YKS gatekeeper?

[clam61]

most likely he, like tom wong and others, have paid for their training with blood and treasure (lots of it! very expensive to be an indoor student)

they preserve the culture of secrecy in CMA and will only teach the most valuable stuff to trusted students

[reneritchie]

Sweat and blood was definitely the currency at Sigungs. Even in his 70s, he worked hands-on, one-on-one. He said he needed to sweat with you so you could feel it. Truly awesome teacher.

FWIW, however, I don't think it's fair to say inner door and money were linked. The cultural revolution and communism were hard times and most of his early (and he would say best) students were in the unions with him well before China opened. They definitely bled together long before money became realistic.

Later, sure, especially when HK opened up people paid for status. Sigung figured if you wanted to throw money at him, who was he to refuse? But he also knew you couldn't buy WCK. He said he could show you all the forms in a day, but they meant nothing if you couldn't use every move.

Like you said, the good ones were all the sweat and blood ones.

BTW- Thanks for bring back the great memories

[clam61]

I don't think it's fair to say inner door and money were linked

they definitely are. private teaching always cost boatloads. yip man had to pay lots. he was from a rich family. yuen kay san never worked a day in his life. the list goes on.

i dont know how much sum nung charged during those hard times. he probably had to ride the market like everyone else and lower his fees, but historically kung fu was always a very expensive luxury taught to the wealthy.

[reneritchie]

Sum Nung learned from Yuen Kay-San after the Japanese cut off his family's access to their money, and many of his students learned during the cultural revolution where, if you worked harder, they gave you the same amount of rice. If you had more children, they gave you the same amount of rice.

At times, you're correct. Money meant something. Other times, other things meant more.

And never did money buy Sum Nung's art, of course (I know you know that, but just in case people read the post incorrectly).

[Hendrik]

they definitely are. private teaching always cost boatloads. ............ historically kung fu was always a very expensive luxury taught to the wealthy.

Speaking about older generation, things vary.

I practically paid nothing to my sifu late Gm Cho Hong Choy to learn Yik Kam's WCK.
My late sifu told me, one of the reason sifu's collect lots of money is to make the student take it serious.

Also, in China, often the student invite the sifu to stay/live with them so that the student taking care of the sifu's old age.

[clam61]

great points as always rene, but sum nung actually charged a lot of money to teach. this is not to say that he was a sellout. he didnt teach anyone and was very selective and secretive about techniques. he generally was against filming (although he did at one point) and he didnt like books being written about WC either.

i cant speak for his cultural revolution days, but afterwards it didnt come cheap.

im saying in general KF costs a lot to learn. there can be exceptions due to unique circumstances.