Traditionalism. Will It Survive in America?

IKF: Traditionalism is defined in many ways. Some say it's practicing exactly as the founders taught. Others say traditionalism begins with training in heigung (qigong) and internal breathing. What is your interpreation of traditionalism?
Y.C. Wong: There's stiil a lot of people that continue to teach traditionalism. I think that the study of Chinese gungfu is always evolving and changing. If you say that traditionalism is passing the forms down exactly from one generation to the next, then I don't feel that is correct. Traditionalism is passing down the "principle" of the style. Traditional gungfu is the usage of the style, not just the memorization of the moves.
A lot of very traditional and conservative sifu prefer that the students do the forms and techniques exactly the way the founders did it. They are afraid that if they start messing around with the style it has tendency to become diluted. And to some extend I agree with this, however, once a person becomes proficient in the art, you shouldn't be limited to just that format. The beginning and intermediate student should follow the forms exactly. But the forms can evolve and change with the more advanced. No two students will do the form exactly like the other.

IKF: Do you feel that the martial art instructors of today, wheter it is judo, karate, tae kwon do, or gungfu, place a great emphasis on instilling traditionalism to their students?
Y.C. Wong: The trend istoward commercialism. Which usually means it gets watered down. It all depends on the instructor. If the instructor is interested in just making money than they are going to water it dow and not teach traditionalism. But if the objective of the instructor is to passionately pass on the art, then there will be a great emphasis on teaching tradition. It's an individual thing on the part of the instructor.
When you teach commercially, you usually only have about two one-to-two hours a week of instruction with a large class, you don't have much time for student contact or interaction. My classes are small and very informal which gives me the opportunity to instill traditionalism. Hundreds of years ago, and even for some today, it was an honor to maintain traditionalism. So much so that the instructors of old wanted to maintain the purity of their tradition. If the instructor could not find anyone worthy to preserve it properly, they would rather die with those secrets rather than pass on the art. Because of this, I feel there has been a lot of wisdom that has been lost.

IKF: The majority of martial schools in America feel that the extent of traditionalism are simple acts of bowing before walking onto the mat or into the studio and calling their instructor sensei or sifu as their total interpretation of traditionalism. Do you feel that by limiting themselves to these simple acts are all that is needed for the martial arts of today?
Y.C. Wong: It's the attitude toward the art and toward the teacher. in the art, you must instill a certain amount of humbleness in the student. It's imporatnt that the student learns how to respect the teacher and each of the other students. It's important that the students learn this to help each other.
A student must learn from his sifu how to control yourself and your movements. In addition, the student must always show great respect for their sifu. Practicing gungfu shouldn't be just going to a class for a lesson, but you go to class to delop a relationship with the sifu and you value that relationship. Even if the student has not practiced in years, he must always continue to show respect for their previous sifu. This is the beginning of traditionalism.

IKF: Do you feel that traditionalism is dying out and that we should teach less traditionalism in favor of more modern concepts and theories?
Y.C. Wong: I don't think that it is a good idea to abandon the principles of traditionalism for new concepts. I think we should preserve the traditional ways and philosophies. For example, I don't thing it's right when you see a school giving a person a black belt in an art in just couple of years. It takes years to develop just the heigung (qigong) alone. When a student practices a form, there must be principle to each of their moves. If the art becomes commercial, it begins to lose that principle.

IKF: Some schools feel that traditionalism should be reserved for the advanced student and should be taught after many years of practice. How do you teach traditionalism to your students?
Y.C. Wong: If the student is a beginner and does not have any prior martial arts experience, then the first thing I teach is the horse stance on the first day. Initially, you want to leqrn how to do the stance first. Then you begin by teaching them some simple forms. Later you teach them the physical aspect of their movements and develop the strength in their techniques. They must learn how to have the correct execution of power. After the student has learned this concept, then the next level is is to teach them the animal forms. when the student becomes more advanced they begin learning the breathing and internal heigung (qigong) training.
If you teach the heigung (qigong) too early, the student may be confused. They don't even know how to move so it's best to teach them the fundamentals and once they have leraned how to do the forms and techniques, then they can move onto the complicated aspect of tis art. You must teach them step by step. Gungfu is a form of self-development and it should be taught that way, developing with the student. Then finally the the breathing and internal training. We do that later on. If you do that to early they aren't able to understand it.

IKF: Karate schools continue to be the fastest growing form of martial art in America. Gungfu schools, however, are usually difficult to find. Do you feel that because gungfu embraces a great deal of traditionalism in their teaching that many people are reluctant to study Chinese gungfu?
Y.C. Wong: I think it's just a problem of marketing and good bussines practice. I think that's probably the basic reason that karate schools are much bigger and more abundant that gungfu schools. You need to have a lot of advertisement to have a lot of growth. Gungfu schools usually don't advertise. I think that's the real problem.

IKF: Do you feel that it is necessary to compromise your teaching in gungfu to keep a school running successfully?
Y.C. Wong: I think there could be ways to run a school successfully and stil maintain traditionalism. If the teacher is passionate about the style he can make sure that traditionalism is maintained. It all depends on the teacher.

IKF: It is not uncommon to see a martial artist participate in a tournament using a traditional form sprinkled with a variety of fancy movements and flips. When you see this, how does it make you feel?
Y.C. Wong: When you change the little things, like superficial changes, it's not a problem. But if you add acrobatics, it's not very good. If it's a move that works, that still makes sense, that's fine. No two students will practice the form the same way. We'we been to tournaments and asked to be judges and they start doing acrobatics for a traditional form, then they don't score well with us.

IKF: Do you feel that there is any hope for traditionalism to continue in America or do you think America will eventually outgrow it?
Y.C. Wong: I think traditionalism in gungfu will still persist. There are still a lot of people who practice gungfu. But it's just that there are people who choose not to show the art. we know a lot of people who are very traditional and they will keep traditionalism going. Somehow we have to find a way to raise the standards of tradition, especially at the tournament level. Even at my age I am still able to move fast. It's due to traditional practicing.