the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

Great (long) article, full of good bits. Here's a quote

"Almost everything that we practice today, from Taijiquan to Wing Chun, is a product of the second half of the 19th century or the first decades of the 20th. Some of these arts were created in response to periods of unprecedent upheaval in Chinese society, whereas others were fundamentally reformed and popularized among new groups of students. Individuals in China faced existential questions about the future of their state, society and economy during the century that spanned from 1850 to 1950. Some of the decades most important to the development of the modern martial arts (1890s, 1920s) were characterized by growing international conflict, domestic physical insecurity and warlordism. Of course, these were the precisely issues that inspired China’s martial arts reformers as they sought to reformulate cultural ideas and practices that had been inherited from the past. Seen in this light the generalist nature of these systems, and their holistic understanding of questions of human security and survival are less surprising. These systems were developed out of, and in response to, a unique period of crisis. As such, they may also be exactly what we need today."

https://chinesemartialstudies.com/2020/ ... tial-arts/

The part with a HK person sending her kids to taekwondo was sad. Mass-produced Japanese-Korean martial art with fake history and global organization is better than traditional Chinese folk martial art?

Can’t deny a TJD black belt is an internationally recognised qualification you could put on a cv.

It is a bit ironic that despite the attempt to support diversity, etc. more these days (at least superficially), certificates/qualifications inherently go against diversity.

CMA has always been about diversity and uniqueness; in this kind of world, if mass-produced TKD is what everyone wants, then there is no hope for CMA!

as i understand, one factor that martial art interested kids here in china are put in TKD schools rather than a CMA school is that the parents do not have to follow the otherwise rule of conduct of occationally giving gifts to and/or asking the teacher out for dinners

The reason that TKD is popular in China is because the rigid structure teaches discipline (and how to fold their own clothes), lets the parents relax for an hour or two and is an Olympic sport. Also, it's not Chinese. And it's safe...

I strongly dislike the CMA training order with solo form first and application later.

Since the virus, I start to teach CMA Miao Diao. I start to teach partner drills first. later on, when students link partner drills into sequence, they will get the solo form.

But most CMA teachers just jump into solo form without going through the partner drills first. IMO, this kind of teaching is totally in the wrong order. No wonder CMA teachers have created a lot of CMA dancers who can only do solo form and have no idea about application.

If we can all start from partner drills first (as shown in this clip), CMA will not have bad reputation as we have today.

Maybe the order came from the religious origins of CMA - e.g. Buddhism (Shaolin), Daoism (Wudang), etc. Not only would monks, etc. be unwilling to teach violence, but they also would have used the exercises for other reasons.

I think your order of partner first makes sense, and plus, they will not have to ask you about the applications later!

edededed wrote:be unwilling to teach violence, but they also would have used the exercises for other reasons.

- Not willing to teach the application.
- Over emphasize health, self-cultivation, inner peace, ...

are the major issues for CMA.

johnwang wrote:Since the virus, I start to teach CMA Miao Diao. I start to teach partner drills first. later on, when students link partner drills into sequence, they will get the solo form.

Some in-laws demonstrated a Miao Dao stationary overhead cut for me they learned in Taiwan. It looked like a good way to learn how to use the back bow. I've seen cuts off to the side that would be good to train the waist as an axis. That could be a simple way to teach the basic body mechanics.

One of the best ways to train the fists is by training the sabre.

johnwang wrote:

edededed wrote:be unwilling to teach violence, but they also would have used the exercises for other reasons.

- Not willing to teach the application.
- Over emphasize health, self-cultivation, inner peace, ...

are the major issues for CMA.

I think that a bigger problem is face...