Sifu Jonathan Wang

[cybermantis]

The Beijing Tai Chi & Kung Fu Academy was founded in 1999 by Sifu Jonathan Weizhang Wang. He claims to have 18 years of Kung Fu training, Sifu Wang learned under both Grandmaster Jiang Hao-Quan and his father, Grandmaster Daniel Yu Wang. http://www.beijingkungfu.com/
Does anyone know of this sifu he claims to teach Mantis, Eagle Claw, Baji, Piqua, Hsing Yi, etc
He teaches with a curriculum something like a college there is no belt system just upon completion you can test for black sash or sifu sash
His trains each system for about a year but I hear alot about his teacher? :confused:

[Leimeng]

~ After looking at the site, I must say, if you have that much extra money to throw away, you can send it to me!
~ He has a student/instructor who completed "virtually" his entire curriculum since 2002. Maybe the guy is a prodidgy but I have my doubts.
~ He seems to have skill in competition in Wushu stuff, and a few guys who fight using mma derivates, but does that mean he has real skill in real martial arts?
~ At the same time, it is rather bizarre if not crass to refer to oneself as a "sifu" in northern China.
~ My suggestion is to save your money and find another place to study.
~ Continue to discuss amongst yourselves...

Peace and War

Leimeng

Flatulo Ergo Sum ~~~

(***Insert Personal One Liner Here***)

[imperialtaichi]

From what I see on his website, I think he's Ok.....

I mean, if his livelyhood is based on his martial art school there's nothing wrong if he wants to make a buck by running it like a business and employing some marketing techniques, as long as he is honourable in his approach.

And if you try a month, and you do not like what you are getting, you are only losing $85....

Cheers,
John

[cybermantis]

Hers another teacher in my area anyone know about him although he only teaches Chen style Taichi and Push Hands. His Name is Master Qichen Guo he teaches at Los Angeles Taichi & qigong Holistic Center

[hellhound]

I thought I had replied to this. Guess not. Go to the emptyflower.com forum and ask the John Wang there if he is the one you are reffering to. If so he really knows his sh*t.

[cybermantis]

Im not asking about John Wang my question clearly said Los Angeles Taichi & Qigong Holisti Center taught under Master Qichen Guo Im trying to find out about him???

[hellhound]

Doh! My bad on that one. ;)

[jfraser]

Is this place in shopping mall in Beijing? Any one of these systems takes 5 years + to get to a mid-level of skill, assuming a knowledgeable and skillful teacher and a talented diligent student. There is an article about Ton Bei Quan training in Liaoning province in the archieves of the Journal of Asian Martial Arts. This will give you an idea of traditional training. In traditional systems of Karate, it takes 4 to 5 years of "blood sweat and tears" to get a 1st degree black belt, and that makes you a certified beginner.

You will have a course in Chow Mein, and with muchroom, vegatables and meats added each yearl There are more and more teacher with some skills that like to show of and attract students in the parks in China, to make money. Careful!!!
But the real high level teachers in China do not show off in the parks and knock thier students around. A local attorney here in Shenyand told me this afternoon, that your have to have "guan Shi" relationships with 6 people here in China to find what you want, like a good teacher. One of the 6 will know someone, who knows someone... There are no Yellow page phone books here in China, and my experience is that finding a really good honest teacher is like finding a needle in a hay stack, and it takes cosiderable time and resources.Some people have "good karma" or destiny and find good teachers right at first. These are the ones that speak Chinese. I vote for saving your money. Most real life time masters only master 2 or 3 systems themselves, if that.

Most teachers in the north do not use the term Sifu, the more common terms is liaoshir, or Shrifu.

Be carefull of these commercial operations and tours, martial arts wise, in China.

Such is how I see it.

Best regards,

james:) :(

[Mengcunman]

first of all... to my opinion it is to expensive.

85 $ a month ?

You can find places that ask half of that and even less.

It looks a lot wushu-ish. And i think that is the reason why people can learn so much.

When you just have to learn some forms to say you 'know' the style makes it a bit easier.

Of course i do not train there but i can't get rid of the impression that it's just taolu.

And if its even modern stuff (even the traditional forms) it's not hard to learn. They do not concentrate on the essence of the form. Just on performance and speed.

(just my oppinion )

[Walter Joyce]

I thought I had replied to this. Guess not. Go to the emptyflower.com forum and ask the John Wang there if he is the one you are reffering to. If so he really knows his sh*t.

I think that is a different John Wang.

[loquito]

Master Qichen Guo is an extremely knowledgeable sifu. There is no bs around his teaching style, just good practice. Sifu Guo teaches at various places in and around the LA area. If you are looking for Chen style Tai-Chi, you can not go wrong.

[zhangxihuan]

first of all... to my opinion it is to expensive.

85 $ a month ?

You can find places that ask half of that and even less.

It looks a lot wushu-ish. And i think that is the reason why people can learn so much.

When you just have to learn some forms to say you 'know' the style makes it a bit easier.

Of course i do not train there but i can't get rid of the impression that it's just taolu.

And if its even modern stuff (even the traditional forms) it's not hard to learn. They do not concentrate on the essence of the form. Just on performance and speed.

(just my oppinion )

to be honest, if have never gone to a wushu class you have NO IDEA what you are talking about. "modern stuff" is not EASY to learn or "not hard to learn" as you put it. Most wushu schools will focus strictly on stances for a YEAR. TRY that at a traditional school- all the ones in the USA that i have visited don't even come close. I've cross trained in wushu and its not what the traditionalists make it out to be "just a flowery form." There are applications, you need a good teacher. And its NOT easy, in fact, I would argue that it is more difficult since the instructors usually make you repeat moves around 1,000 times before progressing (no lie). Also just because someone wears "silks" doesn't make them only "wushu" performers.....so dont judge a school by the pics...or what your instructor might have said about it.

I dont think 85 is too much. not in Los Angeles. Lots of schools in LA charge 150, 175, 100 etc... Its actually on the cheaper side to be honest.

[B-Rad]

Wushu isn't easy to learn, but I think I see his point. I think he's referring to the modern representations of the traditional styles a lot of modern wushu people learn. Where instead of going through the traditional curriculum for something, you might learn a few basics (if that) and one form. It's a lot easier than learning a traditional system, and probably the only way you could claim to know one of those styles well enough to teach it in less than a year. Of course rather than actually being an expert on that system, you're still basically doing chang quan with maybe a small hint of the traditional style you're imitating.

Looking at the curriculum though, it doesn't look anything like a proper modern wushu school to me, which would probably concentrate on jibengong & chang quan for at least 4 years, and a lot of the material listed just aren't contemporary forms. Though I see that there's a contemporary wushu certificate program listed at the bottom (which looks kind of rushed and incomplete to me). The whole thing seems kind of like a kungfu "crash course", with samples of kungfu systems but not teaching anything in its entirety. Could be fun, and they might teach good basics, but I'd like to see what some of their graduates are like. Doesn't look like a very good long term school though, based on what they list.

[B-Rad]

And yeah, $85 isn't that much at all. The average around here seems to be $80-$100/month, and I think it's much cheaper to live here in Ohio than out there.