Man Sifu has a certain way of ‘labelling’ students by the colour of their sash and t-shirts but this is really just an indication of their ‘objective’ in training not so much their skill level. We were a ‘Troupe’ if you like, so uniform was the norm.

When my Sihing and I started The Yum Yeurng Academy we instilled a ‘cycle’ system as we thought it reflected what we were doing, our ‘purpose’. I’ve always appreciated a gradings use, but also understand why it isn’t so important in Traditional Chinese systems as a skill indicator, especially at higher levels. We tend to relate the colours to Five Element theory which also links with the program being studied, and Shaolin I believe.

Like everything, coloured sashes have their place in Traditional arts as long as their purpose is explianed properly and not used just as a money printing machine…

Excellent points. I know my own sifu never liked the large classes or trappings of of big schools (he said it reminded him too much of his time in the People’s Army).

I think most things are rather neutral, and if a decent sifu is doing things for a helpful reason, then they’re generally well done and beneficial. However, the same thing can be used by a scammer to bilk students, so the only thing to do is not judge the practice itself, but help inform people to better decide if a specific place is going to be good for them (to learn in).

A lot of interesting points here and very good insight in to why the ‘Sash’/ ‘T Shirt Patch’ has entered the TCMA IMO.

My old Sifu used to say that it was not possible to teach Wing Chun in the same method as he perceived most modern Karate Schools teach. What he meant by that was in a uniform manner during lessons, when particular techniques were drilled by every student, irrespective of level. In that respect, they had belts just to fulfill the incentive part to which you refer and not to let the teacher know who needs which bit next.

In Wing Chun, with a large school, it is vital to know who’s had which bit of the system so far. Especially if the school is open 5 days per week and the students are free to decide on which days they’ll train. If the school has multiple instructors, it makes it very easy for any of them to come in on any day and continue the students education, from where the last instructor left off. It means important parts of the system are not missed out. It also means that instructors need to know the entire schools syllabus off the top of their heads.

This is altogether different from the teaching of a one technique fits the whole (large) class theory, which would lead to the inevitable missing of certain parts of the system, as well as increase the risk of students filling in gaps with unique interpretations and later passing them on to unsuspecting others, further watering down the system for future generations.

Personally I agree with you that having no gradings, small personal groups and a lack of cultural costuming, is far less rizlable than the alternative, but I can also see why the alternative exists.

Kind regards

Shen