Dear all,
How can you tell whether:

a) the teacher is teaching you genuine kung fu before you join the class
b) his level of skills

if you cannot see him or his students fight or sparring?



I ask this question is because I read a book about tai chi last month. The author from China stated that a highly skillful martial artist could tell the level of the skills of another martial art practitioner just by looking at how he stand!

I found this to be unbelievable, this is because the late sifu Leung Sheung could not recognise the late Grandmaster Yip Man's skills just by looking at him. He only became Grandmaster Yip Man's student after Grandmaster Yip Man defeated him in a fight.
The policemen who practised choy li fut only became Grandmaster Yip Man's students after he defeated them. None of them knew the level of Grandmaster Yip Man's skills until they actually fought him.

There is a chi sao clip on youtube where a wing chun master got hit while doing chi sao with a non co-operative partner in a demonstration. Well, any one can see the level of skills that master had based on that clip.


However, there is a forum member here, who keeps on telling people that you can tell the level of skills of other martial arts practitioner in a demonstration with a co-operative opponent from a video clip on youtube.
I know that I cannot tell how good anyone is in fighting just by looking at him/ her or in any demonstration involving co-operative opponent.
Therefore, how do the author and our forum member do it? What are their secrets?

Thank you very much