Then there are those westerners on the touring “seminar” circuit, who have lived or are living “the dream” training abroad somewhere in Asia, and have nothing to show but “blah-blah-blah” theory talk on forums. Nothing to show in regards to competitions, fighting, and real skills of their art in question with non-compliant persons. A lot of talk from these folks, not much walk from them for sure. At best they are able to handle their own students with lesser skills, have good ability to market, and self-promotion. I am not a fan of these chaps in the slightest, especially when they claim secret skills and hidden methods. Most amateur part-time fighters can knock their professional non-fighting ass out cold.
Buyer Beware of these bums, most likely not worth your hard earned money to attend their seminars.
Lastly, there is another ex-pat breed who may not have competed and/or fought, however they are not full-time martial artist, but DO have real skill, are recognized by a lineage and teacher, but on the contrary, are not on the "seminar" circuit, nor active participants in martial art forums, or youtube. Having real skill, these folks are quiet and just keep to themselves. I have met a few and applause them. Bravo!
mixjourneyman wrote:time to stop lurking for long enough to say this:
never was very impressed with the training in shanghai, tianjin, or taipei. most of the Chinese folk I have met, even some with big names, really suck. some of them are great, like totally mind blowingly awesome, but only a few and not all of them are willing to share with you. I still haven't met anyone over here as good as my teacher, but on the other hand, I did manage to learn all about tea, erhu, gu qin, I can read classical Chinese now, planning a masters degree about the relationship between dao de jing and meditation at ubc, and still doing gongfu every day.
never been in a competition, never will be, not my reason for practicing. My shoulder is messed up from sanda, so I don't spar that much, i only ever push hands when forced now, but guys like jon niklin from the board can attest to my skills in that department. My MA training may seem less serious that when I showed up in Shanghai, but my life is way more colourful and good than it used to be before coming here.
Don't knock it till you've tried it.
MaartenSFS wrote:I'd love to see a Thai boxer try to take on my Taijiquan when we're both old..
GrahamB wrote:MaartenSFS wrote:I'd love to see a Thai boxer try to take on my Taijiquan when we're both old..
I've heard this argument from many people for many years. I've given it a lot of thought, and frankly….. my money would still be on the Thai Boxer when you're both 80
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