Articles – Page 8 – Wing Chun Lexicon

My Impressions of Yip Man Tong in Foshan

by Chu Shong Tin (Tsui Sheung Tin) 徐尚

November 9th, 2002 was the grand opening of “Ip Man Tong” in Foshan City, China. The Hong Kong Ving Tsun Athletic Association organised a tour and more than a hundred Ving Tsun practitioners, both local and from aboard attended the ceremony. Those who participated in the grand opening got on an uniform, compliment of The Hong Kong Ving Tsun Athletic Association and looked rather chic. The event had drew Ving Tsun practitioners from directly under Grand Master Ip Man lineage, Ving Tsun practitioners in Foshan along with its’ local residents, altogether two thousand odd people attended. Apparently, this was the biggest event in Foshan City’s history, and was really an exciting time for everyone there.

After the delivery of opening address by Mr. Leung, Principal of Foshan Museum, and the presentation of banners and mirrors to the Museum by the guests, everyone went inside to explore. Upon entering, the space imposed on me a sense of simple elegance yet with modern touches, a perfect complement to a martial arts Grand Master but one who carried himself like a Confucian scholar. One felt at home but at the same time inspiring great respect for their host, Grand Master Ip Man. Obviously the orgainsers and the architects had put a lot of effort into the Museum’s making, otherwise we will not have such a brilliantly designed architectural piece.

The exhibits in the Museum are categorised into (i) Grand Master Ip Man’s wooden dummy, the hundred or so photos and also a video of Grand Master Ip demonstrating the wooden dummy form (ii) bronze statue of Grand Master Ip Man along with some candid pictures (iii) photos of Ving Tsun practitioners, both Chinese and Foreigners training in all corners of the world. All of them in their own ways contribute to the promotion of the art of Ving Tsun.

When I saw the photos of Grand Master Ip Man taken with the first ever group of Hong Kong students, I was immediately reminded of the time and different emotions overwhelmed me. The photo was taken in August 1950. The men in the photos started training with Grand Master Ip Man June that year, and after a couple of months, most of them quit. Only two students, Mr. Leung Sheung, and Mr. Lok Yiu remained. Mr. Leung persevered because he had had a lot of experience with other forms of martial arts and he believes that Ving Tsun is an excellent style to learn so he decided to keep on training.

In those days, Mr. Leung and Mr. Lok were having a very tough time financially, but they still tried their best to provide support towards Grand Master’s living. In 1951, I was accepted as a student of Grand Master Ip Man, and the three of us became a trio in supporting his everyday’s needs. Although the times were tough, every new year, we still managed to give a gift of clothing to Grand Master Ip. If our money was not too tight, we would give Cheong Sam (a style of Chinese suit made with imported fabric), otherwise we would give a Da Shing Fui (a style of Chinese suit made with local fabric for day to day wear) along with a pair of new shoes and some socks. The way we looked after Grand Master Ip is in my mind more worthy than a millionaire spending a fortune on him.

So in my view, were it not for Mr. Leung and Mr. Lok continual training in spite of their financial hardship, which in turn allowed Grand Master Ip to continue his teaching at the Association of Restaurant Workers of Hong Kong, Ving Tsun could not grow to what it is today, a world renown style of martial arts. What we have achieved today would also not be possible, this gathering at Foshan of practitioners from all over the world, and the building of a memorial museum “Ip Man Tong” dedicated to Grand Master Ip by the Cultural Council of Foshan City.

Even if Grand Master Ip was one in a million and possesses extraordinary martial arts prowess, that alone could not have done any good were it not for the dedication and insistence of Mr. Leung and Mr. Lok to continue their training. Grand Master Ip’s life history may also have to be rewritten. Perhaps we will not have today’s opening ceremony of “Ip Man Tong” at all. I believe that when we reminisce about Grand Master Ip, about the opportunity to study this excellent style of martial arts that he presented us with, we should at the same time, appreciate the contribution of our two most senior students, Mr. Leung and Mr. Lok as well.

Furthermore, it was Mr. Lee Tin Pui (aka Lee Man), a friend and student of Grand Master Ip, that introduced him to the Association of Restaurant Workers of Hong Kong. In fact, his final resting place is right next to Grand Master Ip’s. Every year I pay my respect to both Grand Master Ip and to Mr. Lee. Mr. Lee also, is a person worthy of a place in our hearts.

From what I can see in “Ip Man Tong”, there is an abundance of information about Grand Master Ip and his students, and visitors will no doubt learn a lot from visiting. I highly recommend it to all students of Ving Tsun and indeed to martial artists of any style. It is definitely worth seeing and money well spent.

Lastly, I have to thank the Cultural Council of Foshan City for their support in building the Museum and also the Ip Man Tong Development Council museum working group and committee, for their dedication, and a job well done, and also support from friends from all over the world. All of them has enabled “Ip Man Tong” to be built without any hindrance, and all student Ving Tsun can now share the luster and glory of the system, and what Ving Tsun has evolved into today, a main stream and prominent martial arts style.

Note: Although Grand Master Ip is very proficient in his martial arts prowess, he is very mild mannered, carried himself like a gentleman and has the aura of a Confucian scholar rather than a warrior. It is not until his passing away that his friends dedicated the title “Grand Master” to him.

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BIU JI: Ving Tsun’s Misunderstood Form

by David Peterson

*** The following article was first written in 1989 and was previously published within the pages of ‘Combat’ magazine (Vol.15/No.5) in the April 1989 issue as ‘BIU JI: Wing Chun’s Misunderstood Form’. It is reproduced here in an updated and expanded format – the Author ***

Of the three ving tsun “empty-hand” forms, the third one, ‘Biu Ji’, is the most misunderstood. It has been touted as a “deadly” form with which one can become invincible in combat. It has been said to have been so treasured by the ving tsun clan that it was rarely seen and never taught to “outsiders.” The ‘Biu Ji’ form has also been said to contain the secrets of dim mak, the so-called “delayed death touch” with which one can dispose of their enemy with one touch, depending, of course, on the time of day, and so on.

Sadly, all of the above claims are missing the point of the ‘Biu Ji’ form altogether. The name of the form is a contraction of an expression from the Buddhist sutras which in Cantonese reads as ‘Biu Yuet Ji’, a “finger pointing to the moon” and this best sums up what the ‘Biu Ji’ form is all about. Just as Bruce Lee said in the movie ‘Enter the Dragon’ when he, too, quoted this sutra, “Don’t concentrate on the finger or you’ll miss all that heavenly glory.”

The ‘Biu Ji’ form is a “pointing finger” and what it is pointing at is a series of examples of the kinds of problems which can occur in combat when things do not go as planned, and it offers some solutions to these situations. Humans being what humans are, we are all prone to make mistakes no matter how well we plan, or train for, a situation. ‘Biu Ji’ form takes us outside the ving tsun system, outside the system as presented in the ‘Siu Nim Tau’ and ‘Cham Kiu’ forms, that is, and asks the question “What if…..?”

This writer’s instructor, the late Sifu Wong Shun Leung always suggested that effective ving tsun could be likened to a “sphere” or “bubble”, within which the concepts and techniques of ‘Siu Nim Tau’ and ‘Cham Kiu’ existed. For the bulk of the situations that we might ever find ourselves in, the contents of that “bubble” would be more than enough to take care of things, but what ‘Biu Ji’ does is to take us out of the “bubble” and encourage us to look back at it from a distance and consider what could go wrong. It encourages us to seek logical methods for dealing with conditions for which the contents of the “bubble” are not able to provide us with a workable solution. It tells us that while theories of combat may well be perfect, people who apply them are not and errors will occur, and more importantly, that “rules were meant to be (or at least, sometimes have to be) broken”.

Where the first two forms are each easily broken down into three distinct parts, each part with its own particular concepts and techniques, the ‘Biu Ji’ form is quite different. Instead, in ‘Biu Ji’ the breakdown takes the form of clusters of techniques which build into a repertoire of “emergency responses” designed to overcome an opponent who has overpowered, out-positioned, injured, surprised or, through some error on the part of the ving tsun fighter, managed to gain the upper hand.

Sifu Wong Shun Leung referred to the contents of the form as being a collection of “emergency techniques”, and that unlike the first two forms, which were clearly structured, each with three defined sections, ‘Biu Ji’ was far less structured and had the potential to be added to at any time, should someone come up with yet another situation that gave rise to the need for a more specialised solution outside of the normal spectrum of ving tsun concepts. As such, ‘Biu Ji’ is something of an “open-ended” training form, in keeping with its basic reason for existing in the first place.

To claim that the ‘Biu Ji’ form is the superior technique of the ving tsun system is to imply that Grandmaster Yip Man was holding out on all his students by making them waste years and years training the first two forms while they could have been spending their time developing ‘Biu Ji’! Of course, this is an absurd notion, one which the late sifu Wong Shun Leung enjoyed making a point of in his enormously popular seminars around the world during the 80s and 90s. “Besides,” he would add with a smile in these discussions, “You might kill yourself with a touch!” On its own, ‘Biu Ji’ is in fact virtually useless in that it is teaching responses to so-called “errors” which a person who has not studied the earlier aspects of the ving tsun system would be totally ignorant of.

If I may be so bold I would in fact suggest to the reader, as I have on numerous occasions to my own students, that the ‘Biu Ji’ form alone is about as deadly as a bowl of wet spaghetti! However, it should be pointed out that in the past the reluctance of the ving tsun clan to expose the form to outsiders is understandable when one considers that the ‘Biu Ji’ form does in fact point out potential weaknesses in the system which could be exploited by an enemy with a knowledge of the form. Thus, it could be suggested that the form is “deadly” in the sense that it points to disadvantageous rather than advantageous aspects of ving tsun combat.

To take this notion further, sifu Wong Shun Leung always ended his discussion of the ‘Biu Ji’ form by stating that he hoped that his students would never need the techniques from the form. His reasoning for this was quite simple when it becomes clear that the only time that one would need to use these movements is in a situation where one is either injured or overwhelmed by the opponent(s) and close to defeat! In other words, it is good to know ‘Biu Ji’ but it is even better if that knowledge is never put to use.

As stated earlier, ‘Biu Ji’ is not a better technique and to use ‘Biu Ji’ when one ought to use ‘Siu Nim Tau’ or ‘Cham Kiu’ doesn’t guarantee success. ‘Biu Ji’ is comparable to the approach that one would take in an impending business crisis. When there is a certainty of sustaining losses what person wouldn’t do his or her best to attempt to cut those losses? To quote sifu Wong Shun Leung again, “We don’t go out to make mistakes, but if we do we must know how to recover from these mistakes in order to minimise our chances of injury.”

A perfect example of this philosophy is contained in the middle of the form where there are several clusters of techniques, each cluster containing a “key” movement. As each cluster or set of movements is done, one begins to see how the form is indicating how to rectify the situation when the preceding “key” movement is mistakenly applied. If these “solutions” are linked together we get an easy to remember cycle.

The series begins with gaan sau which is used when bong sau is wrongly applied; if the gaan sau is incorrectly applied, huen sau is used; should the huen sau be misused, jat sau is then applied. ‘Biu Ji’ also frees the ving tsun practitioner from the constraints of the first two forms, enabling one to “become a master of the system rather than its slave.”

By this I mean that it points out quite clearly that rules sometimes need to be broken, that it is not always possible, or for that matter even advantageous, to always operate within the concepts and movements taught in the earlier stages of the system. For example, there are many “rules” established in the first two forms and in chi sau training, such as “never allow your arms to be crossed” or “it is not a good idea to use grabbing” and “never use force against force” to quote just a few. In the ‘Biu Ji’ form all of the above “rules” (and several others) are challenged.

It is for these very reasons that ‘Biu Ji’ is best not introduced to a student too early, because the way in which it contradicts all the basic concepts makes it terribly confusing for the novice student to appreciate. Perhaps it is also for this reason that this form was, in the past, so closely guarded and rarely taught outside of a tight circle of trusted students. As stated earlier, ‘Biu Ji’ isn’t “deadly” because it contains secret, lethal techniques; its “danger” lies in the fact that it exposes situations or conditions whereby a ving tsun fighter’s potential “weaknesses” could be exploited by an opponent, should that knowledge be widely known.

Rather than attempting to break down and analyse the entire ‘Biu Ji’ form, a task that would take up far too much space than is available here, the remainder of this discussion will concentrate on just three aspects of the form and the implications of these to the combat situation. The first of these is the technique of jaang dai biu sau (“spearing/thrusting hand from beneath the elbow”), a technique which occurs many times at the beginning of the form.

Under normal circumstances practitioners of the ving tsun system avoid crossing the hands at all times. Allowing the arms to cross while in a close-range situation (or during chi sau practise) immediately invites the opponent to trap the hands by pressing one down on top of the other, yet in the ‘Biu Ji’ form not only are the hands allowed to cross, the technique of jaang dai biu sau actually begins by deliberately placing one hand in a most unfavourable position below the opposite elbow!

Why, after so much practise at not doing such an obviously dangerous move, does the ‘Biu Ji’ form encourage us to do the exact opposite? The answer to this puzzle becomes easier to obtain if we step “outside” the system for a moment and ask ourselves, “What could we do if we were pinned up against a wall with our arms trapped?” In such a situation we are starting from a bad position, not a good one, just like in the form, but there is one very important advantage which cannot be overlooked.

In being pushed up against the wall, our opponent is no longer fighting us; he is now fighting the wall! The wall provides us with a stable base from which it is very easy indeed to deflect the trapping arm(s) of the enemy by using the biu sau technique which involves thrusting the hand forward and, at the same time, outwards in the direction of the shoulder. Muscular exertion is not required as the required “strength” is provided by the wall which absorbs the opponent’s force. As a result, using this action causes the opponent to lose his or her balance and it becomes impossible for them to maintain the trapping technique.

The second of the movements to be considered is a fairly harmless looking technique called man sau (“inquiring/asking hand”). This technique also occurs in the third section of the ‘Muk Yan Jong’ (“wooden dummy”) form, as do a very large proportion of the techniques from the ‘Biu Ji’ form (more will be said on this shortly). The man sau technique provides the ving tsun fighter with an efficient way of escaping from a misused paak sau technique.

Normally the paak sau (“slapping hand”) technique is applied to the outside of the opponent’s attacking arm so as to deflect it away from the defender. This effectively prevents the opponent from following on with the opposite hand as the body is turned so as to make it virtually impossible for the other hand to reach. Should the paak sau be used “wrongly” whereby it blocks the inside of the attacking arm rather than the outside, the opponent will not be deflected or turned off balance, but will instead be in a very good position to immediately strike with the other arm.

This is where the man sau technique comes into play, the effect of which depending very much on the opponent’s reaction to the initial paak sau movement. Having used the paak sau technique on the inside, the same arm is immediately used to form the man sau action, cutting upwards and backwards towards the opponent’s centre of mass WITHOUT firstly turning the body back in his or her direction. In doing so, no time is lost, no ground given up, and instead of “chasing” the next attack, the ving tsun fighter is attacking before the opponent’s second attack can be effective.

It is here that the opponent determines the extent of the damage caused by the blow. Should he or she remain virtually unmoved from the position where the initial attack originated, the resulting strike is likely to cause minor damage, but of course it will set up the opponent for the inevitable follow-up. However, should the opponent be rushing in as the man sau is applied, the effect of the strike, which will likely hit the throat or jaw, is likely to be magnified, perhaps even fatal.

The final action of the ‘Biu Ji’ form, in the words of the late sifu Wong Shun Leung, “Illustrates the ‘essence’ of the form,” in that it appears to be totally removed from everything already seen in the system. We can’t afford to take anything at face value, however, and like the other techniques previously described, in the ‘Biu Ji’ form, looks can definitely be deceiving.

The sap dai seung (“lifting from below to above”) action involves bending the body forwards from the waist with the hands hanging down as if reaching for something on the ground. From here the ving tsun practitioner throws the arms up above the head as the body is returned to an upright position. This is usually repeated twice, after which the form comes to a close. It is certainly a strange looking movement but one done for very good reason.

The normal reaction for a person pushed up against a wall or getting up from a semi-prone position, is to push off the wall or floor with one or both hands. There is nothing wrong with that if no one is behind you waiting to attack you with a stick or bottle, but if this is the case, and the reason for being against the wall or on the floor is the fact that the enemy has forced you there, relying on natural movements could get you killed!

The sap dai seung movement probably won’t stop you getting injured, especially if a weapon of any kind is involved, but it could prevent you from sustaining a life-threatening injury. In other words, this technique will allow you to “cut your losses,” after all a cut on the arm is a lot less damaging than a bottle over the head. Instead of using both arms to push off from the wall or floor, ‘Biu Ji’ trains the ving tsun practitioner to bring one hand up before bringing the head up so as to deflect that which cannot be seen, reducing the severity of the likely injury.

On realising the dangerous position one would have to be in so as to require the use of this sap dai seung movement, it is easy to see why sifu Wong Shun Leung told his students, “If you know ‘Biu Ji’, it’s a blessing if you never have to use it!” Far from being the “deadliest” of the ving tsun forms, what the form is trying to teach us is that there is no absolutely right or absolutely wrong technique, but that technique is always dictated by circumstance (as well as affected by choice or chance). In other words, it teaches us to apply our techniques more naturally instead of being bound by what we have previously learned.

As mentioned earlier, many of the concepts and techniques of the ‘Biu Ji’ form are also contained in the ‘Muk Yan Jong’ form. In fact, after the first three sections (approximately 60 movements) of the “dummy” form, the majority of the ‘Jong’ techniques are ‘Biu Ji’ form techniques, coupled with the many variations of the two basic kicks (deng geuk and waang geuk) found in the ‘Cham Kiu’ form. One reason for this is that the structure of the ‘Jong’ permits the ‘Biu Ji’ techniques to be practised in a fairly natural way which helps to reinforce them in the mind and body of the practitioner.

Another reason is that some of the movements, such as the man sau technique described earlier, as well as such things as groin and knee strikes, are very difficult to practise on a live partner without fear of causing an injury. Therefore the perfect place to train such hand and leg techniques is on a wooden partner who doesn’t feel the pain. Like ‘Biu Ji’, the primary reason for training on the ‘Muk Yan Jong’ is to learn how to recover from or avoid mistakes, rather than, as some people mistakenly believe, to condition the arms or practise attacking combinations.

Generally speaking, when a student is fully conversant with the ‘Siu Nim Tau’ and ‘Cham Kiu’ forms, and has engaged in lots of chi sau practise, etc, they should be performing their techniques naturally and correctly. Once this is the case, on reaching the stage of learning the ‘Biu Ji’ form, sifu Wong Shun Leung believed that it should be possible for them to use it when necessary simply by practising the set. This is, of course, because the nature of the ving tsun system is such that its practitioners develop instinctive reactions at a neural level and the techniques of the ‘Biu Ji’ form automatically become a part of their combat “vocabulary.”

In summing up, I hope that I have provided some insight into the true nature of this most misunderstood of ving tsun training methods, and that some of the myths surrounding the ‘Biu Ji’ form have now been cast aside forever. Although this article has not exposed all the “secrets” of the form, I would hope that the reader has been “put on the right track” and will be able to gain more insight into their own training, be it in the ving tsun method or some other martial art. The real lesson to be learned is that everyone needs to “step outside” their particular style occasionally, to look beyond the outward appearance of their forms and techniques. In this way we can all aspire to be the master of our chosen art instead of its slave, to look beyond the pointing finger and see the moon.

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Bong Sau or wrong sau?

If wing chun can be said to have one unique movement, ‘technique’, it has to be the bong sau. Whilst other martial arts block strikes, wing chun’s approach is not to clash or meet force with force. However, if you get into discussion about what the bong sau is, how it works or what it is for, it becomes apparent that there is no agreement in the wing chun community about what it actually is. From my own experience I know that the movement done by the Ip Chun/Ip Ching lineage is entirely different from the done by Wong Shun Leung students and again is different from Chu Shong Tin students. Even more frustrating is the fact that I have practiced with people from my own lineage who do it different depending on what era they trained! How can this be when the teaching all came from the hands of Ip Man a relatively short time ago? And to make matters even worse, there are many teachers out there who state that bong sau is just a technique for chi sau and has no application in a fight. If that is true, why even practice it?

Although I was taught by a student of Chu Shong Tin, the first time I saw the great man in action was about 11 years ago when I was given videos of his seminars. It was a revelation to hear his explanation of the circular nature of bong sau. This was so different from the triangle/wedge idea being sold by everyone else. He demonstrated the movement with the use of a hoop, in a manner which was effortless but frustratingly difficult to imitate well. Although it required less force than what most other people were doing, just copying his technique by no means led to an effortless movement.

It took me a long time, which included many visits to Hong kong, to realise that the shape of the hand and the angle the movement are not the defining characteristic of a proper bong sau. In fact if you follow that method of learning you are on hopeless journey which will in the end justify your suspicion that as a technique the bong sau is unusable. I have been told the same story from several sources in Hong Kong about a famous UK wing chun ‘master’ who visited Chu Shong Tin before he died and pleaded with him to ‘set him up’ with a real bong sau. Although he got his wished and left happy, the truth is he left with nothing as his deeper understanding remained changed.

After 14 years in wing chun my ‘idea’ about what a bong sau is and how it works is pretty settled. It comes from study, practice, teaching and basic trial & error. I can give you some tips, but without touching your hands I cannot transmit what the feeling should be or whether what you are doing it correct. This is not the only method to improve your bong sau, but for me it points in the direction of allowing the it to work with minimal effort:

1. You do not DO the bong sau. You allow it to happen.

2. The fundamental movement in wing chun is the punch. You use it to both strike and destabilise your opponent. The bong sau happens when there is sufficient sideways force put into your arm and on your structure that you cannot strike so you allow the rotation of the shoulder joint which consequently allows you to maintain your structure whilst destabilising your opponent.

3. Bong sau is not effective if you cannot first rest your mass on yourself and then on your opponent. Resting on you opponent means making them lift you at the point of contact.

4. If you align yourself crudely in a direct line, not only will your punch be less effective but your bong sau will never work. To truly rest on your opponent will mean they are forced to align to your relationship with gravity. This requires a fundamentally different idea of how you move your body.

5. Although the bong sau might move in an arc, a circle or rotate like a ball, trying to consciously make this shape with your movement makes no sense. You will loose the directness which makes the movement effective and engage muscles in lifting. You are confusing cause and effect (and also chasing hands).

6. The most difficult part of the bong sau is the transition from the tan sau or punch into the bong. If you follow the feedback from just your forearm you will get it wrong, your arm will try to align to deal with the opponent but your body will not be is a state to deal with their power. It takes a lot of practice with an experienced teacher to get the correct awareness of when the transition is appropriate, otherwise the directness of the movement is lost and it will be a lifting block instead.

7.Relaxation is the key! It allows you to stop using your scapula as a brace; instead you can release your entire shoulder girdle, your back and your pelvis into the movements of your arms. The term ‘Internal’ literally means your whole body becomes engaged in all movement.

To a beginner in wing chun none of this will mean anything. However I have met many people precisely because they started to question what they were taught by other teachers for the exact reason that the bong sau never worked for them and they could not understand why. Let me be clear, done as a ‘technique’ the bong sau is useless, chi sau become useless, because too often it is done as a game for the sake of the game. However if you get the condition right, get the release right, the bong sau movement is not only incredibly powerful but also very satisfying to witness (the effort comes from your partner).

Many wing chun practicitioners will tell you that the art only works in straight lines, following the shortest distance to the target. I am currently staying in a house in Spain at the top of a very steep hill. I can tell you that if I tried to drive the shortest route down the hill it might only take two minutes, but I would not survive it. So instead I take the most efficient route,following the road but with a clear intention of where I am going. At each hairpin bend I do not preempt the corner, I stay in the moment and react at the right time. This is how the bong sau works, it happens only when needed or it is not just useless it is a danger to yourself. You still keep your intention on the target, the bong sau allows an efficient method of dealing with an obstacle before readjusting to your destination.

I cannot convey in words, image or video what a good bong sau is. Done effective it is so transitional it can be almost invisible. Done poorly it is a recipe for a torn rotor cuff muscle. If you honestly want to experience a more internal approach to wing chun, my best recommendation would be to visit a teacher from the Chu Shong Tin lineage to feel the difference yourself.

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Wing Chun Principles Related to Life

Adapting to Society

In order to become balanced and adapt well to society we must obtain knowledge and develop a feeling. We must let go of our ego. This is one of the biggest obstacles which prevents us from getting anywhere. Once we do this, we become more aware of our surroundings, more aware of opportunities. We can flow with the tide of events in our lives. We will automatically be guided to the proper actions without effort.
Dealing with Stress

If someone yells at you, weather it like a boat in a violent storm. Try to remain calm, balanced and relaxed. You will find out that it is not so bad. If you fight back right away, you may miss a chance to understand the opponent to effectively counter. Also the storm may die by itself.
Solving Problems

Study the principles that are hidden like Easter eggs. They are everywhere. You only have to open your eyes and ears to look and listen. The clues are all around us if we are willing to see.
If You are Stuck

If you are stuck, don’t struggle with the same method, try to change, or else wait for an opportunity to act. There are only two ways to deal with obstacles, remove them or go around them.
Goals in Life

Don’t set your goals too high. Any method of doing something is all right, but some are just better. Start with a method and try to improve it. Try to do a lot with a little.
Making the Right Choice

There are many choices and actions that can be made during our lives. Each will have a different outcome. Wing Chun recommends the simplest approach. If one action will do, why use two. Pick the simplest, the most obvious to start.
Being Creative

The world and our future can be whatever we imagine it to be. Don’t be confined by your methods, your structures, or your points of view. There are many ways to look at a certain thing

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Wing Chun Dit Da Jow

by John Crescione

For as unique a martial art as Wing Chun, it’s still a Kung Fu system like the rest.That means herbal medicine, point hitting and chi kung are included in its curriculum and system structure. However, depending on which Wing Chun Sifu you speak to (including your own), these subjects will bring about wonderful coffee-table philosophical discussions.

The purpose of this small article is to give the Wing Chun practitioner the ability to learn how to make an herbal preparation and learn something about Chinese medicine and Wing Chun. Oh, and by the way, I’m going to try and do it for you as quickly and cheaply as possible AND without pushing anyone’s button’s on the above subjects.

Dit Da Jow (Cantonese) or Tieh Ta Chiao (Mandarin) means “Hit and Fall Wine” (or liniment). Jow, as it is commonly referred to, can be broken down into two types: Han Dit Da Jow (cold hit medicine) and Rei Dit Da Jow (hot hit medicine).

Hot Jow is actually heated for situations that require a lot of circulation, blood flow and lymphatic drainage into an area–such as with iron palm training where you are constantly challenging the skin, bone, muscles and connective tissues of the hand and arm to become tougher and stronger while at the same time attempting to keep the acupuncture points in the hand open so that you can project energy through the hand into the target (P8 and Heart8–look them up in any acupuncture book if you’re not familiar with these two points).

Cold Jow is used as an all-purpose, when in doubt and after the fact, injury liniment. Its properties are similar to hot Jow except:

it’s not heated,
the herbs used are different and,
to promote the breakup of stagnant blood, lymph and chi circulation (if you don’t believe in chi circulation then ignore the last two words and replace them with “breaking connective tissue adhesions that interfere with normal tissue healing and the electrical charge flow of the body.”)

Both types are rubbed into the skin before and after a workout for best results. It should be noted that one of the secrets of the magical Jow formula is in the rubbing. Remember way back as a kid, when you got a cold and Mom or Grandma would come in and rub you down with alcohol or Vicks, the secret was in the rub. Soft tissue manipulation alone will promote many of the qualities without the Jow, though the medicine speeds up the healing time and prevents improper drainage and stagnation problems. While we are on the subject of rubbing, Tiger Balm is the oriental version of Ben Gay or Vicks. If you can’t get a good Jow, or if you don’t want to buy it store-bought because of the quality, or “it just has to be made fresh and official by Sifu”, Tiger Balm is almost as good. If you want to make your own because you can’t find it (hard to believe), here’s how to do it. I’ll get to the Jow recipe in a minute.

Take a small jar of Vaseline, a small jar of Vicks, cayenne red pepper (it’s somewhere in the kitchen on your spice rack) and either dried red chilli peppers (most gourmet stores have them) or red chilli peppers that have already been bottled (they’re probably next to the cayenne pepper).
Put the Vaseline in a pot and melt it on the stove at low heat.
Add two or three tablespoons of Vicks–depending on how smelly and mentholly you want it–until that also is melted.
Grind up the red pepper until it’s a powder, mix it with the cayenne pepper and add to the melted Vaseline.
While in its liquid state, repour it back into a jar and let cool.

I did not mention the quantities of either the cayenne pepper or the chilli pepper because that will be up to you based on the desired strength of your compound. If you use a small jar of Vaseline and you want it hot, use two tablespoons of both peppers finely ground and stirred into the compound. When it cools it will be somewhere between a pink to red color. You’ve just made Red Tiger Balm–congratulations!

Now back to the Jow–the recipe that I will give you is a simple one that uses common Chinese herbs that are for the most part easy to get in herb catalogs or herbal stores if you have a Chinatown or wholistic community near you.

(these are the botanical names and Chinese names) 1 oz.=30 grams

1 bottle of strong vodka, gin or Chinese rice wine
Artemesia (Liu ji nu) – 5g
Borneol (Bingpian) – 1g
Carthamus (Honghua) – 5g
Catechu (Ercha) – 8g
Cinnabar (Zhusha) – 5g
Cirsium (DaJi) – 1g
Dragon’s Blood (Xuejie) – 30g
Mastic (Ruxiang) – 5g
Musk (Shexiang) – 1g
Myrrh (Moyao) – 5g
Pinellia (ShengBanXia) – 5g

Take all ingredients and grind into a fine powder, add the whole bottle of vodka or gin. Mix well and rub into the injured area. The beauty of this particular recipe is that you don’t have to bury it for 35 days to two month before you can use it. Classically when you made Jow it had to be buried underground for an extended period of time before it was ready to be used. There was no magical/mystical reasoning behind it. Sunlight and heat oxidize the herbs and change the chemical properties so, keeping in mind it’s around the year 1700, where are you going to store this stuff when you need a dark cool dry place? And what do you use to ferment and age your herbal combination to get the most out of your ingredients–alcohol. That’s why a 100 year old Scotch Whiskey is supposed to be so good.

If you desire to have the herbs soak, pour the combination into a dark glass container and place it in a closet or cupboard where it shouldn’t get too hot, and periodically shake the liniment once or twice a week. You should note that if you do this the traditional way then the herbs are loosely ground, and not into a powder. And the longer they sit in the bottle the stronger the Jow becomes. This is the reason many Kung Fu practitioner’s who are traditionally or classically trained (like myself) will not buy store bought Jow, but prefer to make our own. The store bought Jow never has any of the herbs at the bottom of the bottle that they come in. Also some Jow is sold in plastic bottles, and over time the plastic starts to break down into the herbal formula. And some Jow is even sold in clear bottles with no way to know how long it’s been in there. A decent Jow should look like soy sauce in color and have a slight alcohol, medicinal smell. Please note this Jow recipe may not be as dark or “smelly” due to the quality of herbs, time left to soak before usage, cooking properties of some of the herbs, combinations of the specific herbs or the specific usage properties. This is a “fast” formula, it’s original intent is to be made now to use now, not in a month or two.

The Wing Chun player usually needs Jow on their hands, forearms and chest. The first couple of times that you try to punch with the bottom three knuckles, blood vessels are usually broken between the last two knuckle valleys. Jow should be applied in between the knuckles before and after punching the bag, wall bag or focus mitt. A very important reason for this is because two very powerful acupuncture points reside in those two valleys and are responsible for the hormonal system and small intestines. With any type of bruise or blood stagnation, problems in circulation and health may occur. When doing any prolonged bridge (forearm) work such as Pak Sao where bruising can occur, Jow needs to be worked into the bridges. And anyone who is up to Chi Sao level knows why they have to apply Jow to the chest, especially if your partner is using you as the Wooden Man to practice new techniques, or just delights in pounding on you. But what becomes more important is that the famous Wing Chun centerline is in Chinese medicine the conception vessel meridian which basically is involved with the alarm point systems of the body. Cv-17 is dead center on the sternum and is responsible for controlling the diaphragm, controlling energy to the G.I.and G.U. systems and is a storage area for chi in the body. A pretty good place to hit! And we do this to each other repeatedly and on purpose.

It is important that Jow not be rubbed into open wounds, taken internally or gotten in the eyes.

Jow recipes are common in every system and every instructor has a favorite or favorites based on their uses. I have personally spoken to Yip Chun, Yip Ching, William Cheung, Augustine Fong and Moy Yat, all of whom have their own Jow recipes (that were given to them personally by Yip Man and is the true historical Jow handed down from Leung Jan). Now, if you have a true Wing Chun mentality then you really don’t care if it is the true Leung Jan Jow–only whether it works.

Two last points. First, if you do Chi Kung, or your system of Wing Chun has it in it (that’s another article) try this: rub the Jow or balm into some of your injuries, then do your Chi Kung, concentrating on directing the Jow into the skin and into the injuries. In about two weeks of this you should be pleasantly surprised. If it’s an old chronic injury the rubbing technique is usually slow and deep, if it’s relatively new then it’s a light, quick type of rubbing. Secondly, learn as much as you can about herbs, both American and Chinese. Do you know why the Chinese used Ginseng, Ma Huang and Tang Kuei? BECAUSE THEY WERE IN CHINA!! Those herbs were indigenous to that country. If Kung Fu was invented in this country our “traditional” Jow would contain completely different ingredients! So if you like to think of yourself as a “true” martial artist, start learning about American herbs and their qualities to heal externally and internally.

If there is interest, I will write another article on how to make a homegrown/Americanized Jow.

I have tried to make a complex and complicated subject as easy as possible, and given you a little idea about how to make a simple Jow and balm. If you have any questions or comments you can reach me at my e-mail address. This is only one simple starting recipe out of hundreds. I didn’t address the cooking, non-cooking, Yin vs. Yang qualities, when to change Jows, liniment vs.oil base Jows, etc., etc. This is Wing Chun–it should be as simple as a straight punch.

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Interview with Yun Hoi (Zopa Gyatso)

Interviewer: Here I am again with veteran Wing Chun expert, Sifu Yun Hoi. Sifu Yun Hoi. Sifu is a senior Yuen Kay San/Sum Nung Wing Chun gung fu expert, Sifu, can we talk about a topic you’ve mentioned to your students before – understanding the swallow, spit, rise, sink aspect of the art?

Yun Hoi: Certainly, tan or, more correctly, tun, tou or biu, fau, and chum. These are called “sei noi biu jing”. How would you like to begin?

Interviewer: Well, you’ve taught us that Wing Chun has a technical dimension, a conceptual dimension, a tactical dimension, a theoretical base and a principle dimension. Where do we find the essence?

Yun Hoi: Yes. I’ve often stated this to my students. The essence is not any one of those but all of them. They all inter-relate. This is why people who learn some aspect or aspects of Wing Chun and think that they have learnt it all are deluded. It’s as foolish to see Wing Chun as a group of techniques as it is to see it solely as a set of concepts or principles. These all inter-relate. The sei noi biu jing are not the essence of our art, though. Certainly they’re significant. But if anyone thinks they’re the essence of Wing Chun then I say they’ve been hearing or reading too much about other arts! (Laughs) Actually, the sei noi biu jing are more commonly associated with other Southern gung fu arts. However, we certainly have these concepts.

Interviewer: OK. Thanks for explaining that. Sifu, you use the terms “simplex” and “simplexity” to focus our attention on the fact that whilst Wing Chun can be simple that it can also be complex.

Yun Hoi: Yes. That’s correct. People can have a simple, or I might actually say a “simplistic” view of Wing Chun on the one hand. Anyone saying that the sei noi biu jing are the essence of Wing Chun is being simplistic, for example. On the other hand, some people make it too complex. In reality it is simple but you have to have a depth of understanding that can be complex to sort out without the right guidance. Whilst simplicity is a core Wing Chun principle, being reductionistically simplistic isn’t! Being simplistic is being a minimalist. It is minimising our art into a basic core that, whilst it is essential, is not all there is.

Interviewer: I see. Most Westerners learn the Wing Chun of Yip Man, and I think they tend to minimalise. Most Mainlanders learn Gwangjo Wing Chun. That seems a much fuller art. Am I correct? What’s the difference or overlap?

Yun Hoi: Yes, I think so. But, there can be quite different viewpoints on this. Let me say that there are a number of excellent practitioners of Hong Kong Wing Chun. As there are of Gwangjo Wing Chun. Each group varies in quality. The two arts have similar or the same names for many techniques. Some techniques are similar. But, overall, the two arts are really quite distinct. I know – I did Hong Kong Wing Chun for twenty-five years and Yuen Kay San Wing Chun for the past twenty. If you understand them both, to say that they are the same is quite ill informed. If all your Wing Chun is the same then it may be it’s all lousy! One difference I note, and here I need to generalise, is that overall most Hong Kong practitioners do tend to over simplify. In doing so I think they lose valuable points. This is decidedly not to throw out the baby with the bath water! Now, if you are very good at Hong Kong Wing Chun then you are very good. And, there are some very good Hong Kong practitioners! But, the vast bulk of practitioners are not what you could describe as very good at all. As we live in the West, we naturally more commonly encounter the Hong Kong folk whereas we don’t encounter many Gwangjo practitioners at all. I must note I’ve seen some pretty sloppy Gwangjo practitioners, too! Taking an overly simplistic view of the art is one of the things that contributes to poor quality. Just as complexifying the art by bringing in aspects of other arts and adding unnecessary forms and weapons does. Overall, I see the Gwangjo art as more complete.

Interviewer: So it has to be a balance between simplicity and complexity? Do you think that those versions of gung fu that call themselves “Wing Chun” yet have extra forms are falling for becoming too complex?

Yun Hoi: Bluntly, yes. True Wing Chun only needs what is contained in our few forms. Not more, not less. Versions that include extra forms are not truly Wing Chun as far as I’m concerned. Comprehensiveness is the thing. The art has to be fully comprehensive. But also compact.

Interviewer: Some practitioners could become quite proficient in those forms in their system that derive from, or contain sections from, other arts – Choy Li Fut, Cho Gar and so on?
Yun Hoi: Yes. This is the trap! You can train hard to become very good at the wrong thing! You can train very hard at too little or too much. There is a very much overlooked kuen kuit that says: “Few pass down the true art”. Also, in the final words of the original Red Boat song of Wing Chun we hear:
“The true skill of Wing Chun is difficult to find,
There are many levels.
The true art will be found in the most unusual circumstances;
You must be intelligent and diligent over the years,
The unworthy practitioner will always be a lonesome boat in a big ocean.
The art teaches the art! The art protects the art!”
If people are happy with what they do then they’ll either look no further or look with biased eyes at their own art and those of others.
Interviewer: What then of theory?

Yun Hoi: Yes. This is where we can see a difference. The original Wing Chun of Gwangjo is rich in theory.

Interviewer: Like the four elements – swallow, spit, float, sink?

Yun Hoi: Yes, you can readily see these come from an understanding of yum yeung theory and practice.

Interviewer: Could you expand on each of those four please, sifu?

Yun Hoi: Sure. Tan or tun – we can express it as either, as it essentially is either dispersing – spreading out force – or taking it in. Tun is actually more taking it into emptiness (swallowing). Tan can be intercepting force and re-directing it back into the attacker – this is more like spit, actually. Tan can be external or internal. It can strike firmly and jam or deflect without much firmness or impact power. You understand this, all four of these concepts, tactics are interwoven with everything else in our art. This is why you can’t learn “some” or a “bit” of Wing Chun and mish mash it into an eclectic brawling method.

Interviewer: I can certainly see this, sifu. I think some people have a hard time grasping it, though.

Yun Hoi: I guess that’s inevitable. (Laughs) Funny, isn’t it? It’s so simple!

Interviewer: You once told me a Japanese expression about this type of person.

Yun Hoi: I did. “Enko ga tsuki wo toran to suru ga gotoshi” which means, “Like monkeys trying to snatch the moon’s reflection on water”. Such people are trying to gain the appearance – they can’t even do that, actually – without being aware there is more substance, more depth, more than is not externally obvious. They will never see the true thing, let alone have it in their hands. I would hazard a guess that most of them have no idea that they don’t know what they don’t know.

Interviewer: (Laughs) OK. I know that’s not the case. OK, back to spit. Can you say something about this please?

Yun Hoi: Essentially it’s like biu of the sup yee faat. But biu refers more to simply shooting out a technique rapidly. Tou implies that we receive an attack and throw it back at the attacker. Or, at least, neutralize his attack and launch our own instantly or simultaneously.
Interviewer: Thank you. What about floating then, sifu?

Yun Hoi: Ah, this is being relaxed like you would in order to actually float. It implies that your power, your force, can travel in potential form from your kwa through your joints until you express it (with “spit”). It can be connected with our principle of flow, too. It also relates to your rapid stepping and body movement and rotating.
Interviewer: Whilst you do justice in words to these concepts, you demonstrate them convincingly to your students in application. Do you think understanding can be conveyed only by a verbal description?

Yun Hoi: In a word – “no”. No matter how verbally fluent one is, trying to convey these concepts solely verbally would inevitably lead to misunderstanding.

Interviewer: I thought that might be the case. “Sink” is the final concept. What must we understand here, sifu?

Yun Hoi: Ah! You’ll hear most Wing Chun sifu repeatedly telling their students to “sink”. For those who don’t hear this I think they ought to question just how much their sifu understands or cares about developing good practitioners! Chum is one of the sup yee faat. So, we do have to sink our stance. How? Let the soft tissues relax and be supported by the skeletal structure and the sinews. Chum is also something you can express onto your attacker’s structures. Hence the name of the form, “Chum Kiu”. We sink or break our attacker’s structure essentially by mis-aligning his verticality. This entails breaking structure. We have a concept of “luk jing” that relates to fau and chum. This means we have to co-ordinate stance (ma); kwa; yiu (waist); ying (torso); sau (arms); and head (tau), which includes the neck, head, teeth (ngah), and face.

Interviewer: Teeth?

Yun Hoi: Yes. They need to be closed together. Not tensely. But certainly not parted. Also we ought push our tongue behind our top teeth.

Interviewer: May I ask why, sifu?

Yun Hoi: Yes. Closing the teeth prevents them being smashed if you get hit. It helps stabilize your jaw. Also, if you have a habit of putting your tongue between your teeth, as a few students sometimes do, it prevents you losing part of your tongue if you are hit! Pressing the tongue behind the top teeth closes a hei (chi) flow circuit. This is internal thinking.

Interviewer: OK. Well, thank you sifu, for those thoughts.

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Training Notes from Yip Chun

Some brief notes taken during a seminar April 29th and 30th, 1995 at the school of Chris Chan (Chan Shing) in San Francisco. Martin Eng translated during Yip Chun’s talk; Dan Lucas wrote and edited these notes (with apologies to Yip Chun).

To Begin

If you could choose, which would you prefer: to be a good fighter, or to have good health? Most people would choose good health. So, if you teach Wing Chun, I would like you to emphasize the health aspect of the art.

How does a cook cut with such precision? Because he practices every day. Because the bricklayer does his work every day his lines are straight and approach perfection. This is the meaning of “gung fu.” Although Wing Chun is not our profession, we still have to do it every day in order to improve. After you reach perfection you won’t change. Martial arts training is more dangerous than learning a trade, so we have more reason to train with diligence.

Your Fook Sau is at the same angle whether you put strength into it or if you keep it soft. So you don’t need to use strength. When I need it I use it, when I don’t need it I don’t waste it. You may have a lot of money, and I may not. You may not know how to use it, or how to invest it, but you spend it anyway. Then, when you need it, you don’t have it. If I have very little money I don’t waste it. When I need it I take it out and use it. In this way I always have some when I need it.

At the point of contact is where the opponent feels pain. Until then force is useless. Force is needed only at the point of contact. The time you need force is very little.

We do a lot of air punching to strengthen the arms and increase speed. But if you hit someone in the head it can hurt your hand unless you work on the sandbag. With practice on the bag it’s like walking around with a hammer. To develop a heavy hand, therefore, you should practice both air punching and sandbag punching.

Chum Kiu

There are two main points in Chum Kiu: to avoid by turning, and to be stable. I practiced the Lahn Sao turning movement in Chum Kiu every day all day for three months, but my father wouldn’t teach me the next movement until I got it right. “You think three months is a long time?” he said, “I followed my master for three years!”

Wooden Dummy

There are three main points to remember in practicing the wooden dummy:

Never treat the dummy as a dummy.
It’s purpose is position and hand movement, not strength.
The hand stays as close to the dummy arms as possible.

Don’t practice to use power on the wooden dummy, but practice to learn how to control your opponent.

When I face the dummy the wooden leg is in my way and I can’t put my leg forward. In reality, the farther I extend my leg towards the opponent’s center the more power I have in my attack.

Some people call the wooden dummy leg techniques “Baat Geuk”, the eight foot movements, because the form has eight different ways of using the kick in combination with a step.

Toward the end of the dummy form, after the Gum Sao, the footwork is wrong. It’s been passed on this way though we don’t know where it came from. People are people, they’re not 100 percent correct. You believe your own wisdom. Everything you learn you should think about and try out, that’s the proper way to learn. Fifty percent you learn from your teacher, the other fifty percent you add yourself. After the Gum Sao in the form we cross over, then come in. In reality a Gum Sao is used to push or press away from you and you can’t cross to the other side, instead you should go in on the same side as the Gum Sao.

Chi Sao

Chi Sao isn’t fighting. Chi Sao is like a bridge between the forms and actual situations. You’ll be in trouble if you use Chi Sao to fight with.

You can do Siu Lim Tao 1000 times and each time it’s the same. Each time you do Chi Sao it’s different. Free style fighting is about winning and losing. Chi Sao is for training with your Wing Chun brothers and sisters. You can’t do Chi Sao with students from other schools.

Other styles teach you the movements and then you go out and try to apply them. You can learn this way but you have a high price to pay. Chi Sao provides a way to practice while minimizing injury.

Chi Sao teaches:

Good hand movement.
Good feeling/reflexes.
How to use force (when to let go, when to pull, and so on).
Good position.

When you use these four you use all four, not just one at a time. Which of these four do you think is most important? What you see is easy to learn, what you don’t see is hard to learn. Therefore the easiest of the four to learn is the hand movement, because you can see it. The proper way to use force is harder to learn because you can’t see it. Proper position is the hardest to learn.

It doesn’t matter whether ‘s offense or defense, the good position has the advantage. Speed depends on position. To increase speed try to find the shortest distance to your opponent.

For me Chi Sao is like a game; an adult game. Chi Sao gives your mind rest, so it’s good for your health. If you’re tense you lose its purpose, so it’s best to treat it like a game.

Of course there was much more, but this gives you a taste of what was served

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Training Notes from Dr. G. K. Khoe

The Bong sau angle is always greater than 90 degrees.

Make sure the power at the wrist goes straight to the opponent’s centerline.

All forms can be changed to all other forms.

The straight punch in the first set is level, not at the nose.

Always use the combined force of two hands. When you hit, use the other hand as a reaction force.

When you switch from inside to outside in the double sticking hands, keep the elbow in or you are open to a hit. Also don’t forget about the forward force in the other hand. Keep the force straight forward to the opponent’s center, not to one side or the other.

Wong Shun Leung was famous for being able to change in the middle of a movement. Wang Kiu was famous for his variety of techniques. The first generation were all noted for different things.

The punching bag is necessary until the power comes. After that it is not so important.

At home you can still practice the mechanics of Chi sau even without a partner.

Pay attention to the Yin and Yang when practicing the Chi sau sentences.

Use the pivot or else the deflect and strike action will be too weak.

Don’t think, just react, thinking is too slow.

Practicing Chi sau with the eyes closed will enhance your sensitivity.

In the middle of a technique, many people are just too tense. So you constantly have to monitor your own tension level. Even in the middle of a technique, if you find you are to tense, don’t continue the technique without first relaxing, then continue the technique.

When you practice the Poon sau or rolling, watch that all the gaps are closed or else you are just wasting your time.

When you practice free style Chi sau, may sure you are working on something. Don’t just fight with no purpose in mind. Wild fighting does not develop a good skill. Pay attention to form and feeling.

If the opponent blocks your hit, this is like a present for you. Just apply a Lap sau or a Pak sau to this blocking hand.

There are several kinds of chain punches. One kind drags the opponent’s arms down, or crawls on top of them.

The real Lap sau is very lively, not dead. When it is applied to you it feels like an electric shock.

Holland has a woman who wins all the time using Wing Chun against the other styles. She uses very little technique, mostly a little kicking, Tan sau and a lot of charging in with chain punching.

There are two paragraphs in Wing Chun. One is the contact fighting (from a sticking position), and the other is the non-contact fighting (starting from a distance). The wooden dummy teaches the non-contact fighting. The real wooden dummy was in a box with sand.

In Chi sau, when you are hit, hit back right away. This will keep you more relaxed than when you worry about the fact that you got hit.

Don’t push the opponent away, then you have to get him back again before you can hit him.

A good exercise is to practice the symmetric two arms in and two arms out Chi sau.

With the weapons you keep yourself thin, with the hands you don’t.

Wing Chun does not just rely on one technique.

Don’t lean forward.

In the Chi sau, only apply the elbow if there is a reason to apply it. Otherwise you are open to many quick counters. An example is to use the elbow if the opponent drifts off the center.

If the opponent attemps a high kick, immediately lift the foot and counter kick, then the opponent will not be so anxious to apply the high kick.

Wing Chun theory can also be used to analyze other styles. You can analyze the other style and know that they are doing it wrong and you will know the reason why they are doing it wrong. Wing Chun theory can enhance the skill of another style whether it is a punching, kicking style or a grappling style. Some styles are just large collections of techniques. There is hardly a point for these styles to have forms.

Many styles have great difficulty with the rapid close range punching technique of Wing Chun.

Wang Kiu just taught 12 students when I learned from him. He taught only privately, 2 students a night.

Practice a lot of sticking hands and changes.

The Wu sau should be high enough to protect the throat.

Wing Chun is really Chinese boxing, which can be seen especially in the Chain punching technique.

In Wing Chun, advance slowly then suddenly charge in (according to timing). Constantly pressure the opponent to make them tense. Use psychology to tense the opponent, then to relax him and then attack when he relaxes or lets the guard down. There are many strategies for getting in.

Get the body weight behind the Chum sau by relaxing the knees.

A rock solid stance and a supple top is very important. Without a good stance the top cannot be supple.

Keep the pressure very even and continuous at all parts of the rolling cycle. There should be no gaps or holes in your defense. You could defend by just sticking.

The Bil Jee is the enemy of the Chain punch but the crossed Tan and shocking Lap works even better. The dragging chain punch can counter the enemy of the chain punch.

Wang Kiu has a very tight stance on the ground with the pigeon toed stance. He is very rooted and not possible to move. Fighting with Wang Kiu is like fighting with someone who has 10 arms. Wang Kiu’s fighting is like a symphony orchestra, everything from all sets are blended smoothly into the Chi sau. Pushing, pulling, jerking, slapping, sweeping, chopping, punching all come in a carefully orchestrated manner and in a continuous non-stop flow.

Against the double grab, you can apply the shoulder attack, but the pull has to be a real one, otherwise you will get elbowed.

Practice the empty hand version of the knife set first because the weapons are just extensions of the hands.

For demonstrations you can have a more elaborate opening for the staff set or wooden dummy set.

The Chinese broadsword can be used to train the Baat Jaam Do (eight cutting butterfly knife). The broadsword is always cutting, there is never a dead point. The Japanese sword is also a good weapon to practice against for Butterfly knife technique.

The Hung style should have the same knowledge as Wing Chun because it comes from the same place.

Wang Kiu speaks English, Japanese, Dutch, Cantonese and Mandarin. He works as a translator in Holland.

Lok Yiu had a Chum sau like an earthquake. It was Yip Man who said this.

The Thai boxers have very tough shins and can withstand most blocks. To fight them, you have to have breaking power with your hands. Thai training is more realistic than Karate. They also have a good two sword art. But Karate is actually much richer in technique. The Thai’s carry their arms on the side of their head to block the roundhouse kick and turn slightly to block the center punch. But a TaeKwonDo instructor in Holland managed to beat a good Thai fighter with a well placed toe kick to the open spot (in the center).

The fights in Hong Kong always had a referee. You flip a coin for who attacks first. Usually one person ends up bloody and the fight is stopped.

Wong is Cantonese. Wang is the Mandarin way to write Wong. Wang Kiu is pronounced Wong Kiu.

In real combat you do not worry about just hitting a special target. You hit whatever sticks out. If the knee is forward, kick it. If the hand is forward, hit it.

Don’t rely on strength in Chi sau training.

You should learn Wing Chun as an art, not just to fight. Only then will you be able to see the whole structure of the art.

In class, have a proper opening and closing to the session. Have questions at the end.

Yip Man taught very slowly and meticulously. That is why the first generation was good.

You can go in two directions in Wing Chun, the hard external way or the internal way. Wang Kiu is able to do both. Wang Kiu said at least the internal way of training won’t hurt you.

There is little point in sparring with other styles until you have mastered the wooden man techniques. Sparring at too early a stage develops many bad habits which become impossible to correct. If you spoil the student, they will just want to spar and nothing else. Entering tournaments before you have really mastered the Wing Chun way is a painful way to learn martial art.

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Chum Kiu – Bridging the Gap

The second set of Wing Chun is called “Chum Kiu” or “Searching For the Bridge.” In Chinese, “Bridge” refers to the arm. Searching for the Bridge refers to the art of trying to make contact with the opponent so that the sticking hand techniques can be applied.

Wing Chun divides the art of fighting into two parts. One part is the techniques which apply while in contact with the opponent. The other part is the art of trying to make contact with the opponent. Part one is much more scientific than part two. The art of trying to make contact with the opponent relies not only on speed and proper timing, but also on psychology.

The second set contains footwork and hand techniques required to make contact with an opponent. The second set teaches shifting (turning), and stepping (charging). This footwork complements the hand techniques taught in the first set.

Shifting

One of the first things to notice about the second set is that it teaches one how to shift the feet. You shift on the heels of the feet while keeping the pelvis tucked in. In a shifted stance, the weight is off the front foot so that you can easily kick, deflect a kick with your foot, step or avoid foot sweeps.

Shifting (turning\rotating) serves many purposes:

It adds force to short range attacks.
It gets you out of the line of fire.
It gets you closer to the opponent.
It creates better angles for attacking.
It lets you deal with very strong forces by allowing your structure to break down in a planned way.

Charging

The second part of the second set teaches one how to advance the stance. It teaches stepping and charging. The Wing Chun step is performed in several ways depending on the use. In the set you step with the heel of the front foot while dragging the rear foot. This kind of step keeps you solid on the ground in case the opponent attacks.

The second method of stepping is to propel yourself off the back foot using the toes. This is like a track runner starting a race. You shoot like an arrow into the opponent. The Wing Chun lunging action is similar to the lunge in Western fencing. When you are at a critical distance from the opponent, you rush in before the opponent has a chance to lift a foot to kick.

In the stepping, the feet are either on the same straight line or optimally, the heel of the rear foot is line up with the toe of the front foot. This stance is better for actual combat because it is quicker and the lead foot does not get tangled with the opponent’s lead foot.

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Emin Boztepe – Training Notes 2

There is no magic or mystery, just a lot of hard work. Most people are too lazy to get good.

It isn’t the number of years you have practiced but the number of hours you have put into those years.

If you want to learn to punch, you must punch a lot. If you want to learn to kick, you must kick a lot.

Emin practiced:

2 hours straight rolling
35 minutes FULL POWER punching against a bag
7 hours straight on the wooden dummy
2 hours straight with 3 actions on the pole: bring it down, bring it up, poke
6 hours a day regularly

Note: that’s why he is so good. Those people who think they will get good in 6 months just learning his system without putting in the work are dreamers. Even in the Wang Kiu line, one student practiced seven years straight only charging in (fast closing skills).

The key to making Wing Tsun work is the footwork. Therefore every practice should involve shifting (turning), and stepping footwork.

The proper Wing Tsun stance has 100% of the weight on the rear leg. The pelvis is tilted in. The front leg is springy and can’t be swept. The knees are close so that a kick can’t get in. (this was the forward stance description).

Getting into kicks is a matter of timing, which comes from a lot of practice against kicks. Start with the easy ones.

Wing Tsun does not use the backwards step. Stay there, go forward, or turn.

When a force comes, we don’t interfere with the path of that force. We use a swift intercepting force and turning of the body to neutralize the force. The second set of Wing Tsun teaches the appropriate footwork. The direction you turn depends on the direction of the force.

You don’t plan which action you’ll take. You have to feel how the force is coming. Imagine a stick floating down the river and that stick hits a rock. The stick will get deflected in some direction which could not be predicted beforehand. Similarly when a punch comes in, we receive that force and that force makes our body react and change to an appropriate Wing Tsun structure like Bong sau or Tan sau.

Wing Tsun has no blocks or deflections but only temporary transition points. This Bong sau only occurs for an instant and then changes to an attack.

When you punch, you relax everything so that eventually you can transmit the power from the ground and all the joints in your body to your fist. As soon as you tighten something, you are blocking power.

The showmanship one inch punch sends you flying. The real one inch punch will drop you on the spot.

Don’t forcefully deflect punches with the Bong sau or else you are doing Karate using Wing Chun shapes.

To learn feeling, one partner feeds the other force, then they react with Bong sau, Tan sau, Fook sau, Chum sau etc.

The arm is like a spring with the same pressure always. If you push on the Bong sau, you are compressing a spring. When you release the pressure, the spring snaps into your face.

Every kind of strike is powerful in Wing Tsun.

Once you attack, there are fists, elbows, knees, … everything comes at high speed.

You need an organized training system or else little progress will result.

The Wing Tsun system has numerous innovative training procedures which slowly bring the student up to the level of being able to handle any of today’s styles of martial art. But again it is the students hard work and not some secret techniques which brings results