Them fancy Chinese duds...

[geezer]

How do you folks feel about them fancy Chinese get-ups. You know, those baggy satin pants with stripes or curly-cues on the knees like the ace of spades in a deck of cards. Then there's the tops with all those knotted buttons, colored sashes, some with fringe or tassles, heck, even slippers or high top booties to match.

Well back in the 70s when I first started out, I spent a short time in a Shaolin school and when I dumped my old sweats for real uniform I thought that was just dandy! I continued in that frame of mind for a long time, laundering and folding my duds like they were a priest's holy robes. But eventually, after many years in and out of a couple of arts, I began to take a different view.

I think I can sum it up this way. I'm a high school art teacher and I have a dandy old VHS video of a traditional Taiwanese potter working his craft that must date back to the 60s or before. He wears baggy black shorts, a white sleaveless "wife-beater" style undershirt and the same leather-soled black "kung-fu" slippers that we wear at my Kwoon, just like those that Grandmaster Yip Man can be seen wearing in so many old photos. In other words, this old master potter, when practicing his trade, wore the same clothes (except made of more serious, durable quality) that we wear as our extra special "summer" uniforms (with the short pants). So, it turns out that our uniforms are either based on outlandish lion-dancing costumes or on old style Chinese work clothes!

With this in mind, I've decided that outside of exhibitions and other special circumstances (like having to teach class according to my association's rules), I personally prefer an honest seat of grungy sweats. It just seems that they express the truth of what kung-fu is about, ie mastery of a craft through hard work, much more than playing dress-up. ...Any thoughts?

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

While I agree that kung fu is about hard training, I like the fancy duds, too. They're just not a requirement.

 

[blindsage]

Pajamas!

 

[Xue Sheng]

The only time I wore the "Fancy Duds" was when I trained with my first sifu and he had us doing demos on a stage.... white silk with red trim... To be honest they made me feel a bit silly and all I could think of was that I was doing taiji and long fist in.... well....blindsage already said it.....Pajamas.

All other CMA schools I have trained at and people I have traind with it is simply whatever I decide to wear... And it is NEVER the fancy Duds of my first sifu.... although I still do have them in a closet someplace

 

[clfsean]

Demonstrations... "fancy duds"...

Training... whatever...

 

[ggg214]

in summer, wearing a silk kong fu trousers can help you out of mosquitoes bite.
^-^

 

[David43515]

I always wore the fancy uniforms for demos and public appearances, but sweats in class. (Okay, when I began as a kid I just had to have a pair of "real" kung-fu pants like Bruce Lee wore. With the broad elastic waist and cuffs.)

Most of the photos my teachers had of them training in China and Taiwan showed them either in sweats or everyday clothes. I knew one guy from Hawaii who did all his early training at a chinese mens club in the 50`s and 60`s. He said they instructor there worked at a hotel or resturaunt and wore suits all day. When he taught he just took off his jacket and tie and taught in slacks and white shirt.....in dress shoes.

I think I read somewhere that what we think of as kung fu uniforms are actually just the home-made everyday cloths from the T`ang dynasty. They`re very old Chinese street clothes.

 

[mook jong man]

They probably look better if your Chinese , sort of like white dudes with dread locks it just doesn't look right.

As I am a pretty heavy sweater and not involved with a school any more I prefer to wear shorts and a T- shirt something that is more appropriate for the Aussie climate.

 

[kaizasosei]

They probably look better if your Chinese , sort of like white dudes with dread locks it just doesn't look right.

well, i can understand to some degree, but really it is the body and skill of the individual that makes it good. Doesnt matter what race they are. Also depends on the time and place. Eastern traditional clothing is not all too common anymore even in the east. So it would be seen as cliche even at home-if that makes anyone feel better. Some argue that traditional already implies oblsolete or dead. Whereas in the past the traditional styles were living or practical and in use commonly.

Sometimes many people think that it's the clothes that make the man but this is not truly so. They can look cool if you train well in your art and then to boot dress up accordingly.
i'm not too big on elaborate costumes myself because for one they're expensive and 2-i would need at least 3 or 4 different suits.

hmm, i wonder if it would be worth it to go down to the ma store one day and ask to try on all suits, save the spandex, and then just buy a book or something.

For myself, i must admit that is was really empowering for as a ninjalovin kid with my trusty ninjasuit, but i no longer have a ninja suit and the ones on sale here just don't do it for me.-all the velcro,no hiddenpockes or knee and ankle ties-gauntlets are tacky. So now when i go to wherever i just wear baggy black or white pants or my white gi with a white belt that i received from daitoryu, if not a tshirt. I like wearing tabi when i have them and have worn the indoor ones also to mma training on a few occasions. Otherwise barefoot in aikido and in pancrase training it was regulation to be barefoot.

Once there was one comment that i was wearing black pants to aikido to resemble the black hakama wearers...but i really didn't even think of that and from that time on bought myself some better fitting white trousers which i gladly wear as they are even baggier and sturdier than my black flimsy pants. In aikido, yudansha wear hakama -so i guess black trousers may look like hakama from a distance or to the casual observer. I can see that it might be confusing and am not concerned about rank that's why i switched.




j

 

[mograph]

In our yiquan class, the Cantonese folks wear street clothes ("come as you are") and the English folks wear sweats or street clothes. If they come from a club that does Tai Chi in sweats, they wear sweats. I wear street clothes, because I'm a suck-up.

If I were asked to do a demo, I'd probably wear a clean, simple t-shirt and clean (loose) black warmup pants.

 

[Darksoul]

-When I studied Northern Mantis for a bit, we wore black workout pants and white or black t-shirts with the school's name and logo on it, both provided by the school. Most of the students wore light shoes, kung-fu style or wrestling shoes. Occasionally, one of the senior students would wear something a little more elaborate, but hey, senior student. Sifu wore whatever he wanted, lol.

Andrew