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Sifu
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Sifu (師傅 or 師父; Pinyin: shīfu) is a Chinese term for a master or teacher. It is most commonly used in martial arts schools. The character 師 means “teacher”. The meaning of 傅 is “tutor” and of 父 “father”, both characters are read fu with the same tones in Cantonese and Mandarin, creating some ambiguity.
Contents
- 1 Traditional meaning of Sifu
- 2 Usage of "Sifu" in the present
- 3 Slang
- 4 See also
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Traditional meaning of Sifu
Traditionally, in Chinese martial arts, learning from a master does not make one his student automatically. The acceptance as a student is a very formal event, usually requires a ceremony called bai shi. One can always address a master as sifu as a courtesy in greetings, to acknowledge an elder. But one cannot say a certain master he or she learns from is his or her sifu without such a formal admission ceremony - only after a student is admitted formally will the sifu pass down all his knowledge. Only then can the student carry on the tradition to the next generation.
In most martial arts schools, the sifu may quite often teach many informal students. However, only a "worthy few" are shown the school's entire
syllabus and declared formally to carry the sifu's name forward.
If a student misbehaves, the sifu can denounce the student and eliminate the student's name from the school.
Usage of "Sifu" in the present
Presently, martial art schools are run as businesses. In such schools, informal students are numerous, and naturally, many will claim some famous masters are their sifu even though they have never been admitted formally nor received a significant portion of the master's knowledge. In the past, using the sifu's name without permission was forbidden and to do so was considered a disgrace: and even today, the issue of formal lineage becomes a very controversial topic.
In a martial arts school, the actual teaching of even a formal student is usually done by the more senior sihings. Only after the student has reached a certain level of skill, will the sifu start to get involved in more formal training.
The term is also used to refer to house decorators, highly-ranked cooks, and many elders of old trades and arts, with a large amount of experience, such as paintings and calligraphy.
Slang
In
mainland China, sifu is a respectful form to address
drivers,
monks or
nuns, as well as
cooks and
feng shui tellers in
Hong Kong. In recent years, the word has been applied to workers of many disciplines; people use the word so as to, superficially, build up a better
guanxi with others, in particular those with whom they are not familiar.
See also
es:Shifu
nl:Sifu
