i just got done listening to the Darin Y interview. there was some posts on another thread about Darin's comments about kung fu oringinaly being for health rather then combat. then evolving over time to include combat components.
while i personally didnt find anything that was said offensive to me i can understand if other chinese practitioners could take it wrong.
i will say the interview was just one mans opinion. the history of matial arts is full of conjecture and mythology. there are so little facts involved anyone could make up anything, compleatly pull something out of their @$$ and would not be anymore or anyless correct.
i will admit i do not agree with Darin's statement but on the other hand i do agree with his comment reflecting and expressing the view point of the many chinese martial artists he has met.
in the same thought.....
DR. Leung Ting , 10th level M.O.C. WING TSUN ASS. , founder of INTERNATIONAL CHINESE MARTIAL ART FEDERATION . wrote in one of his books...
quote:
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Chinese martial arts are all the time developing in two directions,
one torward skills for practical fighting the other torwards skills in demonstative preformances.
Techniques with an aim for the practical fighting are usually formulated according to kung fu theories, thus they bear practical purposes, for the purpose of obtaining the best effect in attack and defense. practicality of technical movements, and not beauty of gestures ,are being emphasized. for this reason , the more practical the movements the simpler and less impressive they look.
as for techniques employed for demonstrative purposes, stress is placed on the beauty of gestures. for this reason movements are refined to give a pleasant lookto the audience.
many kung fu practitioners will state their techniques are practical for real fighting , but as a matter of fact they are simply worth only for demonstrations, when the partner is cooperative to the practioner.
furthermore many demonstative movements or entire forms are never meant for real fights but are simply for strengthening apperance and thus neglect its effect on practicality.
he goes on to state later, that kung fu was used like a side show to attract an audience so medicine hawkers could sell their goods. some what reminds me of PT. Barnum.
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Darin's comments are not so far off from the chinese view that Buddhi darma was the creater of chinese martial arts to help bring back the health of the ailling monks in the nothern shaolin temple.
again mythology.
the more logical side would be that Alexander the Great who brought his Pankration fighting as far as the border of India then being passed along the silk road to the chinese is more plausable. but still conjecture at best.
steve