Part of an interview I did with Sifu Dave Bearce of Portland Kung Fu.

PATRICK WALKER:

It blows my mind. I can't even express it. Just the efficiency of it. That you're training to improve your health, which makes you live longer and better. But, you're also training to defend yourself from random violence that may happen – also out of your control.

I don't know – I don't even know how to ask the question. How did this come to be?

DAVE BEARCE:

Chinese Culture. The nature of the Chinese people. What are they after? There's a few things that help define Chinese culture – especially the classical Chinese.

One is seeking after long life. Wishing somebody a long life is one of the best things you could wish upon them.

Good fortune. Good luck, or just good prosperity in your life, as well as a happy and healthy family.

Naturally, while you're working to defend yourself – working to perfect the art of warfare – you wouldn't want to do so at the risk of jeopardizing your own life and prosperity.

These were things that the Kung Fu masters of old took into consideration. They devised training programs to teach people how to use very debilitating techniques, movements that could cause a lot of damage. And yet they trained in such a way that didn't cause any damage to their own bodies.

Now that's a big deal.