My webpage

[extrajoseph]

Hmm, I got it!

People in the past has been selling the good old fashion tomatoe as vegetable and now you are going to sell it as a piece of fruit and call it to-ma-to.

You can get more money for a piece of fruit. Right? How devilishly clever!

Thank you! Thank you! thank you! Now I can see the true benefit of westernizing Kung Fu.

JosephX

[nospam]

Wow.

Well, I prefer classic coke, myself.

nospam.

[extrajoseph]

What I want to know is what we can do with the old fashion water pipe that my sifu used to smoke with? How can we repakage it and what name can we give it to make it sound "modern" and "western"? How about Buddha Pipe or Fut Doe? Anything with Buddha always sells, it has a spiritual ring to it. Have you been to the Buddha Bar in Paris? It is always packed. May be adding the word Classic in front of it will also help. People don't drink Coke any more, they drink Classic Coke (your favourite drink). Classic Buddha Pipe sounds pretty cool for an old fashion water pipe. These days we have to do something out of the norm to make a buck. Don't you think?

JosephX

Just in case you are going to get mad with me like bean curd, this is all a joke, no disrespect is intended, even though there is a bit of sarcasm involved. Hey, if we can not laugh at ourselves, what is the point of humour?

[JAZA]

Joseph you pick the point in actual marketing based high return on investments industries.

[nospam]

Who am I to deprive someone of a little good natured humor. Go for it.



nospam.

[extrajoseph]

After the funny bit, here is the serious part, I can't wait for the abusive replies.

IMHO, a large part of the CLF politics we are witnessing at present is the result of the commercialization of traditional Kung Fu in the west, and CLF is not the only traditional system under assault by the market forces.

To some CLF practitioners, there is a fear that if we acknowledge Chan Heung as the sole founder of CLF, then the Chan Family will be the only one who has the “brand name” and that is not good for business when you are not part of the family lineage. This is not true of course, but the irrational mind of money tells us we cannot let one family dominate the market by a name.

So they have to knock Chan Heung off the pedestal and install Cheung Yim, first as a co-founder and then as the alternative sole founder with Chan Heung as one of the teachers. Since Cheung Yim does not have any offsprings by blood, the smart entrepreneurs can set up their own brands using traditional CLF as a point of lineage/reference. Then everybody wins.

If we are really concerned with the true history of CLF then it is very easy to verify, but they don’t want to do this, it is too easy and would give the game away. Instead the Cheung Yim camp used our belief system (it is politically incorrect to question a person's faith, therefore it will be safe from scrutiny) and group consensus to get around the problem. They tell us we can never get to the bottom of history so we should believe in whatever we want to believe in and then they set up a committee of elders (none from the Chan family or Heroic Victory Hung Sing of course) and put out rulings of what the proper “social etiquette” (meaning what we should believe in) should be and if the students objected then they should go to Hong Kong to face these elders wrath.

What happens to historical research, critical analysis and thinking for yourself?

Before the spread of CLF widely from China/Hong Kong to the west, everyone accepted Chan Heung as the sole founder. Most of the so-called elders now were young members of the Association in Memory of Chan Heung (notice they didn’t have one for Cheung Yim then). They didn’t dare to then and there was no need to rock the boat. But now money is involved since most of the elders now have a lot of students in the west and some of them have migrated to the west themselves. They are now in the driver’s seat and there is only Chen Yong-Fa to deal with, so off you go Chan Heung - he has became a business “liability".

The fight between Futsan and King Mui as the place of origin is also connected with money. Each place wants to become the place of pilgrimage for the rich CLF practitioners from the west who will bring money and prestige. As a result, we will see a continue struggle between the two camps in this front as well. Master Lacey has fired the first shot, and I can see this coming clearly after my trip to China recently.

If I have to bet my money on the outcome, I have to put my odds on the Cheung Yim camp, because money will always win over history and tradition. Sad but that is the sign of out time. Our mind is controlled by brand names and by advertising and propaganda. Nothing is sacred any more, not even our belief and faith - they get manipulated as well. Every thing comes down to money; we can kiss history and tradition good bye.

So, so-long Chan Heung Gong. Long live Money and the New History!

JosephX

[yutyeesam]

Joseph X,
Perhaps I'm not grasping the magnitude of this issue, but I don't think Sifu Lacey speaks on behalf of all folks from the Cheung Yim lineage. It seems that many of the Cheung Yim Lineage folks pay full credit to Chan Heung and dub Cheung Yim as second generation CLF...so I doubt that the CLF enterpreneurs in the west like Tat Mau Wong would be compelled enough by that article to change the history that he's taught for years (ie, Chan Heung being the founder, and Cheung Yim a student).

But again, I may not be grasping the magnitude of this issue. Have you heard rumblings of other CLF sifus (Cheung Yim Lineage) saying that they agree with Lacey and should start rewriting history? If you have, then I concede to your point.

[extrajoseph]

Interesting enough, many of the "new breed" come from the Tarm Sarm's lineage. I hate naming names, but Sifu Chui Kwang-Yuan, son of Chui Cheung is one of the driving force behind the rewriting of history. He has many students in the States and in South America. Of course American Hung Sing is another example.

I doubted if clever entrepreneurs like Wong Tat-Mau would ever show his hands until the coast is clear. He is a very intelligent and pragmatic person and he is not going to give the game away so early.

Of course, there is the other alternative of dropping the name CLF but borrow its brand power by claiming that they have transcended or refined CLF to the point where it is no longer CLF. But still they make sure we can see a close association. Choi Li Ho Fut and Bak Sing Fut Gar are 2 examples I can think of.

I think the magnitude is there and judging from the reactions from this board, it is enough to worry me greatly. I hope my judgement is wrong.

JosephX

[JAZA]

I have all the respect for the fame of sifu Dave Lacey, but I think that this article it is not to diplomatic.
I prefer a lot more his brother, sifu Vince Lacey article on the same matter. It is a very intelligent view of see the things.www.buksing.com/personal_message.html

[urban tea]

Hi there,

You have the wrong use of "HSING" on your title page.

HSING is mandarin such as "HSING YI"
Cantonese for HSING YI would be "xing yi"
It should read " SING"

Buk Sing Fut Gar

Other than that, add some video clips!!

[urban tea]

Nevermind. YOu do have video clips.

I always wanted to put up a general kung fu webpage representing many styles.

I hope to add many video clips as well.

I need to take a dreamweaver html class.

[firepalm]

If you want cool video clips check out this page
http://www.wccma.com/videogallery.htm

[yutyeesam]

JosephX,
Somehow, I don't see the rewriting of history taking over in America. Like you alluded to, it seems to be too much a business risk for the saavy enterpreneurs. Especially when the two biggest camps are Lee Koon Hung/Tat Mau Wong and Doc Fai Wong.

But it is indeed interesting that the Tarm Sarm lineage is the change agent. That being said, my guess is that the rewriting will stay in the Buk Sing world.

Since you are Chan Family, I want to get your perspective on something, and I apologize in advance because I'm sure this has been a discussion thread before. It is the issue of the Green Grass Monk. Doc Fai Wong's school of thought rejects the notion that such a monk ever existed and was not part of CLF development, while the Cheung Yim folks indeed believe. I'm curious to know what the Chan Family thinks.

Thanks a lot,
123

[anton]

Isn't the Chan family version that "green grass monk" was a pseudonym of Choy Fook?

[extrajoseph]

I am not a Chan Family member although my lineage can be traced back to Chan Yiu-Chi.

The issue of Green Grass Monk was discussed extensively on the clfma website:

http://www.clfma.com/modules.php?op=...pic&topic=80&0

According to the Chan Family manuscript, Choy Fook admitted that he used the name GGM as one of his alias. A photo of the relevant document was shown on the website at one stage but I can not locate it anymore. It seem genuine to me.

JosephX