Editorial

What Rickson Gracie is to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Mas Oyama is to Kyokushin Karate, Wong Shun Leung probably is for Wing Chun.

This is due to the fact that more than any other person (aside from Ip Man or Bruce Lee), Wong Shun Leung put the style of Wing Chun on the Kung Fu map as a fighting system to be respected, by being an actual fighting Kung Fu master that fought and won against all challengers during his time.

At the time of the movie's release, many viewers came away confused at some of the parts and storylines of Ip Man 4, and thought that Ip Man 4 was an over-the-top action movie with an unrealistic storyline and cartoony villains.

It turns out it was much more than that, as we will explore, since Ip Man (and his star pupil Bruce Lee) were now on foreign soil, and the storyline sheds light on Bruce Lee's beginnings and his experiences in America.

This time around, everything the 'Ip Man' characters do in this movie didn't just represent Chinese / Asians back home anymore, but Chinese / Asian Americans (and history) as well.

Here is our analysis of the film's biggest themes, moments, and Asian-American history lessons to help better make sense of them for everyone.

Ever since the release of Ip Man 4 in December of 2019 - the final martial arts / Kung Fu franchise starring Donnie Yen as legendary Wing Chun master Ip Man and Bruce Lee's Kung Fu teacher - there has been a fair bit of controversy and mixed reactions surrounding the movie. But are these movies Chinese propaganda?

While this is a martial arts blog and we do not wish to engage in political discussions or debates, it has come to our attention that due to our current political climate, and how the Ip Man movies mixes its storylines with historical events and deals with themes such as racism, oppression, colonialism, imperialism, and national pride and dignity, it is inevitable that we must share our thoughts about the role that these Chinese Kung Fu movies play in our ever increasingly politicized and polarized society we live in.

Hoi Wah Ho of Dynasty details his experiences with Chinese Martial Arts (Kung Fu) and shares why he loves Kung Fu, but hates Kung Fu at the very same time.

As defined and modified for the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or grappling community: The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people wrongly overestimate their knowledge or ability regarding the effectiveness of their grappling skills in a real fighting scenario, especially when it comes to training in "sport" Jiu-Jitsu versus training in self-defense focused Jiu-Jitsu.

This tends to occur because of the general sport BJJ practitioners' lack of self-awareness in a real fighting scenario, which comes from the lack of training with strikes, wrestling / takedowns / throws / slams, and / or ground and pound, which prevents some BJJ practitioners from accurately assessing their own skills.

As defined and modified for the Kung Fu community: The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people wrongly overestimate their knowledge or ability regarding the effectiveness of their Kung Fu in a real fighting scenario.

This tends to occur because of the general Kung Fu practitioners' lack of self-awareness, which comes from the lack of real, non-compliant sparring training, which prevents some Kung Fu practitioners from accurately assessing their own skills.

Thanks to the overwhelming number of LARPers in the Kung Fu community, Kung Fu is dying a slow and steady death.

No one who trains seriously wants to be associated with LARPers, and people from other martial arts communities can't take Kung Fu practitioners seriously because Kung Fu's reputation has been all but eroded by Kung Fu LARPers.

Let's cut the crap and get right down to it - we hate fake martial arts teachers.

The reason why we're calling out fake martial arts teachers is because they promote unsafe training environments that could get their students seriously hurt or even killed, scam innocent people out of their hard earned money, and contribute to a cult-like culture that is scummy and predatory.

Not only do these fake martial arts teachers profit off of unsuspecting students, they ruin the legitimacy and image of real martial artists who practice their art seriously.

Here is our list of the top signs or traits of a fake martial arts teacher. If your teacher or some other teacher you know matches most of the signs on this list - run away - as they are most likely a fake!

The definition of a "McDojo" is a martial arts school that is solely established to make money instead of genuinely teaching martial arts.

Are you concerned that you, someone you know, or your child may be stepping into a McDojo to learn martial arts?

Read on to find out the top signs of a McDojo, and if your school has checked off the majority of these boxes, your school might very well be a McDojo!

Have you ever met someone who claimed they practiced martial arts, or that they were a master of a certain style, but you weren't quite sure if they were legit, or just full of crap?

Or are you tired of the constant lies and excuse making that fake martial artists keep telling themselves, and other people, when their martial arts fails them during sparring / fighting?

We know we are.

Here are the top most commonly seen / heard lies that fake martial artists will peddle in order to protect their fragile egos, and what they really mean when they say this.