http://www.kungfumagazine.com/admin/...nFeb-Cover.jpg
The table of contents for our JAN+FEB 2015 issue are now online.
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http://www.kungfumagazine.com/admin/...nFeb-Cover.jpg
The table of contents for our JAN+FEB 2015 issue are now online.
Now available on Zinio.
Read Creating the World of the Warrior: John Fusco and Marco Polo By Lori Ann White
And for more on Marco Polo, reference our -Marco-Polo-Netflix-Original-Series thread.
https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hpho...b5&oe=553EA0FA
I thought this issue had more pull-quotes than it does. :o
https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hpho...a7&oe=55377C32
Not sure if this pull-quote works out of context. We'll see.
Most of facebook seems out of context anyway. Ever read our comments there? They are sillier than the posts here. :rolleyes:
https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hpho...62&oe=553D199D
That article, A Master Remembers a Master: Kenny Chin shares what it was like growing up with the father of American Jow Ga Kung Fu Dean Chin By Ron Wheeler, was Q&A so it provided the most quotes.
https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hpho...ca&oe=5529BC94
Sen Gao was last years WildAid Tiger Claw Champ.
https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hpho...59&oe=5526DAE2
According to his facebook, he is 28. Why?
I notice he refers to himself as Master Gao,in his article. Thought this was interesting for two reasons, one calling yourself Master{shouldn’t this be a title your students call you, not something you call yourself}. Second he seems a bit young to be” titled Master”. If he is 28 and Mater Gao, I should be Grandmaster Friedman. I have won a competition before and have studied longer than he has been alive. Personally I would never refer to myself as Master Friedman. If I live to be 90 and have trained for close to 80 years, I wouldn’t refer to myself as Master Friedman. Just my opinion though.
It's a translation issue to some degree. A lot of the mainlanders default to coach or teacher in Chinese. Of course, the term Shifu in Mandarin can be used for any person of authority - you can use it for your taxicab driver. But frankly, a school owner can't market well if they call themselves anything less. Schools that are more ring-oriented can get away with 'coach' - actually that's more the norm here - but not Kung Fu schools, and most modern wushu schools default to it as well. That being said, Sen Gao is a very accomplished martial artist and earns the title of master much more than many other so-called masters.
If you always hold others to your standards, you will live a life of frustration. Been there, done that, still do in fact (am frustrated a lot :o )
I just call my teacher Lao Shi. For me since I train at a Thai boxing school weekly and also have a Shuai Jiao coach that is a pro MMA fighter, as well as learning Chinese Kung Fu it seems silly. I can just image calling myself master than going and training with my Shuai Jiao coach and him tossing me around like a baby [which he does, and which he would to most any ”Master”]. Or going to the Thai boxing school and getting pounded on by a guy with two years of serious training[which hasn’t happened yet, but seems real likely it could]. I would have to stop them to remind them I am a master;]
Thai boxing and MMA are ring-oriented, so the term 'coach' is more appropo. Most PRC teachers in America actually use Laoshi in Chinese, at least around this area. It's the Hong Kong and Taiwanese school owners in America that will use Sifu, which is the arguable analog to the term 'master' in English. It's all semantics, martial semantics at that, which is dubious at best. You can argue the definition of 'master' until you're blue in the face nowadays. I'm sure we've had this discussion ad nauseum here already somewhere.
But it does raise an English semantic point that has always bothered me. Why is it that we call a Ph.D 'Doctor' but we don't call a M.A or M.S 'Master'? :confused:
to me if someone is calling themself master he should be catching flies in his hands. Master of what, forms? Cause anyone who is training for real can’t possibly call themself master. If someone is a master, I would imagine that if a guy like my coach Yao Honggong tried to throw him he would touch some spot on his body and paralyze him. Kung Fu is a martial art/ meaning a fighting art, wonder how much of a master he would be in the previously mentioned scenarios.
Not trying to start an argument Gene. It just rubs me the wrong way. Just speaking my piece, I will just leave it at that.