Kung Fu brothers: Narratives of secular family in a British Wing

Chun Association

George Jennings

george.jennings16@yahoo.co.uk

03/09/10

The PhD Study

• 2 case studies (Wing Chun and Taijiquan)

• Participant observation in 2 schools - Bureaucratically led and health orientated Taijiquan

- Charismatically led and combat orientated Wing Chun

• 16 life histories (13 male, 3 female) - Based on 3 ideal types (fighters, martial artists and thinkers)

• Reflective/autoethnographic writing - Long-term practitioner of TCMAs

• Content, narrative and metaphor analysis

‘Fighters, Thinkers and Shared Cultivation: Traditionalist Chinese Martial Arts as Transforming Practices’

Q. How do long-term practitioners (4 years+) experience transformation through these arts?

The Ethnography

Fieldwork: October 2004 – July 2009

• Bridge’s Wing Chun Academy (pseudonym): A full time school (Church Kwoon) for Chinese martial arts established in 1997 in Rigmouth, Dontshire, with 2 branch schools (Chapel and Hall Kwoons)

• Participant observation as a complete participant and observer

- Regular classes, seminars, private lessons, socials and informal interviews

• 9 life histories with core members of the school including instructors

- ‘Ideal types’ sampled (fighters, martial artists and thinkers)

Ongoing correspondence and investigation

-Field notes from social events, reunions and private lessons

-Analysis of online documents such as Facebook and blogs

What is Wing Chun?

• Originating in the Southern Shaolin Temple, it later spread to 8 main ‘families.’

• Largest branch stemming from Hong Kong via Grandmaster Yip Man[Ip Man], with approx 2 million practitioners (Chu et al., 1998).

• Yet there remain differing body structures, philosophies and principles.

• A popular traditionalist Chinese self-defence art (Bolelli, 2008).

• Develops a keen body awareness and sensitivity through sustained partner training (Brown & Johnson, 2000;

MacFarlane, 1989).

Martial Arts…and Family?!

Historical research

• Wing Chun’s 8 ‘families’ or branches (Chu et al., 1998;

Gee et al., 2004)

• The Ving Tsun Museum in Foshan, China

• Chinese martial arts in general (Henning, 1981)

Ethnographic research

• Diasporic Capoeira (Delamont, 2006; de Campos Rosario, Stephens

and Delamont, 2010; Joseph, 2008)

• North Indian wrestling (Alter, 1992)

• Wu style Taijiquan (Frank, 2003)

Narrative Theory (Somers, 1994)

Metanarrative

Cultural narrative

Ontological narrative

Metanarrative

Yip Man

Long Wang Bing

Sebastian Li

John Bridge

Ng Mui

Yim Wing Chun

Leung Bok Chau

Wong Wah Bo

Leung Yee Teh

Leung Jan

Leung Bik Chan Wah Shun

(Student syllabus)

Metanarrative

- SI-JOU: An ancestor within the system

- SI-GUNG: Your teacher’s teacher, as your grandfather

- SI-BACK: Your teacher’s SI-HING, as your uncle

- SI-SOOK: Your teacher’s SI-DAI, as your uncle

- SI-FU: Your teacher (male or female), as your father

- SI-MO: Your teacher’s wife, as your mother

- SI-HING: A male classmate you joined the school before you, as your older brother

- SI-JE: A female classmate who joined the school before you, as your older sister

- SI-DAI: A male classmate who joined the school after you, as your younger brother

- SI-MUI: A female classmate who joined the school after you, as your younger sister

(Master Li’s book)

In Chinese martial arts society, the ranking system follows the traditional family system. Classification of higher or lower level students is not based on one’s skill or actual age, but is decided by who joins the school first. For example, your teacher (male or female) is your father within the system. You should greet him as “SI-FU” (meaning teaching father) to show respect. Your older brother, regardless of age, would be addressed as “SI-HING.” The following are some terms that explain the relationship in the gung fu ranking system:

Cultural Narrative

Upon entry to this large and fanciful room, we bow with our left palm wrapped around the right fist and pass the Gym’s Code of Conduct fixed to the wall, which outlines expected behaviour in this room and during the course of our lives outside the gym. Hearing the heavy rock music left on from the kids’ sparring session, I place my bag in the usual spot by the large mirrors, and turn to face the gym. Opposite me is the beautiful shrine of gold and red, the central focus of the gym, mounted by several small Chinese clay figures. Above this are three framed pictures. At the top, there is an oil painting of the late Grandmaster Yip Man, the founder of the most popular branch of Wing Chun in the world. Below are two black and white photographs. One of Grand Master Long Wang Bing, one of Yip Man’s most accomplished students, and Master Li, his top student and our Sifu’s own teacher. This firmly establishes our lineage or family tree, a very important thing in Chinese Kung Fu. On either side of this shrine are two huge banners. One is a painting of an eagle, while another is a painting of a fierce tiger, a famous creature often drawn upon in the Chinese martial arts.

(Field notes, 01/02/05)

Cultural

Narrative

• Steve Black

Is Gary Pemberton in the photo....hhmmm didn't think so.

• Aaron Hughes

Hardly recognized myself, I had quite a lot of hair. As far as I know Gary had left by this time and he didn’t train for long but I do remember him.....come on guys peace with our wing chun brothers

• John Bridge

I can smell something?

• Steve Black

We were all young in those days....Aaron you are the voice of the people...speaking on behalf of those who have no voice..you should work for the U.N.

• Gavin Price

Who's Gary Pemberton? Has he been using Sifu's name? I feel a fight coming on!

• Aaron Hughes

As the newly appointed U.N peace envoy............I'm not getting involved!! All the best to my old friends at Bridge’s Academy

• John Bridge

Aaron commented, then says he’s not getting involved? As one of his Top Black Belts LOL students, you already are! (June 2010)

Cultural Narrative

“The school used to have a stronger feeling about it.” Gavin began one of his emotive lectures which always leave me wanting to hear more. “I know Sifu’s lost a lot of students, and he’s become a bit laid back. But it used to be very different I can tell you guys. Sifu used to be so strict and aggressive. And others followed him. I mean, Steve was a terrible one for that, he really was. That’s why it’s important to have the social side of things. We used to go out for beers together at the weekend and go for meals more than just after seminars. We were so close. It was like a family. We were all like brothers. You need that family feeling to stop you going mental. And it is a family. Because Wing Chun is so destructive, you’ve got to have the social side to calm you down. I used to get really wound up without it. I mean, you’re talking about punching people in the throat. You’re learning to kill people, basically.”

“Yeah, it’s not like Aikido, where you’re encouraged to help your attacker. Wing Chun’s so aggressive.” I noted.

“This is it!” Gavin responded excitedly. “This is what we’re going to do guys. We’re going to my place, we’re going to get a curry and some beer and watch some Kung Fu movies. Even if the wife’s in, she doesn’t mind watching them. We’re going to have a proper Kung Fu night in, and everyone’s welcome, including your missus.”

I was interested that he mentioned my girlfriend as if she was an outsider, even though she was now a regular member. Perhaps this family was more of a brotherhood, like a monastery, than a mixed community?

(Field notes, 08/05/09)

Cultural Narrative

As I have progressed through the system, Sifu has introduced me to the biu

jee form, containing the advanced principles of Wing Chun that are very difficult to train. “As far as I’m aware, you intend to stay in the group, so I’ll introduce you to the form. There’s no point in holding you back.” He said, and then paused for thought. “But I won’t teach the guys from Rothshire anymore, cos they’re taking the techniques outside the family.”

By this, he meant that he believed they were teaching ‘Bridge’s Wing Chun’ to non-members, something that is forbidden. “Ideally, I’d like you to become better than me. Otherwise, there’s no hope for the system. By teaching you the biu jee, I’m teaching you how to beat me.” Sifu bluntly admitted, which surprised me yet at the same time made me feel valued.

(Field notes, 25/02/05)

Ontological Narrative

…We had a whale of a time, cos we were close, we did really well together, cos we were mates, I suppose. I got quite close to them. Rick became a very close friend of mine, even though you know, a lot of people wouldn’t give him the time of day sometimes just by looking at him. You find out he’s one of the nicest men in the world, and he’s like a brother. It’s good to have that, because it’s more of a family than a club, you know?...Yeah, that was actually quite an important thing. At the end of University, all my mates started to wander off, but I wanted to stay just to do kung fu. I wanted to stay on just for the Wing Chun, and as a result my only sort of social arrangement was by going to kung fu. People at work, yeah, you just settle into a new job as well. Didn’t really…they all lived elsewhere. So in Adderton, the only people I knew were kung fu people. As it turns out, they’re still pretty much all I know, but you know, if I was going to have a drink with somebody, it would probably be someone from kung fu. You know, it was how it was...It became my only sort of source of friendship, if you like, and like you say, I had no family close by… So I wanted to get involved and find friends that would help me out I suppose, emotionally, which was interesting.

(Sifu Steve, interview 1, 23/02/06)

Ontological Narrative The class had just a family feeling about it really. A sibling kind of feeling. You

had the big brother teaching the class, and slightly older brothers helping, and a few younger brothers just starting. It had that kind of feel. So you felt that you were being helped along. You helped others like you were helped along at the time. So I never got to the stage that that I thought, ‘I’m the teacher, and I’m helping everyone out.’ It would always be, ‘I’m at the stage along the chain, and I’m helping others, and hopefully they’re helping people below them.’

I see it in the same way that I see things like Buddhist monks and stuff like that.

They see themselves like a family. They have a master, and their master has a master, and their master has a master. And it goes back hundreds and hundreds of years. Even the enlightened beings have masters who they revere, and those masters have masters have masters who they revere. And it just goes on in a long chain through history. It feels like you’re part of something big.

(Dave, interview 2, 12/02/08)

Ontological Narrative

And all of a sudden, it’s giving me direction back in my life. I

think again, that’s what was lacking. I couldn’t see anything at the end of the tunnel. I was questioning what I was doing with my life. I’m back on track now. I can start to see where it’s going to go. It’s like someone said to me, I’ve got to think about a new family again. That’s what it seems. A new family. Yeah, I’m enthusiastic, very enthusiastic. More so now than what I have been in a long while.

(Sifu John, interview 2, 20/10/08)

Metaphorical Analysis (Lakoff & Johnson, 1999)

• Lineage is a family tree

• Practitioners worldwide are a global family

• The founder of a lineage is a godfather

• The Wing Chun school is a family

• The teacher is a father

• Fellow practitioners are brothers and sisters

• Senior students as older siblings

• Junior students as younger siblings

• The predominantly male group is a brotherhood

• Students of other schools in the lineage are cousins

• Students in different lineages are distant cousins

Critical Analysis

Benefits

• Links to Chinese culture

• Strong social solidarities

• Regular training partners

• Lifelong relationships

• The art continues to ‘live’

Drawbacks

• Politics

• Limited training partners

• Institutionalised habitus

• Stigma for cross training

• Regionally limited

Emerging Conclusions

• Families are body lineages linking individual and institutional skill, attributes and knowledge (habitus) across continents and generations.

• The habitus is given a socially symbolic value that is

reproduced via narratives and physical training. • Family is a powerful conceptual metaphor that is given great

meaning via meta, cultural and ontological narratives.

• Overall, the ‘living’ art is structuring the individual, yet the individual, through social action, is structuring the art.

Thanks for Listening

Any questions?

george.jennings16@yahoo.co.uk

References

• Alter, J. (1992). The wrestler’s body: Identity and ideology in North India. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press

• Bolelli, D. (2008). On the warrior’s path: Philosophy, fighting and martial arts mythology (2nd edition). Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

• Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge: Polity Press.

• Bourdieu, P. (1990). The logic of practice. Cambridge: Polity Press. • Chu, R., Ritchie, R. and Wu, Y (1998). Complete Wing Chun. North

Clarendon, VT: Tuttle. • Delamont, S. (2006). The smell of sweat and rum: Teacher authority in

Capoeira classes. Ethnography and Education, 1(2), 161-175. • De Campos Rosario, C., Stephens, N. and Delamont, S. (2010). ‘I’m your

teacher! I’m Brazilian!’: Authenticity and authority in European Capoeira. Sport, Education & Society, 15(1), 103-120.

• Frank, A. (2003). Taijiquan and the search for the little old man: Ritualising ethnicity through the Chinese martial arts. Unpublished PhD thesis. Austin, Texas: University of Texas at Austin.

• Gee et al. (2004). Mastering Kung Fu: Featuring Shaolin Wing Chun. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

• Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of a theory of structuration. Cambridge: Polity Press

References

• Giddens, A (1991). Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age. Cambridge: Polity Press.

• Henning, S. (1981). Chinese martial arts in historical perspective. Military Affairs, December, 173-178.

• Jennings, G., Brown, D. and Sparkes, A.C. (In press). ‘It can be a religion in you want’: Wing Chun Kung Fu as a Secular Religion. Ethnography

• Joseph, J. (2008). ‘Going to Brazil’: Transnational and corporeal movements of a Canadian-Brazilian martial arts community. Global Networks, 8(2), 194-213.

• Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the flesh: The embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought. New York: Basic Books.

• McFarlane, F. (1989). Bodily awareness in the Wing Chun system. Religion, 19(3), 241-253.

• Somers, M.R. (1994) The narrative construction of identity: A relational and network approach. Theory and Society, 23(5), 605-649

• Wacquant, L.J.D. (2004). Body and soul: Notes from an apprentice boxer. Oxford: Oxford University Press.