Ch6. MMA?

Oh, I love MMA! I still remember the first time watching Royce Gracie got his opponents down and put them into submission, it was awesome!  And the first time when I encountered a MMA fighter was fun, an opponent talked no rules and no boundaries! Finally I met someone spoke the same language as Kong Fu guys did! 


Wait! you must say now. MMA is very different from Kong Fu! You don't see ground fighting in Kong Fu and you don't believe in big muscle and hard, rough punches! Well, you don't see ground fighting probably because they don't teach you that and you guys don't really play it out, and you do need good muscle to carry out powerful punches and good defenses. It is very clear that the traditional kong fu is made up with Punches, Kicks, Grapples and Wrestles. So the right question is, why don't you learned them all?


In fact, all Kong Fu styles are MMA, Mixed Martial Arts. For example, Mantis style, it is documented by its founder Master Lan Wang in the late 16th century that he integrated 18 different kong fu styles and mimicked the posture of mantis to create his unique kong fu system. Tai-Chi, another super famous kong fu style, is a combination of the traditional northern long fist styles and the Chen family's own style which, few people know, emphasis on wrestling and grappling skills. And in some systems, the names of the styles clearly state the mixed heritage of their system, such as the famous and powerful southern style , the Choy-Lee-Fut system, says clearly about its three different origins.


Like all great human creations, Kong Fu is a living thing and an evolving skill set that adopts to its time. And like all other human knowledge, it needs all sorts of inputs, for trail and error, corrections and integration to keep it alive and useful. Good systems learn from the past and open their eyes to the modern time, and good masters integrate what they have learned, experienced into their own styles. That is evolution. Not some exclusive daddy to son stuff. 

Coming up next: Ch7. Getting Start.

Ch.5 Kong Fu Legends and The Grand Heritage.

About 1,500 years ago the Emperor of the Great Tong Dynasty sent monks of Shaolin temple which is believed to be the origin or birth place of the Chinese Kong fu to travel to the south-east part of main land China to build a branch of the Famous Southern Shaolin Temple and train local people with the secrets of Shaolin Kong Fu to fight the pirates who were harassing the coast line, ever since then, the secrets of Chinese martial arts has rooted in the Southern part of China and trained many of the martial artists who were later famous for their animal mimicking styles. However, in the late 17 century, the southern Shaolin Temple was oppressed by the authority because it didn’t recognize the ruling emperor of the Ching Dynasty and out of rage, the emperor sent out an army to destroy it. After a ferocious fight, only five masters fled and they guarded the secrets of Kong Fu with them. Later they changed their names and hind in secrecy, the masters taught their Shaolin Kong fu to few chosen ones in the hope to rebel someday and rebuild the Great Shaolin Temple. And the Founding Master of my system was the direct descent of one of the five masters who fled the destruction of the Temple. And I am the certified master of the Seventh generation of our system. We have the most authentic secrets of Kong fu and we are the one true way for you to become a master.

Kinda cool! right?

There are a few questions I would like to encourage you to ask me though. The first one is, despite being a foreigner and don’t know much about the Chinese history, still you might happen to know that China has a much longer history than 1,500 years and what were the skills the people use to fight each other before the establishment of Shaolin Temple? Hmmm…probably not Shaolin Kong Fu. And the second question is that since the Chinese people in the north has been fighting the people in the south since very much the beginning of time, you should really wonder how could people in the south defend themselves from the northern army before the Shaolin temple decided to franchise it in the south?

But if you keep asking questions like these and Google a little more about Chinese history, I assume you will get your ass kicked by your master soon.

Chinese people have been doing a lot of fighting since very long time ago (Most of the Chinese Historian will agree that there was one hell of war in about 4,200 years ago when the southern tribal leader raged his army thousands of kilometers across China to the north for the control of China). The recent archeology excavation showed an ancient well balanced double edged bronze sword dated almost 2,200 years ago, still sharp and has elegant markings on it.

And throughout the history, The kings and emperors of China kept fighting to each other, The fighters, warriors and solders actually mixed each other’s styles and make it more suitable for their own preferences when they found anything useful. If you can recognize this fact, you will see that there is no pure breed of fighting style and anyone claims to be the pure descendant of some system is very suspicious. He or She is either weak like most of the pure breeds do or just being naïve.

Kong Fu is a living thing, not some archeology subject that the older is the better. You do not see a scientist hold on to the ancient Greeks’ theories and refuse to explore; you do not see a sprint runner refuse to adopt the latest training program and diet; you do not see an army general refuse to equip his men with better and innovative gears. Why would you insist on finding the most ancient and old heritage of Kong Fu if you want to learn it and use it?

The recent Chinese history is chaotic and tragic, two world wars killed almost 70 million people in China and the consequent famine and civil war killed even more. Many kong fu masters were killed, or lost in the long line of the refugee camps. Whoever survived were not necessarily the best masters but merely the luckiest ones. The China government seized all martial arts during the Culture Revolution in the 1970’s, it search and killed the remaining masters as many as it could. The modern day Shaolin Temple is only a tool of getting tourist money and satisfying the shallow curiosity towards the Ancient Orient. And just in case you don’t know, The Shaolin Temple is going to have an IPO in the stock market and welcome for franchise.

Being a kong fu instructor, I have no interest at the tall tells and heritages that may make me more presentable or prestigious. I am more concerned about the reasons and logics of the moves I learned from my master and how should I pass them to my students. I am devoting my time to make them more powerful and efficient. And I study other styles, practice with different doctrines such as Ju-Do, Brazilian Jit Jusu, boxing…etc and I respect all the people who are committed in all kinds of martial arts. I want to restore the glory of Kong Fu not by telling you fancy stories of the past but by showing you the punches and kicks that works now.  

Being a Kong Fu student, I urge you to do the same.

Coming up next: Ch.6 MMA?

Ch.4 What Kong Fu System Should I Choose?

Now you have made up your mind and prepared to launch yourself into the world of ancient Chinese martial arts, but what is the one true way for you? Just like purchasing your new MP3 player: Ask, compare and weigh your own needs.

When it comes to buy a MP3, you won’t miss too much if you just jump in an APPLE store or buy a SONY. But Kong Fu as a product is not a well evaluated and marketed commodity like the consumer electronics. You need to be a savvy buyer before you invest your time and money. Because in the Kong fu market, the brand name kong fu school can screw you up quite a bit and make you a total loser when you need it.

Ask questions to the master whose style that you are interested in, but please do not focus on the history and heritage stuff, I have to be honest with you, most of the amazing history and grand heritage you heard are pretty much as real as The Lord of The Rings. I too have an amazing one for you if you insist but this is the part I will explain more to you later but I need you to learn the right questions first.

First of all, ask (politely, or you will be deemed as a challenger…or if you want to challenge, you know what to do.) for a typical training sequence and wish to learn the ideas of:

1.     The desired effects of the moves.

2.     The right way of body movements for the moves to be effective.

3.     The logic and reasoning behind effective moves.

4.     The philosophy behind the design of the moves.

Yes, I mentioned them before, and now you need them for the baseline evaluation. And if you find the answers are clear and explain each other perfectly, you can move on.

Now, you have to learn the master’s attitude towards other styles. You see, a Ju-Do master will never dismiss a Karate master while a boxing instructor will not mock a fencing teacher because they have each of their own doctrine and profession. And among the Ju-Do or Karate masters, they don’t criticize each other as false or fake because they each have their own methods to build up the skills and they believe that who wins the competitions is a better fighter so there is no need to argue over the style, history and heritage.

So it is very important to know if your future master has an open heart and confidence to prepare his/her students for the real world where the real testing ground for a kong fu fighter.

Just like a Porsche or Ferrari salesman won’t sell his cars by dismissing the BMWs or Mercedes, the real master would willing to show you the essence of his/her style and be confident about it and willing to give you a test drive (demonstrations).

Compare the different kong fu styles you have encounter, and see which master communicates with you better and shows you clear ideas and solid training programs rather than showing off fancy, confusing stuffs. Remember, you want to be a student, not an audience. You want to do what your master can do one day, not watching him do it all day.

Finally, you need to make an honest self-evaluation and ask yourself again about why do you want to learn kong fu and what do you expect from studying it? Some systems are more into the routines, sequences and forms while some others are into the real applications and have a lot of harsh training and sparring sessions. Choosing the right kong fu system for you is like any other smart purchases in your life, ask, compare and weigh your own needs.

Coming up next: Ch5. Kong Fu Legends and The Grand Heritage.

Ch.3 Shouldn’t Kong Fu Be A Tool of Peace and a Way of Life?

I think it makes some people uncomfortable when I define kong fu simply as a set of hurting and killing skills. But it is the truth. Just like a samurai sword, a Spanish rapier a 1911 .45 pistol, a F22 raptor or an atomic bomb, kong fu is designed to inflict hurt and to kill. But if you see beauty in the swords, astonished by the .45’s power, admire the high-tech jet fighter’s design and awe to the atomic bomb’s devastation, then there is no reason you take kong fu as anything less or think it is just an elegant art rather than a tool of killing.

And to me, Kong fu is a tool of peace and a way of life. It is a tool of peace simply because it is so powerful that stops people from hurting you and once you realize how terrible things can happen to others if you abuse your ability, you become a calm and self-restrained person. While I am more controlled, practicing kong fu becomes a constant way of checking my inner balance and maintain physical and mental strength.

But do not fool yourself by pretending it. It doesn’t come just because you do some kong fu moves from time to time, or think to yourself as such. You have to mean it. And you have to practice it over and over physically and mentally. It is a way of life only when you take it seriously.

If you have a gun but never practice it in the range, and you do not have the will to pull the trigger when the bad guy comes at you, the gun will not fire accurately and your opponent will see that you have no determination and resolution to save yourself. You will fall. Eventually there is peace, just not yours.

And it is like any other tool of killing, kong fu needs your determination to use it and needs your vast amount of practice to make it work when it is needed. A fighter jet pilot makes the controls into his instinct, a gunman pull and aim like his/her second nature and so do we make kong fu into our everyday lives.

Kong fu is beautiful and is good to your health. But if you are only looking for the beauty, ballet is a better subject to learn. If you want only to be healthy, do Yoga. Kong fu is beautiful because it is designed to utilize the human body effectively, it helps your health condition because it is logical and efficient for your body’s circulation and enables better metabolism. All in the name of efficiency.

Coming up Next Ch.4 What Kong Fu System Should I Choose?

Ch.2 What Is Kong Fu Anyway?

You call it kong-fu probably because Bruce Lee called it that way, and you’ve also heard its other names that are hard for you to pronounce: Kung-Fu, Wu-Shu, Wu-Kon, San-So, Kuo-Su…etc. You probably know that it is a general term that refers various systems and styles of the Chinese martial art systems, but really, all these to you is just a vague idea of some fancy moves, high kicks and potentially with some strange yelling and heavy breath which you think would be powerful in fighting.

Immediately you face a big problem once you decide to learn kong fu: What is the kong fu I want to learn? And if you do your homework and list the menu up, you will find at least hundreds (if not thousands) styles for you to pick. Just in the name of Shaolin temple, there are hundreds search results and for God’s sake if you are naïve enough to type “kong fu” or “Chinese martial arts” and ask Google for help, you are doomed.

After hours and hours of research, you still have no idea what kong fu is and you are certainly not sure the school you are about to enlist is going to give you what it has promised just because it is famous and with many students.

But all in all, kong fu is just a set of skills of how to use your body itself or leverage certain weapons to really do some damage to your opponent(s). And all the masters believe there exists a perfect way of doing it just like the physicists believe that there is one theory that explains everything.  

As a result, it doesn’t matter what system you are in, or what style you are about to study, all kong fu styles can be stripped down into four elements that aim to one thing: Finish off your opponent as fast as possible while keep your own ass intact. And the four elements are:

1.      The desired effects of the moves.

2.      The right way of body movements for the moves to be effective.

3.      The logic and reasoning behind effective moves.

4.      The philosophy behind the design of the moves.

With a clear logic and reasoning of the moves, you will be able to follow the designed body structure and project your power onto your opponent through a track that is efficient and effective so that you can get the job done quickly. And in each style, there will be a specific philosophy behind the design of its moves about why it is designed in such way.

So, now you should know what are the right questions to ask your kong fu master: Why do we do these moves? How does it affect me and the opponent? How do I develop such power and what is the thinking behind all these moves? A good system will give you simple and clear answers to all the questions while the fake ones will lead you into confusion and doubts. Oh, by the way, when I say simple and clear, IT MEANS simple and clear. So if you hear some big talk about these how and whys, don’t pretend it means something to you and submit yourself to the gurus…

Now you should also understand what kong fu is. Simply put it: Kong-Fu is a general term of the skill sets that Chinese people use to hurt and kill the opponent(s).

Coming Up Next: Ch.3 Shouldn’t Kong Fu Be A Tool of Peace and a Way of Life?

Ch1. Why do you want to learn it?

Before we start talking about kong fu and building a customized program for you to develop the necessary concepts, skills and physical abilities to become a kong fu master, there is a very important thing you have to recognize so that whatever it is in the following chapters would work for you. You need to know why do you want to learn Kong fu?

People learn kong fu for many reasons, and most of the time the reasons that lead them to kong fu actually lead them into things look like kong fu but in fact are useless time wasting exercises with no real life value at all.

So, If you want to learn some kong fu because the latest movies show you some really fancy stuff and make you feel anxious to know it, I would suggest you start learning movie making and special effects rather than kong fu. The students with wrong and exaggerated ideas about kong fu usually learn it from movies, despite the fact that I am a frequent movie goer and love action movies, it is very clear to me that the movie makers don’t know kong fu and the stunt men learn their tricks from somewhere that has no idea what kong fu is.  

Or, you may want to learn kong fu because you think it is so beautiful and mysterious and represents some exotic oriental stuff, I would highly recommend you go buy some Chinese painting or learn some native Asian dancing moves. Because kong fu is not something meant to be beautiful and it is not mysterious and above all, it is not some exotic oriental stuff that only some kinky old guy can teach you. It is beautiful because the real kong fu masters were/are usually minimalists and always follow the form, fit, function principles. It is mysterious because you don’t speak Chinese and the masters don’t know English, it seems exotic and oriental because without proper explanation and interpretation, the kong fu moves makes no sense in real life.

There are many other reasons that make people want to do a little kong fu while I would suggest you leave the current page so that you won’t waste any more of your time and energy and you can keep pursuing the imaginary kong fu land, unless you want to learn kong fu because you want to be stronger, faster, deadlier with this evolving skill set that embodies the wisdom of how to make human body the most dangerous and effective weapon you can imagine.

Coming Up Next: Ch2. What is Kong Fu Anyway?