A Brief Overview of why Kung Fu is Ineffective for Fighting

The closing of Santelli’s in the 1990’s left a vacuum in New York’s fencing community. However a few years later, one of their former instructors started teaching stage fencing nearby and I jumped at the chance to learn.  Inasmuch as the class was great fun, it was actually ruining my skills – I had to quit because my fencing skills were deteriorating.

That’s because fencing is based on small, exact and articulate movements in a few directions.  In olden times, duels were far from the 3-Muskateers swordplay we are so familiar with in the movies.  Actual duels contained minimal movements and ended quickly.  Stage fencing on the other hand is based on wide and sweeping motions, directed so the eye can easily follow the actions on the stage or a movie set.  These fantastic looking moves are the exact opposite of a real swordfight!

It was at this time when my “Eureka moment” came to me! I realized that kung fu was “stage combat” and NOT real fighting! Its wide and sweeping motions telegraphing every intent and purpose seems perfectly designed for the stage!  Although it may look beautiful in the cinema, even inexperienced non-practitioners recognize “the kung fu paradox;” students study kung fu for years and years and can’t even fight?

Many of the flaws are quite obvious, these include:  an adherence to techniques that look spectacular in the movies but don’t work in real life, a lack of solid balance, a fondness for acrobatic maneuvers, and an adherence to period costumes fit more for the stage than actual combat.

Obviously at one time kung fu had both gravitas and credibility. People fought and killed each other with skill and aplomb.  But over time it degenerated into a past-time where the attainment of beauty and form became the end goal.  Instead of pushing political correctness and shouting that all martial arts have equal value, it’s more important to understand the reason why kung fu devolved into a performance art.

The underlying reason why kung fu lost its effectiveness as a practical fighting system is rooted in China’s recent history, particularly the past 300 years when a series of “Black Swan” events began to erode the numerous styles and turned them into a nostalgic quest for a previous era.

Here are some of the event’s that helped to diminish kung fu from a fighting craft to an art form,  I only touch on them briefly since each factor is a story unto itself. 

#1. The diametric differences and incompatibilities between the dozens of unique kung fu styles;  #2. The fall of the Ming dynasty and rise of Ching rule and their abolishment of martial arts practice;  #3. The Boxer Rebellion, and the disastrous defeat of the Boxers;

 #4. The division and control of parts of China by Western powers;  #5. The Japanese invasion and occupation;  #6. The Chinese Civil War;  #7. Communist influence and control;  #8. The influence and popularity of Chinese Opera and its transference into Wu Shu;  #9. And the influence of Bruce Lee, who experimented with various fighting styles and left kung fu to create his own style.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule and I am not mentioning practitioners who have freely trained and mixed various fight disciplines. However I am a firm believer in the old adage, “You fight the way you train!” If you practice stage combat you will look good in the movies – but you won’t be able to fight!