I train and coach a southern Chinese style of kung fu called Hung Gar/Hung Kuen, and my sifu is Wong Chung Man. Kung fu (or traditional wushu) is a Chinese martial art. Besides Hung Gar, there are many different families of styles. Our stances are firm and strong, there are 5 animals and 5 elements present in the mindset as well as in the techniques, and we have a whole arsenal of weapons. There is no acrobatics of jumping as one could see in modern wushu, instead, the practical usage/self-defense and health aspect are significant.  Traditional martial arts have been always my love. I traveled the world for them, I moved alone to the other side of the planet, and I paid a high price for learning. I am blessed I could train several of them in my life, first Shotokan Karate and then Hung Kuen Kung Fu, with some small experience with Northern Shaolin, Praying Mantis, etc. I love to explore their depth and I truly am fascinated by their wisdom. The fact that many traditional martial arts are not usable today is not the problem of the arts, but of the people who train them. That is what brought me to MMA, to bring fighting back to traditional styles.  I am honored I was able to take an apprentice oath in the form of a Bai Si (Bai Shi) ceremony. This is a ritual where the student kneels down in front of the teacher, passes them a cup of tea, and promises loyalty till death. This oath goes both ways. Some talk about it as an adoption to the master's family and indeed my sifu Wong Chung Man told me "Now I have a daughter".  The lineage is important in kung fu. You cannot just learn from different coaches whenever you like, but there are rules you won't find in any modern combat sports. A lineage, a kung fu family, carries specifications of how certain techniques are practiced and identifies the relationships among practitioners based on their lineages and their place in them. These are firm and won't change per life.  Every Sunday at Kung Fu Corner back in Hong Kong, which is an event of performances of various schools, I could meet my "uncles" from other styles and lineages. We could not speak the same language, but after the years I built a reputation as my sifu's student, a female foreigner living in Hong Kong, and however life was hard, they always made me feel like I am just their niece. My lineage is: Wong Fei Hung > Lam Sai Wing > Lam Jo > Wong Lei > Leung Kam Kwong > Wong Chung Man > Veronika Partikova