Brain wrote:
[i]i think asking where and from who garret gee learned from is a fair question . as well as how to contact him(wong sigung). [/i]
There are two issues with asking to meet Grand Master Wong Ming.
The first has to do with the nature of secret societies and relates to one’s station in life. Similar to the CIA in secrecy, members of a secret organization must maintain discipline and not be noticed by the authorities. There is a sworn duty to uphold secrecy and many lives are on the line when someone is captured or information is compromised. This level of commitment and secrecy is quite different as compared to a private citizen trying to maintain privacy.
There are numerous reasons for a private citizen to want to be private. Taking Sun Nung as an example, living through the Cultural Revolution and dealing with the Communists - his secrecy is not voluntary compared to someone that volunteers for spy work or military operations. I know of someone that visited China and made a special effort to locate Sifu Sun Nung’s group (while the Grand Master was still alive). This person spoke with members of the local martial arts community (including Wing Chun people), people leading classes in the park, and others - he eventually made contact with someone that knew a former location where Sum Nung’s group practiced. While Sun Nung managed to maintain his privacy, neither his life nor the lives of his students are forfeit (after the time of the Cultural Revolution, of course). So why does he try to maintain secrecy? What is he hiding? If it was possible for him to remain hard to find, how much more time and effort would an organization acting under life and death secrecy? Think about this: would a CIA spy come out and write a book about his actions while he was still active - naming names, events, and locations? Even after retiring, spies are not free to speak about their past. Not if they value their lives and the lives of their families. We can speak freely because we are private citizens.
The second issue has to do with responsibility. In the secret societies, you can do pretty much as you wish - but your actions must not call attention to anyone else. So, if I decide to speak in public about what I know, I alone must bear the responsibility for my actions and must not call attention to anyone else. Given the above two restraints, if Grand Master Wong Ming doesn’t wish to be found, he won’t. Grand Master Gee was given specific instructions about when you bring out the art and where. The level of dedication and responsibility to act on his Sifu’s instructions 25 years later might not be easy to understand for people that are private citizens. In HFY’s past, many traditions originated in the secret societies. One of the ceremonies was the burning of the yellow paper. This ceremony symbolizes that you have taken an oath not to reveal any information unless you are ordered to do so.
Grand Master Gee was given the responsibility and the authority to bring out the HFY lineage. Now that he has decided to do so, he is very much open. Any person with common courtesy and the simple etiquette of visiting him in person will get an answer to their questions. But as far as Grand Master Wong Ming, I can tell you now - he chooses not to come out and no one asking is going to force him.
To understand this, you must understand the traditions of the HFY lineage. In the HFY lineage, respect and responsibility to the previous generations is maintained. I have seen actual photos of Grand Master Wong Ming. In fact, there is a picture of him in the upcoming book but it is not the actual photo. Our of respect for the ancestors, only an artist’s rendering of the picture is allowed to be shown in something so public as a book. Grand Master Wong Ming was not a public figure and it is not Grand Master Gee’s place to bring him to the public. This is not an issue of hiding anything - it is an issue of tradition on the HFY lineage. Grand Master Gee wants to give proper credit to the ancestors of HFY but he must also obey the oath to not reveal them to the public. I know the more jaded of the forum cannot accept this but not accepting reality doesn’t change it one iota. If we want cross-references, Mai Gei Wong knew Dr. Wong Mong, they trained in the same park. Grand Master Gee had met Mai Gei Wong, as well.
Being a HFY member, I have information about the lineage that is not open to the public. If you wish to know inside information - become an insider. OR, at the very least, ask respectfully. I don’t owe any body anything - except my kung fu family.
Is there anyone that denies that the background of Wing Chun is connected with secret societies? All oral legends point to some form of anti-Qing activity. If you agree with this supposition, then I suggest that for those genuinely interested, do some hard searching on the secret societies.
And let me just state this: If you (general you) have a question of me, I may or may not answer. Just because you ask, I don’t own you anything. I’m not in your debt. When people behave immature and rude, my interest in sharing goes even lower.
Instead of re-circulating the same old gossip or starting random rumors as Terance has done in the past, go direct to the source. Speak to Grand Master Gee in person with etiquette, courtesy and humility, just as Sifu Meng did back in 1998. Gossiping or guessing at the nature of things, as is often done about HFY, is ultimately disrespectful to the HFY lineage and Grand Master Gee.
Ultimately, reality can only be experienced through Hou Chyun San Sau - and it requires action.
[i]supposidly there is a hfy school in h.k but it has not been found as of yet.[/i]
I can share a little bit about this - a guy (who’s name escapes me but he’s in the Wong Shong Leung family) visited Grand Master Gee. During the visit he mentioned that there was a HFY school in Hong Kong. One of the four indoor students of Grand Master Wong Ming, sihing of Grand Master Gee, was quite active in Hong Kong, especially in the New Territories, but he would only have taught his students the fighting applications and very little of the actual system itself. The students were trained to fight, not to understand the system or teach it. If the school in Hong Kong is from this group, they are teaching a saan sau version of HFY, not the system with inside information.
Jeremy R.
