The Fading Styles

Are there fewer Kungfu styles now than there once was?
by Feng Wu, translated by PengCheng

About ten years ago, one of my colleagues told me that he was acquainted with an old man whose surname was Wu. As a matter of fact, I had heard of him before. He was known as Old Man Wu. It was said that Old Man Wu was highly skilled at kung fu. He was a member of a group of bandits before the liberation. After the founding of the People's Republic China in 1949, he worked in the same tree farm as I did.

My colleague mentioned that he once saw Old Man Wu demonstrate his kung fu. At that time, he spent much time working with Old Man Wu. Some other colleagues often asked Old Man Wu to show off his skills when they took rests, but they were rejected every time. Not until Old Man Wu was near retirement did the lucky day come. That day, Old Man Wu was in a good mood and showed off his skills when asked. "It is not worth seeing," he said before starting. Crouched over a sleeper of the railway with his hands gripping his knees, he suddenly uttered a cry and leapt forward, landing firmly on the seventh sleeper ahead. He had covered a distance of three and half meters.

Later, I asked my colleague for Old Man Wu's address in the hope of learning from him. Unfortunately, he hadn't seen Old Man Wu in years and didn't know where he lived. A few months later, I learned that Old Man Wu had died a couple years ago. He had never married, and he spent the last years of his life at an old folk's home where he died. According to all who had known him, he had never taken on a student. Once a bandit, he had to be careful in his life, to avoid stirring up trouble. He seldom talked about kung fu when he was alive. Taking on a student, I think, would have been beyond his wildest dreams. I have often thought it a great pity that Old Man Wu's kung fu was lost to the world. In fact, Old Man Wu is not alone. I keep hearing similar stories of people like Old Man Wu who have faded away over the years, leaving a younger generation of kung fu practitioners regretting that such skills have been lost. From what I've heard, there are a great number of skilled kung fu masters like Old Man Wu who have submerged themselves among the folk, living quietly without attracting public attention.

Not until the year of 1982 was traditional Chinese kung fu taught in public. In the old days, kung fu lessons were given in secret. Quite often, students were trained with the door shut. I once had the honor of studying from a sifu (kung fu instructor) who practiced traditional Chinese wrestling. In the large yard of his house there was an immense water vat that was always kept covered. None of the kung fu students knew what it contained and what it was for. When I later took wrestling lessons from Sifu, I came to know that there was nothing inside it except sand. It was used to improve the students' specific skills when they were having their wrestling lessons. Before lessons, Sifu would give a demonstration. He made the water vat sway beautifully, using flexible footwork. As soon as he finished, my wushu brothers and I gathered around the water vat and tried to make it sway. Even when we exerted all our strength, we could barely budge it. Sifu stopped us and said, "It takes more than one cold day for the river to freeze three feet deep." Then he continued, "At first, it is just an empty vat. After you are proficient with the basic handwork and footwork, you can increase the weight of the water vat by adding sand. Keep doing this until the water vat is full." He paused and began to explain what benefits could be drawn from the practice. "As a basic training method, the swaying water vat technique has existed for a long time. It aims to enable the practitioner to keep his footwork stable and to gain force in the back, the arms and the hands as well. There is one saying in the martial arts world, which is, 'The great force conquers the sophisticated skills.' The martial arts learners in different countries also pay great attention to the training of the force. The traditional Chinese kung fu attaches importance to the integrated force that comes from all parts of the body. While this swaying water vat technique serves as a good helper." He concluded his speech with a sigh. "It is a great pity that it can not be spread widely, as it needs a spacious area. Besides, the big water vats are being manufactured far much less than previously. Moreover, there are few people left who keep training on it throughout their life. It is most likely that it will be lost in the world."

His words made a lasting impression on me. Filled with regret at this loss, I left there with the hope of seeing it resurrected sometime in the future.

After the great film SHAOLIN TEMPLE was released in China in 1982, a new upsurge on kung fu rose. Eye-pleasing forms were created under state regulation and spread far and wide. Many Chinese kung fu practitioners felt that they would be good at kung fu when they learned these forms. Shortly after the film, a great number of wushu schools or training centers were set up one after another throughout China. Although traditional Chinese kung fu lessons were provided in these wushu schools, most students took courses in competition forms or sanda (free boxing).

Traditional Chinese kung fu can be divided into three groups: the hard style, the soft style and the light style. The soft style involves training for litheness of the body and includes Nei Gong (exercises to benefit the internal organs) that promotes good health. All training techniques that involve force or strength or hardening of the body belong to the hard style family. Light style involves not only leaping techniques but also nimble footwork and flexibility.

This image and the image above illustrate the wooden bench style found in Fuzhou, Fujian, China. In the past, scissors repairers would use the wooden bench in their travels across the country; guards of gambling houses and theaters also used it. Though its primary purpose was for sitting, it could be employed as a weapon if fighting broke out. The wooden bench is not as elegant in its movements as other weapons such as sword, spear and stick. It is seldom used now, and few people study it.

Lessons at the kung fu school were modified to meet the needs of students eager for quick success and great instant benefits. As a result, the 100-day-rapid-result course came to light. But real kung fu requires years of incessant and painstaking efforts. Compared to real kung fu, the techniques gained with the rapid-result course are like gloomy tiles, while the former is cherished as jade. Without training in basic skills, the showy forms are bare postures. For instance, stabbing palm and finger techniques are frequently seen in forms designed for competition. These techniques are designed to hit home and hurt opponents badly. But they require hardness of the fingers, which in turn requires conditioning methods handed down generation to generation by kung fu masters; otherwise, the practitioner will suffer serious injury when adopting such stabbing techniques in real fighting.

Chinese traditional kung fu is systematic. Should the palm or fingers be stressed in a certain style, specific conditioning of the palms and the fingers is to be expected. But fundamental training in traditional kung fu is not only boring but usually takes a long time. As a result, kung fu students are greatly discouraged and often back out before entering the realm of kung fu. This is one of the main factors contributing to the absence of traditional kung fu lessons at some kung fu schools. Over the past a few years, I have made several attempts to give the traditional kung fu lessons to the students at the kung fu training center where I work, but I ended up with a sign every time. Students who are interested in the rapid-result course or flashy styles of kung fu show no interest in real kung fu that requires years of painstaking efforts. Handing down traditional kung fu to future generations is becoming ever more difficult. As a result, many styles of traditional Chinese kung fu are fading away like puffs of smoke.

Basic skills play a key role in traditional kung fu. There is an old saying in the martial arts world: "Without basic skills, one will end up with nothing." The basic skills of traditional kung fu are somewhat like the funds needed to do business. The more funds available, the more likely you will succeed. The ancient Chinese philosopher Hanfeizi once said, "Long sleeves are an advantage in a dance, while more funds are an advantage in a business." Should the day come when basic skills are neglected or disappear entirely, kung fu practitioners will suffer the same dilemma as the stone-broke businessmen.

Some techniques are losing their value due to inadequate training on basic skills. Take the stabbing leg technique. It could be adopted either to kick high at the opponent's head or to kick forward by moving fast close to the ground. It can also be used to attack the opponent's crotch or costal regions. It can be both cruel and clever. But this technique can only be executed effectively with a well-conditioned big toe. Due to this factor, some similar techniques are fading in the martial art world and finally out of the sight completely. However, some techniques have evolved into a different version. Once again take the stabbing leg technique. In the past, some people were good at the technique. But later most practitioners were too old or weak. Because of their physical limitations, they proceeded to attach a piece of iron plate to the toe of their shoes to compensate for their deficiency. In a fight, they could hurt others badly with the help of the iron plate. In addition to those too old or weak, women also adopted the trick. Generally in China, women are not as strong as men. Unable to outrun men, they made great efforts to train their big toes to make them hard enough to launch such attacks. As a result, they devoted much more time and energy to the trick. In the old days, Chinese women dressed in long skirts and had their feet bound. They were required to walk without flirting the skirt and exposing their feet. So most of the time they walked slowly. As their feet were shielded from view by the long skirt, it was difficult to detect the tricky shoes worn by female kung fu practitioners. In an actual fight, the opponent couldn't know that the female attacker was launching a fatal attack, as it seemed that the female attacker was about to walk forward when she raised up the foot. Quite often, the female attacker ended up the winner. One of the traditional Chinese leg techniques, called "under-the-skirt leg technique," got its vivid name from this legend. As the same satisfactory outcome can be obtained with the trick, it comes very naturally that there are fewer people left who keep training their big toes.

The Double Practice of the Home Town Stick style. The name arises from the fact that local villagers used it to protect their villages. The style was only handed down within certain villages. In the old days, fighting would occur between neighboring villages for the land they heavily relied on. In order to protect the village and their property, local villagers often invited martial artists to teach them, and to make them become good warriors. However, fighting between villages isn't found in China today. It comes very naturally that it is fading away

Some kung fu practitioners pay through the nose for the hard style, as it requires them to make certain parts of their body hard enough to serve as a weapon. Additionally, some hard style training techniques have been found to be unscientific or injurious to health. One of my sifus had a friend who trained his shins so hard that even the iron bar failed to make him feel pain. Whenever he was involved in a fight, he used his legs as a weapon. But in his forties he often felt pain in the shins for no reason. Later he underwent a medical check and found that the shins had turned black. Shortly afterwards, he passed away. Although some hard style training methods are designed reasonably, practitioners still can't escape from a similar fate. Quite often, they don't take opponents seriously and simply raise their hard-enough weapons to intercept the coming attacks, depending on that for defense. When they grow old and fragile, the undetected injuries begin to take their revenge. Ultimately they will be eaten up by the injuries. In China, this phenomenon is known as Hui Gong (Undoing the internal energy), which occurs frequently in old age. In the old days, Chinese kung fu practitioners didn't study kung fu for body fitness like we do today but as a means to make a living or gain social status. The unskilled or shoddy could lose their job at any time. So they often went to extremes at the price of overwork or even harming their bodies. Nowadays, unlike our kung fu ancestors, most kung fu students pursue martial arts with the purpose of self-defense or body fitness. Naturally, today's kung fu students steer clear of certain hard style techniques, even though they sound marvelous.

Chinese kung fu takes its root in the common people. Most Chinese kung fu masters are poorly educated. They devote more time and energy to the training than to academic research. Some vague, awkward-sounding words and ambiguous theories are used when they give lessons to their disciples. For example, one master might say, "The force shall be like that of the dragon playing in the sea," while some others will proclaim that "The force is like the wave in the ocean, the latter drives on the former." Of course, some illustrations are given by the master himself when the lesson is being given. But less than one-tenth of the disciples can finally gain the force described as that of the wave, the dragon. As a matter of fact, the wave-like or the dragon-like force is something that the master does feel after years of training. It is true. However, the most important thing to gain the force is the key to the movements. What the masters lack exactly is the ability to make the key tips clear. Although the disciples of future generations may fail to feel the force of the dragon, they will always keep it in their minds. The same words and theory are adopted when they move on to teach their disciples. In the end, the so-called dragon-like or wave-like force is like the castle in the air.

Some Chinese kung fu masters are very strict when they choose their formal disciples. They would rather make their style lost to the world than teach those who would abuse the martial arts. In additional to showing talent, hand-selected disciples should be both well-behaved and able to study diligently and train hard. Two opposite potentialities can be expected. Those who are lucky find followers who will develop their styles further and bring honor to their sects. Those unlucky will pass away without leaving behind a single disciple, as a suitable student never materialized during the master's life.

Some people hold that lost styles are due more to natural selection. Such styles lag far behind and fail to meet the needs of today's society. Governed by natural law -- select the superior and eliminate the inferior - these styles vanish. But in my opinion, some styles fade away not from a lack of merit, but rather from our lack of understanding and appreciation.

Written by Feng Wu, translated by PengCheng for KUNGFUMAGAZINE.COM

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