Legends of Kung-Fu #25 The Ups & Downs of Mixing Styles Thanks in part to the late, great Bruce Lee, there's an ever-increasing trend among some martial artists to blend styles, coming up with a new hybrid that they hype up as their own invention. In almost every martial arts magazine, you can look in the back and find several ads promoting some hodge-podge style that someone made up on their own, after only a few years of training (if that), and proclaiming the founder as a tenth degree black sash or something along those lines. While I'm definitely not a fan of that practice, there are a few things you should know about mixing styles, especially in terms of traditional Chinese martial arts. A lot of traditionalists decry this trend, calling it an utter travesty and plagiarism. And while this might not be important to someone who's more into the rugged, groundbreaking, renegade image, it is important if you want to have any tie to a recognized tradition or lineage. As much as Bruce Lee admired his Wing Chun teacher, Yip Man, Lee still managed to alienate himself from his teacher and the orthodoxy of Wing Chun by founding his own Jeet Kune Do. On the other hand, there are those purists who follow only the teachings of their particular style or instructor, never wavering, never looking outside, and never "soiling" the purity of their practice. While it's admirable for these stalwarts to uphold their traditions, they may be limiting themselves and their understanding of their system in the wider scheme of combat. Some of these purists even refuse to spar with people of other styles under more loose rules, claiming that their style is so deadly that they can't practice with non-initiates. Rubbish. Let's face it. The world is getting smaller, and martial artists all over the world are experimenting with different styles. That experimentation is giving them the insight with which to effectively fight someone who has one set way of doing things. If you need a louder wake-up call, just rent any UFC or No-Holds-Barred type tournament video and see what happens to those people who haven't been progressive in their thinking. For those of you who are wondering whether there were any "traditional" Chinese martial arts masters who followed the eclectic route, there are plenty throughout history. For example, the founder of the Choy Li Fut style, Chan Heung, learned three distinct styles of kung-fu and combined them to make his own style, which is well-known throughout the world now. The famous internal style master, Sun Lu-tang, combined Tai-Chi, Pa Kua, and Hsing-Yi to make his own Sun style Tai-Chi, now recognized in China as one of the five major Tai-Chi systems. Even further back in history, the founder of Wu Tsu Chuan, the Five Ancestors Fist - one of the most outstanding southern kung-fu styles, blended Emperor's Fist with Shaolin Lohan boxing, white crane kung-fu, and two other styles. Wu Tsu Chuan is widely practiced by expatriate Chinese communities throughout Southeast Asia, especially those with roots in Fukien Province. And closer to modern times, the formidable Chang Tung-sheng, known as the undisputed head of Paoting style Shuai-Chiao wrestling, formulated his own styles of Tai-Chi and Hsing-Yi after numerous victories over the best fighters from those systems. All of this needs to be put in context, though. While it seems that on one hand, I'm condemning and on the other hand I'm advocating mixing martial arts, this all comes together neatly with the observation of a simple ethic. Although it's undeniably changed in the modern era, traditional Asian society is strongly predicated on hard-line loyalty. That concept of loyalty needs some explanation these days, best illustrated with the analogy of family. When a child is born, its parents must be responsible and care for it, raising it within their own traditions, and imbuing the child with the knowledge it needs to be able to stand on its own as an adult. When the child has grown to the age of adulthood, as recognized by the local community or society, it can leave the home to fend for itself, make its own decisions, and establish its own name by starting its own family. The traditional Chinese see learning martial arts in much the same way. In an ideal sense, we begin with one style, one family. The instructor bears the responsibilities of a parent, and the students are like children. Those students come to learn the martial techniques, like children would learn life skills from their parents. When ethics - such as loyalty, diligence, persistence, and respect - aren't a part of that upbringing, children and students alike become wayward. They leave the "house" without growing to full maturity, which means that they are likely unprepared to face the challenges of real life, or real combat in a martial sense. In Chinese, we call these people "ban lu chu chia", which means that they've left home half grown. So does that mean that people like Chang Tung-sheng and Sun Lu-tang were "ban lu chu jia"? Absolutely not. These men established their foundations in one particular system prior to going out and studying different martial arts. They achieved a level of expertise in their chosen system, and that expertise gave them a framework with which to view and understand the techniques of other systems of martial arts, as well as the requisite physical strength and coordination with which to execute techniques with power and potency. This kind of progression actually shortened their learning curve, allowing them to comprehend the theories of other masters and learn other martial arts more quickly. Additionally, most of these men went forth with the blessings of their masters, giving them the added confidence and emotional security that comes from belonging to a stable family. This is what made them and their mixed martial arts legends of kung-fu.
|