Frequently Asked Questions

Have a question that isn't answered here?

Go to the contact us page to send a question to Sifu. There is also information about your first class here.

What Does 'Kung Fu' Mean?

Like many other terms used in connection with the Martial Arts today, the term 'Kung Fu' is often mis-applied. Translated literally, kung fu means 'excellence through hard work' or 'skilled achievement'. Therefore one could be said to display 'kung fu' at cooking or at computer programming.

There is nothing inherently martial about the term, but in the 1950's, the Hong Kong film industry started using the two characters 'Kung Fu' for their martial arts action movies and the phrase has been closely associated with Chinese Martial Arts ever since - particularly in the West.

Professionals refer to the practise of Chinese Martial Arts as 'Wu Kung' or 'Wu Shu' which connote the specific martial (Wu) development of skill (Kung) or art (Shu).

What's the difference between
Traditional Chinese Martial Arts
and Karate/Judo/Taekwondo?

Chinese martial arts were formalised over two thousand years ago, and were developed primarily by Buddhist and Taoist monks. Thus, the Chinese are universally acknowledged to have the oldest, best-proven systems - almost all other legitimate systems will acknowledge the debt they owe to the Chinese systems, which spread throughout Asia.

Methods such as Karate, Judo, or Taekwondo were developed hundreds of years after the formalisation of the Chinese systems, and as such, owed much of their development to Chinese martial art systems - Karate, as taught by Southern Chinese monks and practised on Okinawa, was originally called 'Tang Te' which translates as 'Chinese Hand'. The characters were later changed to 'Kara Te' ('Empty Hand') during a period of strong Japanese nationalism.

What's the difference between
Traditional Chinese Martial Arts
and Kick-boxing or Thai boxing?

Kickboxing is a sport. It's all about scoring points in competition 'fighting' where there are a clear set of rules, gloves, pads and a referee to control things. Traditional Shaolin training is not concerned with competitions of this nature. The techniques as taught are given to deal with real life situations where there are no rules and no referees to step in and save your life!

Traditional techniques were developed to save lives under the most extreme circumstances - no really conclusive test is possible between students of traditional Shaolin, unless they choose to get involved in an all out, real fight since Shaolin techniques are inherently dangerous and do not lend themselves to control measures.

One Shaolin Master recently wrote: "Shaolin in its orthodox form, is not a game to be played for the entertainment of an audience or whims of sports-minded exponents. Although there have been competitions between Shaolin experts, none of these have proven satisfactory to orthodox practitioners".

How are the classes structured?
Do you have beginner, intermediate,
and advanced classes?

Chinese martial arts train as a family, therefore you can be training with everyone ranging from beginners through to blackbelts, and we expect everyone to train with everyone. The Palmerston North school has about a dozen blackbelts who train regularly, so at any one time there can be a dozen blackbelts training with the juniors.

How often should I train?

For a beginner to grasp the techniques, a minimum of two sessions per week is important. We don't separate the beginners from the seniors, therefore the techniques range from easy to difficult.

Who teaches the classes?

Our Sifu teaches about 98% of the classes in the Palmerston North school and has 33 years experience of martial arts. Other schools are taught by experienced Blackbelts with Sifu taking the occasional class to ensure the high quality of the system is maintained.

What are the requirements for advancement?

You will advance in the system when Sifu sees fit. The general requirements for advancement are dedication, humility, and effort.

I'm looking for a new martial art because my last teacher left, is this likely to happen?

Sifu has personally experienced your frustration of teachers leaving and you can be assured this will not happen here. Sifu has been teaching in New Zealand for over ten years and our dedicated training facility highlights the commitment he has towards the system. The reason we have so many seniors training is the personal relationship developed with Sifu and the attrition rate of our students is therefore low.

Do you offer a free trial class?

We charge for the first class because of the investment we make in you. Other schools may offer free classes to try and lure more students in and then sign them up to long-term contracts, but we believe this cheapens their martial art. We offer quality martial arts training and unfortunately aren't prepared to lower our standards just to make more money.

We understand that everyone's martial arts journey is different and don't use long-term contracts as a way of making you stay. Our students stay because they enjoy what we offer. When you train with us you are paying a class fee for the time of the class instructor, their assistant instructors, and your training partner who will spend their own training time explaining the basics to you.

That being said, we are excited and happy to show you our martial art so you can decide if it's right for you. We believe we offer what you seek and are therefore willing to completely refund your money if you are unsatisfied by the class.

How long will it take to learn to defend myself?

There are a lot of misconceptions and misinformation floating around about martial arts and how it fits with self defence. To read our point of view, read this.

I've read a lot about "McDojos"
on the internet, are you one?

Unfortunately, the darker side of martial arts is filled with opinionated people who think their views are the gospel truth. While we don't deny that "McDojos" (Or "McKwoons" in Chinese) are a very real problem, most people won't tell you the full story. Check out this page for a longer discussion.