Gavin Livingstone
About you: My name is Gavin Livingstone i am 28 and i come from england, over the years i have played around with a few styles of martial arts, like judo - wing chun kung fu - boxing! but never really settled into one kind before,
Why china: I decided to come to china and learn martial arts because this is the place were it originated so where better to learn kung fu. I am currently learning shaolin style kung fu in the kunyu school in eastern china with sifu wong - a chinese champion at sanda kickboxing. I felt the need to come here and learn because i needed to do something productive in my life, other than the usual - wake up - go to work - come home - sleep type thing. it was starting to become a bore so i looked online and found Kung Fu Experience.com
KFE site info: The Kung Fu Experience web site proved really helpful in my search for a place to train, and Steve not only supported and helped in my decision but also helped out in all the aspects of travel to china - I found it very hard to obtain a visa for china, and i was booked to leave in the upcoming days and starting to panic as my visa was still an issue, but Steve managed to get the information i needed instantly. The whole website is a great idea, from finding a school that suits you, to learning mandarin steve can help you and i am glad that i went through his company.
Arrival: Upon arrival into china i wasnt sure what to expect, getting into beijing airport it finally hit me, i am going to be here for a long time so i need to adjust to the way of life and just accept that people are going to stare and ask questions! I have found the chinese people to be a wonderful race who are very genuine and open about there feelings. After i arranged my next flight to yantai airport i was meet by a translator for the school who filled me in on various pieces of information that i needed, i was introduced to the staff and masters and made me feel comfortable, i was shown around and introduced to the existing pupils, then my training begun.
Training: My training here is amazing, i am pushed to my limit by my master - not only is he well educated but he is schooled in chinese medicen as well and knows what the body is capable of, the first few weeks are painful as you have to stretch muscles that you barley use in western life - but i expected this anyway. We do a lot of sanda sparring and form applications - so we always get to use the new techniques we have just learned and the master is quick to show you your mistakes if you go wrong (sometimes with the sharp end of a stick) but you soon learn and become more focused.
What i have gained: Before i first arrived i used to smoke and drink a lot in england, but i managed to stop on arrival, this to is part of the reason that i came here, i feel that all the training we do is really helping my fitness, and by the time i leave hopefully i will be a new person. Also i have made lots of new friends in the students that are here, and will have many good memories of china when i leave.
When i get home: I think that when i get back to england i will still be waking up early and going running and stretching in the mornings, as i find it a huge benefit to my health, i am also going to go back to my local kung fu school so i can continue with my forms and applications, then in my spare time keep up with my chi gong exercises as well, it certainly beats watching tv all the time. Then i am going to save save save for next years adventure....
'Its been a great experience thanks to the kung fu experience and i hope many more people will come here and learn from these great masters of kung fu'.
Written by: Gavin Livingstone. 2008.
Please feel free to ask me about my experience - sk8kru@hotmail.com
Natasha White
(above - Natasha with Master Wei)
I studied MMA for 18 Months in the UK nearly achieving my black belt.
In Novemeber 2007 I decided I wanted to travel. unfortunatly my friend dropped out but I still planned to go becuase I wanted to gain more confidence. I saw the China State Circus in my local town. I was blown away by the Shaolin Masters performing their Kung Fu display! It made me want to be able to move like that and learn more about it.
In 2007 I traveled Thailand and studied Muay Thai Kick Boxing. I wanted to do a similar thing with Kung Fu in China - especially after being inspired by the China State Circus! So I found the site for the Kun Yu Mountain School on the internet. I also spoke to people who had already trained there and was happy with what they said.
On March 4th 2008 I arrived in China, I ended up staying longer than I had planned. They placed me with Master Wei who taught me so much. It was also good to see other girls at the academy as well as guys. I am an only child so it was also good to experience sharing a room and the facilitie
s there.
During my stay, the school conducted a ceremony at the temple (right) in the mountains behind the school. I was honoured that the Masters trusted me to perform Kung Fu in front of a large audience.
I feel I have gained so much from this experience. I am more confident, tolerant and acceptant.
After leaving the School I will travel to lots of places in China!
All in all this has been a life changing experience.
It was an honour to train with and live amoung such amazing Masters, and with students from around the world. I would like to encourage more people to take this oportunity.
Please feel free to ask about my experience - gigglingmadly@yahoo.co.uk
Written by Natasha White June 2008
Simon from UK (far right)
bugsymalone42@hotmail.com
1. Why did I want to do it?
I have always wanted to go to China to train Kung Fu.
I have always had an interest in it even though I have never had any training in the UK other than a few Karate classes at school. Martial arts have always interested me, from early days watching the Karate kid to later days watching various stars of Kung Fu. I wanted to do something physical as well whilst I was away.
2. Why Kungfuexperience?
Once I decided I wanted to learn some kung fu on the trip, I looked into the costs via the web. A quick search reveals a wide variety of places that offer training. Most can be quickly ruled out on price. Some of the places charge huge amounts of money for literally only a weeks training. The amount of money asked for was a lot by English standards, let alone Chinese. My search was quickly narrowed to two sites offering good value for money. In the end I chose kungfuexperience because it had that English link. The other site was foreign and I felt more comfortable booking through an English site. More importantly, kungfuexperience is run by someone who has been to China and who has experience in Martial Arts. I therefore felt I was more likely to get a good and authentic experience. They have also checked standards of accommodation etc so in all, I felt kungfuexperience was a better site to go through. Finally, if I had any problems I had an English person who I could go to.
3. Why Wing Chun?
The other good thing about kungfuexperience was the variety of training they offered. I decided that I wanted to learn Wing Chun. I chose it because of a number of reasons. Firstly, I only had a month to spare and I felt that I could learn a reasonable amount of Wing Chun in that time. For some other styles of fighting that would not be enough. Secondly, it appealed to me. It is a no-nonsense, direct style of fighting. It is also firmly about engaging with your opponent and doing as much damage as possible as quickly as possible. It is about fighting, pure and simple, as opposed to other styles that might have more of a self-defence focus. Not that there aren’t values to Wing Chun and its proper use, but I just felt it was more of a practical skill and one that focuses solely on its aim – and that is a way to fight.
4. Arrival and the Set Up
I arrived in Foshan one cold morning in February after a long bus journey. On arrival, I rang one of the contacts I had been given and was picked up a short while later. After a traditional Cantonese Dim-Sum breakfast, including Chicken’s feet, I then spent the first day checking in to my hotel and sorting myself out.
Once settled, the training quickly began. My Sifu/Master, or Uncle Ben as he is also known, is very flexible but we soon established a training routine. Essentially, we had a two to three hour session in the morning leading up to lunch. We would then go to lunch at a local restaurant before dropping me back at the hotel. We then had a short break for Uncle Ben’s siesta before another training session in the afternoon. Sometimes we would also have an evening session as well. It was very flexible and Uncle Ben is happy to do as much or as little as you want. In addition to the Wing Chun, we also went to the gym or went running a few times too. Uncle Ben’s friend has a multi-gym in his flat and there are also a number of parks to run in.
The Wing Chun training can take place anywhere. All you need is a small open space. We trained mainly in two places. The first was on my hotel roof. There is an open space on the top, which was great for training. It was private with 360-degree views of the City. The other place we trained was at a school that Uncle Ben teaches at. There he has a wooden dummy and a number of pads to train with.
Kungfuexperience are flexible and food and accommodation can be included as part of the price. My food was included and Uncle Ben took me to restaurants for lunch and normally I ate with his family at their house in the evenings. In this way, I think I have tried everything Chinese cooking has to offer! I ate very well though, often eating fresh vegetables, meat and fish, as well as plenty of rice!!
Accommodation was also arranged. I stayed in a hotel not far from Uncle Ben’s house. I had a twin room to myself with a TV, all for a few pounds per day. If you wanted cheaper or more expensive accommodation then this can be arranged. In all, the set up was very good and I was very comfortable.
5. Wing Chun Training
The training itself began with learning the open hand forms of Wing Chun. They are set forms you learn but they are not set moves to learn to use in a fight. Wing Chun does not believe in that. The forms are merely learnt as a way of learning the tools of the trade, so that you can remember them. You first learn ‘Siu Lim Tao’, which means little idea. It teaches you the building blocks of Wing Chun, such as the blocks. Once you learn the form, you are then shown how to apply each of the moves in the form. Once you know how to apply them, then you practice them through instinctive hand exercises to make them natural responses. For example, Uncle Ben would throw a punch or combination at you, which you had to defend using the blocks you had been taught. I really liked this as it feels like you are learning something that is real and effective. You practice your reactions and skills, rather than learn set combinations that you would not be able to apply in the chaos of a fight.
After Siu Lim Tao, I then learnt Biu Gee and Chum Kiu. Again these are further forms to learn but you progress to include footwork and kicks. The great thing about Wing Chun is that it is always based on science or common sense. From applying physics to punching technique or anatomy to the best way to punch, Wing Chun always looks at the most effective and efficient way of doing things. A good example is with kicking. They believe high kicks are slow and easy for an opponent to read – so they don’t do them. Instead, all Wing Chun kicks are aimed at below the opponent’s waist. They are mainly a short direct kick at the opponent’s leg or groin, that when up close are hard to see and will be delivered before you can react.
Once you learn the forms and how to apply them. You then learn all the exercises to practice the moves and your reactions to them. This progresses on to another feature of Wing Chun, which is ‘sticking hands’. Here you practice reacting to your opponents moves with your hands in constant contact, hence the sticking hands. The idea is to make you more instinctive so that you get a feel for the movement of your opponent and so that you react naturally and instantly.
As well as all the above, you also have the wooden dummy to practice on. Again, it is another great feature of Wing Chun. It gives you something solid to practice against, other than someone else. It also forces you to carry out your moves in the correct position, so that you protect your centre line. Added to this, we also spent some time kicking the wall and punching bags. Your knuckles get sore but they do toughen up. After all Uncle Ben’s practice, his knuckles were like two lumps of steel.
Uncle Ben also has some locals whom he teaches, which is further proof of the authenticity of the training. It is good to train with others and I think the optimum would be to train with two or three students. This would give you more companionship and greater opportunity for training.
Foshan is also a good place to be for Wing Chun. It really is a centre for Wing Chun and you do get a feel for its kung fu heritage. One of the local temples has a small museum to Wing Chun where you can see its past and learn about Ip Man, who was from Foshan and was Bruce Lee’s Master.
6. Final Comments
All in all, my time in Foshan was a great experience. In just a few weeks I felt like I had learnt a huge amount of what there is to know about Wing Chun. Obviously it is then all about practice and perfecting the moves and making them reactive. That comes with time but in terms of just learning the ‘tools of the trade’, I covered most of it. What was also great was being exposed to real China. I was off the tourist trail and I spent time with real Chinese people doing things how they do them. Many thanks to Uncle Ben who often invited me to his home or introduced me to his family or took me to a local restaurant for lunch. This was all the added bonus of doing the course and what made the whole thing a real experience and not just a course.
By Simon (UK) - bugsymalone42@hotmail.com
Gags Chowdhary from UK
I was completely enthralled with the idea of ‘knowing’ Kung-Fu. I must have watched one too many Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan films. So after travelling China for 2 months, I decided to join a Shaolin Kung-Fu school in the town of Wudang. To be honest I had the idea in my head that I could stay there for around 2-3 months and come back fairly knowledgeable in the art of fighting. You know, be able to kick some arse (if need be of course). I actually ended up leaving that school after 1 week. The trouble with these Shaolin schools is that they just teach the different Shaolin animal forms, and not actually show you how to apply them in a fight situation. In fact the place I was staying at barely did any fitness training and taught such a small amount of basic punching and kicking techniques it felt like a ridiculous waste of time. What would I come out of that place knowing? These schools are more for the flashy experience of learning some visually appealing Shaolin animal movements.
Me, I wanted to get fit and basically learn how to fight. So after hours of searching Google I came across the Wing Ming camp in the city of Foshan, in southern China. I gave Steve a call and a few days later I started what was going to be the greatest, yet most challenging and cultural experience of my life, well so far! What drew me to this school was the fact that I could learn the traditional, yet practical, art of Wing Chun alongside Kickboxing/Muay Thai. So traditional Kung-Fu meets with real street fighting! I can’t find a single other place in Asia where you have the luxury of combing two of the most popular, yet opposing, martial arts in the world. Diamond in the rough!
I lived and trained at this camp for four months. Training was 2-3 times a day, 6 days a week. I had a big clean room with hot water and full kitchen facilities, located just a few floors above the training gym. The facilities in the gym consist of a big wooden dummy, weights, around 8 huge heavy bags, and other equipment to help with the Muay Thai training techniques such as using the knees and elbows. Although I was the only foreigner there at that time all the students were very friendly, even more so was the Sifu. I found myself invited for lunch or dinner at his house pretty much everyday of the week. Perhaps it was because I was the first foreign student there, but nonetheless he is an extremely friendly guy and if there are concerns with training or anything else, he will be more than understanding about it. As he cannot speak much English there were a couple or people who helped me with translation.
I was also invited to many traditional dinners with my Sifu and other friends and students, along with being dragged to plenty of drunken karaoke nights. It basically felt as though I was living the life of the Chinese for four months. It was amazing! This school is a great place to get completely submerged into the Chinese way of life, as up till now it has just been used to train the Chinese locals. Whereas the Shaolin schools have just been turned into a meeting place where foreigners train with each other, hmm?
I started off at this place without knowing any kickboxing or Wing Chun whatsoever. So of course it was a challenging time for me, especially when trying to follow the Kickboxing students with their training methods and lifestyle. I thoroughly enjoyed practising two martial arts at the same time. It was interesting to see how I could apply Wing Chun during a Kickboxing fight situation. During my last couple of months there I focused mainly on Kickboxing and I was shocked to see how much I was improving. I’ve come back to London not just a good fighter, but also very knowledgeable in my Sifu’ training methods, and I feel as though I am able to teach Kickboxing at a very descent level.
This camp is a diamond in the rough, just waiting to be discovered!
Written by Gags Chowdhary,
gag_c@hotmail.com
Anthony Pangborn
(above: left - Steve Cross KFE with Anthony Pangborn)
Anthony is currently still training in China! - full article to follow when completed.
Please feel free to ask me about my experience - cyberpang_1@hotmail.com
Jeni Cross
Hello I am the Sister of Steve Cross.
I am very interested in Martial Arts myself and have studied from a young age. Steve's travels and training have inspired me to do the same.
I studied Muay Thai in Thailand for 2 months.
This made me much fitter and very confident.
I would like to travel to China next year to study Kung Fu and see the culture.
jeni_zoe@hotmail.co.uk
(More student coments to follow)
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