I'd like to start off by saying that, although a lot of this will sound blatantly negative, this series of posts is ultimately aimed at improving the condition of said country/ies martial arts "scene". So enjoy...
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Ha.. I bet you thought Korea would be first. Guess again, yeller bastards.. As bad as Korea is, [Mainland] China takes the cake as "THE BULLSHIDO COUNTRY". Just about every martial arts school in China is enveloped by an ominous cloud of radioactive bullshit. Let's just cover some of the main points in an easy-to-read format:
1] If it's in a temple, it sucks. AND it will cost you an arm and a leg. This includes all of the famous temples at Songshan, Wudangshan, and Emeishan. And, as my Shifu has said, they were never all that good. Think of it like this: Who would be better at fighting; a monk that spends most of his days meditating and practising, or soldiers that spend their days in combat in a kill-or-be-killed manner?
2] If it's called Wushu, it sucks. 武术 (Wushu = Martial technique) has become 舞术 (Wushu = Dancing technique). Any school linked to the Athletics Department is bound to be Taolu (forms) practise only. With shitty, flexible (But not dangerously so) weapons, the practitioners will dance about in a non-martial fashion in synchronisation with moving background music. I'm sure that 99.9% of you can understand how much that sucks. As my Shifu and I have discussed, Taolu should only ever be used for Jibengong (Foundation training). If studied in this way, Taolu can strengthen the legs, increase flexibility, enhance conditioning, warm up the body, and look cool. Taolu were mostly just the philosophy or spirit of a particular style combined with any training methods the founder prefered. It was art, but art that could develop a man's body into a fighting machine. It has little, if any other martial uses (Though some Taolu are more technical than others). Anyways, though some of you may disagree with me there, none will disagree that practising Taolu only is "martial" dancing.
3] Even if you find a teacher that can fight, 90% of the time they are egotistical, sadistic arseholes that won't really teach you how to fight and overcharge you. There are so many of these pricks in China.. They are, by far, the majority of CMA practitioners in China. 'Nuf said.
4] CMA in China are overshadowed by imported "MA", especially TKD. For every Wushuguan you can find in China there will be at least fifteen to twenty TKD Dojangs (99.9% of them WTF, by the way). In one small town I saw Dojang after Dojang and only one shitty Wushuguan. It's no wonder that CMA are fading away... There's hardly any quality left and students can get a blackbelt in a year from TKD, so what's the point? I've seen TKD, Karate, Judo, and Kendo in China and the teachers were all shitty 1st Dans who had just gotten blackbelts themselves. The bottomline is that China has been taken over by McDojo/angs and that is truly sad.
5] If you don't speak Chinese, don't bother. You will only lose a lot of time and all of your money. In Yangshuo, Guilin, for example, there are schools that only teach to foreigners. What they are teaching is pure Bullshido and they have become filty rich. In a few years I may go challenge them when I open my own Sandaguan over there.
6] If it's internal, that means that you will be forced to endure repeated anal penetrations that will leave you gasping (In pain) and with an empty wallet. 90% of MA in China are bullshit. 99.9% of Internal MA in China are bullshit. They will tell you tall tales about how you will be able to walk on long reeds with ease and send someone hurtling back ten metres with only your Qi. Needless to say, except for a few schools probably already known to some members of this forum, if it's Internal, don't even try for it.
7] If it's in a beautiful area with pristine environment, it's bullshit. This includes parks and rural retreats. Avoid them like the plague.
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Well, now I bet you're asking; "But Maarten, what in the bloody Hell does that leave for us serious practitioners?" Not a fucking lot. If you're looking for something in China there are only two ways to find something:
A) Word of mouth. Talk to one of the well-regarded BS members in that area (If there are any) and get your arse over there.
B) Look for it yourself. I spent two years trying to find something, but the rewards are great.
There are actually some great people in China that are trying to restore China's martial prominance. My Shifu is one of them. He is also surprisingly educated about world MA (But doesn't speak a word of any foreign language) and advocates MMA (Which I see is popping up here and there). After I was admitted into their MA circle I had to change my mind about CMA being dead. Anyone is welcome to come by any time.
Your best bets in China are with Sanda. Even if you don't want to study Sanda, Sanda practitioners also often study other, more traditional, styles or at least know other people in the MA circles that do. Go look for Sandaguans and question the teachers. Also, contrary to what some members here think, I think Shuaijiao is also pretty good over here, though I hear the quality is highly variable from school to school. Sanda is pretty much MMA, anyways. Especially if you use Qinna after Shuai-ing (Taking them down to the ground) their arses, though repeated striking to the face is prefered (In self defense situations).
If you have any questions about this feel free to contact me. If you are pissed off because you study t3h r341 CMA and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, kiss my arse and write the name of your school, where it is, and why it isn't Bullshido in your reply.
- Maarten Sebastiaan Franks Spijker
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Ha.. I bet you thought Korea would be first. Guess again, yeller bastards.. As bad as Korea is, [Mainland] China takes the cake as "THE BULLSHIDO COUNTRY". Just about every martial arts school in China is enveloped by an ominous cloud of radioactive bullshit. Let's just cover some of the main points in an easy-to-read format:
1] If it's in a temple, it sucks. AND it will cost you an arm and a leg. This includes all of the famous temples at Songshan, Wudangshan, and Emeishan. And, as my Shifu has said, they were never all that good. Think of it like this: Who would be better at fighting; a monk that spends most of his days meditating and practising, or soldiers that spend their days in combat in a kill-or-be-killed manner?
2] If it's called Wushu, it sucks. 武术 (Wushu = Martial technique) has become 舞术 (Wushu = Dancing technique). Any school linked to the Athletics Department is bound to be Taolu (forms) practise only. With shitty, flexible (But not dangerously so) weapons, the practitioners will dance about in a non-martial fashion in synchronisation with moving background music. I'm sure that 99.9% of you can understand how much that sucks. As my Shifu and I have discussed, Taolu should only ever be used for Jibengong (Foundation training). If studied in this way, Taolu can strengthen the legs, increase flexibility, enhance conditioning, warm up the body, and look cool. Taolu were mostly just the philosophy or spirit of a particular style combined with any training methods the founder prefered. It was art, but art that could develop a man's body into a fighting machine. It has little, if any other martial uses (Though some Taolu are more technical than others). Anyways, though some of you may disagree with me there, none will disagree that practising Taolu only is "martial" dancing.
3] Even if you find a teacher that can fight, 90% of the time they are egotistical, sadistic arseholes that won't really teach you how to fight and overcharge you. There are so many of these pricks in China.. They are, by far, the majority of CMA practitioners in China. 'Nuf said.
4] CMA in China are overshadowed by imported "MA", especially TKD. For every Wushuguan you can find in China there will be at least fifteen to twenty TKD Dojangs (99.9% of them WTF, by the way). In one small town I saw Dojang after Dojang and only one shitty Wushuguan. It's no wonder that CMA are fading away... There's hardly any quality left and students can get a blackbelt in a year from TKD, so what's the point? I've seen TKD, Karate, Judo, and Kendo in China and the teachers were all shitty 1st Dans who had just gotten blackbelts themselves. The bottomline is that China has been taken over by McDojo/angs and that is truly sad.
5] If you don't speak Chinese, don't bother. You will only lose a lot of time and all of your money. In Yangshuo, Guilin, for example, there are schools that only teach to foreigners. What they are teaching is pure Bullshido and they have become filty rich. In a few years I may go challenge them when I open my own Sandaguan over there.
6] If it's internal, that means that you will be forced to endure repeated anal penetrations that will leave you gasping (In pain) and with an empty wallet. 90% of MA in China are bullshit. 99.9% of Internal MA in China are bullshit. They will tell you tall tales about how you will be able to walk on long reeds with ease and send someone hurtling back ten metres with only your Qi. Needless to say, except for a few schools probably already known to some members of this forum, if it's Internal, don't even try for it.
7] If it's in a beautiful area with pristine environment, it's bullshit. This includes parks and rural retreats. Avoid them like the plague.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, now I bet you're asking; "But Maarten, what in the bloody Hell does that leave for us serious practitioners?" Not a fucking lot. If you're looking for something in China there are only two ways to find something:
A) Word of mouth. Talk to one of the well-regarded BS members in that area (If there are any) and get your arse over there.
B) Look for it yourself. I spent two years trying to find something, but the rewards are great.
There are actually some great people in China that are trying to restore China's martial prominance. My Shifu is one of them. He is also surprisingly educated about world MA (But doesn't speak a word of any foreign language) and advocates MMA (Which I see is popping up here and there). After I was admitted into their MA circle I had to change my mind about CMA being dead. Anyone is welcome to come by any time.
Your best bets in China are with Sanda. Even if you don't want to study Sanda, Sanda practitioners also often study other, more traditional, styles or at least know other people in the MA circles that do. Go look for Sandaguans and question the teachers. Also, contrary to what some members here think, I think Shuaijiao is also pretty good over here, though I hear the quality is highly variable from school to school. Sanda is pretty much MMA, anyways. Especially if you use Qinna after Shuai-ing (Taking them down to the ground) their arses, though repeated striking to the face is prefered (In self defense situations).
If you have any questions about this feel free to contact me. If you are pissed off because you study t3h r341 CMA and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, kiss my arse and write the name of your school, where it is, and why it isn't Bullshido in your reply.
- Maarten Sebastiaan Franks Spijker
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