A Hypothetical Face of Kung Fu To The World

[pazman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeRSepyuQCA

Wing Chun is fat and even more passive aggressive than taichi.

[xinyidizi]

Central Kuoshu in Nanjing was established in the early 1900's as well as Jing Mo.
In the 1940's Wu-Shu was already being instituted in Chinese schools.
So, perhaps wu-shu and sanshou.

What do you mean by wushu? Was wushu a specific style back then?

[Lucas]

The government was never afraid of martial artists. Abolishing martial arts had more to do with the national identity of a people.

[Lee Chiang Po]

What is passive aggressive? It is a contradiction of terms I think. You know, there are very few if any real gung fu fighters on this forum. I think it is more a fantasy forum really. Wing Chun is probably the only real true fighting art that is represented by this forum, and most of what I see is just a chi sao compitition rather then a fighting system. I think that is why people look at it with such a jaundiced eye. I lay that off on Ip Man for teaching it to white folk.

[pazman]

Passive aggressiveness is expressing negative or destructive emotions in a subtle or indirect way. And you are right....chi sao and push hands are very prone to passive aggressiveness. This is one of the many lessons I learned in China, never accept a "push hands" match from a stranger. It's a good way to get sucker punched. Offering a sparring match will usually be answered with accusations of being violent and possibly getting the cops called on you.

This is why I like Sanda. Two people can have a clean, safe place to test their skills and know exactly where their skill stands.

[Bacon]

At the very least it gives you a commonly known ruleset under which to compete

[Faruq]

dude, they've been executing Gung-Fu Masters since the Ching Dynasty.
"Fan Ching Fuk Ming!"

Yeah I know, with the burning of the temple back in 1642. But that didn't start Wu-shu; just proliferated real gong gu throughout the country. The surprise to me was that Wu-shu would have started before the executions. I thought it started when the government realized what a great treasure they had lost when all those masters were executed, and in an effort to recapture it, they created the empty shell that is Wu-shu.

[Jimbo]

The Cultural Revolution was from 1966 to 1976; what is referred to as the modern, standardized 'Wu Shu' performance sport was started at least as early as the 1950s.

[David Jamieson]

The Cultural Revolution was from 1966 to 1976; what is referred to as the modern, standardized 'Wu Shu' performance sport was started at least as early as the 1950s.

True. Somewhere around '53 it started getting standardized.
In the 70's much of what was being passed off as traditional was in fact standardized wu shu with a lot of hyper extension and decimation of martial practicality. IN the 90's it was all re-organized into what we more or less see today with an addition here or there.

In truth, the traditional kung fu, with the exception of North Shaolin and Eagle Claw is pretty non-fancy, real straight line of attack, good footwork etc. So much so that when people see it, they don't believe it's Kung Fu because you aren't flying through the air like a fooking monkey.

[Faruq]

Well, I think Pak Mei Pai could represent gong fu to the world, or if not Pak Mei Pai Hung Kuen or Chan Sau Chung's system.

[Shaolin]

If Bruce Lee had never happened and Wing Chun and Jeet Kune Do had never become such popular martial arts, what system of gong fu do you think should represent gong fu to the world?

Shaolin. But I'm biased.

[mickey]

Greetings,

If Bruce Lee was not around, there might be a higher level of kung fu in this country and around the world.

It was not Bruce Lee that triggered the "sudden interest" in the Chinese martial arts, it was the kung fu movie boom triggered by Serafim Karalexis, beginning with Five Fingers of Death. It was the '70's that posed the question as to whether Karate was better that Chinese martial arts. And a few came forward to represent: Hui Cambrelen, Tayari Casel, and Paul Vizzio. They did represent well. Yet it would take few losses for more of the the real stuff to be shared by the Chinese community and if Bruce Lee did not exist, I think it would have happened a lot sooner. It's a face thing.

The presence of Wushu in this country had a lot to do with the Nixon administration. It was China's export to the world.

mickey

[PalmStriker]

When I was young and first heard of Chinese Kung fu in the 6o's, I envisioned something that would look just like the movement and ferocity in this video. This is how real kungfu should be presented, everything else, scraped. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYdl9...eature=related

[MightyB]

I think the TCMA image would've come much later - actually how it's evolving now. Jet Li would've done Shaolin Temple creating the craze that it did - and some 20 years later, Hollywood choreographers would've discovered TCMA. So I'm guessing it'd play out pretty much the same way as it has since BL's death on the Hollywood side.

On the practitioner side too - TCMA has pretty much been an underground thing here in the states. Usually immigrants / students from China or HK came here and set up shop with small numbers attending.

The international face probably would be a toss up between Jackie Chan and Jet Li. They still would have been huge in Asia, and Hollywood would've eventually found them.

[Shaolin]

If there were no Bruce Lee Chuck Norris would have been even bigger.