In my early article "A History of Kungfu VS Muaythai", I related how 2 Taiji Masters from Hong Kong got thrashed in the Ratchadamnern Stadium Ring by Thai opponents for the first time in 1958. But almost 4 decades before that, when Muaythai as a sport was still in its infancy, when there was not even a Ring available, Kungfu has already contacted & learned the power of Muaythai!

On the 6^th of August 1921, for the first time in history, an old Southern Kungfu master, Mr Zi Zheng, officially fought the "Highland Tiger" Nai Yahng at the Rose Garden in Bangkok, on a simple wooden platform. He, along with 3 other Kungfu masters, Han Hongdun, Wu Daqian & Fu Xingpeng, all of Hainan descent, tested out the effectiveness of their styles against the early Muaythai fighters in a free-style match-up. How did it go? Well, Mr Zi Zheng was knocked out in a single round, & it was no different for the rest of the Kungfu masters. Without a doubt, they were totally ineffective in a real fight. And the Thai fighters, especially Nai Yahng, gained instant fame for disposing of Chinese Kungfu so quickly. Of course, the Chinese were not satisfied of their defeat as always.

Thus in the subsequent year, on the 13^th of May 1922, again at the Rose Garden, they sent yet another well-known Shaolin Kungfu master, Mr Lai Hu, the "Iron Tiger", to face Nai Yahng, who so easily beat Kungfu in the previous year. This match was called the "Clash of the Tigers". Lai Hu, of Hokkien descent, was 20 pounds heavier than Nai Yahng.. but that didn't make much difference in the fight. He fared slightly better than Mr Zi Zheng - he lasted 2 rounds before being knocked out. Truly, he was a "better" fighter than Zi Zheng. 2 months later however, on the 29^th of July something much more significant happened. Another Chinese fighter, Mr Li De (also of Hainan descent), challenged the Highland Tiger again and fought him 3 rounds, forcing him into a draw. Unfortunately, there aren't any pictures of this fight. To the surprise of many, Li De was able to knock down Nai Yahng 9 times throughout the fight. The judging was of course biased. What was most notable here was that Li De did not fight Nai Yahng using Kungfu, but Muaythai!! That opened up a Pandora's Box of who has the better martial art, & I think history provides a great relevation to the current state of affairs. According to records, in the years that followed the Li De versus Nai Yahng fight, right up to 1958, only one other Chinese fighter, Mr Yun Jie, has fought the Thais. Once on 31^st of January 1929 & another time on 3^rd of October 1930. He won the former fight & lost the latter. Like Mr Li De, he used Muaythai.

If there is one lesson that history teaches us about Kungfu, from the old days of classical nonsense right up to the mix & match Sanda ringsport of today, is that no matter what the Chinese do to their native fighting style, they still can't really beat the Thais at the fighting game. If there is any solution to this problem, I can only see it in the fists of old time fighters like Li De, Yun Jie, & modern fighters like Wang Sanzhen (who beat his Thai opponent on 5^th of December 2001 using a mix of Muaythai & Sanda). When will the Chinese drop their silly egoism & start learning from the good points of others? Nevertheless, it is encouraging to know that recently there's already Thai coaches who were ex-pro fighters teaching in China. Before that only the Beijing Police had the privilege of learning authentic Muaythai. But now, in Guangzhou, the capital of Canton, there's Mr Mahachon (above) who has brought instruction to the masses there. Although Mahachon believes deeply in Muaythai, he is also wise enough to see some of the good points of Sanda & learning from them. He admits that he is in China "for the money", he makes the most of what fees people pay him by being very dedicated in his teaching. Another significant phenomena that I see here is that of all the peoples on the vast China Mainland, the first people to accept Muaythai openly are the Cantonese. The Cantonese are known to be forward thinking, and the many Great Men to issue forth from Canton, like Mr Sun Yat Sen, are a testimonial to this trait. It makes one proud to be of Cantonese descent. I believe that Mr Mahachon's presense in Guangzhou is destiny, & surely a sign of greater things to come.

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