style is well documented from several independent sources and its only purpose is to present historical facts. Documents goes as far as 1890, before that there is not sufficient evidence to draw any final conclusion and that part of the history is clearly marked as "mythical". In SCWC history elements of legends and myths , deliberate or accidental mistakes , hype, exaggeration , and like in many other style;s history-outright lies, politics.. simply cannot be found . 

Snake Crane Wing Chun theoretical and technical part is completely translated from old Cantonese and presented to all members in a modern, scientific style , easy to understand and apply . While some teachers like to use Chinese terms while teaching  , some do not . There is nothing hard to understand, nothing "secret" or esoteric , nor too 'scientific" explanations so popular these day, no pseudo science  , simply there are no gaps in explanations which are direct consequence of the things mentioned above. Snake Crane Wing Chun theoretical and technical base is simple, logical , easy to test , does not go against medicine and science in any detail , in fact it is based  in them.

There are no "secret, underground" fights nor street fighting.  Not even one  of Snake Crane Wing Chun people, today as well in the past, were involved in breaking a low in any way. Snake Crane people are ordinary, family oriented people, most with high education and very good at their jobs. There are no street thugs nor psychopaths  (which is the only way to gain extensive street experience). This does not mean SCWC people cannot fight and have no experience. Some are war veterans , some have been train in military and some in police special units, some competed in martial contact sports. As we can see all these people had good training and experience and they do not have any need to lie and invent fairy tales, on the other hands no one brags, just like adult , mature person should behave.

Snake Crane Wing Chun nor any of the members do not have any connections with some "secret" societies.  In Wing Chun circles it is not  rare case that people brag about their connection to organized crime gropes ,while even more people stating the same for their "Sifus" like that is some kind of great achievement. In Snake Crane Wing Chun ,  ordinary, normal , family people with normal jobs and normal lives  are all aware of the damage, sorrow and pain organized crime bring to the society. There are no infantile people who worship anti heroes and are unaware or totally do not care about the effect of crime gropes on  common people, Moral norms and ethics are on the highest level, people who do not comply with this requirements are simply expelled. We like healthy and safe environment for our own kids and all other kids we are teaching at the first place and  for all others. Snake Crane Wing Chun and its people strongly stand behind the upholding and promotion of universal positive moral and ethical values.

In SCWC no one compares what we are doing with other styles, we simply do what we do, others do their things , that is all.

SCWC people practice the art simply because they love it, no one want to become an "assassin" , a street fighter, anti Qing rebel, new Bruce Lee, new Yip Man, or whatever the reason people these days start Wing Chun for. 

In SCWC no one cares about all the bullshit that follow Wing Chun lately how it is ineffective , outdated, doesn't "work" on the "street" ... we simply do our thing the way we like it ,if anyone has problem with that ...well that is his problem.  We do not even try to prove anything to anyone. When you think about it , who should anyone prove anything , some infantile character who thinks the most important thing on the world is to be strong? That is thinking on the level of elementary school kids.  Like it was said before, SCWC people have families , jobs, all of them are respected members of their communities, imagine how adult person looks in the eyes of his neighbors when he talks about  what "works" and doesn't "work" on the "street". Funny isn't it? Yet majority of Wing Chun people are doing just that.Well not SCWC.

If you want to practice serious Wing Chun with serious, good people without all the baggage other, more popular styles are bringing along , Snake Crane Wing Chun is the right style for you.

Kung Fu culture and Kung Fu movies

Kung fu culture in general is much more influenced by Hong Kong cinematography than most people are willing to believe. While some of the things we see in those movies have some loose historical foundations, most things are actually invented by movie industry. Complete Kung Fu history, culture, practice, everything is tremendously influenced by popular action movies. I will give some clear and easy traceable examples of this influence.

Drunken fist and Golden Fenix. In one of the last interviews, one of the most influential people in Kung Fu movie industry, Lau Kar Leung, an actor, director ,choreographer and Hung Gar style master, admitted that he actually invented Drunken kung fu style. This newly invented “style” became so popular that people started to believe it is a real, historical style and many teachers started to teach it as the part of their systems or separately, notably Leung Ting who is after Yip Man probably the most well know person in Wing Chun circles. Late master Lau Kar Leung also stated that he invented Golden Fenix style as well as bunch of others. Some became popular and people started to “teach’” those “styles”.

Shaolin Wooden Men is a 1976 Hong Kong action film, directed by Chen Chi-Hwa, with Jackie Chen playing main character. It was made at Lo Wei's studio at Golden Harvest. The film was also released internationally under several alternative titles, including: "36 Wooden Men", "Shaolin Chamber of Death" ,"Shaolin Wooden Men - Young Tiger's Revenge" ,"Wooden Man" (Germany). One of the main points in plot is test of the Shaolin Wooden Men Alley, a narrow hallway containing thirty-six Shaolin Wooden Men, which are mechanical wooden dummies that attack anyone who enters the hallway. Exactly same story appears in several Wing Chun “histories” as a source of Wing Chun Wooden Dummy, notably older versions of history in William Cheung’s books. He expanded the story saying that due to the historical circumstances all those mechanical dummies were combined in one standing dummy well used in Wing Chun today.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, is a 1978 Hong Kong kung fu film directed by Liu Chia-liang and produced by Shaw Brothers, starring Gordon Liu and having Lau Kar Leung as a martial choreographer. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is widely considered to be one of the greatest kung fu films of all times. Movie plot introduces Shaolin’s temple 35 chambers of martial arts training   , in each of which the temple's novices are trained in one aspect of the kung fu fighting arts. This story was taken as foundation for some Wing Chun “histories” where it is claimed that there were different “halls” for different martial styles raining in the Shaolin temple and one of the halls was “Wing Chun Hall”. At the time when this movie was made, real Shaolin temple was completely empty and Shaolin Kung Fu if there was ever such a thing was dead and forgotten for decades. In later years, when Chinese government realized how much money they can actually earn from Shaolin brand they brought fake monks( Modern Wu Shu teachers and Champions) and organized the training in the temple that completely resembles to the movie. Important part of the today’s temple kung fu are features of extreme strength like breaking hard objects with various body parts , being immune to cuts or stabs with various weapons, seemingly immune to pain ect…all the skills shown in the movie. In reality such a trickery was part of street performers and was considered the lowest skill set in kung fu, such set of skills would never been practiced in such an important and highly regarded place such was Shaolin temple before cultural revolution even is some kung fu was practiced there.  

Yip Man movies. In the movie, Yip Man is fighting a master from the north who challenged and won over all other kung fu teachers in Foshan. Right after the movie this exact story started to appear in some “historical” accounts and Yip Man’s biographies although the story is just a part of the movie plot and it is complete fabrication. Similar thing happened after second movie about Yip Man  in which he fought Japanese general. Shortly after the movie “historical” accounts and Yip Man biographies started to point out his engagement in fight against Japanese occupation forces although that is completely opposite from the truth. 

In Shaw Brothers movies everyone knows martial arts.  Every Shaw Brothers martial arts film, particularly all of them set in generalized 1800s period, tend to feature hundreds of extras and townspeople who are all apparently skilled martial arts practitioners. Noodle shop keepers, doctors, ladies who sell vegetables, street shoe cleaners, rickshaw driver, even children. This led to believe that everyone in China “knows” kung fu. The truth is just the opposite, during the Ching Dynasty when the most people in history China practiced kung fu, less than one percent of the population actually was involved in martial training. Today, baseball, tennis, basketball and soccer are way more popular than kung fu. Young people do not have real interest in kung du and Chinese martial arts are really dying .

Master of the Flying Guillotine is a 1976 Taiwanese wuxia film starring Jimmy Wang Yu, who also wrote and directed the film. The film follows one-armed kung fu master being by an imperial assassin whose  weapon, the "flying guillotine", which resembles a hat with a bladed rim attached to a long chain. Upon enveloping one's head, the blades cleanly decapitate the victim with a quick pull of the chain. After this movie, flying guillotine slowly started to enter history accounts as a real weapon and there is even Wikipedia article about it although there is no historical evidence what so ever , not even a mention of this weapon before the movie was made.

Sticky legs or Chi Gerk, almost every old kung fu movie has a fight scene where tremendous sticky legs skills are demonstrated. That is where Leung Ting probably got inspiration for his chi gerk (sticky legs) techniques incorporated in his system. Interestingly, Leung Ting did work as martial choreographer in movie industry.

The Shaolin Temple filmed in 1982 famously launched the career of martial arts superstar Jet Li. But perhaps less widely known is that it also essentially reinvented Shaolin kung fu.  The Shaolin Temple is now a Unesco World Heritage Site and the heart of tourism in Henan province in central China. Scores of martial arts schools lie on a mountain; ticket sales bring in tens of millions of dollars each year; the temple is now a commercial empire operating more than 40 overseas companies; and international media has even dubbed its abbot, Shi Yongxin, “the CEO monk”. But in 1982 , Shaolin was a complex of empty buildings left to the elements and time to destroy it. The Shaolin temple  was the first martial arts film made in China and the first filmed on location at the Shaolin Temple, an ancient Buddhist monastery that is revered as the birthplace of China’s most famous kung fu style. Film became very popular and tourists and martial artists started to come in great numbers. Soon Shaolin became one of the biggest companies in China. Interestingly , Shaolin kung fu today looks exactly the same as we can see it in old movies.

Wong Fei Hung movies are made since the era of silent movies and cemented the place of Wong Fei Hung as the greatest kung fu hero of all times. Maybe there are better fighters in Chinese mythology, or stronger people, or heroes with more fights, or more compassionate people but no one had it all , not one besides Wong Fei Hung, he has a perfect balance of skills, strength, intelligence, empathy, moral, ethics, wealth and luck.  There are literary hundreds of movies and TV series about life and adventures of the famous hero. He became an architype of Chinese martial hero who embodies all the positive traits of Chinese culture. Although he was quite the opposite in real life, Wu Xiao novels later translated into films made his name immortal putting him above all other heroes.

This is just a small example how Hong Kong and Taiwan cinematography influenced Kung Fu culture. Almost every aspect of Kung Fu culture and even training was impacted by these movies. Kung Fu movies influenced and changed Kung Fu culture in general, on West as well as on the East, on such a scale that is hard to believe that such influence is even possible.

Wing Chun ,martial art or religion

Wing Chun, one of the most popular kung fu styles today is slowly becoming a religion. Many of the brunches and schools  have all cult characteristic since the beginning of Kung Fu craze in the late 1970’s. So what’s make a religion and what Wing Chun has in common with religion?  Here is a list of  characteristic common for most of the major religion systems today and we will compare that with Wing Chun.

1. Most religions include belief in the supernatural  or belief in some other Ultimate Reality beyond, yet connected to, human experience and existence. Vast majority of wing chun practitioners  believe that the art is some form of spiritual system, many believe and incorporate parts of other far eastern religions and make their own personal  believe system where kung fu practice cannot be distinguished from religious practice.A lot of them believe that Wing Chun is ultimate fighting system and in the end will grant them superior fighting powers. Some believe in supernatural energies and forces . Some are aware of this fact, most are not.

2. Religions distinguish between the sacred and profane (or ordinary) in terms of time, space, objects, and people. There are sacred days, objects and people in Wing Chun. Ancestors like Leung Jan , Leung Bik, Yip Man are worshipped as saints or gods are worshipped in other religions. These people are depicted as morally and ethically perfect and they had skills no one else ever achieved and could perform a miracles ( breaking a revolver with bare finger, fighting 300 life and death matches ect.). Artifacts left by those ancestors also hold a special place in Wing Chun community , anything that belonged to these people is highly respected and it is equal to sacred objects from formal religions. Sacred days are also established like Yip Man’s birthday, Wing Chun day ect. There are also places of pilgrimage like Yip Man’s tomb or his museum , Leun g Jan’s house ect.  

3. Religions strongly encourage or require prescribed ritual activities for individuals and communities of faith.  Most religions celebrate and reenact sacred stories through annual rituals, and Wing Chun is not an exception, annual ritual celebration are common and widely practiced. Also, personal rituals are practiced in the school or in individual practice. A lot of schools have altars and worshiping the ancestors is required before every class.

4.Religions commonly promote a moral code or ethical principles to guide individuals and communities. This is something that is happening in wing chun right now. The moral code is in the process of being established by practitioners. More and more moral messages in the form of supposed Yip Man’s quotes are surfacing every day . Although it is obvious that these moral messages have western origin , they are vastly accepted without any question and spread further among wing chun community.

5.Religious life engages and incorporates common emotional and intuitive human feelings.  These feelings include a sense of the wonder and mystery of existence, joy, guilt, and the bond experienced in the community. All these are common in Wing Chun and most of people practice the art because of these experiences. Many are not aware of this and they hold a belief that they practice martial art.

6. Religions both encourage communication and provide ways to communicate or connect with the divine. Wing Chun through its practice offers connection to the “divine” ancestors and their supernatural skills. Meditation is also common among wing chun practitioners and first form of the system is regarded as a tool of spiritual and supernatural forces and abilities cultivation.

7. Through sacred stories, the religions provide a coherent worldview. Creation myths (called histories) and stories about lives and achievements of famous ancestors are equal to creation stories and stories about saints from other religions. Creation myth gives a purpose of existence of the system and its practitioners while ancestor stories establish moral and ethical guidance system and also goals of practice (which can never be achieved).

8. Religions organize life for individuals--including dress codes, personal sacrifices, and appropriate occupations--in the context of their respective worldviews. In this area Wing Chun is still not developed enough, while the dress code do exist in most schools\organizations and everyday practice is a paramount of every practitioners life there are no restrictions or recommendations for occupation or serious persona sacrifice. On the other hand many practitioners do make sacrifices in a form of paying tuition fees which are often way over their real financial capabilities so they have to cut some other things from their lives in order to pursue Wing Chun lessons.

9. Religions require and promote social organization and institutional forms to carry out the necessary functions of worship and leadership, preserving orthodox teachings and practices. If anything Wing Chun surpasses any other religion on this point. Lineage is everything, we have cases that people with no martial skills what so ever are highly regarded in the Wing Chun community just because they are blood related to the founder of the style. People take pride to be connected and have “learned” from these figures because they believe that they are preserving the true, orthodox teaching of the founder if the art.

10. Religions promise an inner peace and harmony despite the vicissitudes of life. Wing Chun offers the same, it is advertised as an omnipotent system of practice that has answer to anything.

11.Most religions anticipate the coming of a gifted person  who will help usher in a new age of peace and tranquility. In this area Wing Chun is complete and accomplished religion because Wing Chun messiah already came in a form of Yip Man.

12.Religions must propagate themselves through the recruitment of new members and procreation within the community of faith. This point does not need to be elaborated , there is no other art that can compare with Wing Chun in matters of marketing and recruitment as well as talking bullshit about other martial styles.