What type of personsonality did KYC and YSW have?

[Fen]

I am wondering if they were friendly or co(ky? Were they serious about their MA? Basically, what type of people were they?

[NorthernShaolin]

tao of wushu,

First lets start off by stating that they were both very serious about their art because they were full time teachers. They did not have a second job to support themselves but relied on their skills of teaching the art as their so source of income.

To answer your question on these individuals is very difficult because they have past away many years ago. However I do have some material that may give you some insight of what they were like.

According to Kuo Ma who was a close friend of Yim Shan Wu, he states that YSW’s beliefs were simple: “To teach kung fu is to teach kung fu”. This means that he never liked to show off. Mr. Kuo stated, “In regards to his students, he was very strict. Any trouble that his students were involved, he would look into it personally. He advertised that his style was NSL but he never advertised that he was Kuo Yu Chang’s disciple. He did not talk much and he did not like to socialize. When LTH was alive, he would introduce YSW to many people but YSW always felt out of place at social events.”

Another disciple of YSW stated that YSW would love to play the Chinese game of MJ and would always play the game with his older students before and after class. As a sifu, he was always willing to teach everything he knew but it had to be exactly the way he learnt it. If he forgot any part of a set, he would not teach it at all. He would rather teach it the right way than not at all.

My sifu stated that YSW was very kind and understanding sifu to him and was always serious. When he was a student of KYC, YSW would practice so hard and would not stop until he was nearly exhausted.

Tai Chi Praying Master Chao Chi Cho said, “ Yim Shan Wu is a silent person but his kung fu is highly developed.”

Now every morning as his students practice the kicks and fist arts, YSW would practice his Ch’i Kung (Small Golden Bell technique) which he would make breathing sounds of his Ch’i Kung. This caught the attention of the neighbors who noted that his Ch’i Kung was excellent and thus would sent their sons to his class.

Now as for KYC, we can make indirect deduction of what he was like by exploring his situation when he went south. Here he was a master from the North who went south by the instruction of the KMT to help spread CMA at any cost to the population of southern China. He only spoke mandrian and so there existed a language problem and resentment from the southern people. They felt that the government saw the styles of the south was not good enough so they imported five masters from the north to teach them. KYC had to set aside his personal feeling and follow his task of what the government wanted him to do. He tried to avoid all fights despite taunting from southern instructors. Heated discussions involved how his teacher had injured another well-known fighter, Monk Ch’ing Eeng.

He was aware that a fight between masters would only result in death. If an outsider like himself would win a battle, it would only result of continuous trouble with unending challenges from other local masters. So when KYC was force into a confrontation, he would have a verbal altercation or passive battles in Ch’i Kung.

According to one of KYC ‘s disciple, Chen Hsin Mon, KYC had a battle with a southern army officer. They met on a floating bridge in the middle of the river. They battle with ch’i kung skills and heavy kung fu which is a contest of trying to move the other’s horse stance. In the end no one got hurt and they became good friends.

In the case of when KYC fought southern master, Tam Sam, KYC made a political decision and announced that their fight ended in a draw and thus exchanged students. This convinced not only Tam Sam but also many other southern masters that the need to promote CMA of all styles was important above everything else. They dropped their prejudices towards each other for the good of the country.

Many of his students stated that KYC was so open to his knowledge on CMA that he could not stop talking about it. Endless discussions on CMA and he often loan out many of his personal MA books to his students without caring if they were return.

There you have it.

[Fen]

Thank you Northern Shaolin,
I appreciate the feedback. You have answered my questions better than I would have imagined!

Thank you again!