It sucks because there will be legit branches out there and I've ranted about this phenomenon on other parts of the internet especially to explain to the MMA guys out there who are understandable sceptics of various styles. When it comes to the traditional styles especially they become the victims of politics, people just want to get belts and boast about how they're an '4th Dan' in Karate.
The dojos who just hand out belts and don't train their students properly are the ones who get all the numbers and they're the ones who get to make all the decisions at the heads of these associations that get formed. As a result, the standards are shit and that's exactly what will be going on with these Chinese 'kung fu masters' and others. They very much operate like a syndicate almost.
Bit of a rant about martial arts, but the same will apply here with learning about medieval sword play and shit like that. Don't go for the ones that are trying to make it a business because their goal is to just get as many bodies in as possible and likely won't really teach much.
It sucks because there will be legit branches out there and I've ranted about this phenomenon on other parts of the internet especially to explain to the MMA guys out there who are understandable sceptics of various styles. When it comes to the traditional styles especially they become the victims of politics, people just want to get belts and boast about how they're an '4th Dan' in Karate.
The dojos who just hand out belts and don't train their students properly are the ones who get all the numbers and they're the ones who get to make all the decisions at the heads of these associations that get formed. As a result, the standards are shit and that's exactly what will be going on with these Chinese 'kung fu masters' and others. They very much operate like a syndicate almost.
Bit of a rant about martial arts, but the same will apply here with learning about medieval sword play and shit like that. Don't go for the ones that are trying to make it a business because their goal is to just get as many bodies in as possible and likely won't really teach much.