Academy Politics

The academy works as follows:
Headmaster Che Wen Long, one of the richest men in Jilin, a millionaire even by American standards, shows up to pick up money and sometimes to accompany friends, possibly investors, and treat them to banquets and Shaolin performances. He is the final word on all matters not settled by his underlings. Next in line is the Vice Headmaster Che Wen Bin. He takes care of the running of the school, as is tradition in China number two is the one who does the work. He walks around during the day, following and observing different groups as they train. He sometimes calls for tests for the hole academy every few weeks. We all go run the stairs one at a time and get timed, we do the 4-5 miles village run for time, the whole academy runs down the T, along the beach, and then up the stairs for approximate times. Approximate is the best they can do with one digital watch and forty or fifty students being tested. Next are the Shifus who deal with their own students issues. Ultimately the responsibility for the students falls to the Shifus. If a Wushu group student gets drunk, it is the Wushu Zhang Shifu's problem. If a Baji student gets caught turning on the power after lights out, it is Lin Shifu's problem to deal with. If a student leaves a group, the shifu is penalized. If a student leaves the academy early the shifu is blamed and it causes trouble. Then come the translators. If a student has an issue, the translators are the first line of defense for the academy. Some of the translators are better than others at seeming to be on the side of the students but, in actuality, they are completely controlled by the Ches. If they go too far out on a limb for the students they may find themselves fired that day. In the past two years, two of the best, most experienced, shifus have been fired and for dubious reasons. Since I have been here, the gatekeeper and the Chinese kid's shifu have been fired.

No one's job is safe. During the recent Chinese Labor day holiday the shifus asked during a line-up if we would mind them having one or more days off. To go home, my shifu and Shaolin Zhang shifu needed four days off plus the weekend so they could make the long train trip to Henan province. We all said they could have as many days off as they wanted since we were devoted to them. They said they would take four days or none since the two would prefer to either go home to see their families or work to keep making money. After the first training session we were informed that the vice headmaster had agreed with their plan but doubted that the headmaster would. We all signed a petition to give them the days off, the translators as well. By lunch we heard that it had been rejected. Sanda decided that if they wouldn't give him the time off we would do our best ourselves. We lined up in front of the Shifu with a translator and explained that we were all going to be sick for the rest of the week and that he should feel free to take a trip home since he would have no students to teach. Unfortunately this tactic was not successful. while our shifu appreciated our attempt, he said the headmaster would not believe that we were really sick and would not allow the shifu to leave the academy. We were all rather outraged but training did proceed. For one or two sessions we would train somewhat seriously and for the rest of the beautiful summer days we ate ice cream played basketball and strolled through the woods.