Moe’s Still Got It (Longevity in Kung Fu)

30 09 2014

Craig Horse stance

Also known as “Craig’s Still Got It”…

It’s taken me 5 months to write this article.

So, in the months we’ve started this blog, we have gone from three guys (Ron Wheeler, Sharif Talib, and Maurice Gatdula) discussing shining a light on Dean Chin’s memory, to rounding up the legends of American Jow Ga and locating old friends and family, to planning an American Jow Ga family reunion like you wouldn’t believe. In all of this, I have made an observation that I cannot make about my other martial arts family–my Filipino Martial Arts family:  Everywhere I look, I see men in their 50s and 60s who look great. Not just “great for their age”–which is an insult to all the hard work and discipline these folks have put into still maintaining their health–but amazing in that they have maintained their youthful vibrance into an age where men are beginning to die of old age and health problems. By contrast, in the other martial arts circles I run in, I have noticed that bellies, beards and health problems run amok in men who have barely left their prime.

Even in other Chinese martial arts families I have known, the sense of athleticism isn’t there. The competitive nature of the family members isn’t there. The feuds we have isn’t even there, in the way that we have them. And I have a theory.

Chinese martial artists are always talking about “longevity” and “vitality”–ideals that most martial artists give lip service to, but few really pursue. So what are these things anyway? Is it just the endeavor to live a long life?

Martial Arts in its purest state is at its core a means of self-preservation. To some, it simply means the will to remain alive. To others, it is the effort to remain alive. There is a difference. In the same way martial artists can take a passive approach to their craft, they can also elect to take a very aggressive, assertive, proactive approach to the art. Self defense can deflect an attacker with the simple desire to get away and stay alive–or it can be an action verb, to stay alive and eliminate the attacker. The two mentalities are not the same and I submit to you that they are not equal. A passive approach for the martial artist may fail. In fact, it is highly possible that it will fail should the passive martial artist encounter an extremely hostile, violent opponent. Fighting involves more than simply knowing techniques and being able to use them. Fighting is often psychological, where one man is trying to take the life of the other. In this case, the only way to stop him would be to render him incapable of continuing to fight; this method most likely will involve crippling, maiming of killing the opponent. Passive martial artists dislike this kind of talk. They believe that a man hell-bent on taking your life can be subdued and stopped relatively unhurt using the correct technique and appropriate amount of force.

On the other side of this philosophy is the idea that one must be prepared to kill his opponent, to break his bones, to permanently disfigure him, to crush his windpipe, to put his eye out his socket… Whatever it takes to stop the opponent and eliminate the threat. The more violent the opponent or opponents, the more violent the reaction. This is a mindset, not a set of techniques. In teaching students this very specialized skill, you must also teach him the thinking of one who must use these techniques. One cannot simply teach a form with such techniques, teach him a method of performing the routine in an aesthetcially pleasing manner and leave it at that. You must condition the student to be able to hurt the opponent with these skills without hesitation. You must train him until he is not physically inferior to the attacker. You must make him mentally and emotionally tough so that he knows when to use the skills and can do so without feelings of guilt. He must be tolerant of pain and fear. He must believe that he cannot be defeated and believe that he is superior to his attackers. Only then, can a martial arts practitioner be capable of facing two or three men prepared to do him harm and send them to the hospital while he goes home safe.

So, you betcha there is a heirarchy of martial arts philosophies. One is passive and in denial about what combat really is, while the other understands that combat is not a noun, but an action verb. One teacher simply wants to live a long life, while the other wants to stay alive. One trains as a prescription to old age and poor health–and the other trains as if his life depended on it. One takes care of his body so it will still carry blood and oxygen for years and years, while the other wants to become as strong and durable and youthful as it ever was. Both will live a long time. Both are still martial artists. Perhaps one does it because he simply wants to live until he is 90. While the other may be motivated by ego or vanity–he clearly wants to live until he is 90 and hear the words, “Moe still got it.” He wants to still do the things he did as a young man when he is older. He doesn’t want to simply live, he wants to live with life pumping through his veins. They both never plan to retire, but one takes a passive approach to his aging self and the other holds on to his youth.

If you round up a group of 20 former casual martial artists, meaning they never competed, never fought to be the best, never engaged in the rat race of martial artists with an ego–all in their 50s–you will likely find men who no longer “do” martial arts. They may teach, own schools, etc., but they most likely don’t fight, compete in tournaments, and so on. They will likely be out of shape and full of health problems. On the other hand, round up a group of 20 former competitors, fighters and champions–you will most likely find the opposite. Surely, there will be bald heads and some pot bellies. But more often than not, you will find men at an advanced age, who still have “it” like they did when they were young. Because men like this can never walk away from the martial arts and the question we always ask when we are around another guy:  “I wonder if I can take him?”  <—- And this question keeps men like myself, Ron Wheeler, Sharif Talib, Craig Lee training so that, decades later, when people finally run into you, they just shake their head saying, “Yeah, Craig still got it…”

The late Master Dean Chin’s approach to Jow Ga was not that Kung Fu is a party art. It was not for the masses. It was not something we did for certificates and rank. It was a path to guaranteed preservation. Preseveration in combat when you’re young, and the side effect of that is that your youth will be preserved when you are older. It’s not enough to just still be here. You want to be here, just as strong, just as full of life as you’ve ever been. Longevity, then, if you are training your Kung Fu for the same reasons we do, if a means to bottling up the young man within you and keeping hold of it while you’re old.

If you ask me, this group of Kung Fu men (the youngest one is 45, by the way) are a fine looking bunch. Thank you for visiting the Dean Chin Jow Ga Federation.

Raymong Wong, Hon Lee, Kenny Chin

Raymong Wong, Hon Lee, Kenny Chin

Kenny Chin, Ricardo Ho, Craig Lee, and Ron Wheeler

Kenny Chin, Ricardo Ho, Craig Lee, and Ron Wheeler

Kenny Chin, Raymond Wong, Chris Henderson, Ron Wheeler, Ricardo Ho

Kenny Chin, Raymond Wong, Chris Henderson, Ron Wheeler, Ricardo Ho


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The Kung Fu Bum, Redefined (Made in China) pt II

18 07 2014

This article is a continuation of this article. When you get a chance, go back a read it, I’m sure you will find it educational.

The Kung Fu Bum is not an outdated lifestyle, as many school owners will claim. It is not useless or foolish. I was taught this as a young man with a school of my own. I rubbed elbows with some martial arts millionaires as well as small school owners like me who were making a pretty good living. I found one thing in common with all of them that I just couldn’t swallow:  They made excuses for the mediocrity of their students and would blame it on the times.

Can you feed yourself with your martial arts? I can.

Most people walking through the door don’t have the discipline needed to train the way we used to.

A system needs representatives to exist. There are many GREAT Kung Fu men with no students.

I disagree terribly.

If you aren’t willing to miss a meal for Kung Fu, you don’t deserve to say you’ve Mastered it. No more than a man who says he loves a child, but is unwilling to work at McDonald’s or miss a meal to feed him. Kung Fu must be sacrificed for to achieve the higher levels, and many teachers were unwilling to sacrifice to learn it. As a result, they have little more to offer students besides certificates, forms, and the chance to dress up in “Chinese” clothing and drop names and philosophy. There are levels of understanding in the martial arts and the problem is that many who do the Chinese Martial Arts have their priorities in the wrong place, and we are speaking out of place.

You have Forms guys trying to talk like fighters.

You have traditionalists who put down fighters.

We have Lion Dancers disguising what they do as “Martial Arts”, when it’s only “Martial-like” Arts.

You have Chinese style McDojos dressed up as traditional Kwoons and pretending to be one. Many go so far as to invite emissaries from China and take frequent trips to rub elbow with “the Chinese” in the hopes that what they do looks more credible.

(Don’t get hurt or offended, please. This was only meant to define the roles of various types of Sifu.) I could go on.

We have Sifus who consider Chinese Chinese arts good, and non-Chinese Chinese arts okay–regardless of skill level.

We have students who will only study in a school if it’s dressed up to look like an MMA gym.

We have students who will only study in a school if it looks like the set to a David Carridine sit-com (sorry, bad joke)

And here, we arrive at my point. The true Kung Fu lifestyle is not a thing of the past, nor is it something that can only exist in China. Good Kung Fu should be strived and sacrificed for–regardless of who you pay to get it from. The Kung Fu Bum is actually not a bum at all. On occasion, a Kung Fu Man (which is what I call him) has been able to navigate this economy to find his place, professionally, as a Kung Fu expert. In the days of old, Kung Fu men became soldiers, security men, body guards, taught soldiers and police. Today, the process is more complex, but this is still the option for a Kung Fu man besides simply opening a school. Or a Kung Fu man who does open a school would just have to figure out the formula to success using his art–without watering it down, as many claim you must. Once you learn the art, develop the skill, you must then find a way to transform that art into a marketable, sustaining form of income. This, in turn, will allow you to spend more of your time in a Sei Ping Ma and in front of a punching bag–rather than a desk–and continue to see where the potential of your Kung Fu skill will take you. Kung Fu need not be a burden, and it is as valid a path as any academic endeavor. Should you pursue Kung Fu the right way, even those called Martial Arts “Masters” will admire your skill, rather than your wallet or reputation.

I have some suggestions. Stay tuned. In the meantime, please see our “Offerings” page and donate $19 to receive a copy of my mini-book “Make a Living with Your Backyard/Garage/Community Center Dojo”.

Thank you for visiting the DC Jow Ga Federation.


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The Kung Fu Bum, Redefined (Made in China)

18 07 2014

In my archives, I have a booklet entitled, “Stuff I’d Like You to Know”, which was given to any new Jow Ga student I took during the 90s and early 2000s. In those days, my school was a Filipino Martial Arts school, and I only taught Jow Ga privately. In the booklet, I introduce my new students to the life upon which they are about to embark–as this is not a class, I tell them… it is a lifestyle.

In it, I have a section about the Kung Fu Bum:  A man, who, while perhaps highly skilled in Kung Fu, is a loser in life because he defined himself by the martial arts and neither completed his formal academic education nor pursued a successful career. This is a man who foregoes study in college to study martial arts, who often attends classes free because his Sifu sees him as a great protegè although he cannot pay tuition. We all know them; often they are vagrants who still live with family or parents–but when it’s demo time or sparring time, even his class mates who are doctors and lawyers envy him. I was a Kung Fu bum, but I found a little financial stability by opening a school. Few of us martial arts bums do, however–so I did my best to persuade my students not to follow in my footsteps and choose life over martial arts.

Boy, was I wrong.

Kung Fu, it turns out, is a way of life. Not all paths lead to financial prosperity, and that’s okay. Not everyone measures himself by homeownership or what kind of car is in his driveway. If this art is to flourish and prosper, someone will have the carry the torch of the Masters before us and undertake the burden of a Kung Fu gatekeeper. All of this, in spite of the fact that some of us will sleep in our gyms and have to skip a meal when it’s tuition time. I may draw criticism from many of my own brothers by saying this, but when you are gone from this Earth, styles will mostly be remembered by the heroes who represented this art as a Tiger in the jungle–not by the many smaller animals who sat as prey in his presence. This is not to say that those of us who have many students are insignificant or less credible as Kung Fu men. There is room for all types of martial artists in this community, and there is room for all degrees of knowledge and skill on a system’s family tree… There is a role for everyone in every system, including the Kung Fu Bum.

Like it or not, martial arts must be trained daily and full time to reach its potential. I have a Si Hing who is criticized by other Si Hing for talking some of the younger generation to forego college for martial arts. I have my opinion about his approach and his motive, but I am also thankful that he introduced me to this idea, as many have done the martial arts for years and have never known the feeling of being dominant over most others in their presence. There are many Kung Fu men who are simply called a “Master” because they have many years in the system and have many students and grand students. Yet there are still some men (many unnamed and largely unknown) whose skill shadows those Masters, and they serve as role models to those who knew them. Some of your Si Gung and Si Jo were such men. They died penniless. They were not famous. But they possessed skill that most in the martial arts have never witnessed in person or in the media, and the stories told about them as myth were, in fact, true. We didn’t get these martial arts greats by some guy practicing a few hours a week after work. These men developed such a level of skill because they didn’t have a traditional career; to them, the martial arts was not a hobby, not a job, not a business–it was a calling.

When your Master said that you would be lucky to have 2 great students in your life time, he wasn’t speaking of “good” martial arts students… he was talking about the Kung Fu Bum. Or, as you will one day call him:  A Master whom you would hope to one day be as skilled as.

Thank you for visiting the DC Jow Ga Federation.


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Categories : Kung Fu Philosophy

Perfect the Parts, Master the Whole

4 02 2014

You ever notice how some martial artists seem to do everything well–while others are just plain sloppy? Even when they train just as much, are just as committed to learning, and work just as hard? And maybe some of you–regardless of how much you practice–can’t seem to get past the “good” level and become excellent…

Wanna know why?

Well, it ain’t simply explained as saying that they are “good” while others are “not so good”. There’s more to it than that.  It’s a simple concept. I call this concept “Perfect the parts, master the whole”. It probably isn’t how much you practice. Rather, what may help you get results could be HOW you practice.

In a nutshell, this is how it works (using forms performance as a point of reference):

  • Develop not just your footwork and stances, but each part of your footwork and stances–your balance, the appearance, the formation of the stance, the deepness of your stance, adherence to the integrity of the stance while moving, positioning, angle, flexibility. Follow me?
  • Do the same with your hand techniques, kicks and blocks–power, speed, position of both hands, crispness of delivery, posture, hand formation…
  • Practice short series of movements, 40 – 50 repetitions at a time. The series should be no more than 10 or so movements. The majority of your forms practice sessions should consist of this, although you may focus on a different part of the series every few repetitions–like stance, power, fluidity, etc.
  • Occasionally take ONE technique and drill it hundreds of times. I wouldn’t consider yourself to have achieved proficiency of a form until you have done this with each technique of that form at least once
  • Something as simple as a step-turn should be isolated frequently in practice and perfected. You should do this until each time you execute that particular movement–it is done precisely, sharply and needing no adjustment. In fact, you shouldn’t even need to look and make sure you performed it correctly. In other words, perfection will become a second nature habit

Too often, martial artists treat the entire form as one unit. As a result they train for very general objectives, such as endurance. However, especially for Kung Fu forms, there are too many techniques that only get practiced a few times per training session. Take for example, your style’s first form (for many Jow Ga practitioners, it is Siu Fook Fu). How many times do you perform this form per training session in its entirety? 10, 12 times? If you train the form full speed, full power it’s probably even less. Considering which technique we are discussing, in a practice session (if you do the form 10 times in that practice session), you may only be getting 10 – 20 repetitions of a technique per training session. Compare that to my routine:  taking two or three techniques, and doing them 100 times per training session. And this is full speed, full power–which you may not do at all if you are trying to do an entire form.

It takes about 500 repetitions of anything to approach “good”. It takes about 10,000 repetitions to become “great”, and only if those 10,000 reps were focused, technically sound repetitions. Most martial artists do not train this way. Instead, what they call “training” is more like “practice”–a casual, moderate rehearsing of those techniques where you may sweat and leaves you “feeling good” after training instead of sore and in pain. All martial arts training, including forms practice, is “fight training”. Fighters who approach training as if it were an aerobics session will almost never approach the level of perfection and fighting dominance they aspire to. It takes a patient, focused, tough practitioner to isolate something as simple as a step-punch and drill it thousands of times to arrive to the lonely status of “one of the best”. Training sessions will hurt, they will be boring, and they will be long. They aren’t entertaining. They don’t exactly look like a scene from a Shaw Brothers film. But they will bring you the skill and mastery every man or woman reading this article wants–but very few of you will achieve… Even some of your “Masters”.

Please take a look at the following clips. This is the “Half Step” used in Jow Ga. I will explain this skill in more detail in the next article, but observe how Instructor Sharif Talib is practicing a movement that many take for granted. Perhaps you may have had explained to you once or twice in your martial education, but once you learned it you most likely have forgotten about it and simply performed the movement while practicing other higher skills. However, improper use of the half step will result in

  1. poor centerline alignment
  2. the lack of using the shift for power, speed, penetration and reach
  3. loss of speed in the delivery of punches
  4. improper weight distribution

By giving this part of a larger technique–the step-punch–its due attention and perfection, you improve your effectiveness and delivery of the entire technique.

But more on that next time. Thank you for visiting the DC Jow Ga Federation.

If you like what you’ve read on our site, please visit the Offerings page and order a copy of our homemade Small Tiger DVD! And please, spread the word!


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The “Essence” of Jow Ga

20 12 2013

I’ve been hearing this term in the recent few years, in debates mostly about my Si Hing Ron Wheeler’s books and videos.

The topics range from “Ron is promoting himself” to “Ron’s tournament wins don’t mean shit” to “The material does not capture the uniqueness of Jow Ga”. I call bullshit.

As if most of the clips you find of Jow Ga on the internet or offered for sale as a DVD show this “uniqueness”. You know what I see? Jow Ga on the internet, to the trained eye–not necessarily Jow Ga trained, but any Kung Fu style–looks like Hung Gar if one guy does it, to Choy Lay Fut if another does it. Most clips, if you are trained, are actually performed by what are obviously beginners of the art, and out of politeness or wisdom we don’t rake them over the coals. The videos for sale supposedly don’t capture Jow Ga’s “essence” like these overseas clips on youtube do, but they are supposed to capture the essence of whose Jow Ga? Jow Lung? Chan Man Cheung? Lee Ngau? Dean Chin?

Tell you what. No one reading this blog right now is qualified to say what Jow Lung’s Jow Ga looked like, and you damn sure aren’t qualified to say that YOUR Jow Ga looks like his and someone else’s does not. You weren’t here 100 years ago, and there weren’t video cameras in those days. Hell, you can’t even tell us what Jow Lung himself looked like. And excuse me for stating my opinion out loud, but the computer generated picture of Jow Lung (because none actually exists) is about as reliable as a picture of Jesus himself. Let’s call a spade a spade, in those few conversations about Ron Wheeler’s videos, we’re not discussing whether Ron’s videos are real Jow Ga or not–we’re talking about something very personal, and we shouldn’t have these conversations about a guy we’ve known since childhood. I’m actually embarrassed that we did, when a plus for Jow Ga is a plus for all of us, and until someone puts out a DVD or book that brings more students through my door beside’s Ron’s products, I say his stuff is top notch. Because like or not, we are all seen as being on the same team, even if you’re mad he’s playing the position you don’t think he deserves. Ron chose the path he chose, he earned the accolades that he has, he has built the reputation he has without anyone’s help, and the products he offers are the only products for Jow Ga available except for Master Sam Chan’s videos. There is room for more products promoting the system, and if you feel like we should put out a better product please do–and I would buy it myself.

So enough about that…

The Essence of Jow Ga

No one man could claim to have the “correct” or “authentic” Jow Ga, just like no religion could say they have the “only” religion. Even our system of Jow Ga had five founders and the main founder himself did not own a school–nor did he appoint a disciple or inheritor. Each school, under each founder had its own flavor and nuances, and each founder had students who had their own branches, flavors and versions of Jow Ga. The late Grandmaster Chan Man Cheung had a version of Jow Ga that was very different from Dean Chin’s Jow Ga. I know, because I learned from both, and they didn’t even do the same first form. Jow Ga has, at its core very simple principles that we learned from Sifu Dean Chin:

  • Strong but agile footwork
  • Quick, powerful hand techniques
  • Control of the opponent’s arm whenever you made contact
  • Make use of strong, destructive blocks
  • Develop a powerful grip
  • Make use of sensitivity
  • Use legs to knock the opponent down
  • Use the stance and footwork to knock the opponent down
  • Don’t retreat without advancing twice as much
  • Use techniques from your form to fight with

Now I haven’t traveled to every country that has Jow Ga, but pretty much everywhere I’ve seen Jow Ga I have only seen Lion Dance and forms that had very little of these principles. Maybe they are hidden?

When Dean Chin wanted to show off his students, had us fight. Sifu took me to a tournament in 1984 himself, and he wanted me to fight. I didn’t even suit up until forms divisions were nearly over. He had three techniques he wanted me to use, and I used them. The next day, on Sunday, in front of Raymond Wong’s class–he first congratulated me for my 2nd place win, then chastised me for losing and not using enough power in my final fight, which was with a friend of mine–despite that I had fought hard in my earlier fights.

Bottom line is this. Dean Chin’s Jow Ga doesn’t look like Hong Kong’s. He taught in a different environment. The student based he taught were different. His experience was different from his Sifu’s. He had a different mentality. And each student under him had a different background, different skill set, and our own abilities. We were DC students, not Hong Kong students. So DC Jow Ga doesn’t look like Hong Kong Jow Ga.  Hong Kong’s Jow Ga shouldn’t even look like Hong Kong’s Jow Ga. If people of the same generation, or worse–different generations–looked the same, even if they came from the same Sifu… You have very bland, uninspired, untested Kung Fu. Kung Fu must change, and it must be personalized. Within Dean Chin’s own students we have men like Sifu Craig Lee whose Kung Fu looks nothing like anyone else in his generation–or the previous, or the next. Craig’s Jow Ga looked like a totally different style from Tehran Brighthapt’s, and Sifu Chin was proud of both men and their ability.  Each Kung Fu man will have his own preferences, likes, dislikes, specialties and limits–and only a fool will look at a peer who has dedicated a lifetime to the art and say, “Your version of this art is invalid.”  If Jow Lung were here today, he wouldn’t recognize any of the stuff any of us do–not even the forms.

I don’t claim to have the only authentic version of Jow Ga, and I would never fool a student into believing that I do. I might claim to have the best version of Jow Ga, and if I do, it’s up to me to prove it. We can argue all day long about “purity” and other silliness like that. But good and bad can be easily proven.

And that is what Kung Fu is all about anyway, right? Not demonstrating what you can do, but proving it? Now, how can we prove anything over the internet? Foolishness. Such conversations should be held only in person. As for the “essence” of Jow Ga, you can only capture the “essence” of a particular teacher’s version. There is Jow Ga on nearly every continent on Earth, and each school came from a different lineage. Who will be the one to travel to each one and challenge or update each teacher on the “correct” version? There are better things to do to promote the art besides chopping each other down.

One family, my foot. If you believe in one family, then you must accept that each one of us is unique and has our own skills, specialties and ability in the art. As long as we are keeping our skills sharp and making the art look good,  promoting the name Jow Ga and giving respect to the founders, our teachers and our respective lineages–the family is in good hands. In other words, the Essence of Jow Ga is that this is a family of Kung Fu practitioners and we should act like one.

Thank you for visiting the DC Jow Ga Federation.


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The Misconception of “Finding Out What Works” In Kung Fu

26 11 2013

I’m about to disagree with many of you and your teachers. Please hear me out first.

Martial artists are guilty of taking what they learned and heard and just regurgitating it without doing any of their own thinking and research–without investigating and qualifying their knowledge and simply passing it on. Worse, they will pass thing on exactly as they learned it. Although times change and fighting evolves, the self-defense needs of the average citizen changes, the combat role of the average martial artist changes, even weapons technology changes with the times… Martial artists (especially Chinese martial artists) often do not. Not only are we guilty of this, we’re actually proud of that fact.

No one else exaggerates the age of a style more than we do. No one fights over “I have the actual/pure/most authentic version” with their own classmates like the Kung Fu man does. For some reason, when one of us talks of updating or improving or modifying a martial art–we are ostracized for betraying our teacher’s art. As if there were a such thing as a Kung Fu style that had no evolution in its history, or these arts never had a beginning.

So one of the things martial artists like to do without thinking is to repeat or adopt philosophies without thinking them through. One that I hear a lot is “Kung Fu needs to be researched so that you can find out what works.”

Well, yes and no.

Kung Fu does need to be researched. It needs to be practiced, absorbed, understood, made second nature, mastered in movement as well as theory, and most of all–understood.

And no, that is no typo. I wrote “understood” twice for emphasis. See, you must first understand the techniques you learn. You must know how to throw them, when to throw them, and then do them until they are as natural as walking. When someone surprises you and throws a balled-up piece of paper at you, the knee-jerk reaction you make–whether it is to catch it, deflect it, or shield against it–should be the same way you utilize the techniques in your system.

Take, for example, this technique. The Jiu Sao is a standard technique in the Jow Ga system, as it is in many Southern systems. It occurs at least 7 -8 times in every form. Yet if you were to watch most Jow Ga practitioners fight–you’d almost never see it executed. Why? Because the Small Tiger Block (as we often refer to it) is not a natural reaction. Most people who practice the forms, will only execute the block a few times in class and when it occurs in a form without actually training the technique, drilling it until it becomes second nature.  And this is something many Kung Fu practitioners do. It is one reason “Kung Fu & MMA” sends the wrong message:  “We practice Chinese Martial Arts, but we utilize Muay Thai and BJJ to fight with.” Honestly, you have added the MMA element because your understanding of your style is not developed to the point you can actually use it.

In other words, you do not understand your system enough to fight with it.

And here, we arrive to my point, and the second “understood”. Your Kung Fu should be drilled until it becomes second nature and natural in fighting, then you must train it and research and test it enough so that you can understand HOW it works. It is not a question of “what” works–it is a question of “how” it works. So when Jow Lung walked the earth, the average fighter thrusted his punches. But today, 100+ years later, the average fighter has watched boxing and now snaps his punches. The Jiu Sao which once worked against the stiff Sei Ping Chune doesn’t quite work against the jab, but it can. You just have to find out HOW.

When Jow Ga fighters say they train their Jow Ga to find out “what” works, they are saying there are pieces of Jow Ga that does, and some that does not. If it does not, why do them? My message to you, Jow family is that your Jow Ga does work. You just have to train, drill, test and train some more until you find out how–so that it all works. And while you’re adding more and more forms, more and more styles, and shaking hands with more and more people until you are too old to fight–that knowledge is sitting on your forms lists, drying up while you spend valuable Jow Ga time investigating other arts. This is not just for Jow Ga people–all Kung Fu people. Test your Kung Fu. Then take the results of that test–whether you win the fights or lose–then find out why, how those results came to be, how to make them more efficient and effective, what can be done to counter your technique, and how you can prevent opponents from countering you. There are so many possibilities and so many levels of understanding, it will take a lifetime. So the fewer systems and forms you know, the further you can take your knowledge and ability.

For this reason, 99% of the information given on this site will deal with our first form, Siu Fook Fu. Harvest as much as you can yield from your Kung Fu. Stay tuned, so you can find out what we have done with ours.

Thank you for visiting the Dean Chin’s Jow Ga Federation.


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Lessons In Death

11 10 2013

The passing of our Grandmaster, Sifu Chan Man Cheung is a sad one, but it does not have to be. My Si Gung lived a full and fulfilling, celebrated life. He was able to see his Jow Ga grow from his humble school in Hong Kong to an major force on the International Jow Ga Kung Fu scene. Most of the time someone sees a Jow Ga practitioner around the world–especially if you are an English speaker–they assume you came from his lineage. Cheung Sifu was fortunate enough to see generation after generation after generation spring from the loins of his teachings. Not only to know what and where his Jow Ga has gone; he was able to travel the world and actually meet those students and see the schools himself.

Not bad for a man who was unlettered and not wealthy.

Chances are pretty good that if you know Jow Ga and you are in America, Si Gung could look at you perform and he could tell you who your Sifu came from, he could tell you why your Sifu does things the way he did them, and he could probably recall when your Sifu learned those things. He is like a father to us all in Kung Fu, and rather than treat his passing as a sad occasion, celebrate it. Chan Man Cheung paved the way for one or two (or more) of his offspring to branch off and duplicate or surpass what HE did for Jow Ga. In passing, Si Gung passed the torch to each one of us to make this art better, and make this art grow. If you do not aspire to accomplish great things with your Kung Fu, then support your brothers and sisters who do. And we’ve got plenty:

  • Sifu Hoy Lee
  • Sifu Hon Lee
  • Sifu Rahim Muhammad
  • Sifu Randy Bennett
  • Sifu Raymond Wong
  • Sifu Reza Momenan
  • Sifu Ron Wheeler
  • Sifu Deric Johnson
  • Sifu Troy Williams
  • Sifu Terrance Robinson
  • Sifu Charles Middleton
  • Sifu Howard Bryant
  • Sifu Ed Tomaine
  • Me
  • Sifu Sharif Talib
  • Instructor Luyi Shao

 

I’m sure there are others. But these are the owners of Jow Ga schools I know of. If we’ve missed anyone, please comment below and we’ll make sure to update the list…

One more thing. If you have students, make sure you talk to them about their duty in carrying this art forward. If the system had died with the founders there would be no Jow Ga today. Martial arts are an ever-evolving entity–and those in whose hands it is trusted have a duty to perfecting what they know, testing what they know, and unlocking its secrets so that your future generations will be given a better art than what was given to you. Just as your Sifu did for his or her students. Just as your Si Gung did for his students. Just as Master Cheung did for his students.

That said, all of us who are in direct lineage to Grandmaster Cheung should be wearing a black armband for 30 – 90 days around our left upper arm, as a sign of mourning. However, like I said, do not let this period of mourning simply be one of sadness and “do-nothingness”, but one of celebrating the life of a great Master who gave each of us a Master who founded a very strong branch of this “one family”:  The American Branch of Jow Ga. Dean Chin’s Jow Ga. Please make sure your students know where they came from, so they will have a direction for where they will go next. We have “Jow Ga” as a system, Jow Ga as a name as a result of mourning. Depending on which history of Jow Ga you subscribe to–our system was named Hung Tao Choy Mei when the art was taught to General Fook Lam’s soldiers. In 1919, when Si Jo Jow Lung died, his brothers renamed the art “Jow Ga” in memory of their brother, and Jow Biu took the reins to the art, opening 14 schools shortly after. Great things happen when you are motivated by love and mission. If you love this art and our leader, let’s see what great things you will accomplish next. We are one family, bigger than the original family that created this art. If we pull together, tightly, like the fingers to a fist (rather than open and spread out), we can crush rocks with it. Use this time to motivate yourself to doing something big.

Thank you for visiting the Dean Chin’s Jow Ga Federation.


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Categories : History, Kung Fu Philosophy

Patient Learning

3 03 2013

When two Kung Fu men of the same style meet, a popular greeting in place of “nice to meet you” are the words

“What Form Are You On?”

Did I hit the nail on the head? I know I did.

Kung fu students must avoid the pitfall of becoming form collectors. This art has so much more to offer besides forms. We walk into our schools and look on the wall, and see the list of interesting-sounding forms: Tiger and Cougar. Five Animals. Nine Ring Big Knife. Dang, that stuff sounds cool.

What we are really looking for, when learning the next new form, is often those fighting techniques we believe will turn us into Kung Fu Fighting Machines, just by learning the forms, aren’t we? I think I just heard a chuckle.

I mean, no one really wants to learn forms just to step out in front of a crowd and give a dazzling demonstration of “cool-looking” techniques. Hopefully, the Kung Fu community has matured beyond that. No, we are in the age of proving that Chinese Martial Arts are not outdated, useless martial arts technique. Back in the 80s it was enough to demo an interesting form with Shaw Brothers – looking moves. In the current age of the internet, MMA and the popularity of fight sports, Kung Fu people are struggling for relevancy, and it is only a matter of time we see pure kung fu guys enter the cage and restore the respect Bruce Lee gave us on the big screen.

But it won’t happen overnight. And today, you young guys, who have yet to degenerate to rubbing elbows with masters or name-dropping styles and titles to prove yourselves–it is up to YOU to bring Chinese Martial Arts back to prominence. Nobody really cares how much Cantonese you know. Nobody is impressed that you know 30+ forms, or that you once got Chiu Chi Ling’s autograph. No one gives a damn if your lineage is recognized in China. They don’t care if you were the first one to bring your art to town, or how many awards you’ve won, or if your version of forms is the “original” version. That stuff is so 80s.

In the current community of martial artists, all they really care about is can you thump. Can you step out onto the floor and check your “can’t-use-my-deadliest-stuff-because-of-the-rules” excuses at the door and PROVE that your time with your Sifu was not a waste of time. Trust me, if Kung Fu is to be respected for the reliable form of self defense that we say it is, now is the time for you young cats to get out there and show us what you’re made of.

And the first virtue you must embrace and adopt is that of patience.

Patience in training and learning are of the same variety, and they are by products of two of the five virtues of Kung Fu–Loyalty (to teacher, style, school and training) and Humility (to remain a student long enough to truly learn and develop, and not try to be a master before you were ready). If you strive to learn more and more forms, you will end up with just that–forms. Likewise, if you strive for more and more fighting skill, you will end up with the same:  Fighting Skill. Fighting Skill is what people respect, and fighting skill is where true confidence originates in the Kung Fu man. Yes, they will respect other things, like age, intelligence, even skill at forms. Yet nothing silences a room, nothing humbles the arrogant, like a man whose physical presence has just entered because everyone knows who the Tiger is. The Monkey is the guy who jumps around with the loud noises and gets noticed, with his boisterous personality. The Owl is the guy who is wise, been around a long time and people look up to him. The Peacock is beautiful, flashy and may even scare you with his feathers and array of colors. But when that Tiger walks into the room, no animal feels safe, and I don’t care how many Masters you befriend or how many articles you write or what you call yourself. The Owl can rationalize that killing ability is not the point of Kung Fu, but he’d better stay up in that tree. The Mouse can talk of getting along and being friends. In the world of Animals and killers and prey, no one relaxes around the Tiger. And here’s the thing about the Tiger:  as a cub he was just as helpless as any animal and his growth from cute furry animal to the most feared predator in the jungle didn’t happen overnight.

Trust me, it won’t happen overnight for you either.

Train hard, study patiently, listen closely to your Sifu, be acutely aware of other styles and their habits, and your style’s strengths and weaknesses. Give yourself time to absorb the training and build your body. In time, you will be a Tiger yourself. Alliances, forms, terminology, and lineages mean nothing in combat. There is a saying that good soup takes time, and so does good skill. Most people are not patient enough to acquire it, so they spend their time self promoting and trying to convince you that they are Tigers in every way except in the #1 way a Tiger does it.

Trust me when I say this:  Every Kung Fu man who adopts this virtue will eventually become a Tiger, regardless of what style you do, who your master is (or who your master isn’t), what version of forms you’re doing, or how many forms you know. Kung Fu skill lies in the training and the way you approach your training and how you test it. Never forget that. The whole process takes honor, respect, loyalty, integrity, and humility. It takes time.

Thank you for visiting the DC Jow Ga Federation.


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Categories : Kung Fu Philosophy

Lesson #1 from the Dean Chin Rule Book (Attendance)

3 03 2013

Well, it’s a little more than just attendance.

I don’t have the list of rules anymore. Some years have gone by that my box of Jow Ga memorabilia is in an attic in either my aunt’s or father’s house–basement or something. But I do remember possibly one of the first three rules, and hopefully one of my Si Hing can help me out with this:

Students must attend a minimum of 8 classes per month to remain in good standing and continue membership.

In other words, Sifu Chin wasn’t begging anyone to be a student here. See, one of the dark clouds that hovered overhead for the Jow Ga student under Sifu Chin was the possibility that he might ask you to leave his school. We were ordered to practice, clean the school, attend enough classes to make Jow Ga look good, abstain from alcohol use, show courage and reject cowardice… Yeah, other schools said that stuff too, good grades, show respect, blah blah blah. But in the Jow Ga school, it was a reality, and you would be hard pressed even in the 1980s to find a teacher more demanding. This was the kind of school where the students who cut out right after class (despite that they showed up to attend every week) were considered “un-dedicated”, and the REAL kung fu training started about an hour after the last of them left. Few people know what I’m talking about, because most people in those days despised Sifu Chin’s classes and did not hang around long after classes to see what went on in the school.

There were several full instructors in the school who taught classes and had their own followers during the 80s, and very few learned directly from Sifu by that time. Those who did were part of a sort of “Secret Society”, a fraternity of Jow Ga people who were a school within the school, long after Sifu Chin taught his last scheduled class. It was here, that Sifu’s requirement of “Attend 8 classes” was enforced. There are four weekends in a month, and Dean Chin was present nearly every weekend day, after class. You were not really expected to attend the regularly scheduled class in the morning that most students took. But attendance to the 2 hour sparring taught by Tehran Brighthapt and Lemuel Talley was strongly encouraged, and after that was when you got to learn from Sifu. Sometimes it was technique. Sometimes it was form. And it was always lecture.

But what’s your point, Mo?

Sifu did not treat the Kung Fu education like a class. He looked at Kung Fu as a calling. This is not just something you are taking and paying for. It is a total lifestyle change, and only few people who dared walk through those doors and actually sign up are of the caliber he was looking for. Anyone with $35 could join the school. But once inside those walls, only a few of them would become the kind of person he actually taught himself. Most people wouldn’t like it. People actually got mad at Sifu because of how he taught or how he talked to you, and then wanted to post websites decades later about how they were his students. (excuse the personal feelings)

Back to the article.

So if you truly want to understand what separates the men from the boys in Jow Ga, what makes some people proud of their skills versus proud of their alliances, or what makes some people Kung Fu teachers versus Kung Fu men–you must look at the lifestyle one leads as a Kung Fu practitioner. Some people are lucky to find a way to make a good living doing what we do. Most will not, but still practice this art, well beyond the days where they are no longer physically able to do it, broke or not, until the day they die. How they live the art as a Sifu at large depends on how they treated it as students. Your martial arts training should not depend on class availability, finances, or what you’ve got going on in your personal life/the job. If you miss Kung Fu training because “things are crazy”, you’re not a Kung Fu Man–as Sifu Chin would describe it–you’re just a Kung Fu student. And therefore, if you cannot commit to 8 measly classes out of a 30 day month–he didn’t want you as a student.

I could say more, but due to my promise to my Si Hings that this blog would be a happy, happy, joy, joy, positive blog–pull me up next time I’m in DC. I’ll tell you exactly how I feel.

The path to Kung Fu excellence, not just Jow Ga excellence, is how you treat your art. This is a vocation, a life purpose, an identity. It is NOT a class. Nothing should get in the way of your Jow Ga. As Sifu once put it, there are tons of schools in Washington DC. This training is for serious students only.

Amen.

Thank you for visiting DC Jow Ga Federation.


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Categories : Kung Fu Philosophy

What Is a “Grandmaster”, Anyway?

3 01 2013

The term “Grandmaster” is today an overused and meaningless term.

Grandmaster used to mean one who taught your teacher, a form of saying “martial arts grandfather”. The term for one who creates a style is actually “Founder”, or in Chinese we say Si Jo. The title that the Si Jo was called by his students is simply “Sifu”, meaning “teacher”. Not lofty enough of a term for today’s egotistic martial arts teacher.

Today, we have the term used for anyone who claims more than a 5th degree black belt, which would make him a “senior teacher”, or Dai Sifu. Appropriately, the top three or four students of the Master might be referred to as their school’s Dai Sifu–but only to differentiate those students from his other students holding an instructor ranking in the system or school. However, those few students with that denotion would be called by their students, simply, Sifu. Yet most traditional teachers who have instructor level students do not give their students this title. Some would say that the school’s Master would be that school’s Dai Sifu, but again no one would call him that title either. What would that school’s master call himself? Sifu.

And what would his senior students be called? Want to take a guess?

Si Hing. This mean’s “older brother”. The same title a student with 6 months of training would call his classmate with 10 months of training. The same title a student with 3 years of training would call his classmate with 17 years of training. This morning I received a call from my junior classmate who joined Jow Ga Association in 1986. Guess what he calls me? Si Hing.

Why all of these optional titles that no one uses? Because in the Chinese martial arts, respect is often earned three ways:

  1. Stay in the arts long enough and/or simply be older,
  2. Move up in rank,
  3. Possess skill.

While a man can walk around and call himself a Grandmaster, and insist that the community calls him a Grandmaster, we must be careful not to confuse titles with respect. Some will be in awe of a man with a lofty title, an interesting story to tell, or longevity in the art–but again, some may not. Yet when a man is in your presence and everyone around him knows without a doubt that he could kill anyone within 6 feet of him with his bare hands–and no one could do a thing about it–there exists a very rare form of respect that all martial artists understand, and everyone agrees.

Martial artists who do not posses the third category of respect must rely on the first two. In other words, he must be called names and throw around his resume and qualifications in order to receive the kind of respect that is earned the traditional way: years of study, thousands upon thousands of hours of training, a multitude of opponents therefore proving his ability, and finally possessing the skill that even when he says, “just call me ‘teacher’”–everyone knows they are in the presence of a master.

And a grandmaster is only an old man with a title.

Thank you for visiting DC Jow Ga Federation.


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