Maling kung fu?

I’m looking at schools to train in for the China portion of my Asia journey! I’m leaning toward Xinyiba with master Hu, but for logistics of travel reasons I’m also looking around the shanghai and surrounding areas. If anyone can speak to current / recent experience at Maling or any other schools around that part of china that would be appreciated! I know this one guy had not so good a time or whatever their problem is and kinda went on a smear campaign lol from most people’s accounts on here what that one person said just doesn’t seem true or at least greatly exaggerated. Although I do admit 3 months at Maling being almost 2000 dollars cheaper than most places I’ve seen does give me a little pause. Basically though I’m a pretty experienced martial artist so I’m looking for there to be a decent amount of focus on combat applications and sparring as well as the forms and art of movement and so on. Up to date Maling stories and nearby recommendations welcome ‼️🙇🏾‍♂️