Get The Facts Straight - Or Don't Try to be a Kung Fu Historian!!!

It's finally time for me to rant about this website in Australia which is magically making up some details about the Fut Gar Style. This guy would have had the same degree of accuracy if he went on YouTube and randomly chose some forms and listed them as forms taught in the Fut Gar style.

Their site says:

There are now ten empty-hand forms starting with a hard, almost karate-like form, all the way to an internal form similar to taiji quan. The forms are:
· Seah Ying Diu Sau (Snake Form)
· Tai Ji Kuen (Prince's Form)
· Bak Mok (White Hair)
· Lohan Kuen (Monk's Fist)
· Dai Lin Wan (Large Connection)
· Dai Gum Gong (Big Solid Body)
· Chut Yup Bo (Out In Step)
· Maang Fu Ha San (Fierce Tiger Descending the Mountain)
· Tien Jaang (Complete Elbow)

First of all this guy can't count....he has listed 9 forms when he says there are ten. Secondly there are 11 hand forms in the Fut Gar system but the last form was traditionally only taught to the most senior, loyal students of the style...don't worry, all my students will have the opportunity to learn the form at some time :) Thirdly only 4 of the forms listed were actually Fut Gar forms.

So...why do I care?
Reason #1: As someone that has been asked to continue the lineage of Leung Tin Chiu's Fut Gar Kung Fu, I like to see as much information as possible available to the world but it would be nice if the information were correct.

Reason #2: This person basically scraped my school's website for any mention of form names and included them in his site...it is clear from our website that although we focus on Fut Gar, we also teach Lama and Choy Li Fut at our school so we list some of those forms on our site. The list of forms are all forms that are listed on my site and definitely are not a combination of forms that are taught anywhere else...it is impossible to "acquire" the list from anywhere else.

Reason #3: No attempt was made to contact us for clarification that the information they were quoting was correct. I am happy to help with appropriate information when asked and would definitely have clarified.

How do I know that the information was scraped from my site? Since he linked to my site, I know he has read my site.

So then they talk about weapons:

The nine original weapons were staff, spear, straight sword, broadsword, butterfly swords, kwan do, tiger fork, three-sectional staff, and the monk's spade. Some of Fut Gar weapons’ forms include:
· Hak Loong Dao (Black Dragon Broadsword)
· Fook Fu Gwun (Tiger Taming Staff)
· Ng Ma Quite Show (Five Horses Returning to the Feeding Post Staff)
· Loong Chien Gim (Dragon Well Sword)

Nice try again.....but only 2 of the forms listed are Fut Gar forms. Once again, these forms are taken off of my site and an assumption was made that they are Fut Gar. On top of that, in our branch Fut Gar Kung Fu there were not nine original weapons. Not sure where this information came from....could it be from some pictures on the website? To be clear, Fut Gar focuses on hand forms, staff forms and has one straight sword form....that is it.

To be fair, they did includes some other information that seems correct and I appreciate the attempt by this person/people to create some sort of background on Fut Gar for the benefit of their students but truly believe that they would have been better off telling the truth when it came to some of the things I have mentioned....they just don't know!!!

Fut Gar Flying Dragon Staff - YouTube

Here are a couple of YouTube videos of some people training on Flying Dragon Staff techniques. This is the most famous staff form in the Fut Gar style and was known as the "King of Staff Forms" in China. The person may or may not be a Fut Gar person but those that know the form will see the techniques here.





I encourage my students to view these videos for interest and to see some interesting uses of the staff techniques...I agree with some and disagree with some but remember that I always teach that a technique that is incorrect in theory becomes correct if you can prove/execute it successfully in a fighting situation. They identify the people in the videos but I don't know them. If they were serious Fut Gar practitioners, Sigung will know them so I will try to remember to ask him.

I am not sure if it is for demo/practice purposes but I can't stop wondering why the people are getting knocked down or off balance so easily...am I missing a rock that they keep tripping on? I also wonder why they allow themselves to be locked up by a staff....it is not a joint lock where you have to break out, you can let go of the staff before the opponent has levered you into the ground. Hopefully they were happily playing along with the training and not hanging on to the staff for dear life just because they didn't know what to do.

Chan Tai San and Chen Rong En - What Is the Connection?

Students of my school are aware that the curriculum taught in the school came from two sources, Grandmaster Chan Tai San and Grandmaster Chen Rong En. Students are extremely fortunate when they are able to train under a Sifu with great knowledge but to have the opportunity twice is unheard of. To be clear, I am not the luckiest person in the Martial Arts world...there was actually a connection between my Sifus (is that the proper pluralization?....Steve, Jackie help me out here). My time training with Chan Tai San was extremely important to my development and I was happy to spend the rest of my time training in Choy Li Fut (the style in which Chan Tai San named me an instructor) and Lama (the style that was taught to my brother Chow Wun Dak...for my students that is your Si Bak). Then one day in 1992 or 1993 my brother called me and said that Sifu has asked us to take up the Fut Gar style of Kung Fu with his friend Chen Rong En. Sifu had officially introduced Wun Dak (see picture above) and myself as good students that would be excellent candidates to carry on his style.

So how did they know each other? My Sifus were instructors in the same region of China at one point and happened to become friends. Below is a photo taken of instructors in the region...not sure how or why the instructors were brought together for a photo but you will see Chan Tai San (bottom row 2nd from the right) and Chen Rong En (middle row, middle). When Grandmaster Chen Rong En moved to Canada, he mentioned to Grandmaster Chan Tai San that he is looking for a few students to carry on the Fut Gar style and was promptly directed to my brother and I. I feel fortunate that Sifu would recommend me as a person that he felt highly of and with good character to carry on a style. I have done my best to ensure that the style survives as a whole style instead of in pieces as it is taught in many schools worldwide. My Sifus continued to stay in touch over the years and actually participated in an event together in 1995 (see photo below).

The 5 Methods of Fut Gar Kung Fu

In Siu Lum (Shaolin) Fut Gar Kung Fu the practitioner is guided by a set of theories on the way to be most successful in combat situations. It is important over time to ensure that these theories become automatic in the practioner's way of practice and eventually automatic in fighting situations.

These guiding principles are known as the 5 Methods of Fut Gar Kung Fu:

1. Keep your heart open
2. Ensure your eyes are clear
3. Hand movements are quick
4. Body movements are quick
5. Keep your foundation moving

Students of The National Fut Gar Kung Fu Training Centre are taught the indepth meaning of the 5 methods over time, the 5 consequences of not integrating the methods into their fighting as well as how these are tied together by 5 theories of engagement. As these are the basic principles behind Fut Gar's fighting theory, all Fut Gar schools in the Leung Tin Chiu Fut Gar system incorporate these into their training.

Happy Holidays

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Have a wonderful, safe holiday. Quick note for Kung Fu students....I heard there is a fat ninja dressed all in red that has been sneaking into peoples' houses every Christmas. Rumour is that the best thing to do is distract him with cookies and milk....then attack. He'll probably be carrying a whole bag of stuff that he "acquired" somewhere.

Grandmaster Chen Rong En

Members of The National Fut Gar Kung Fu Training Centre all know Grandmaster Chen Rong En (Chen Wing Yun) the head of Fut Gar Kung Fu worldwide. He is known as the only person that is still able to teach the entire Fut Gar Kung Fu system and has taken particular interest in the students of our school in Toronto, ON, Canada as the school that will continue to spread/keep alive the style in the future. We now have the help of a sister school in China that was formed a few years ago and an International Fut Gar Federation that was formed about a month ago. There are other schools in the world teaching our branch of Fut Gar Kung Fu (also known as Shaolin Fut Gar/Siu Lum Fut Gar), which was founded by Leung Tin Chiu (Chee) but most are teaching a portion of the style and do not include all the forms. As far as we know, no others are focused entirely on Fut Gar but we would love to hear from anyone who is.

The following video was from a past visit that Grandmaster Chen made to our school and is a slowed down performance of the Dai Bat Sin form. At the time of this video he is 82-83 years of age.

Premature Celebrations

As students are permitted to begin sparring/fighting in martial arts classes it is good to keep in mind that you are there to learn as is the person you are paired with. The best way to do this is by checking your ego at the door and walking in with a clear mind. Too often during my 20 years of teaching have I seen someone land a strike during a fight and completely stop the fight with their celebration. This premature celebration is unnecessary and unproductive with negative results.

What you accomplish with this celebration is:

1. Embarrass your training partner...not a nice thing to do to a friend.
2. Escalate the fight as the opponent now would like to have his/her own celebration.
3. Potentially hinder the training of your opponent as well as yourself because your opponent becomes overcautious to avoid another embarrassment.
4. As an experienced student, make yourself look silly...come on, act like you have done it before!!!! Yes, I am giving the OK to celebrate a bit if you have never landed a strike in sparring in the past.
   
5. Show that you assume that you are so powerful that your strike would actually end the fight...what are the chances that your jab to the chest would actually knock the person out?

I do not believe in point fighting as it assumes that all fights end once someone is hit. I believe sparring should be continuous and if you are cornered, you should find a way to get out of the corner. Since I do not teach full contact fighting, the next point is very important - acknowledge when someone's technique is so clean that it would knock you down...congratulate your opponent for a good technique and figure out how to prevent it in the future.

A few other pointers for eager sparring participants. If you successfully land a technique, make sure to keep your guard up and continue the fight...stay in the habit of being on guard. No premature celebrations that assume that the fight is over. Respect your opponent...martial arts has no place for those that enjoy hurting someone. Aim to learn...don't worry about how many times you hit or got hit, worry about improving your precision and proficiency.

Fighting Through Monotony

I have mentioned to the students over the years that Kung Fu or Martial Arts in general has no season. This is one reason that Kung Fu has such a high dropout rate. Other activities have a season where you can give full effort and then relax in the off season so you can come back recharged for the next season. Martial Arts is intended more as a lifestyle choice than a regular activity. If you choose to succeed in Martial Arts, you have to push through the monotony of repeating things repeatedly for years without breaks.

As an instructor, I aim to guide, encourage and teach the students but cannot be the sole source of motivation. Each student must be self motivated to force themselves to work during class...I do not babysit and do not micro-manage the training of the students. As a student of Kung Fu, I also had to ensure that I was motivating myself to continue to train and improve no matter how monotonous the training became. Unfortunately, there is no shortcut. You have to put in your repetitions to improve.

Some key points in staying on track are:

• Understand why you need to repeat things
  
• Realize that bored is good because it means you no longer are struggling to remember which is probably the time when your brain will start to learn and fully discover the techniques being practiced
• Set the time aside - your training nights are not available for other activities
• Show up to class - force yourself to go no matter how sore you are from past workouts or how tired you are from things leading up to class...you will feel fine once class starts
• Occupy your mind on improving - focus on implementing changes that the instructor recommend

As students continue to practice forms or techniques, they will go through several stages of development:

1. Learning - this is exciting as everything is new at this time and you need to fully concentrate to remember the content being taught
2. Remembering - this is when you feel that you can execute the technique or form without and hesitation or thinking...unfortunately, it is very tempting to stop practicing at this point and move on to something else
3. Owning the technique or form - executed automatically through muscle memory...no thinking so the speed of execution is greatly increase
4. Boredom - the student has performed it so many times that it is not exciting anymore...this is where you start to discover different uses for the techniques and become innovative with your form
5. Mastering - I am not convinced that you ever completely "master" something but the martial artist has gotten to a level with a form that they can execute at a high level of proficiency even if they are not practicing the form regularly
   

Look at all the Colourful Sashes/Belts - What Does It Mean?

Walking into my class you will notice a group of students dressed mainly in black with various coloured of sashes around their waist. This is very nice but keep in mind it is not the traditional way. For years I have struggled with the question of whether or not we should all wear the same colour of sash within the class and even went for a period of time with everyone wearing the same colour. Those in my class will understand that although we use colours to differentiate achievement levels, the real identification of where you rank in the class is by seniority/time as a member. We treat this as a family where your elder brother or sister will always be your elder brother or sister even if you surpass them in quantity of techniques learned.

Why have them? I have already mentioned that this helps me remember where the students are in their training and what they should have learned. I also believe that it is nice for the students to see advancement and achievement throughout their training in Kung Fu or any Martial Art.

What does it all mean? I would like my students to be proud of their achievements and be happy that they are progressing within our system. At the same time, I would like the students to understand that there are really 2 levels within the school, Sifu (instructor) or student. Within the school there is one Sifu....that being the head instructor.