The "X martial art vs Y martial art" thing is quite common, but IMO the best is to just learn several and integrate what you like though sparring and competitio

The "X martial art vs Y martial art" thing is quite common, but IMO the best is to just learn several and integrate what you like though sparring and competition. Kung Fu has a bad reputation, mostly for beeing fake and not effective. Personally I think a lot of instructors _are_ fake, but there are some which really know their stuff. The thing is, most "americanized" kung fu is not nearly as good as "original" kung fu. And even "original" kung fu will lose when sparring with, say, a Muay Thai guy. A lot of videos you see of Kung Fu guys fighting on a ring, they seem to just do Sanda (which is basically chinese Kickboxing). So much for traditional martial arts! I think the lack of sparring really hurts traditional Kung Fu, you can't just close yourself in your own little work and just do Chi Sau (Wing Chun) or Tuei Shou (Taiji) or whatever your style does. Sure, it's good to practice that, but learning a martial art without sparring with people of different styles is like reading about riding a bicicle and never actually ride it. I've practiced Taekwondo (both ITF and WTF), MMA (Muay Thai + BJJ), some Wing Chun and now I'm doing Taijiquan (Yang). Out of all of them, MMA is by far the most effective, but it's not like my time with other martial arts was wasted. They give you some tools you can use to adapt to your own style. I think the most valuable thing I learned in MMA was sparring with guys with different backgrounds (Boxing, Karate, Kick Boxing, etc), you learn to be smart and adapt to your opponent, it gives you more tools. I think devoting your whole life to a single style, it's nice if you want to just use it for health and as hobby, but not effective in a fight. I've never met a guy who practiced a single traditional martial arts style and was able to spar with Muay Thai, Kickboxing or Boxing guy, but I don't live in China, maybe there it's more common. Anyways, my point is that you need to actually fight to be proficient with any martial art, not just Kung Fu.