Amongst the wide variety and quality of martial arts that go by the name “Wing Chun” there are still a rare few that are selective about whom they teach. For some of the more common martial arts in the group going by the name “Wing Chun”, there’d be no point withholding information to only selected students as their arts, in the quest of maximum public commercial exposure, have revealed all over time. The ubiquitous martial arts magazines, books, videos, DVDs have slowly put out into the public sphere what was once highly secret when I was a young man first learning Wing Chun forty odd years ago whilst Hong Kong Wing Chun teacher Yip Man was still alive and before Bruce Lee was ever heard of. Commercial demand has come to totally control those martial arts. They have become slaves to commercialisation and no longer control their destiny. Their true sifu is the dollar!
The main point to grasp at the outset here is that the knowledge of the closed systems is qualitatively and quantitatively different to that of the open systems offered to the masses of the general public. Not all Wing Chun is the same, no matter who states it is or how loudly! There’s considerable dispute by some over this point. I attribute this simply to the envy that they don’t have access to this closed family school esoteric knowledge and resent those who have earnt it. I find that those who protest the loudest simply haven’t truly encountered the closed systems. In those rare few cases where they may have, it is obvious that they haven’t understood the closed systems. Some few have lucked into a closed system and don’t appreciate it. In some cases some people have encountered a bogus line of a closed family school and loudly tout that as the actual lineage. In some cases their encounter with the closed systems aligned to their lack of personal ability and appropriate character to learn genuine Wing Chun has resulted in too early an exit for them to have any valid idea of the closed systems. As in the old saying that the small drum makes the big noise, their voice is often at a higher level than their understanding. These people truly epitomise “he who speaks does not know”!
Often those rejected - because they didn’t measure up - become venomous and put down their former teachers. Unable or unwilling to comply with some fairly simple reasonable requests or agreements which were part of the agreement in undertaking to learn the art, they sputter and protest in an effort to vindicate themselves. In doing so they make spectacles of themselves and endorse the sifu in rejecting them as unworthy to learn and be entrusted with their art.
There are several sound reasons as to why those who’ve spent considerable effort finding, affording, and sweating to attain skill in closed family systems don’t simply throw away their hard-won knowledge. Those rare few groups that are closed to the general public are closed for sound reasons. The sifus of these groups, or their sifu or sigung, have experienced or seen the result of the popularisation, the commercialisation and the bastardisation of martial art. They’ve often experienced sometimes very well known sifus stealing their hard-won knowledge without any acknowledgment only later to have the students of these sifu denigrate the master who taught their teacher essential skills. The mass of students studying Wing Chun today have little idea of the actual, as opposed to the commercially promoted, history of the art. This includes some more recent highly speculative nonsense cloaked under historical romance! It is to prevent such theft, leakage and distortion of their hard-won art that the sifus of the closed systems don’t teach commercially.
Another reason that sifus in closed systems prefer to hand down their system in this fashion is tradition. Wing Chun was never considered a mass art in the early days. Only a rare few ever learnt it in any form. Wing Chun sifus today who scrupulously teach a few students are following the traditions of most gung fu, let alone Wing Chun. No sifu can properly teach a large number of students Wing Chun. It simply requires too much precision and too much “hands on”.
Yet another reason that the closed systems aren’t freely available is simply the cold hard logic that once someone realises they have a superior version of an art which would give them the edge in a fight - why on earth would they make it publicly available to give potential attackers that knowledge and skill? Why pass it to loud-mouths, bullies and thugs?
Further, the notion common today that the student has the right to choose what they may learn is utterly alien to any traditional Asian teacher. The modern prospective student, reared in a culture lacking in any real acknowledgment of, or respect for, superiors and being aware of the price of everything and the value of nothing, often feels they simply have an absolute right to buy whatever they want.
I often explain this attitude to my students in the following fashion. The commercially minded prospective student is like a man going to a brothel and throwing his money down and demanding a woman. He thinks he has the right to buy whatever he wants. Greedy unscrupulous people cater to this belief and foster it. Contrast this with the man who gets to know a woman in a decent way, gets to know her family, is accepted as a decent and worthy person and slowly over time forms a proper relationship. The former is exploitive, self-centered, demanding and arrogant. Neither side cares about the other except as an object in a commercial transaction. When one side can no longer exploit the other, can no longer gain something from them, the transaction is at an end. Mistrust, mutual exploitation and suspicion governs the relationship. Will the fee demanded be paid on time? Will the service be delivered as agreed? What if something goes wrong? What power can I exert to get what I want? Trust in this sort of transaction is akin to the "trust" between thieves not akin to that between close friends.
The other alternative is a relationship respectful and one of mutual trust and understanding. Both sides care about the other and share values and aspirations. If something goes wrong it is respectfully discussed. There is no consideration of exerting power over the other party to force them to comply with one’s wishes. Issues are worked out in an atmosphere of respect. Money doesn’t buy this. Effort is put into forming and maintaining a relationship. The investment is in terms of one’s time and character not money.
The sifus who foster either of these relationships differ too, logically. Think on it. Which type of relationship would a person worthy of learning genuine Wing Chun want? What sort of relationship would a legitimate sifu want? The tradition in the closed family schools is that the teacher has the knowledge. He has won the right to not only acquire the knowledge but to choose whom he passes it to and over what time-span. The student has to earn - not buy - the right to learn the art. They have to do this through commitment, consistent application, and the expression of appropriate attitudes. Those lacking these qualities are either not chosen or soon told to leave. No legitimate sifu would entrust their hard-won art to a person unworthy of it.
The utter arrogance of moderns who think they can literally demand and buy the knowledge of a teacher shows a lack of respect for both the teacher and the art which, for a traditional teacher of a legitimate closed family system, beggars belief! It’s akin to a stranger knocking on your door and demanding he has the absolute right to live in your home!