Saskatoon Nine Dragon Baguazhang
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Albert Community Centre
610 Clarence Ave S.
Saskatoon, SK
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Zongcheng - Another Term in Chinese
Dr. John P. Painter (Copyright 2006 IAM Co. and the Gompa
Loyalty in Chinese Martial Arts.
The English dictionary describes loyalty as, "Devoted allegiance". The act of being constant and faithful in any relation implying trust and confidence. Westerners have a skewed idea of Chinese Gong Fu and loyalty. Many have come to believe, based on films and books, that the Chinese in general were characteristically loyal in their personal relationships, business and with ruling authorities. Today and in the past even with all the Confucian influence in China loyalty has been traditionally reserved only for the immediate family, close family friends and personal relationships (teacher and student).
Loyal in Chinese: Zongcheng
Zong = assemble come together
Cheng = to be sincere and open hearted.
Chinese do not like quickly formed relationships in martial arts or business so among the old style martial arts the Laoshi (teacher) was always looking to form Cheng or a sincere and open hearted relationship with his student. This helped bond teacher and student and the style. It created the devoted allegiance that would ensure continuation of the art down through time by dedicated students. In all other dealing whatever loyalty was shown by one Chinese to another person it was merely circumstantial and remained only as long as those associations were advantageous to the individual.
Today in far too many schools and organizations we have what the Chinese master's call, "Kou mi fu jian." (Honey tongue and gall heart)
Just a little History Lesson
John P. Painter