Sifu Kills 14 YR. Old Student

[banditshaw]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-by-tutor.html

[sanjuro_ronin]

Can't be kung fu, we all know it doesn't work.

On a serious note, ****...that was ridiculous on the part of the Teacher/Monk.
The commercial element is getting ridiculous, that is for sure, but I don't see how that has a baring on this case, unless this "monk" was imported in just to teach kung fu and might have some serious issues.

[TenTigers]

this is very good. Just what Shaolin needs. Perhaps this will trickle down and cause people to wake up to the fact that the name, "Shaolin" is now a reason to suspect charletans rather than trust teachers. People like these American Ambassadors, Shaolin Disciples, Wu-Shu performers with shaved heads, etc., have destroyed Shaolin's credibility, and capitalized on the ignorance of the public. I hope this makes some serious headlines.

[TaichiMantis]

Seems that one person's anger and pride led to actions unbecoming...

[Mano Mano]

TenTigers, I started to think that way about shaolin along time ago, around about the time of the 1st wheel of life tour.

[GeneChing]

I was going to move this to our Busted Teachers thread, but obviously, it's a Shaolin thing, so I'm moving it there.

There have been deaths before at Shaolin. In the infamous '96 Shaolin Wall Street Journal*, the first foreigner death was documented. I wasn't there when that happened and Shaolin locals are pretty hush-hush about it, but I've talked to foreigners who were there at the time. I've heard rumors of deaths before. I remembering being there in the late 90's and hearing that some girl had broken her neck practicing aerials but there was no way to validate that. Shaolin is extreme and death visits there like anywhere else.

But being beat to death by a teacher, that crosses the line. I don't doubt this happened, but there's a lot of missing data in this article, along with some misleading reporting. There are around 60 registered private M.A. schools in Dengfeng. These are not under the control of Shaolin. They are independent enterprises. The name of the school is very important. Master Shi implies that the master was or is a monk. Which monk is key. Some monks are more monkly than others. Brother Hongxing also implies a Shaolin connection, but Hong is not a generation name. Heng is, but not Hong. Here's a funny line:

While abbots at the monastery have expressed regret over the excesses of their disciples, they have refused to cut the numbers of youngsters enrolled in its schools.

There is only one abbot and that's Shi Yongxin. Like I said before, the private schools are not under Shaolin's direct control. Many have ties to the temple and several list Yongxin as an honorary director or president or something, but that's mostly honorary.

I'm c&ping the above linked article here for the archive.

Kung fu pupil beaten to death by tutor
By Damien McElroy in Beijing
Last Updated: 2:12PM BST 19/06/2001

THE beating to death of a pupil by a master at a martial arts school linked to the Shaolin Temple - the birthplace of kung fu - has shocked China.

The incident has prompted calls for a clamp on the rapid spread of such schools, and has intensified a national debate over the use of force by Chinese teachers. At any one time, about 15,000 students are in training at schools associated with the renowned temple on remote Mount Song, in central China's Henan province.

Most Chinese are aware that the route to enlightenment in Zen Buddhism's oldest martial art is harsh and exacting. However, the death of Tang Lingyong, 14, has sparked anger.

The boy was washing his clothes in a school courtyard when he became involved in a row with a tutor leading a class through a routine. The teacher, Master Shi, felt that the teenager was impinging on the space allotted for his lesson. Tang began to move away at Master Shi's request, but his sullen attitude angered the teacher.

Tang was summoned back to explain his behaviour. When he refused to answer Master Shi's questions, the teacher became enraged at his lack of respect and started raining blows on his chest. The boy fell to the ground unconscious and later died. Master Shi has been arrested, and some observers believe that he may face the death penalty.

Reports of the incident have led to public calls for the authorities to curb the proliferation of martial arts schools affiliated to the temple. One practitioner, Brother Hongxing, said: "Now that one person has been beaten to death and another is likely to be shot, you can't say that this is a good thing. The education commission should carry out healthy martial arts activities in primary, middle and high schools and shut up all private martial arts schools."

In the wake of Tang's death, the senior Shaolin monks have come under fire for encouraging the spread of schools around the monastery in the rush to cash in on its illustrious reputation. Shaolin's 1,500-year-old tradition has its roots in the fighting techniques developed to defend the temple from heathen invaders. Today, kung fu has become big business and the fighting monks are sought after as performance artists, bodyguards and film extras.

The monks' new slogan is "Make the temple feed the temple". There is concern, however, that the expansion is taking place without safeguards to protect novices. "These schools," declared Brother Hongxing, "are training guard dogs for wealthy people, bit-part actors who make their living by playing small roles in poor-quality television series, and hooligans who bully villagers."

While abbots at the monastery have expressed regret over the excesses of their disciples, they have refused to cut the numbers of youngsters enrolled in its schools.

Shaolin-trained experts stage performances around the world, including a recent tour of Britain. The Shaolin industry will get even bigger if one Hong Kong businessman has his way. Carl Ching wants to develop replica temples in Hong Kong and Los Angeles that would bring monks from China to stage performances and teach classes. The development, promises Mr Ching, will be bigger than Disneyland.

Meanwhile, the death at Shaolin has fuelled a Chinese debate over the teaching profession's reliance on physical discipline to maintain order among the spoilt and increasingly insolent "Little Emperors" - products of the one-child policy - now passing through school. An editorial in the Workers' Daily newspaper last week lambasted parents and teachers who believe that "hitting and kicking can get good test scores".

The pressure for results in China's underfunded education system is intense. Only three per cent of students leaving secondary school find a college place. However, academic pressure alone cannot explain the cruelty that is sometimes found in China's schools.

Recent reports have revealed that one boy was maimed when a tutor used a needle to scar the Chinese character for "thief" on his cheek. In another incident, a child was beaten to death for failing to clean a lavatory to his teacher's satisfaction.

[NJM]

"The education commission should carry out healthy martial arts activities in primary, middle and high schools and shut up all private martial arts schools."

PRC Suckup

[Shaolin Wookie]

this is very good. Just what Shaolin needs. Perhaps this will trickle down and cause people to wake up to the fact that the name, "Shaolin" is now a reason to suspect charletans rather than trust teachers. People like these American Ambassadors, Shaolin Disciples, Wu-Shu performers with shaved heads, etc., have destroyed Shaolin's credibility, and capitalized on the ignorance of the public. I hope this makes some serious headlines.

Lol....well, according to the Meir Sahar book, that's the way it always was. It was always suspect, and it was always commercial.

[B-Rad]

Wasn't this news reported on the forum quite awhile ago? This article in particular is from 2001.

[WinterPalm]

In real TCMA, death is just the beginning of truly learning and mastering the art.

[Scott R. Brown]

In real TCMA, death is just the beginning of truly learning and mastering the art.

This is true...the last time I was beaten to death I learned "to do a fair day's work for a fair day's wage!"

....or was that just in a movie I saw once??? I have been beaten so much I forget things sometimes! There is a fine line having some sense beaten into you, and having it beaten out of you! That is why only Masters are allowed to beat you to death!

[Songshan]

this is very good. Just what Shaolin needs. Perhaps this will trickle down and cause people to wake up to the fact that the name, "Shaolin" is now a reason to suspect charletans rather than trust teachers. People like these American Ambassadors, Shaolin Disciples, Wu-Shu performers with shaved heads, etc., have destroyed Shaolin's credibility, and capitalized on the ignorance of the public. I hope this makes some serious headlines.

No this is not good for shaolin. Skeptics will always be skeptics. I did a google search for "shaolin schools". You should have seen what came up. Lots of fraudulent schools using the name "shaolin" and claiming lineage from shaolin. There were all kinds of weird styles. I even looked at the website in your profile TenTigers. Your history section was blank as was your lineage section was blank. Oh and your web page had the traditional shaolin writing pasted on it. From the one video that was posted (which was pretty good) it looked your style has maybe a southern chinese influence but nothing songshan related? Basically what I am trying to say is yes, there are charlatans and scammers that exist but to dismiss the entire name "shaolin" as this is wrong. There are just as many "shaolin" schools here in the USA that claim heritage to the original shaolin temple when in reality there just scamming as bad too. That's the greater cause of Shaolin's credibility to be shaky.

About the article

I think Gene was right. There was a lot or important information left out. The school's name wasn't mentioned as well as the teachers full name. Looks like some of this info was left out on purpose? The article looks like it was dated in 2001.

[sha0lin1]

I spoke to my Master about this article this weekend. He was horrified and saddened by that kind of news. Saturday night he spoke to his brothers at Shaolin Temple and they told him that they had not heard of this. My Master thinks that if this truly did happen then it was not a monk. He said that the monks at Shaolin go through a pretty rigorous testing of personality and temperment before they become monks. He did say that some of the people at some of the other schools around the Temple and disciples do take Shi names so it was possible that if this did happen then it was a disciple or a person posing as a monk. Gene is right there are some interesting errors in the article. And I would question why they only said Master Shi and did not give his full name.

Perhaps one of our British brothers can vet this out for us.

Interesting too, how some of you are very quick to jump on the "I told you Shaolin is bad" band wagon. This story seems like a fake to me. Remember, don't believe everything you read, especially on the Internet.

[UK MONK]

the schools around shaolin manly employ the older students to become teachers when they are around 20/21 years old. when they are student they cant smoke, only get to go out once a week and get beaten if they dont perform well. and when the students become teachers they have a sense of importance and the power goes the their head.

i have seen a sanda coach beat a student till he is layed out on the floor. the coach then picked him up from his hair and beat him more. this went on for about 5 minutes. the hole room went silent and no one knew what to do. i was training in a shuaijio class at the time and my coach who is known as a "rough" coach was shocked. all because the student wasnt blocking a kick properly.

these coaches are under extreme pressure to get there students to perform at top levels. the rivalry between school is high and if your student loose in competition your school looses face and all the blame is put on the coach.

i have a friend who got into an argument with our coach. the argument came about because my friend was sick and couldnt train for that day. the coach came to his room and dragged him out. when my friend who was older than this young coach resisted the coach saw this as disrespect and started punching and kicking him. he ran down a hall way to get away but it was a dead end. at the end of the hallway there was pots and pans (dishes) and the coach grabbed a butchers knife. my friend who was scared and trying to get away from this young and hot headed coach grabbed a wok and there was a stand off. all the foreigners including me were gob smacked. with in seconds the situation had turned really nasty. we calmed the situation down and there was a meeting with the headmaster the coach and my friend. in the end the coach got off scot free and it seemed like the coach became very popular with all the other coaches. and my friend ended up leaving the very same day.

when i first when to shaolin in the summer of 2006 all the foreigners from all the school werent allowed out of the school at night because a foreigner went to a night club on baihaun lu and started dancing with the wrong girls and a group off young males who didnt like this bottled him and he didnt get up ever again... and the night club was closed for 3 weeks afterwards.

dengfeng can be a dangerous place with dangerous people. but remember there are many more good people there.

[UK MONK]

sorry for the long post. but iv got so many stories lol