China's martial arts state: An article by Yang Hai

[Andy_S]

No offense to Yang-hai who, AFAIK does not profess to be a scholar, but for what I would consider a real "master-level" article on traditional CMA (there are not many of those around) - click on the link Yuen-Ming has posted in the Wu Gongyi vs Chen Yefu thread.

[mixjourneyman]

I think Mr.Yang is just trying to convey his experience in Chinese martial arts. In that respect, he knows a lot. You can either take it for what it is, or not.

[xingyijuan]

No offense to Yang-hai who, AFAIK does not profess to be a scholar, but for what I would consider a real "master-level" article on traditional CMA (there are not many of those around) - click on the link Yuen-Ming has posted in the Wu Gongyi vs Chen Yefu thread.

You mean the Yip/Clark collaborative article about the fanfare that was that fight? That impresses you?... Well, ok then...

[edededed]

I think Mr. Yang is just trying to communicate what most people know about CMA in China, since most people don't know about that outside of China.

(Common knowledge to one man is rare trivia for another )

[Andy_S]

Juan:

Yes. The article posted is an exhaustively researched article about a significant event in modern CMA history in HK/Macau. The article goes into great depth on the personalities and the cultural contect of the fight; it is not just a single person's random commentry. In short, this article told me things I did not know.

Mr Yang's article was, IMO, a basic commentry on MA in China, and told me nothing I did not know already (with the exception of the part about challenges, which I question the credibility of). If others find it enlightening, fine, but considering the detailed lengths to which yourself and Mix go to critique other performances, I was expecting something much more in-depth.

No disrespect to Yang Hai, what I have seen of his MA I like a great deal. But presumably, this article was designed to be read by the general public who do not have much knowledge about MA in China.

[edededed]

Regarding challenges - there have always been lots of challenges in China between the various martial artists; however, the way they happen was influenced greatly by the native very important idea of "face" - thus, most matches are not held in public, or the results are only known to a select group of people, etc. Yeah, it's not very verifiable or workable from our Western point of view, but that is how it is (pride is much more important to Asians than it is to us Westerners).

[mixjourneyman]

Andy: two things.
Firstly: I don't think the article was meant to be a panacea and to enlighten everyone. I think it was just meant to talk about what has gone on and currently goes on in China. If you already know it, thats fine. People get whatever they get out of articles.
Secondly: I usually try to not criticize clips these days with one major exception. I do tend to critique clips of people who say that their XIngyi comes from Zhang Zhaodong, but I only speak harshly about the ones that do not look like Zhang's standard Xingyi (which can be seen in some videos on youtube. for instance, Alex Kozma's student and the Jiang style guys, since Jiang style is almost identical to Zhang style).
I don't think those critiques are unfair, since all I am doing is pointing out that they are probably not from Zhang, but from somewhere else.
I did critique CLomas' teacher, which I ultimately realized was pointless. Since then I generally just watch videos and only say anything if its positive.

I just wanted to get those two things out, since I feel that you may have been a) looking for too much or b) have already made a judgment.