Chinese MA vs Japanese MA. Jet Li's answer.

Dragonseeker · White Belt

April 22, 2002

Dear Mr. Li,

I know that this email must go through someone else first before it gets to you. There is soo many question in the fanmail page I get crazy just to see if my question has been answered. If it already has, whoever is reading this please email me back and let me know if it has already been answered. Just a simple "already been answered will be good" Thank you much in advance.

My question is, what do you think about the rivalry in the Martial Arts? Every Martial Arts claims it is the best. And it really makes me angry. In your film "Fist of Legend", the first time I watched it, I had the impression the movie was trying to say Chinese Martial Arts is better than Karate. Much of this I believe is from Bruce Lee's "Free yourself from Classical Karate."

I am personally a Karateka, and when I saw you beat all those Japanese blackbelts in Fist of Legend, it made me a little uncomfortable. Same in "Kiss of the Dragon." After the movie, all my friends had the impression that Kung Fu or Wushu was better than Karate and Karate was inferrior. That makes me sad. One of my friends comented that "Karate is [expletive deleted], Kung Fu would beat it all the way."

I know I shouldn't care about what he says, but what I am trying to say is that you yourself said that you are trying to promote wushu, and the karate people have been promoting karate for years. But it hurts us when Bruce Lee made negative comments about us, and so when people watched those "Fist of Legend" or "Kiss of the Dragon", it really hurt the promotion of Japanese or Okinawan Karate. So I was just wondering if you'd please give me your opinion about this. Thank you much in advance and I realize you are busy so I don't mind a short reponse.

Sincerely,
Anthony Tran
San Jose, California, USA

P.S.: I really enjoy your movies and you got some very great talent in movie making. Oh, one last question, is it true you can do 10 punches in a second?

Jet's Response:

love transcends culture
I hope that you will have the opportunity to watch Fist of Legend again and observe the character's actions in the film. If I remember correctly, the old Japanese martial arts master also taught Chen Zhen how to use martial arts -- how to control anger and yourself. In the movie the main character studies engineering and mechanics in Japan because at the time the Japanese had a better understanding of those arts than the people in China, and while there he fell in love with a Japanese girl. Even though there were, on a larger level, two countries fighting with each other, we made a point of saying that not all Japanese people (or people of any one country) are all bad. In fact, even the person who killed Chen Zhen's teacher was Chinese. In any culture and country there are good and bad people. Nothing is 100% right or 100% wrong.

taste the difference
I've always said that martial arts -- wushu, karate, tae kwon do, etc. -- are different aspects of the same thing. Like different types of fluids. One can not say that Coke is absolutely better than Pepsi because, for one thing, it is a matter of perspective and taste. And of course, the people who support Pepsi would be very sad. Can you say that another person's cola sucks? Of course not. To the person who drinks it, it is obviously very tasty. They might like their "shaolin cola", and think your "judo cola" tastes terrible. It's a matter of perspective and taste. The point isn't which is better. The point is that different styles have different approaches and appeal to different people. I've never said that Chinese wushu is better than Japanese martial arts because my belief is that one thing is never absolutely better than the other. It depends on the person who learns and uses it. It is less important to know what you drink. It is more important to understand why you drink.

With Anti-Wrist-Lock Brakes
For example, many countries make cars. Some people think European cars are the best. Others say that Japanese cars are the best ... or American cars. But to be honest, it doesn't really matter what people say. It matters what the individual buyer wants and needs for themselves. Perhaps they need a car with better gas miliage. Then they might choose a Japanese car ... because his goal lies in line with what that product has to offer. He pays money for that and feels a sense of satisfaction. Maybe another person doesn't care about money or gas mileage and just wants something with power. Then he might pick an American car, or some other car. It isn't the car that is better or worse than other cars -- it is the buyer that makes the determination of which vehicle is best for their individual needs. With martial arts it's best to drive the car that can provide the features that can best suit your needs.

Can I do 10 punches in one second? I've never counted, but I don't think so.

From Jet's official site.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I thought that was a good answer. I think it is not what style you use, but how hard you train.

TJS · Black Belt

Dragonseeker · White Belt

Certainely having the right style helps. But people worry too much about whether Karate is better than Shaolin or whether Wing Chun is better than Muy Thai. It depends on how hard you train more than what the style actually is.

DokterVet · Green Belt

I've seen Li move fast, and I think he could do 10 punches in a second.
At my karate club, the average is 7 punches per second, and I'm pretty sure Li is a lot faster than the average Joes at my club.
_________________
22 years old
Shootwrestling
Formerly Wado-Kai Karate

karatekid1975 · KF VIP

BKJ1216 · Black Belt

Did your friend ever thing that maybe he beat all the Jpanaese people because it was his movie? No one would want to see a movie where the hero gets beat.
_________________
White Belt- Shudokan Karate

Kyle-san · Brown Belt

BKJ1216 · Black Belt

^ Yeah well your weird. What I mean was no one would make a movie like that. Honestly has anyone ever seen a movie where the bad guys win?
_________________
White Belt- Shudokan Karate

rb · Green Belt

Seven is the first that comes to mind.

Movies where the bad guy wins are the best.

Kyle-san · Brown Belt

	KarateForums.com Forum Index -> Choosing a Martial Art, Comparing Styles, and Cross-Training	All times are GMT - 6 Hours Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4 Next
Page 1 of 4