Kung Fu in China isn't what you think
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- čas přidán 28. 05. 2018
- Q&A with the coach about the state of kung fu and martial arts in general in the People's Republic of China
Shanghai based MMA Coach and Kunlun Fight Combat League ringside commentator Ramsey Dewey answers questions from the viewers.
Thanks to the channel sponsor, No-Gi BJJ Gear. Use my code RAMSEY10 for a 10% discount on everything at www.nogibjjgear.com/?ref=AyJ_...
This channel features original music by Ramsey Dewey
Follow me on Instagram at: / ramseydewey
are you trying to suggest that not everybody was Kung fu fighting?!
kav kaz what you did there..
It wasn't even remotely a little bit frightening.
Not everyone was fast as lightning
But did they fight with expert timing?
Did they....Ho...Ho...Ho..Ho....?
My master has been studying Chinese martial arts since 1955, he is 76 now. He told me that a very large percentage of the combat trained Kung Fu fighters fled China before and during the Cultural Revolution, and that they are teaching everywhere in the world but China.
Yeah, it's called strip malls
blockmasterscott so he studied chinese ma since he was 9 years old?
He did not say how old he was when he started, just that he started as a young boy.
blockmasterscott Ninjutsu is originally from China. Combat kung fu is rare
blockmasterscott ; I can vouch for that. My teacher, who passed June first from problems caused by the Hawaiian volcano ( his home was utterly destroyed), was trained by two masters who fled China and opened a temple in Hawaii. His father entered him into the temple when he was 3 1/2 years old and didn't leave untill he was 22, at which time he joined the Navy and became a "frogman"(UDT) and later, a SEAL.
He told me many stories of his time in the temple. His training was brutal! Fortunately for me, my training was hard but never brutal.
RIP Kawika Paaaina.
This guy sounds like he learned how to speak from old Martial arts movies
J Menz it’s where he learned everything including how to fight
i guess. his tones are all over the place. but i really appreciate him making the effort to pronounce things properly! it sounds decent
Didn't we all?
Wow he really does 😂
@@dandiaz19934 in china tones are a huge thing in the language, it changes the whole meaning of words, hes probably gotten used to the language after so many years there
This video is a lie. I watched karate kid (not the prequels, the original with will smith) and there are dojos on every corner.
Uh I doubt there are dojos on every corner in China since dojo is a Japanese word.
Lost it at “the original with jaden smith” hahahahaha
@@harrymcnicholas9468 whoosh...
Collin Kappa You mean the original 1984 Karate Kid with Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita(rest in peace).
Wow this joke flew over a lot of heads
I used to think that Japan was overrun with ninjas.
That makes no sense since Ninjitsu is the art of invisibility.
At one time it was. Ninja were assassins. Stealth was kinda their thing. So you wouldn’t see them.
@@Blacksword404 Ninjas were never assassins, they were thieves and spies and rarely ever killed
@@MrParkerman6 You wouldn't see them because it is their turn now.
@@MrParkerman6 Well there you go. It is overrun with Ninjas. They're just invisible.
Wait.... The people are not flying around like in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon?! Ramsey! You're breaking my heart Ramsey!
While there isn't anyone flying on trees its not surprising that he had a hard time finding schools of traditional style kung fu in China. From my understanding they are more similar to clubs than schools and they don't advertise. They way it was explained to me it reminded me of a something like a bikers club. You don't ask around about them and it has than underlying almost criminal mystique associated with it. It would be difficult to get into one and they still have the mentality that outsiders are not welcome. So while they are definitely fewer of these places for the reasons he talks about in the video, if he actually came across one he probably wouldn't know it and wouldn't be allowed in if he did. Mind you all this information is coming from stories from friends that are from China, so its not like I verified this with own eyes. However, all the stories I've been told are similar and they came from multiple people who don't all know each other.
TYRANNICAL : Flying around takes many years of practice first you have to snatch the pebble from a master's hand.
Don't be silly, of course they are.
U r a few hundred years late for that.
Thats why nobody does Kung Fu. All those that start to train in it are dead from jumping off car park roofs to fly
As a Chinese, I have to admit that you are right.
Paul Digga it's not silly to believe what you think is the truth. Otherwise Americans just don't care that much to find out the facts.
And may Chinese believe the myth of kungfu as well😅
What myth? Kungfu has been around for thousands of years
确实 很对，早知道当时就不投胎到中国了
AS AN ARYAN I WANT TO SAY THAT YOUR TAIWANESE ANCESTORS WOULD NOT BE PROUD THAT YOU ARE THAT NAIVE YOU FOOL
I'm a Wushu athlete. I consider myself to be a dancer in that regard. My forms and sets are not designed to win fights. They are meant to look elegant. But that said, Wushu has given me a great foundation for real practical martial arts.
I feel you... My TKD training gave me a huge edge in mma. I was faster and more agile then anyone at my gym. Being able to easily and smoothly pull out a 180 spinning heal kick in the middle of a combo caught a lot of people off guard. I would say I became a muay thai fighter with flair if anything but it gave me an edge that no one else had.
Ramsay. You need to narrate books. Awesome voice.
jsagers2008 *He sounds like kung fu gandalf*
He's a narrator... on video!
I was thinking just the same, when I started to see his videos. kkkkkkk!
He sounds like Hunter S. Thompson.
He sounds like every character in every dubbed fung fu movie.
i am expert in mma.
mexican martial arts
It’s like regular martial arts... but better
bad to the bone
All hail our lord and saviour Flaco
Mira.... i´s good and all but you have a Jacket?
I wouldn't mess with somebody trained in despacito-fu either.
bad to the bone, is that a spin off of gun foo?
I dont know what China you've been to but Kung Fu is still absolutely HUGE there. Shanghai is the most modern city in China and not a good representation of "average" Chinese people.
Ranton he’s talking about the major city’s and the Kung fu they teach there is mostly sport wushu
My boi Ranton is here!
Alright, so I..... I'm gonna take that with a grain of salt. Shanghai is the most populated city of china, how isn't that a good representation of average chinese people?
@@themuffinman6942 Yeah, but that doesn't have anything to do with what I said. I talked about population, statistics and what can be considered as a "regular chinese person", not about the one temple he's been to. And he still trained modern non-combative demonstration wushu.
Besides, for that matter Ramsey LIVES in China.
@@themuffinman6942 Ramsey's point is that Kung Fu as an actual martial art and not a themed dance is almost non existent in China, which is true. I think Shanghai represents a pretty wide portion of the population. And what's the matter if Ramsey is not Chinese? (that sounded a little racist) he has lived there for a long time, plus martial arts are his job! he's been to every combat sports event he could, and then casted and still casts combat sports in China. I think he knows what he's talking about when it comes to martial arts in china, so, reverse uno card XD (with love, man... I don't want bad vibes going)
Ironic isn't it. The masters so closely guarded their secrets and what the masters didn't hoard, the Chinese government tried to destroy. That is why my first introduction to Martial arts was actually Taekwondo taught by a Chinese Man who learned TKD from a white man, who learned TKD from a Korean, who earlier learned from the Japanese who learned from the Chinese.
Most governments are destroying their own countries.
Hm, I used to own a rifle that was made in Russia, captured by the Chinese and used against the Russians, sold to the US so it could be given to the Afghanis during the Soviet invasion, then, used against the US during their invasion after 9/11 and captured by a European force that used it against the Afghanis, then, sold it back to the US. God, if that thing could have talked.
"Chinese Masters" or Chinese Fighters and Instructors for a less cartoonish terminology have no secrets and never had secrets, because there is nothing secret about fighting and learning how to fight. The human body and methods of training have been explored and researched in a kind of way that there cant be any major secrets anymore.
And who learned it from santa clause.
@@bigbubba4184 I think by secrets all he means is the different forms and styles and the methods by which one trains in these styles. Perhaps also referencing the whole 'chi' thing, which is just one of many words for energy and how to fully utilize that energy within you. Personally, I think the real tragedy is the loss of culture and history and how distorted and difficult it would be now to learn about how martial artists of old actually went about their training and daily lives.
"I have a degree in modern dance"
Most surprising thing I've heard today
It allows him to dodge in an aesthetic and crowd pleasing way.
Yeah, he is a dancer too. Not really a surprise for those who follow this channel for a while. ^^
A lot of fighters take dance too i cant remebed the guys name now but i heard joe rogan talking abouf him his dad pulled him from whatever martial art he did and made him take dance for a year
@@weirdscience8341 You're talking about boxer Vasyl Lomachenko. That's right, his father made him train dancing for a year before training boxing.
dance is the yang to martial arts, which is the yin. It teaches to control emotions, and also physically helps martial arts with agility, flexibility, balance and proprioception. Alot of dance moves, especially in modern dance, correlate to martial arts moves, just done more gracefully and controlled. For example an illusion in dance is a wheel kick. groundwork in modern dance has bridges, shrimp moves like jiujitsu.
Wait, so all this time that I and my friends have been wryly saying "Your Kung Fu is strong" when one of us exhibits some decidedly non-martial bit of expertise... we've actually been using the phrase correctly? Mind. Blown.
Correctly but obsoletely. It would be like saying good show, when you mean good job. It no longer has that meaning, and technically, today, would literally refer to a show such as a movie or a play.
Kung Fu can mean time, effort or skill.
I've told this to people before. I was called racist.
Thank you for validating what I have told people for years.
"call a racist" - Invariably used to shut folk up as they don't like what they are saying.
Hey Ramsey, really like your videos explaining things about kungfu. It's done a lot of clarification for us Chinese people (in or outside of China). One thing I want to point out is that "shifu" is written in two different ways: 师父 and 师傅. The first one means teacher, the second one means someone who is skillful in something, but not necessarily your teacher. For taxi or bus drivers, you are actually calling them by the second writing of "shifu". The first first one starts with the word "shi" which means teacher "laoshi", and the second word "fu" means "father" (fùqīn). The traditional notion is that your teacher has similar position like your father, so you have to respect the teacher as such. So yeah, they're two different terms. Hope this helps.
Thank you for the Information
interesting, so only *written* differently, but pronounced the same?
谢谢。I like that nin 您 has heart
I always thought that Kung Fu meant” hard work” So even people working in sweat shops and laundries are doing Kung Fu and are a Si-Fu of their profession and working hard for their Si-Gung or Si-Jo. 😂😂😂
You are one of the very few foreigners on CZcams can give a fair representation of China.
nah man, this guy is cool and has insightful things to say and is probably a really good guy but despite living in China he really doesn't give it a fair representation at all. I grew up in southeast Asia and went to China as a kid and have also gone back as an adult and intend to keep taking trips over there - I've gotta stay that what this guy is saying simply isn't a complete picture. He could beat the crap out of me, of this I have no doubt, but as far as an accurate and fair representation of China, nah, not at all.
Well then, what is he skimping on? He seems to have more current experience then you, so it's possible you are mistaken. On the other hand, he is still a foreigner, and he lives in Beijing, so his experiences are that of a foreigner living in a major city. I don't think he pretends that his experiences are authentic Chinese, but that of someone from the outside who now resides in china.
BTW, when I asked what he was skimping on, I was being legit. I would love to hear your opinion. I won't know the truth for myself, but it never hurts to hear more.
Try China Uncensored!
@@skyearthsoul But it is his experience of China- you can't really argue against what he's seen and how he feels about it just because it's different to your own
@@skyearthsoul I'm curious; what, in your opinion, does he get wrong?
I'm living in Thailand. Muay Thai in Thailand is the same situation like Kung Fu in China. Most Thai people do not practice Muay Thai.
Agreed, Just watched Fight World on Netflix about Muay Thai and it's the poor that usually fight to try have a better life.
Same as Jiu Jitsu or Capoeira here in Brasil..
Isn't that like boxing or wrestling in America?
@@ericb8217 Yes, it's the same everywhere. Most people don't want to get punched in the face for a living if they have the option not to.
@@Rooztr unless you're just a slight degree off normal haha
As a Chinese Canadian I can testify that you REALLY understand what's happening in China! (I stayed in China until 18.)
Its great to hear someone who is quite experienced in Martial Arts...but its rare to find that person who can articulate the subject in such a concise manner. Glad I clicked on your videos! Keep up ypur Great Work Sir!
"Try not to starve to death, good luck out there"
Great family advice LOL. Thanks man, these videos are the best.
"Get a haircut, get a job"
One of the things forgotten in this video is that during the "Cultural Revolution" many of the more skilled martial artists fled the country to Malaysia, Singapore, And especially Taiwan.
Abroad they established new schools and organizations to keep the authentic Kung fu alive. They also try to keep the traditions alive by using discipleship and titles like Shifu. You are much more likely to find a teacher outside of China who knows his or her stuff.
Its also important to remember that pre-guns in China, you still fought with weapons. Most traditional arts have a heavy focus on weapons originally, but has since then focused more on open hand versions for self defense.
Yet sadly, their experience with actual fighting has diminished in most cases, and mostly they try to make their systems work based on their understanding of fighting inside sparring and sports paradigms, which is not what these arts where developed for. They are mostly developed for war, or weapon fighting.
If you look at arts like Bajiquan, many moves look completely stupid to do in a ring, they f.ex will not twist their upper body to deliver blows and rather turn around 180 degrees while stepping forward. This is because it was developed for people wearing stiff armor on their upper bodies, so power generation was different, its actually eerily similar to many combats systems now used in military and police where they use bodyarmor because its a good way to solve the same problem.
When people attempt to apply this into a sparring paradigm it has correct answers, but to the wrong questions, and often end up giving it a bad name. Bajiquan f.ex. works great in counter-assault scenarios, but its not much use for sparring.
codexdelux.
And who do you personally know who can do this, and how did they test their ability to "take anyone out Permanently"?
The other problem is that many people pursue fajin and other stuff as the be all end all of martial arts, but neglect super important stuff like sparring, or don't do it because are afraid of hurting their partners. So, people with scary levels of fajin or iron palm never use them on non-compliant people and when try it on real fights have dull reflexes, lack of timing and sense of distance. It is no use breaking walls with punches if you can't land them.
murilocaruy Yup. What they don't understand is that, say, western boxers can also exhibit fan in, and that a conditioned human body on the move can be much more resilient than a board, brick or rock in its own way.
I like your reply. thought provoking.
Dude is speaking straight truth, especially the taxi drivers, I knew he was gonna say that when he paused and laughed.
Although pronounced same way, the 'Shifu' or 'Sifu' you call the taxi drivers is different from the 'Shifu' you call your masters. The former is written as '师傅. It's a polite way to call people with specific occupations, such as taxi drivers, chefs, senior factory workers etc, or simply a slightly older stranger. One of the most famous instant noodle/ramen brands in China is called Kang Shi Fu, 康师傅. It means something like Chef Kang.
The Shifu you call your master, is written as 师父, with the 父(fu) meaning father. This is the serious name to call someone. Normally you would have to be the formal disciple of the master to have to right to call the person 师父. There are formal ceremonies for masters taking disciples. It's a serious serious thing.
yea but to be honest, 师父 is only important to their 徒弟。Otherwise its not really a honorary "rank", like you can't immediately respect someone because they're someone else's 师父 or when said in general society.
如果我不是谁谁的徒弟, 这句师父基本上没意义。反而有些人把师父这句话以大师来读，Ramsey 是在笑这些人。
Very True
@@zhiyaoxing4399 also, how would you know which one you're using if they both sound the same?
@@varanid9 context
Had the same realization about Tae Kwon Do less than a year into a two year duty station in South Korea in the early 00's. Visited the '86 Olympics TKD center and it was essentially unused. Had to search quite a bit before finding any martial arts schools and came to the conclusion that TKD was more popular and practiced by more people in the US than in the ROK.
Talked to a Thai foreign exchange student in San Diego who *gasp* never trained in Muay Thai ("... generally only practiced by the lower class.") and laughed that everyone asked him about that.
And suddenly, a pattern is becoming quite evident. It's for cultural tourists who grew up watching martial arts films about the "exotic" far East.
I can attest to that. I live in Beijing. I studied Wing Tsun in EWTO for about 7 years or so now. When I arrived I looked for a good school to continue training (not pointing fingers on anybody) but I was quite disapointed. Thus I sarted my own club and ended up teaching chinese people Wing Chun...Now whenever I go back to EU for a vacation I use the time to study hard in the EWTO club in my contry...
I have never trained or even thought about doing MMA, But I enjoy your videos, and I have learned A lot of stuff that I previously knew nothing about, Im about 22 years old and you have inspired me to try and become a coach myself, not for fighting but for something that I am passionate about, you have a lot of life experience that you present in a calm and clear way that is easy to understand, There are so many things you say that can be applied to multiple aspects of competition in general, I always look forward to your videos, even know I don't do MMA
What are you coaching in?
@@gesshugh9976 sex
I've been studying traditional White Dragon kung fu in colorado for two years. Same story. My sifu is very concerned about preserving our heritage and style because this is pretty much the last place it's being taught. I feel very fortunate to be learning and practicing.
Your understanding of the development of Kungfu is way deeper than I initially gave you credit for. When you talk about cultural revolution I can see that you understand it real deep.
My old manager was into martial arts. He told me you can have Kung Fu in anything. He said it meant like good skill or good energy.
It's more of the.. er.. to draw up a horrible simplification that will annoy people... but not as much as the one your manager used XD.. it's the tail end of a taoist concept.
So "qigong" is directly translated into something like chi + gong -> flow + exercise/repetition/struggle/work, etc.. And depending on context, it would be transferrable to something like doing a practice exercise from a book. Like following a recipe, for a cook, trying to learn to make a dish, to borrow Ramsey's allegory. Or if you're a philosopher (I'm pulling this from Confucius), qigong to you would be mental exercises and puzzles, training your sense of logic and reason (Confucious drones on and on about this). In martial arts, qigong would be basic physical exercises, needed to create the foundation. It's completely transferrable to thoughtful ideals about schools, right -- you have a system you learn a foundation from, that then allows you to advance later.
While - in this schema, in this way of thinking (that permeates Chinese culture utterly, even though it's not completely obvious or conscious for everyone) - gongfu is translated directly into exercise/work + fu. Where this fu (that could be a lot of stuff from the writing and pronunciation) in this case probably would be an outdated honorific of some sort that signifies a person, a human. Which, by ancient standards, is not a title that applies to everyone, but rather someone remarkable (probably of high standing or accomplishment, the one not necessarily requiring the other, of course).
Meaning that gungfu is the product of your struggle of a human. Or, more loosely, the product of human endavour. Your human skill, derived from exercise/work/struggle. Or more colloquial, the product of your careful training, as your translate the theory you're taught, into your own skill.
So gongfu is really a very dynamic term that suggests the uniquely developed skill of a master - in any craft. But it's obviously not an objective term, and rather an internal concept or a guiding line, or train of thought, so to speak. Which, frankly, seems very foreign to modern China today, at least officially - where you are most rewarded for hard work, deference to all, and not standing out in any way (or if you do, it's arrogance and horror). Or where, like in the west, "kungfu" is seen as some ancient super-wisdom.
But you shouldn't dismiss the importance of concepts like this, or think they only exist as Hollywood parodies - just as you can't really suggest that religion and religious practices have disappeared in China just because they were banned by the state in the 50's (and any amount of times before that, back to the Mongols, at least as far as we know - there's solid tradition for that). That's not how it works, even in China. And certainly I know a number of Chinese who have a very, very risky set of thoughts about how society should work, to what wushu means, and to how the economy should be organised, and things of that sort. Which perhaps ties into the silent respect many Chinese have for developing something real, real skill, in line with these old taoist concepts. Perhaps sometimes to a fault, as something never is good enough. But also sometimes it is invisible, to us that is, because the "skill" isn't seen as being "able to market your wushu form". Just in the same way that sometimes developing this skill isn't diminished by boundless respect for masters or authority. Far from it. So that it is invisible, that doesn't actually mean it doesn't exist. And I'm pretty sure that people who have masters degrees in wushu also are extremely humble about the combat application of it as well - I know one, at least, who, in different words, essentially thinks of it as historical recreation. Trying to piece together ideas, concepts and fitting them into a historical context. It's no different from a very dilligent history student who has a dedicated interest in a local politician or a period of importance, for example. Or a student that looks into a particular philosopher and genuinely tries to find out what context they were in, and how they thought, how their ideas were shaped, and how to understand them now. But they don't name it like that, and I'm sure the way they (over)play the importance of a "dance-form" - that we don't attach any cultural importance of, and see as flimsy in actual combat - will seem very strange. But to them, it represents a piece of the puzzle in putting together how the masters of old trained, and how "gongfu" was developed. Which then again ties into all kinds of lost(in the sense of not actively practiced any more) religious, spiritual and practical elements that knock any Chinese over in nostalgic euforia. But also gives many people (quietly, still) a great deal of foundation and practical use.
So that's important, and concepts like this are important. And it's not just self-indulgence either - it's very important to understand that it's no more curious to practice and revere wushu forms than, say, local theaters setting up Shakespeare in original language (as far as they can recreate it), and deriving something more than just a good healthy laugh from it. But rather use it to discover something real about the culture and identity that you might have had, that now, in certain respects, have been lost.
I learned Hung Gar and my Sifu said the same thing. Chinese youth no longer wany to learn the traditional art, they also pay and want to call teachers coaches.
@@kabalder sorry for my short reply but,
He did explain it more later i just couldnt put it into better words at the time. He said it closer to when you said a master of an art or a skill. He did go deeper into the philosophy some. In the way i view it the simplest is when one performs their skill and it seems to just flow from them. Lol not to be cliche but they are one with it whatever that may be.
I told a friend one year ago exactly the same and at first he didn't want to believe me.
Ramsey you nailed it like always.
Outstanding report. Coincides completely with news I get from a friend who's been living over there for at least the past twelve years. He's not into martial arts at all, he's an ESL teacher, but his assessment of the contemporary culture is spot-on identical to yours. Good luck over there, and thanks again for an excellent video.
This man knows his history.
Question how did you end up in China? Can you make a video about it, i am very interested in it. If you already made it can you link it for me please? Can't seem to find it.
@OC Jones LMFAO
He identified an oportunity and made money from it.
please talk about your modern dance degree
Yes!
And perhaps a demonstration as well?
Thanks for the articulate explanation of the state of Kung fu in China these days....I was there 14 years and still love tai chi...which is not only slow motion exercise, but can also be an effective self-defense skill.
Interesting. I trained in China 1990-1993 and the way I found a teacher was I asked around about who was a bad ass in a style I was interested in. I ended up training in Xingyi with the man who taught Tai Chi in the park at the university I was teaching at. There were no schools except for the provincial Wushu team training center, just individuals who if they agreed to teach , you went to their house at night. There might be one or two others drop by to train, but in general the teacher would show you something, leave you for an hour or so to work on it outside and then come out later to correct it. My 63 year old teacher introduced me to his 55 year old teacher who then wanted to train me and he introduced me to his father-in law who was 85 years old and head of this group of Xingyi boxers I was working out with. Like what has happened to many old styles, the old man had passed all of his information to his son-in-law who unfortunately died of a heart attack shortly after I met him. This method of passing all your information as an heirloom to one or two chosen students that may die early or decide not to teach has left a hole in very traditional chinese martial arts.
I trained in Hong Kong and Taiwan for 4 years in the 80's and can concur that what Ramsey says is spot on.
I just got back from Hong Kong and what I saw was legit. Lots of old people in the park, however, flat out said "kung fu is not for fighting". It depends on who you train with. Some train for real encounters (not so much sport fights), others for health and mobility. I just thought it was cool to be somewhere where it isn't a weird thing to do.
@ It was more fun back then. I remember being 8 years old in the 80s and recognizing everyone's fear on nights when the master would show up. I think lawyers nerfed the karate experience.
This is gold! Just pure Gold! I've been to China, recently. I've seen the 'Kung Fu Show' you mentioned (one of). I asked some chinese people (might have been agents, though) about Wing Chun. I was a practitioner of this art in Europe. I heard the stories of the teachers coming from China. Still... this was such a shock to me.
BTW. It is cool, you have access to CZcams from Shanghai :)
Much respect Ramsey for all your talents and who you are you really explain kung fu so well or martial arts .
Mr Dewey, you've hit upon something that I often think about, as a Malaysian whose ancestors left China before the Cultural Revolution. Just thinking about how much knowledge, how much culture, etc. was lost from the Revolution makes me a little ill. That said, there are lots of people in the Chinese diaspora worldwide who fled China pre-Revolution. e.g., my family still believes in the Kitchen God and other shamanistic practices. Similarly, there are also a good handful of old masters who gained their martial skills from their family. Go check it out in Malaysia if you get the chance and make a video to tell us what you think. There are also other local martial arts too (Silat for example).
I have been saying this on my channel for years now. Somethimes ppl see my videos and say hey that's not Chinese kung fu and i say to them: hey we have a big Chinese community in cuba that fled china and stablish in cuba and what i do i learned from them and these are styles passed down from generation from generation. Its good that you post this because it validates what i know already. Its shanme this video is not on my channel to explain to the audience
What's your channel?
I saw you videos before...you are doing better things for kung fu than a lot of Chinese guys...keep your good work going.
Rebuswind thanks
BTW...I am a Chinese...so, just want you to know...as a Chinese, I do not think only Chinese can do 'Chinese kung fu'...just in case some Chinese people may give you that wrong idea..
I can recommend his channel, whilst I may not agree with every video, he definitely shows and explains all his techniques well.
Ramsey, have you considered creating any videos about your general experience as a foreigner in China? It's interesting to hear your perspectives on martial arts topics, but I'd also be curious to hear about the day to day life. How was the initial move over there? What's the biggest difference you noticed compared to the US? Things like that.
I taught kung fu the UK for several years.
During that time, I had a few students of Chinese decent.
I'd always told all my students to address me by my first name, as that was my name. I don't teach young kids, so the whole hierarchy thing is not so relevant.
I had a Chinese family turn up one evening, parents and 4 kids, with the intent of their 15 year old son starting Kung Fu.
But they hadn't realised that I was a westerner teaching a southern Hakka style.
They didn't think I could teach "part of their culture".
Luckily I had a Chinese woman from Hong Kong in the class.
She'd only been with me a few months, but she spoke to them, in Hakka, not even Cantonese.
They were astounded when she told them that she had been along to several "kung Fu" classes in our big city, and that I was teaching the most authentic southern kung fu she'd found. That I did it not for money, as I had a good job,, but to pass on the knowledge. And that I happened to be a nice guy too. (I might have added that last bit).
One day during class I spoke to the lad, he was 16 I think. Anyway, he replied with " yes Sifu".
After class I asked him about this, and he said that he had wanted to address me as Sifu before, but his parents had been reluctant to let him do so as I am a westerner.
But after his parents said that they could see he was enjoying the classes and learning part of their tradition, that they were embarrassed that they had needed to go to a westerner to teach their son part of Chinese culture.
So for me, I would never ask a student to call me anything other than my name.
However, in this instance it was a sign of respect by an individual, who really understood what it meant to address me as such.
Since then the lad has grown up, gone to university, but still addresses me as Sifu in emails, Fb etc.
Traditional kung fu is virtually extinct in China.
To find the real deal you need to go to the China towns of big old western port cities where Chinese immigrants settled.
But even then, the most dedicated students of the old Chinese masters, are still westerners who value the traditions more than the Chinese themselves.
in germany it is the same
@@Supermomo2007 jo wollte kung fu in deutschland anfangen
Bin mir aber noch recht unsicher.... Wie sind deine Erfahrungen bissher?
@@rafaelsantiagosupportkingi9265 ich hatte ving tsun gemacht und shaolin kung fu. In ving tsun durfte ich gegen Boxer kämpfen und in Shaolin hatten wir Sanda Vollkontaktkämpfe. Ich hatte also gute Erfahrungen.
I got recommended this video randomly after watching a couple of Wing Chun vids. Just wanted to say you have a fantastic voice.
Hey Ramsey, I know I have left a few funny comments on your videos jokingly, but seriously, you are really good at this. You talk well, great voice great charisma. I just read that your CZcams channel suddenly exploded with many followers. If you haven't already, you really should monetize your channel. On the off chance that you are like some of the old kung fu teachers I knew who see something evil in making money, let me point out that you are providing good information as well as entertainment to people in exchange.
If you do, please don't let it change you though. You're awesome the way you are.
Way back when I learned northern shaolin from a Peruvian man in Sweden he mentioned that a year or two before I joined he took his class to china to visit the legendary Shaolin temple. They were all disappointed because the old ways were gone, and it was just tournament training because the chinese practitioners were hoping to get noticed by movie studios. There is more old style Kung Fu outside of china than in it. So many people escaped the Cultural revolution and went everywhere. Those that remained were wiped out.
Dewey, I recently discovered your channel and I like it a lot. You have a deep and robust voice and are highly educated.
I'm glad I came across your channel I just subscribed. Your experiences are enlightening.
I am a teacher of America's FIRST and OLDEST existing Kung Fu school. We're called the Hung Sing Kwoon (Great Victory School). Our founder is Prof. Lau Bun and he is known as America's Kung Fu patriarch. We crossed paths and witnessed all kung fu including bruce lee that arrived after him. We've been in America since the early 1920's and continuously running till this very day. My teacher is the current inheritor of our lineage. I'm a member of the 3rd generation and 5th generation going back to the systems founder. Our mother school is located in Foshan/Fut San, southern China. They are still very active there. That school was officially established in 1851 and lasted until 1949. It was the largest and most structured schools of traditional kung fu of its kind. They fought in every major revolution during that time and even participated in overthrowing China in 1911. They even went to war against the Japanese during the japanese invasion. Some of our elders were martyrs for the cause. The system that i study is you can say a "Mixed martial art" because it is comprised of three different styles. The fighting standards there today need some work. but they'r still standing strong almost 200 years later in Fut San.
Both Kung Fu and Tai chi are not that old like many ;people think.
@@harrymcnicholas9468 WE ARE REGISTERED IN FOSHAN AS ESTABLISHED IN 1851
I really enjoy listening to you talk
I love this guys deep voice... He'd be a great movie narrator!
Exactly the same is happening in Japan, some sportslike marial arts like judo and kendo are kinda popular in high schools but that's about it.I train traditional samurai martial arts (koryu BUjutsu) and most people don't even know what that is in Japan!
MCShvabo most people in most countries don’t know nor care about history. Unless they come from a really tradition based culture. Otherwise, any modern culture has probably left behind old traditions.
You are right to some extent but Japan is not one of those countries.If you live in Kyoto or any of the smaller cities it's very common to see people (old AND young) dressed in traditional garb, also, people attending calligraphy, tea ceremony or traditional theater is not uncommon in places like that, and not to mention that their pop culture is also filled with things relating to their traditional arts.But of whatever reason martial arts are not one of those things.
How do u know what u learn is legot of the people dont even know what is it?
RonLarhz Cause it’s well documented?
There are people that know about it of course and you will see it pop up on TV every now and then but average people don’t know about it.
MCShvabo I thought that many people still learn Judo in Japan. Is it just not many people doing it?
A true human being , glad I discovered you Chanel old chap 😎
I have similar experiences. I trained in the Wudang mountains last year. The schools there basically trains forms and conditioning. No sparring. Many (chinese, mostly elderly) tourists come there to look at the temples and to look at the kungfu schools. For them, it is like a museum. The schools are part of the history of the temples. A lot of them are really surprised that we as foreigners are interested im Chinese Kung Fu.
The teachers do know the applications but it's so sad that they don't teach it. This ruins the style IMHO.
Dries van Oosten I heard about Wudang and I'm tremendously intrigued by it, would recommend it? How was your experience?
If you like Wudang t'ai chi but want more sparring, check out İsmet Himmet (a.k.a. You Lihan). He's a student of Tang Li Long and You Xuande with a scool in Hainan - they do a lot of sparring there; in fact they sometimes refer to what they do as "internal MMA". (Disclaimer: I'm studying with one of his students.) czcams.com/video/c-D-r0Hkq9M/video.html
Mr. Dewey, you say things that I agree with and some things that I have a different opinion and view on. However, you are respectful and I very much appreciate that. I appreciate your perspective and your training advice.
It's good to see a simple video full of correct information, in this age of (dis)information. I wrote an article in 1994 about the universal history of martial arts, which of course had an emphasis in Chinese Martial Arts not only because it's my main background, but because despite not having been the source of all Eastern fighting arts, it was by far the most influential. Most Corean and Japanese styles had huge influence from Chinese styles. Northern Kung-Fu influenced TaeKwon Do... Southern Kung-Fu influenced Okinawan Karate, etc... What you said about modern WuShu, it's origins and it's ideology, is totally correct.
Also worth mentioning is that before the Cultural Revolution, when the Nationalists of Chiang Kai-Shek were in power, they also tried to do a systematization of traditional Kung-Fu styles but, instead of modernizing it's techniques to harmless acrobatics, they actually wanted to keep the traditional styles unaltered, only congregated in one single federation. They called this Kuo-Shu (National Art). When the communists took over, the Nationalists fled to Taiwan and took Kuo-Shu there. When I started training Choy Lee Fut Kung-fu, my association was connected to the World Kuo-.Shu Federation (WKF) which was still in the 80's the most popular worldwide governing body for Chinese Martial Arts. Slowly WWF started creeping up and soon enough it became the most popular governing body.... Eventually we moved to WWF.
Also I have been to China to train Wu-Shu, both in Beijing and Shaolin, back in 1997. It's a different experience altogether to be embedded in the actual day to day life of China and understand Wu-Shu from that standpoint. I trained Chang Chuan, Bagwa and Nan Gun (the first form was then being created by the Master under who we trained - Zu Rui Chi) in Beijing, although my background is traditional Choy Lee Fut since 1987. Quite different but skills were still somewhat transferable, specially to Chang Chuan and Nan Gun.
There's another very important thing you said that's is very true. People don't learn (at least at a being level) from the previous generations experience. At an emotional level, people only respond to their personal life experience, although they may know what happened before them, at an intellectual level... And as Hume and Schopenhauer said, we are motivated by our intent and passions... Not our reason.
K-1 actually started in Japan in 1993. In 2012, a Hong Kong company purchased the K-1 brand and they are still the brand owners today.
"try not to starve to death good luck out there" holy shit thats big families to a tee 😂😂😂
Damn, this video just randomly started playing as i played some games, was like wtf? But ended up listening to the whole thing, really informative. Keep up the good work!
Fascinating video to have stumbled upon. So informative and eloquent.
I have zero MMA knowledge or interest, but I'm totally subscribing!
you have a cool voice, you should do a voice over and acting !
Great video. I like the shift between serious stories and anecdotes to humor.
14:56 "cartoons" xD *anime
You truly love martial Arts. You can tell cause if the way you talk about it. That is love right there! I subscribed!
Thank you. I appreciate learning more about places I have never been. I can’t help but enjoy every time my un-investigated assumptions are incorrect and I am blessed to learn something new.
Very informative!
What about Taiwan? Do you know about the state of Kung Fu or martial arts in general over there?
A lot of old school real fighting stuff. Not suitable for dancing communists in silky pajamas
@Charles Huang 哈哈哈哈哈哈😄 白痴
In Taiwan there's a lot of mixed martial arts, and there's Sanda too, but it isn't super popular. There are still some Kung Fu masters, but a lot of the people who come to Taiwan to search for kung fu lineages are foreigners.
Thank You! You are the first person I've heard on CZcams to actually speak on the real definition of Kung Fu which means Supreme skill from hard work.
Ramsey I always enjoy your videos you explain things the way they are plus your very openminded . .so many methods it did change it.
Since you mentioned World War II, it is worth noting what a waste it was when it comes to Kung Fu. The Guomindang government recruited an innumerable amount of Kung Fu masters and threw them against Japanese lead and steel like throwing pieces of gold into a grinder. Many of those masters were actually patriotic volunteers and/or were victims of some of the executions and/or massacres committed by the Japanese, but Heaven only knows what kind of knowledge was lost as a result of their untimely passing! 😔
1:00-3:00 yea. From what i understand the classical chinese boxing arts we want to call "kung fu" had been largely destroyed as a culture during the communist revolution.
It was not the only thing destroyed.
You guys need to stop commenting before watching the entire video. The guy says in the video that chairman Mao made a specific effort to preserve traditional martial arts. Take your political bias elsewhere.
There is no such thing as "political bias" here, it is our opinion having read history and you are welcome to have your own.
It is a political bias, and is very common, because it is assuming that a different political/economic system than our own is the spawn of satan, and can only cause harm. Whatever the case, doesn't change the fact that the original post jumped the gun and said something contrary to what was said in the video.
No, it's an objective observation of Communism's success rate throughout History the world over. As for Mao, YOU need to watch the video a little more attentively; apparently, Mao kept Kung Fu alive as dances, not fighting styles. Sorry if you're an offended Communist, but, as the saying goes, facts don't care about your feelings.
Old vid I know but I've been watching alot of your vids lately
I'm not a fighter but find your words truly inspirational
Thank you
great update, thanks
Great video
Well, considering the latest shitstorm caused by him mentioning something aikido-related I am just not sure the request sounds very right)))) If I remember right his last comment on the topic was in the lines of "OK, let's agree I am not a specialist in aikido".
Well, he made a video about savate in mma... Where he talked about one of his students pulling off an aikido throw in a sparring... That is what i would like to know more about... Im following a chanel called martial arts journey or something like that, where an aikido master is learning other martial arts because he thinks aikido is useless... And i used to practice subakdo... Wich is like a mix between many martial arts, and we learned a little bit of wristlock techniques... And i have used them in fights a few times... So i was asking him to talk a bit more about it so i can send that video to the comunity of that other youtuber
I am just making sure you are aware of the factors that make his response less likely)
Follow the howl in my opinion, an aikido throw is any throw that uses wrist control to upset the balance of the other fighter... At least... That kind of throw is way more common in aikido than in most other types of grapling styles... I learned that from a martial art that is not aikido, but if you see someone catching a punch by the wrist, pushing the elbow in a circular motion, then pulling the arm behind the other guys ear and make him land on his face doing half a backflip... You would not think "thats subakdo!" ir "that is judo!" you will probably thibk that is aikido
gingercore69 rokas is not an aikido master. He's a disgrace. He have so many knowledge in aikido but zero understanding of it. Let's talk about history. Locking & throwing is already exist back in history. And it have time when it's almost forgotten. But then there's a Chinese martial art technique called chin na or qin na whatever it's called that focused on locking & throwing. Japanese learn from it and used it on bujutsu (old & maybe the first official japanese martial art that literally focus on how to kill fast implemented by group called samurai). Then after meiji era, bujutsu as art of killing is prohibited & changes its way to a more harmony way thus born new martial art called budo. Budo change bujutsu 'jutsu' to 'do'. One of bujutsu martial art is jujutsu. There's a special school of jujutsu in japan called 'daito ryu aiki-jujutsu'. It's the only martial art that implemented harmony, peace, & no harm. Even we must care about enemy behavior. Then morihei ueshiba is the one who make it becomes budo called aikido(the more spiritual & principal way of aiki-jujutsu without throwing the effectiveness of the combat side). Many master of other martial art learn from either aiki-jujutsu or aikido(but then not giving a credit to it). The only martial art that giving aiki-jujutsu or aikido credit are only hapkido, krav maga, & pencak silat tenaga dasar, the rest doesn't give credit for many reason. Aikido techniques are anything that makes your opponent pinned or throwed with not much energy with simple movement. You see so many occasions when police pinning a person down with their arms in their back? It's aikido. You see many video called 'practical real situation technique' on CZcams that teach how to deal with knife or guns, a lot of it is implementing aikido technique. Well, maybe their martial arts is not aikido, but without they know their martial arts have technique borrowed from aikido or aikijujutsu by their old master back in the day. Cmiiw, my information is not 100% accurate.
I have to admit you are cool to listen too. It is terrible that all of the older generation that learned martial arts out of necessity and its practicality v the younger generation that do not see it's value.
Excellent video Sir, thank you!
dude, this guy would make an amazing voice actor, his voice sounds BADASS
I was told Kung Fu literally translated means "hard work" and not "good skill" but I dont speak chinese myself and there might be a difference between mandarin-chinese and cantonese but I dont know
Kung fu literally translates to "efforts". When kung fu is used in martial art, it is more referring to skills.
Skills are derived from hard work. Talent is different however
So japanese kung-fu is ganbatte?
the Sifu thing makes me think of the term Sensei (teacher), It's a pet peeve of mine when I see people calling themselves "sensei -first name-". calling someone a teacher is meant to be done in a respectful manner. calling someone by their first name is extremely informal. they don't go together.
it should be "last name" Sensei. for example "Narushima Sensei".
when I see guys call themselves "sensei roger" I roll my eyes.
You don't call a neuro surgeon or a doctor " dr. steve".
or a proffessor, "proffesor Johhny"
living in Asia I have never seen anyone address someone as Sensei/sabum "first name", it's ridiculous. yet, it's common in English speaking countries.
it's an american thing when we put Sifu in front of the name. For example, Sifu Bob McGullicuty. Or, Sensei Frank Datank. For me, It's informal and not trying to sound like an almighty god of martial arts when i refer to myself as Sifu Frank. Maybe my surname isn't so important to me. Sure, they can call me Frank Sifu. but it stuck and that's what i'm known by. Frank Sifu is more of a traditional chinese thing.
Cause it’s all make believe here in America when it comes to traditional MA. We made it all up. Don’t believe me? Google ashida Kim. Your welcome
Love this guys channel. He seems like a very approachable guy. I'd love to just sit and talk to this guy about martial arts. I was really into martial arts films when I was a kid. Would love to train in a couple of forms at some point.
"Shifu" to call taxi drivers (and other members of working class) and "shifu" to mean great master are two different words pronounced in the same way (they are written with different characters).
I hear the same thing about the Filipinos Tae kwon do is the most popular and and arts like pekiti tirsia, balitawak or escrema are not nearly as popular
Justinian S I was looking for this comment and I am Filipino
It's not wrong if they say MMA is American Kung Fu anyway... USA and Brazil are located in American continent :)
MattMexor, LMFAO!
No, not American, US. They use a word that means the United States only.
Man! You guys are really taking that subject seriously?! I was just kidding. Nobody cares if USA people proclaimed themselves as the only and true "Americans" in the whole continent. Gsus... You guys need to chill out! And more MMA goes for Mixed Martial Arts by the way. So if anyone was mixing any kind of martial arts 8 centuries ago it was already MMA. Therefore Brazil and USA are way too young to be the first in MMA. People on Internet love debating vague concepts. Now you have more fuel to inflame the debate. LoL
MMA as American Kung fu applies to any non Asian martial art.
I agree that the word the chinese use mean united states, and only translates to american in english becaue in most english american also means united states. So, to canadians and latin americans and such I can see why the joke seems right, but to other english speaker it seems wrong. Though technically, this has nothing to do with people from the u.s thinking they are the only americans, it has to do with the fact that the chinese word ramsey used refers specifically to the u.s.That said, the original comment was a joke, lol! He wasn't trying to be a smart ass, well he was, but not a serious one.I will say though, modern mma is american. There are several styles of mma, but the most popular one is american, followed by Brazilian, and then by eastern European and Japanese. When people say mma, they usually mean american mma, like how when they say footbal, in most countries it means association football, but it can also mean american football, Australian football, or even rugby football.
Once again though, he was joking originally, so no need to be so serious, lol!
Great video, one of your best, very informative
Thanks for this information .
I'm Brazilian and I practice Brazilian forms of kung fu and here I sometimes get a little 'bullied' (don't know if I can really say that, but it's the closest word) for not doing REAL FREAKIN' CHINESE KUNG FU. Dude. I know that chinese kung fu nowadays simply sucks. It's, as you said yourself, a form of dance. I develop may own style of kung fu. It has its forms but it is mainly self defence, but I know, though, exactly what you said in the beginning of the video: kung fu is not a specific martial art. Kung fu is a concept. A way of life. I'll have a hard time explaining that to the students, but I'm up to the chellenge. Great video. Congrats.
Augusto Fornazari What is Brazilian Kung Fu? Does it emphasize grappling techniques like BJJ?
No. It's a style of kung fu (I'm being specific) based on traditional styles (white crane, tiger claw and shaolin if I'm not wrong), but it was developed in Brazil.
"Try not to starve to death. Good luck out there." I got the same advice. LOL
Hello Ramsey do you feel it's wise for someone to learn 2 different styles of Karate at the same time? I would think I'd get confused on what moves to make and in what school?
Most genuine words dude🙏🏻.:.: love from Dublin
Is it safe to say that the Cultural Revolution killed off most of the practical battle-tested kung fu that would have been useful for MMA?
Makes sense to me.
It mostly happened even before the Cultural Revolution. Many accounts from early 20th century conplain about the poor skill of martial artists of their age. Wang Xiangzhai, founder of Yiquan, spoke highly and even gave compliments to Western boxers and their fighting prowess.
yet you still cant find a proper kungfu master outside of China that is able to succeed in UFC.
so instead of blaming on this cultural revolution episode, you need to face the truth, 90% of modern day kungfu is buillshlt developed during the late 19th century by street performers.
the few kungfu styles that can take on modern combat test are Shuai jiao(Chinese wrestling/judo) Xin yi ba (the original Shaolin martial arts), some Ba ji quan styles, and some Qin Na techniques(grappling) used by the Chinese military or police, even things like Wing chun that developed outside of mainland China is mostly useless fluff, the average Wing Chun practitioners dont even know how to throw a proper punch.
Mao was absolutely right, in 1949 when he came to power by winning the civil war vast majority of the Chinese martial arts were already devolved into street performance, so streamlining was the right move.
it's not normal for any country regardless of size to have hundreds of fighting techniques, if you do then at least 90% of them are useless
obsidianstatue It is actually not the question of an art itself, but rather a question of the mode of training and effective coaching regime that produces skillful athletes in martial arts. Most of the principles and techniques in Chinese martial arts are sound, but the effective training has either become outdated, discarded or forgotten. Why it has happened that people, teachers and students went from technique and contact training towards forms-only and conditioning exercise has likely much to do with the cultural role and the perceived function of "tradition" that martial arts served in Chinese society.
It is known that Yang Luchan changed the Taiji training to make it less injury-prone when he was appointed as a royal martial arts teacher. Also, the first generation of Yiquan students of Wang Xiangzhai were all experienced fighters before he whooped their butt and started to teach them his improved technique. Unfortunately the following generations have come to Yiquan from non-fighting backgrounds, rendering the style into an intriguing and powerful body method that does not have the didactic means to provide strong fighter-athletes.
This latter case is widespread across the field of Chinese martial arts that could be easily fixed by updating the sport coaching and sparring regime to the level of contemporary knowledge while preserving the teaching and methods. However this is unlikely, as kung fu in its current state does not attract the fighting-oriented, hard-working, tough guys who don't mind hitting and getting hit; they go to MMA, kickboxing, Muay Thai, you name it. It's hard to attract these people to old-style martial arts.
Super Doran dude I’ll let you use all that shit. Where you wanna do this? I’m right outside of Boston. Massachusetts USA
I can't believe you called Japanese anime "cartoons" XD
@John Smith You could not be further from the truth. If that's what you want to call Japanese animation, then fine, suit yourself, but anime is not a cartoon. It's part of Japanese culture. Call me a weeb if you wish, I'm only appreciating anime as a form of entertainment. Nothing wrong with that, is it?
They are cartoons though.
Totally Agree, i figured that out back in 1998 allready. Thanks for sharing your point of view!
Awesome video dude, thank you for sharing
He's got such an interesting voice
You are very right about kung fu in china, very correct about the reality of it
I know you are known for your jokes and practical lessons concerning martial arts and general fitness, but this was a great view into the history of China. Thanks for the perspective!
Your videos are very informative and entertaining. Keep up the good work!
Wow such truthful insight and explanation unheard of today. Haven't heard anyone speak this well since my Sifu... My kung fu training was and is to poke and tear the eyes out, break bones and destroy/kill the opponent in real life combat. No dancing or tai chi moves. All arts at first was to kill. Ours still is
Have you killed anyone yet?
Tai chi is also about destruction
@@goldenturtle111
* was . Nowadays it look more like health gymnastic .
@@stormbringer2840 Depends on who is teaching you. Most of the time it is gymnastic, but Martial Tai chi still exists.
@@goldenturtle111
Were ?
Many of the old school Kung Fu masters fled to Taiwan (and other places) when the communists took over. TKD and boxing are very popular there too.
I never thought I find someone who I get to live a little more through! Thank you! Hopefully I will get to meet you some day I think I maybe a little older,, not that matters, just saying it cause I respect that you got to see so much more but thankful you share!
Odd that we grasp the treasure of Martial Arts and some just take it for granted. I just found out about you today 1/11/ 2020. I think I maybe hooked. Keep up the good work looking forward!!!
You sound like Agent Smith from the Matrix. Love the videos! Always nice to see a real world assessment of martial arts.