by jonathan.bluestein on Sat Nov 11, 2017 2:41 am
In response to the first two comments -
How many years have you guys been in the martial arts or practicing Wing Chun? Keith has been over 60 years in the martial arts and over 50 in Wing Chun. You think he perhaps lacks judgement, hmmm? That he could have made a better decision for himself and his organization?
The man has met, trained with and studied under a ridiculous amount of people. Just last week he went and visited another notable Pak Mei sifu and did hands with him and his students.
(not sure I can share the name here). He has met most of Yip Man's long-term students and have trained or did hands with many of them, Chu Shong Tin included. In fact, he has many pictures with Chu Shong Tin from different periods. While he told me that he supported and thought fondly of Chu Shong Tin's efforts to make his Wing Chun more internal, this was not what he personally was looking for. Chu Shong Tin had the recreate the internal gongfu on his own, too.
In terms of pure body mechanics, I am biased to think that the type of Jook Lum Southern Mantis I do would have fit very well with Wing Chun (though I could not have been master Kernspecht's teacher, of course!). So does Xing Yi. However, one does not chose a martial art in this context and under these circumstances solely based on similarities as such. Oftentimes, choosing something very different to your own gongfu makes a bigger impact and leads to a greater improvement.
Master Sam Chin is to master Kernspecht:
- A very serious practitioner who has a complete and well-rounded system, based on logic and with a very good and comprehensible curriculum.
- Someone with a system that does not focus on forms and with a curriculum not huge in size - important factors for an older practitioner.
- A kind, well-meaning individual with whom Keith has a sincere connection and shares many beliefs with.
- Someone with internal skills more developed than most other people master Kernspecht has thus far met, over his lifetime.
- A person with an already established big organization and logistical skills who is willing and happy to travel around and teach.
All of these factors were very important for master Kernspecht in making his decision to merge Zhong Xin Dao and its teachings into his global EWTO organization, and learn the system himself.
Part of his motivation was to be able to remain a leader in terms of showcasing his art and skills. Master Kernspecht is a hands-on person and likes to do hands with everyone. He is 72 years old and past his physical prime. He needed a system to help him deal with often very big, strong individuals with little effort, not relying on strength, speed or reflexes. In Zhong Xin Dao he found the solution. It works very well for him, as I have felt myself.
Now as Ian has rightfully commented, Zhong Xin Dao also features some southern-Chinese roots along with the northern-Chinese ones. Master Chin is Hakka Chinese and one of their family arts used to be Southern Mantis, and they seem to have had other Hakka influences.