Wing Chun video ideas?

Discussion in 'Kung Fu' started by SWC Sifu Ben, Jan 15, 2015.

  1. SWC Sifu Ben

    SWC Sifu Ben I am the law

    Because the idea is that just because you pay money doesn't mean you're going to get great training. To do that you have to build a relationship with your Sifu and paying a teeny bit for a video is about as far as you can get from that. I hate to make this comparison but in a way it's quite like the ninjutsu crowd where even some direct students weren't taught well and it just never gets publicly mentioned. Ip Man did the same thing. That's one of the reasons the skill levels of the 1st gen guys vary so wildly and why being one of Ip Man's students isn't necessarily a marker of quality.

    He doesn't really video his wing chun for the same reason, but as a teaching practice he doesn't sabotage what he teaches. But he's still big on building that relationship.
     
    Last edited: Sep 29, 2016
  2. icefield

    icefield Valued Member

    and people wonder why the Chinese arts are dying out compared to other combat sports and wonder why quality is so hard to find
     
  3. SWC Sifu Ben

    SWC Sifu Ben I am the law

    Oh I'm totally with you on that buddy
     
  4. The Iron Fist

    The Iron Fist Banned Banned

    I don't know if the Chinese arts are "dying out"..they are in a way, 'undead'. Old, decrepit tattered mummification in some cases, long deceased, but very much animated...open up one you might find treasure, more often though, you'll find dust and bones. :D Wing Chun always strikes me as one of those types of arts...very diminished, BUT, you can't argue with the fact that tens of millions of people train it every day (even if their goals of becoming a Kung fu killer are likely going to remain unmet). There are a lot of Chinese traditions that will probably never, ever die out because they are just so ingrained the culture of a billion+...why do they still slice oranges with Lion dances every New Year? Because millions have done it for eons, and will probably keep doing it.

    Wing Chun will live for eons, but probably met it's diminishing limit long ago, so there's not much more it can decay. Some other arts I think still have the chance to keep themselves 'alive' but it's not easy. The best thing for any of these arts to do is always to try something new or keep training outside their comfort zone....like Wing Chun student going to a boxing gym (GASP! :) The BEST thing I ever did for my Hung gar, was to spar with boxers and grapplers completely outside of kung fu class. It gave me context and perspective. My instructors never once disparaged boxing..if they had I would have left immediately, I think. That's what irks me the most watching Wing Chun videos or comments...the anti-boxing comments made. You'd think an art that claims to be pugilistic in nature would be a little less 'holier than thou' when it comes to pugilism in general.

    To really do that, they HAVE to embrace the combat sports, or they'll go the same way as Wing Chun. Kung fu schools have to take part in MMA, San Shou, open mat grappling, or they'll always be a shadow of what they might have been once. Sean Obasi the "Wing Chun Man" had an experience like this that was exactly what I mean...this man talked a lot about Wing Chun, got beaten up in MMA, decided if he was going to be the Wing Chun man, he was going to start doing it inside a cage...down the road, now he can roll in MMA, AND call himself a Wing Chun man if he wants. But key point: he had to earn it. And of course, most of the Wing Chun community will now turn their backs on him. I feel bad for Obasi, he does the "right thing", and gets ostracized by his peers. But at the same time, he took it a level higher, and like I said, if he wants to be an MMA Wing Chun guy, he's made it there himself, not on Ip Man's laurels.

    I'm sure that if you actually counted heads, more people do Chinese arts instead of MMA or Brazilian jiujitsu, for example, just for historical reasons and because, MMA and bjj are actually really hard. MMA is really popular in terms of global audience, but relatively few people train it compared to say, Karate or Tae Kwon Do...which must have millions and millions of active students. I wonder if there's some good survey of sample data somewhere that shows the break down of people training all these things...be interesting to see the actual trends (are Chinese arts really declining? Is MMA really growing?)
     
    Last edited: Sep 29, 2016

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