Good question or bad question?

Without any pun intended, we'd say that's not the "real" question. In other words, this apparent question hides others, conscious or not.

The questioner would like to know whether, thanks to the choice he has made which he obviously thinks - as is only human - is the "right" choice, he'll be better off than someone who's made a different choice... An automatic benefit, as it were, that will give him a head start over the others who have probably made a mistake. And it could even be said that he's not really trying to know, or to doubt, but on the contrary to comfort himself in the idea that he's thought right and true, without the possibility of questioning.

Who is stronger: the practice or the practitioner?

It's quite comfortable (and flattering for the ego) to be able to rely on one's own form of practice to dispense with the need for extra effort in training, as well as a humble approach - in other words, the very opposite of what we'd like to teach us.

This attitude is the flagrant manifestation of a form of immaturity, sometimes tolerable when it comes to very young practitioners, much less when one enters adulthood, which should correspond a step forward in the practice of martial arts.

If such were true, it would be "widely known", and it's likely that only one form of practice would survive, the others being quickly abandoned and abandoned for the sole use of a few dreamers or charlatans. As it happens on the contrary, today there is a flowering of styles, schools, forms, variants, etc., and that this probably has a reason somewhere in the eyes of every adept.

Do you know the fan?

Among Chinese arts enthusiasts, but also others who are interested in more than just not only in the "technique of striking", some are familiar with the Art of the Fan. The fan is a well-known used a priori mainly by women, and often considered by the layman as a mark of sophistication and old-fashioned snobbery, in other words, a small accessory, even superfluous.

The Art of the Fan

And yet, I would advise those "convinced of their style" not to go women who are past experts in the Art of handling this of this object. Before they've even sketched out their favourite technique, they'd be put out of action with an imperceptible flick of the wrist. In extreme cases, where women had to defend their lives or their virtue - which amounted to practically the same thing, a dishonored woman had to do, in Japanese terminology, "seppuku" (suicide) with her ‘tanto’ (short dagger) - the fan was used to slice joints, muscles, throat, carotid artery, etc., or to prick the attacker's eyes, but also to blur his vision of the fight to blur the attacker's vision of the battle when deployed.

Although the fan is not one of the "18 weapons of Wu-Shu", its contribution accepted today as an energetic or kinetic complement to T'ai Qi or kinetic complement to T'aï Qi or Qi Gong, for example, which contributes to overall balance.

Talk less - do better...

The moral of this reflection is not an apology for the Fan, or for any particular of any Martial Art in particular. It simply states that there's only one way to be "better", and that's to dominate your own ego by training sincerely, whatever the Art you practice. Let's not forget that there are always those and stronger than ourselves, and that's a good thing. How else would we progress without the help of our partners?

There are no right or wrong choices, only good or less good practitioners. Whether certain martial arts are better suited than others to the morphology, personality and motivations of a given individual, this is indisputable, and it's advisable to take this into account. But those who practice in spirit and humility will be stronger than those who live in constant preoccupation with comparison and supremacy.

Regardless of the Martial Art practised, the road is equally open for everyone to surpass and conquer themselves every day by and for the benefit of their own inner strength.