To the right of north

Having never done an Eastern martial art, specifically Chinese martial arts, they have always been a bit strange to me. They are impressive, but I just never saw a benefit to my own personal style. Recently I have come across a little information that changed how I viewed the Chinese martial arts.

Chinese martial arts are usually under the umbrella terms of Kung Fu, Kuoshu or Wushu. However, there are hundreds if not thousands of styles under each of those umbrella terms. The Chinese martial arts had a rough time getting to the west, largely attributed to racism in the West. Westerners viewed Asians as crazy or as servants and this was shown in the media of the time (movies). Then someone special made a massive leap for martial arts and for how Eastern people were viewed in the west. This person was none other than Bruce Lee. Even though Lee changed some perceptions of the Chinese and Chinese martial arts in the West, racism persisted. There has not been many to make the crossover from Eastern martial arts to fame in the west. After Bruce Lee there was Jackie Chan, Chow Young Fat and Jet Li (special mention must also go to Kung Fu Panada) and that was over 50 years. To say it has been tough for these individuals and Chinese martial arts in general is an understatement.

You could see the speed and the skill in the movements in the Chinese styles but from my eyes I could not see the use of it. Then to make it worse, I competed against a Kung Fu guy in a mixed style tournament and he was not talented. The poor guy could’ve trained at any style under any trainer and it wouldn’t have made a difference. That being said, it did not move my already bad impression of Chinese martial arts. This view was based on my western style of fighting, kickboxing stand-up with wrestling takedowns. However, this is all very new to the world of fighting and martial arts have been around for thousands of years. Western boxing as we know it has only happened in the last 100 years. Before that there were no gloves, and the old fighters would have their hands low to protect their bodies rather than their heads. If someone hit them in the head, they would risk breaking their hand. Then someone thought boxing gloves would be a good idea and boxing developed into what we see today.

The sports that we see in MMA today are based on sporting competition – boxing, wrestling and BJJ. Whereas the traditional arts, Chinese and Japanese where based on survival and battle. This means that having your hands up is a waste of time. Think of a village being attacked a 1000 years ago in China, the attackers would not be wearing gloves and doing jabs and double legs. Therefore, most of the stances and moves are based on the possession of weapons, both for the attacker and defender. Someone attacking you with a broom handle while you have your hands up punching would most likely lead to you getting your ass kicked. Take the Kung Fu stances for example, feet long and hands low. The is to get the hell out the way or even more fun to attack using a weapon. The Chinese arts do have strikes like punches, elbows, knees and kicks in close as well but this was a last resort as the opponent most likely had a weapon and they would try to strike and disarm the opponent.

When this was brought to my attention, yes, I was told this info, it is not something I figured out for myself. It has made me look at the styles differently. It has given me a new respect for the Chinese martial arts. They have been doing those moves for thousands of years and their culture is somewhat engrained in these arts. MMA on the other hand has only been going for 30 years, so it is safe to say that they know what they are doing. However what MMA did in a few short years is something that no other martial art has been able to do and that is figure out what really works in combat. Albeit unarmed, one on one, with rules, gloves, a referee and a nice warm even surface to compete on. So not defending the boarder, the village or the family like these arts where intended. However, that has not stopped the odd crack pot thinking that their style can beat MMA at MMA. This never goes well for the poor soul as their style is not set up to beat MMA. This does reflectpoorly on the style that challenges MMA where it should just reflect on the misguided fool that tries their luck. If I reverse the idea, it is like me walking into Kung Fu club and trying to beat them at their game, when I have never trained with their techniques. That being said, every style should move with the times while keeping their identity and base in the foundations that they have built over thousands of years. Therefore, I am still not a massive fan of the Chinese styles just because I look at the martial arts world with a very one-eyed view while looking through a very thick lens of western styled fighting. However, there is a lot of respect for these styles has they have done a lot for martial arts worldwide and produced some amazingly talented practitioners including the most famous martial artist of all time in Bruce Lee.

Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor