Gold medals for everyone: Lee Kam Wing makes use of China's kung fu tourism.

"In July 2002, shifu Li Jin Rong * entered a compition in Qingdao and had won two gold medals for 'Stick Method' and for "Seven Star Mantis Style'."

From The Mantis Cave: http://www.geocities.com/mantiscave/leekam.htm

  Lee Kam Wing

I first read this story in a leading British martial arts magazine. Lee Kam Wing, the Hong Kong based Mantis teacher, confirmed his win in an exclusive interview submitted by his student Derek Frearson. It sounded great. Our traditional Qixing Tang Lang forms being shown in a competition run by Modern Wushu dominated Mainland China - and winning! And now the story was cropping up in magazines and on websites for the public to hear.

That same week the owner of our training hall, also a Wushu coach, had approached several of my students looking for someone to represent his gym at a competition in Shandong. We declined, but he tried to make his case for us to go:

"Come on. If you go, you can win a Gold Medal easily!"

He then explained.

"There are so many competitions up there. It's for a tourist festival that week. Mainland Chinese and 'foreigners' are always split because of the difference in skill level. If you enter, usually you are the only person in your category."

This gave me a shock. The next day I spoke with some friends here in Shanghai and found that it was true. Even in Qingdao city alone there was as many as one competition every month. Certificates and medals were freely given out even for routine demonstrations and exhibitions. A lot of these were organised and judged by the Modern Wushu Federation or the local tourist industry heads. It seemed odd that a traditional master like Lee Kam Wing would go out in public saying he'd 'won' in a 'kung fu competition' if this was true. But, these were second-hand stories so I didn't think about it seriously.

Not much later I was visited by an ex-student of Lee Kam Wing who now studies in Qing Dao - Angelo D'aria from Italy. Angelo mentioned in passing that he was in Qingdao with Lee Kam Wing for the 2002 competition himself. I took the opportunity to get the real story. It was all true. It was an under-attended event held for tourism purposes. Lee Kam Wing was a sole competitor in his field and was given a 'Gold Medal' basically for showing up. And now he was dropping it into public interviews and information knowing full well how it sounds out of context!

Attending modern competitions is already of little use for the traditional practitioner. Going to little known events in Shandong then using your default 'Gold Medal' for marketing or prestige is really far away from the meaning of being a Master. It is closer to the meaning of being a salesman. It is embarrassing for all our Qixing family. I've also since found out that other 'Masters' even made non-competition performances in China, then told people that they 'won' their certificates and were 'the first foreigner' to do so in China.

Train hard and don't get distracted by shiny medals and stories.

Kai Uwe Pel

Shanghai - March 27, 2005