[QUOTE=Grumblegeezer;1238838]Honestly, the way some here carry on about WC “DNA” it almost reminds me of a racial purity thing! Purebred or mutt, I’ll take what works. Like I said if you think your WC is better (Hi Kevin!) good for you. If you adapt your WC for sport fighting in the ring, OK. That’s your right. And however it turns out, if you still call it WC, I may critique it, but you can call it WC/WT/VT or whatever the heck you want.
–Any thoughts?[/QUOTE]
Yes… I have a few questions for you all.
If what we are all pracising is and the vast majority claim a connection to Ip Man, and what he taught was then…
Where is Ip Mans curriculum???
Regardless of the way you spell in English it’s still in Chinese so I would rather see all families/lineages/roots unite and produce a standardized curriculum that everybody can understand and have confidence in. BUT I do not think this will ever happen unfortunately.
I am very aware that many of Ip Mans students have already put their own stamp or (in Hendriks words!) DNA on their teachings and this isn’t a problem if the core of the system is still in tact, but later down the heritage line younger Sifus have also put their own stamp on things too and in some misdirected cases this will actually be detrimental to the preservation of as a complete Martial Art system.
So, where is this simple outline Ip Man taught in HK? What about his Fatshan teachings too? Was the curriculum the same? What was Chan Wah Shuns curriculum?? Which of Ip Mans students actually had access to that and continued to teach it too, like with his permission? And why, and the end of the day, did he employ such a ‘freedom’ in his teaching if the original curriculum was really what held the core of the older system? Was it all simply for dentifying his own influences a hundred years on? Or did he literally discard everything he felt was useless in a Modern World, like the more cultural, language and artistic aspects of the Art itself? And finally, and with the utmost respect, was Ip Man actually equipped to teach the teacher himself?
As far as ‘rights’ are concenred, I think because this information was never organized in the beginning, and even his Sons are now withdrawing to HK and not planning any more world wide visits because of their age, has been abondoned and left for interpretation by the masses.
Like any young trees that only have loose roots, some will still manage to grow with a little support but most will be blown away by the wind!
So I guess the OPs question should really be, where is the support for Wing Chun teachers and students? Because surely this is one of the main reasons to have governing bodies in the first place right??