History Versus Lies
by Mark Cheng, L.Ac.

Arthur Lee (right) and son Harlan Lee. - PHOTO BY RICK HUSTEAD

Conflicts between cultures often lead to strange behavior between people; one look at the world today will prove that. As the Chinese martial arts evolved, the ways people have dealt with the changes have led to no shortage of conflicts. From the dawn of time, man has always needed to defend himself and establish dominance. Combative ability was one of the alpha male’s key markers in primitive societies. Yet with the rise of civilization, combative reputation began to replace combative efficacy, and the pen became mightier than the sword.

Instead of handling conflicts with a beat-down or a quick kill, alpha males realized the importance of rhetorical skills and public image. Instead of risking personal safety and squandering physical energy, they let their reputation do the talking through tales spread by others, thereby frightening off potential rivals without having to lift a finger. Spin gradually replaced speed, and the world hasn’t been the same since.

In some Chinese martial arts schools, a similar phenomenon arose. In eras past, the No. 1 issue on everyone’s mind was simply, Who fights best? In later days, it shifted to who has the most “correct” forms, who has the best lineage and other such noncombat issues. Civilized society of any sort tends to frown on unregulated displays of violence, so competitive males had to find a new outlet for their energies.

Because of the Confucian influence and its emphasis on ancestor worship and hierarchy, the Chinese accorded a higher degree of respect to schools of thought derived from older lines. In other words, if your father founded your martial art and my great-grandfather founded mine, mine must be better.

Such assumptions were made on the premise that stronger schools proved their worth over time—something newer arts couldn’t do. While that certainly may have been the case, it doesn’t mean a newer art can’t be effective. However, because open combat between rival schools became less acceptable, students and instructors found themselves resorting to the slinging of insults.

To avoid that fate, some masters fabricated histories for their arts, claiming to have learned from a mystical sage who lived in the mountains, a long-forgotten scroll discovered in a cave or a secret family transmission never made in public. The more ancient the origin and the longer the lineage a school claimed, the more esteem it would garner in the eyes of the public.

Such intentional misrepresentation was a product of the culture that spawned these arts. The ancients valued the “old and secret,” while modern people tend to favor the “new and improved.” Because of that, history is being rewritten.

In centuries past, the tendency was to develop a technique or school of thought and attribute it to some ancient lineage that didn’t really exist. These days, would-be innovators borrow techniques from others without acknowledging their sources, then claim to have developed an entire body of knowledge after finding all other systems deficient. Often the reality is that the system in question is complete and the student is the one lacking.

My sil lum fut ga kung fu master, Arthur Lee, lectured me about this problem during a visit to Los Angeles more than a decade ago. His son, Harlan Lee, had just spent the afternoon practicing footwork and kicking techniques with a friend of the family, Bob Lee, a practitioner of southern praying-mantis kung fu. Arthur Lee said, “Even though Harlan will always represent fut ga kuen, he will always acknowledge what comes from where and never turn his back on who taught him what. If people ask him where certain kicks come from in our system, he’ll tell them that some of them come from Uncle Bob [Lee]. That way, nobody rewrites history with lies.”

About the author: Mark Cheng is a traditional Chinese-medicine physician and martial arts researcher based in West Los Angeles. For more information, visit http://www.blackbeltmag.com and click on Community, then Black Belt Authors.