Shaolin looking for protection from Chinese government

[jkn75]

Interesting article.

 

[InvisibleFist]

Good god.

This is really terrible journalism. Shaolin is nothing but a tourist trap created by the PRC government. Now they want to start suing the guys that do REAL kung fu? Yeesh.

 

[Crom]

What he said.


Seeing as it would be pretty much impossible to decide who's teaching "authentic Shaolin kung fu" it would be pretty much impossible to stop people saying that they do.

 

[loki09789]

This is no different than copyright or trademark protection. If the government of China says that "Shaolin Kung Fu" or some specific term is solely for the temple art then it would be the same thing as saying that no one else can call their car a Honda and if they do, they will be penalized.

Also, politically, China is really shifting from the Communist Revolution view of destroying all the old Chinese cultural stuff because it is 'bad' relative to the 'good' and fair/equal communist doctrine to embracing cultural heritage. This may be part of that trend.

 

[Sin]

Its all about the money, honestly.

But I do agree that with all the tourists and people coming and going there isn't time or the tranquility to practice the Art any more

 

[7starmantis]

I dont see the big deal, why shouldn't they have some protection? Everyone starts throwing in the name shaolin to get students or create respect. Its pathetic, especially since these people dont even realize what they aligning themselves with.

I would most deffinitely NOT agree with the article that Shaolin temple is the cradle of CMA.

7sm

 

[loki09789]

Its all about the money, honestly.

But I do agree that with all the tourists and people coming and going there isn't time or the tranquility to practice the Art any more

I would disagree that it is all about money. It could be about credibility and responsibility.

Someone is misrepresenting Shaolin fighting arts to the world because they are just throwing the name on for marketing purposes. That person is teaching nothing close to Shaolin, but students/watchers are believing it to be Shaolin. That misrepresentation of the ethics/movement and training is unfair and unethical.

Even worse, someone gets hurt training the "Shaolin way" or uses "Shaolin" and injures someone else wrongfully in choices of action or excessiveness of application....who does that reflect on? The real practitioners.

I had a case where a fellow MArtist trained with me briefly and said that he wanted to learn just the Siniwali patterns without the full application/curriculum. I said that I didn't teach them that way. Low and behold, he opens a school with a list of arts being taught that would choke Jet Li. JKD, Arnis, Kenpo, Judo, JiuJiutsu...you name it there were at least 5 others.

I called him and asked him how much Arnis/Escrima training he had in order to claim that he would be able to teach it in his advertising. He admitted that other than a few seminars and the little time he spent with me, he had none. I called him on the ethical representation as well as the colateral liability/responsibility of that claim that it put on me as one of the people that 'taught' him the Arnis/Escrima he used in the event that he was sued or caused injury during an 'Arnis/Escrima' application or training. He refused to change the advertising and there was very little I could do about it. Fortunately, his poor judgement was not isolated to advertising claims and lead to the closing of his school so my concerns were taken care of.

I don't think that it is 'all about money' if you are dealing with a plaintif that is a Buddhist Priest/Institution. Money could be an influencing factor, but I don't think it is all about money.

 

[Sin]

I think that the chiniese government is trying to profit, not the Sholin Temple, thats what I ment by being all about the money.

 

[clfsean]

I think that the chiniese government is trying to profit, not the Sholin Temple, thats what I ment by being all about the money.

Ummm... Yongxin has an "Abbotmobile"... a C class 400 series (I think) Mercedes with a house in Deng Feng away from the Temple & one a little closer to the temple. Who's getting paid??

 

[loki09789]

I think that the chiniese government is trying to profit, not the Sholin Temple, thats what I ment by being all about the money.

How would the government profit from establishing a copyright/trademark protection on the term "Shaolin?"

If anything, the pattern of awarding individual or institutional rights/priviledges of identity undermines the socialistic/communistic credo even more than the limited free market has. They 'lose' in reputation.