Mean Business When Entering the Ring in China!

[Bill Mattocks]

This is an article from the Calgary Daily Herald on October 17, 1928:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...XsNAAAAIBAJ&dq=chinese boxing&pg=1877,5857678

Basically, it says that if you're going to compete in China in "Chinese Boxing" or fencing or wrestling, you should 'mean business' because competitors often are injured or die. So much so that the government of China makes compensation to relatives of those killed whilst competing.

Hmmm, not like that today, really. Makes MMA seem kind of tame!

 

[tenzen]

Back then people trained right and had proper conditioning of the body to cause damage to an opponent. I always try to tell people that mma is not as great as it appears, but u can't tell people anything these days

 

[David43515]

Back then people trained right and had proper conditioning of the body to cause damage to an opponent. I always try to tell people that mma is not as great as it appears, but u can't tell people anything these days

Reminds me of what one of my teachers used to say back when "Full Contact Martial Arts" was still something new and exciting. "If we hit each other full contact and neither of us is crippled or killed....either it`s not full contact or it`s not martial arts."

 

[Xue Sheng]

This is an article from the Calgary Daily Herald on October 17, 1928:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...XsNAAAAIBAJ&dq=chinese boxing&pg=1877,5857678

Basically, it says that if you're going to compete in China in "Chinese Boxing" or fencing or wrestling, you should 'mean business' because competitors often are injured or die. So much so that the government of China makes compensation to relatives of those killed whilst competing.

Hmmm, not like that today, really. Makes MMA seem kind of tame!

It was damn nasty back then and then there were the challenge matches that were not publicized as much too. In old China if you said you could fight or claimed to be a sifu you better be able to back that up. Hell training with some of these guys could get you killed so fighting them....

 

[SouthPaw]

Is it wrong to want that? I mean to want to go to a sifu who will not hesitate to go that far; or go to a place of competition where its just.. actual?

I guess they made all the regulations because at some point, it got out of hand, but still.. feels like it's so far from that now

 

[tenzen]

No its not wrong at all. I think people should still fight bareknuckle. Gloves cause long term damage to the brain. In myanmar formerly burma they still fight bareknuckle, and if u. Go there to fight them u better mean business as the title states because they mean business. Se we fight for sports sake, they do there also but they r also fighting for their family and that puts things into a whole new ball game.

 

[Empty Hands]

Gloves cause long term damage to the brain.

So do knuckles.

Like most nostalgia, I'm pretty sure that the "good old days" full of challenge matches, "real" fighters and general badassery, are mostly overblown.

Full contact, no rules fighting does teach you a few things, for sure. But consider, training in such a fashion means that you won't be training as much or as long, and there will be physical consequences. Break your arm fighting? That's a month or two you won't be training. Break the wrong thing in the wrong way, get hit in the wrong place? You'll never be the same again.

The rules have a purpose.

 

[Xue Sheng]

So do knuckles.

Like most nostalgia, I'm pretty sure that the "good old days" full of challenge matches, "real" fighters and general badassery, are mostly overblown.

Full contact, no rules fighting does teach you a few things, for sure. But consider, training in such a fashion means that you won't be training as much or as long, and there will be physical consequences. Break your arm fighting? That's a month or two you won't be training. Break the wrong thing in the wrong way, get hit in the wrong place? You'll never be the same again.

The rules have a purpose.

Actually a lot of the challenges as in them occurring and as in people getting hurt really bad as well as killed is not overblown, however the number of people claiming to have fought and won them are.

If you look at many old school (now dead) Chinese Martial Arts Masters you will find that they were never defeated... or at least that is what you are told. So if they were always fighting and never defeated who were they fighting...most certainly not each other

If you opened a school in old China you were challenged and you fought and if you ended up having a school you won those fights but most of the time they were not trying to kill each other in those types of fights.

But there are stories of teachers killing students due to the harshness of their training and that is also likely fact. But still they were not out to kill their students, teaching was their job and they got paid to teach and if you kill all of those or too many of those paying you to teach you don't get paid.

It is not a time I want to go back to and I doubt there is any Legitimate MAist in China today that wants to go back their either for the vary reasons you posted, broken bones take time to heal and cut seriously into your ability to make a living...even in China

Rules are good, but if someone wants to fight today go to China and get yourself into a top level Sanshou match that sure is not any picnic, those guys play hard.