[2009.07.07] SEVEN LITTLE FORTUNES 50TH ANNIVERSARY: SLOTH IS THE WORST OF ALL SIN, YUEN WAH IS THE SNAKE KING OF KINGS

In the eyes of Master Yu Jim Yuen, the worst of all sins was not "lust". When the Seven Little Fortunes enrolled in China Drama Academy, everyone was 7 to 8 year old child. How could they have "lust"? The real "sin" was laziness, sloth was the worst of all sins.

Starting from the contract signing, the Master and the disciples formed an unbreakable connection. Since they could be beaten to death without blame, how could the Master permit the children to cut corners? However with such torture like training 16 hours daily, anyone who did not cut corners truly should be ashamed of themselves.

Catching The Lazy Ones On The Roof, Everyone Scattered

Yuen Qiu was a genius in the eyes of the Master, as each training she only needed one instruction to pick up. While others had to train for five hours, she could only spend five minutes to pull it off. Yet the smart ones always let their smart be their demise, as bad habits started to form here.

About cutting corners, Yuen Qiu and Yuen Po remember, "I remember running laps on the roof the most. Not only were we training steps, but also hand gestures. The arms got very tired if they were propped up all day, so every time the Master was not paying attention, we would put our arms down and ran around. Once Master truly saw us cut corners, so he hit us with the cane while screaming 'let's see if you dare to be lazy anymore' We were all running for our lives, like in a track meet. Everyone scattered."

Yuen Qiu due to her intelligence learned to cut corners smartly, but Yuen Wah was the "Master of Laziness" as he escaped the Master's eyes numerous times. Yuen Wah says, "During training, we were always coming up with ideas. Back then when the brothers gathered to train on the roof, no matter how far we were from the Master, as long as we were not within his line of vision we would try everything to cut corners. Sometimes the Master would take a break downstairs. Although we knew that the Master would be listening to what we were up to downstairs, we were very smart. We stomped the ground and pretended to train so the Master would have something to hear and thought we were training."

Although Yuen Qiu was talented, her corner cutting abilities were not yet mature. On the other hand Yuen Wah knew the ways of the slide, obviously cutting corners was a science of its own.

Caught Red Handed, Double Punishment

Yuen Wah although was able to fool many, but no one would always be so lucky. One day the day of reckoning was inevitable. Whether Yuen Qiu, Yuen Wah or even Jackie Chan they all had to suffer the pain of a handstand. children's arms were weaker. Everyday out of bed they had to support their entire bodies with their arms. Each students would be complaining. When the Master was not look they would stop to take a break. Yet Master Yu seemed to have a "laziness detector" and would always sudden appear to catch the culprit red handed. The Seven Little Fortune who was caught could not avoid the cane treatment. Even worse the punishment returned double, as training frequency was increased. Obviously Master Yu's educational direction was to "treat laziness with hard work". (21)