I am a Taiwanese man. I mean technically we are the true China (since we brought all of the Cultural practices and relics with us when we fled, and the communists destroyed all of it), but since they want to be called China, then I guess we'll keep calling ourselves Taiwanese.
Regardless of that, my roots are still Chinese. My ancestors (most, some were aboriginies I think) crossed the Taiwan Strait from Fujian during the Qing Dynasty in the late 1600's/early 1700's. In fact, I come from a line of scholars who directly served the Emperor. (On my mother's side)
I love my rich heritage and its over 4,000 years of history. I love everything Asian. I am proud to be Asian, never once in my entire life have I ever wished that I was white. I love being Chinese. (As in Republic of China, not the People's Republic of China)
Yet in the eyes of the entire world, we are viewed as the sick men of Asia, in almost every respect. And in almost every respect, we are shunned, discriminated against, and called bullshitters and liars - particularly in the Martial Arts world.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure a lot of it is bullshit, but I think it's more that 1)all of the masters died during the Boxer Rebellion and the Communist Revolution, 2)more people are getting better at fighting; the average skill level has improved significantly with Bruce Lee's movies in the 1970's that sparked the Kung Fu craze, 3)styles are starting to mix because of globalization, 4)the traditional idea that the Master should always hold something back, and finally 5), the lack of modernization.
These styles of Martial Arts have existed thousands of years, so I'm sure their methodologies must work. I want to learn something that is authentically Chinese and make it work. Now I know I've said a lot about not being a style, and I never really got to clarify on that. It might seem like I am contradicting myself, but there are inherent differences in Western and Eastern fighting, particularly in that of the methodologies. We all punch kick and grapple, but the ideas that govern it are slightly different, as well as the body mechanics. Westerners like to rely on muscle, whereas Easterners like to use as little muscle as possible.
I want a template, however, that is authentically Chinese, and I want to use it to grow myself and develop that individual style that I have always talked about. But just like how I am a Chinese/Taiwanese man, the style that manifests in me should end up being a Chinese/Taiwanese thing. And it probably will be, regardless of what I learn, but I want the reassurance lol. I want so badly to show people that we can fight too, that we are not the sick men of Asia.
There is a longstanding prejudice against the Chinese, subtle and unseen, that I have felt my entire life. It's still there. America didn't stop its racism. It just stopped talking about it. And I want to change that, in one small way or another.
Now, onto confusion. Remember when I said that I wanted a simple answer and simple theories that would just explain everything? Well, for some reason I searched for it again. And I just ended up more confused than I ever had been before.
Which is usually what happens.
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