Chin Woo Federation

[AceHBK]

As the olympic games come closer and closer, it makes me wonder about all the different MA sects/styles that will be represented and how many people willl see things that they have never seen or heard of before.

It is ashame that Kung Fu is not a olympic sport and can't be shown to the world especally when it will be held in China.

It has made me think about Hou Yuan Jia and what he represneted and how he wanted chinese MA's to be. Why is it that the Chin Woo Federation doesn't get a lot of attention over her ein the states. One would think a school whse philosophy it is to stop segregating the chinese MA styles and instead preach and teach unity not be more widely embraced?

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Chin Woo's doctrine is for different systems to be able to train in the same place not to merge them together. Mizong Fist would not become Liu He Ba Fa nor would Hung Ga become Tai Chi Chuan. They would still all be separate systems.

There is no system called "Kung Fu". This name adapted by the West lumps everything into one name that people who don't know think is misleading. The separate identities are not seen.

As it stands, with Chinese martial arts becoming an Olympic sport, they aren't going to have any categories to distinguish one system from another, they would simply throw in State Sanctioned Wushu and competition forms of Tai Chi as the official sports.

This would again strip the distinct differences of each Chinese system and give those who don't know, the impression that THIS is "Kung Fu".

 

[Flying Crane]

It is ashame that Kung Fu is not a olympic sport and can't be shown to the world especally when it will be held in China.

In my opinion, kung fu is not a sport, and it should not be turned into one. Doing so leads to a high level of athleticism, but a low level of skill and understanding of the actual art and method. It's not a good trade.

I guess I don't understand why every physical endeavor needs to be turned into a competition. What void in one's psyche is competition filling? Not my cup of tea.

 

[Steel Tiger]

In my opinion, kung fu is not a sport, and it should not be turned into one. Doing so leads to a high level of athleticism, but a low level of skill and understanding of the actual art and method. It's not a good trade.

I guess I don't understand why every physical endeavor needs to be turned into a competition. What void in one's psyche is competition filling? Not my cup of tea.

I guess its just human nature to compete. Before the founding of the Jingwu, Huo Yuanjia was a challenge fighter.

The PRC is pushing pretty hard to have Wushu included as an Olympic sport at some stage, not Beijing however. There will probably be some demonstrations though. This, of course, will greatly raise the profile of Wushu, encouraging many people to take up the pseudo-combative sport, which will take potential students away from actual Chinese fighting arts.

TKD's push into the Olympics is the guide here, and perhaps fencing too. Those arts have had great growth of popularity but their reputations have suffered as well. Just look at all the discussion here about whether or not TKD has effective combatives in it anymore.

I don't know if Huo and the other masters who founded the Jingwu would very much like the nature of Chinese martial arts today. The Jingwu itself has become an organ of the PRC Wushu machine, which I think would really disappoint them. Still, one of the aims of the Jingwu was to keep martial arts in the public consciousness so it would stay alive, and Wushu definitely does that.

 

[AceHBK]

What is so bad about competition if the purpose of it is noble? There are many people in this world who lump all MA's into one catagory and reat it as such or think 1 art is superior to another. Why not show people on the grandest stage of them all the differences between the arts and show them that it is more than just fighting.

Lets not forget that back in the day they had nothing but competitions. I don't think clling it a sport takes anything away from it.

 

[theletch1]

What is so bad about competition if the purpose of it is noble? There are many people in this world who lump all MA's into one catagory and reat it as such or think 1 art is superior to another. Why not show people on the grandest stage of them all the differences between the arts and show them that it is more than just fighting.

Lets not forget that back in the day they had nothing but competitions. I don't think clling it a sport takes anything away from it.

Take a look at the TKD arts. How much of what makes tae kwan do an effective art for combat/SD has been lost by the sport aspect of it? When you take a martial art and turn it into a "sport" there are tons of rules that get added and many, many techniques that are tossed for what ever reason, too dangerous for competition what have you. Lumping all of the CMA together as "kung fu" sport would decimate many of the rich traditions that come from individual arts.