Times are changing in Vancouver's Chinatown Kung Fu community!
Well the Vancouver Chinatown Kung Fu oldtimers will be up in arms. Just got back from a CNY dinner with one of the bigger Chinatown societies, they are starting a Chinese martial arts class & it will be taught by the first ever non Chinese to teach in one of Vancouver's Chinatown societies.
Vancouver's Kung Fu community has been fraught with politics for the past couple years & this one is really going to make for interesting times.
:cool:
Non Asians as a part of independant Kung Fu clubs not so uncommon way back...
Not trying to dispute you Nospam, but there have been several non Asians that have taught within their instructors Kung Fu clubs as far back as the early seventies. Louis Reisic (also known as Louis Mah) joined the Wong Ha Club back in the late sixties & was appointed to open a branch school in 73 or 74. T. T. Tchoung had several westerner students that would often teach for him within his school. Alex Kwok who taught My Jong La Hon back in the early seventies in Strathcona (community next to Chinatown) had his senior student Chris Taylor sometimes teaching for him. These like Raymond Leung Lap Yau's private Kung Fu club were open to non Asians & often would have these persons teach in some capacity, as was the case with Sifu Barry Richardson.
I am referring more to the private societies which are quite another story. These societies, also known as benevolent ass'ns, tongs, fraternal organizations, etc... will have many functions (not just for Kung Fu) & can be very specific about their membership. Some are specifically for certain family lines, just about every major Chinese family name has a private society ie; Lee, Wong, Lum, Tse, Chan, Chang, etc... Some societies are for persons from a specific village or region of China ie; Hoy Ping, Yue Shan, Toi Shan, etc... Some are for people with specific political leanings ie; Taiwan Nationalists (aka Kou Min Tang). Some societies were for persons with interest in specific cultural activities ie; Jin Wah Sing Music society. Many of these societies are also very specific about who may not join ie; Vancouver's Chinese Freemason's used to have a sign on their door that read "Chinese only no Whites".
These organizations, unlike the independantly run Kung Fu schools, had many functions such as providing a social meeting place for their members, education (Chinese school for the young), cultural activities (music & opera big ones), job placement, some of the larger societies actually provided housing for early Chinese immigrants, some of the larger societies today like Shon Yee & the Freemason's actually have low income housing projects (in the Stratchcona area) for seniors. Providing Kung Fu instruction was only small part of what they did, that which they provided though was only for their membership & often the instructor came from within their membership ranks.
The addition of a non Asian within one of these societies is quite another thing, particularily in Vancouver's Chinatown which is still very steeped in custom & tradition.:cool:
Chinese Freemasons should not be confused with British Freesmasons
Golden Horse just to clarify, do not confuse Chinese Freemasons with the British Freemasons. Chinese Freemasons otherwise known as Hung Men Society grew out of the Anti Ching (Dynasty) movement. The Hung Men included rebels united in their cause to overthrow the Ching & restore the Ming. My personal feeling is the choice of 'Freemason' name for their English namesake was a result of the British colonization of Hong Kong & the possible usage of the Freemason term by British ex pats.
British Freemasons on the other hand is an out growth of the Knights of Templar, & if you are really into conspiracies the Priory of Zion. For a good read on the history of Freemasons find 'Holy Blood Holy Grail'.
Long story short Hung Men for whatever reason simply adopted the Freemason name no relation other then that.
As to racism, yes it exists in every culture, unfortunately. In the case of the Vancouver Chinese Freemasons, not a justification but the time the sign was on the door was back in the seventies. Many of the older Chinese generation of that time still had firmly in their minds (or had been told by their elders) the racism they had suffered at the hands of 'whites' in the form of race riots early in the century, head taxes, being unable to vote, simple discrimination, etc... :(