Corporal Punishment vs...failure!

It has come to my attention recently, that there is a very important difference between the East and the West when it comes to teaching methods. This, I think, is key to explaining the reason for the constant output of high quality athletes from China, as opposed to the many so-so, always-the-bridesmaid-and-never-the-bride ones from the West.

Chinese athletes are ruthlessly beaten into a whimpering submission before being spit on and insulted for the rest of the training session if they do one thing wrong.

...what?...don't you think that?! OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a tiny bit, but in reality, students are taught a harsh lesson which they won't forget in a hurry. Why? Two reasons: because it's allowed, and because it works. Wonders. I know.

I may be a glutton for punishment, but I know when something works. Sometimes fear produces the most effective results. When you are too tired to think straight, your pain receptors can remember the consequences of a wrong action. You are forced to remember the tiny details which make Wushu beautiful. Fear has helped me on more than one occasion.

There is no room for laziness if you are kept on your toes all the time, also, for stubbornly slow paced Westerners like myself, a little 'motivation' goes a long way in making sure you move fast enough. I've said it before. I'm never mad at Chang, never question his methods, as I know he is doing what is best for me and my Wushu. I can see and feel it myself.

Earlier last year, there were fears and reports coming from China on the news, from Matthew Pincent, coming from China and it's young Gymnasts in the run-up to the Olympics in Beijing. There was outrage when a secret camera filmed the harsh conditions of these athletes training regimes. Beatings, punishments, tears, shouting, all apparently flouting the human rights laws of today. In China it is deemed OK to do these things, in the West it seems barbaric. Of course China denied these claims, they want to be loved by the world, not hated.

From suffering breeds discipline, and from discipline breeds success. Being hit is to suffer. When you are hit and you suffer, you become disciplined, because the only other alternative is to be hit again and again and again. I'm sure the coaches have many bitter understudies who will be more than glad to continue the beatings well into the night.
From this unparalleled discipline, you will see success. You will see textbook technique and precision. Unnatural feats of strength, power and speed.

This is how the Chinese do it. They treat everyone the same, whether they are weak and lazy or strong and hard-working. Everyone gets the same treatment, it is how they react that is the key. In the West they only employ harsher training methods if they know you can withstand it or if they know you will thrive as a result.
I'm not saying EVERY single Chinese sports person, at whatever level, is beaten into within an inch of their life, but at a certain level it is by no means frowned upon.

Why do Chinese coaches continue to beat their athletes? Because they always used to. It gives results. Why fix something that isn't broken. That's my opinion on the matter.

Yes it hurts...but it works.