Wing Chun Lexicon – Page 6 – just another Wing Chun blog

Sil Lim Tao – The first form of Wing Chun

by Dan Knight

Sil Lim Tau or Little Idea

Sil Lim Tau is not just the beginning course, but an important foundation…. When we learn English, we learn 26 letters first. If we cannot handle the pronunciation of each letter, then our English will never be good. The magnitude of the fist form Sil Lim Tau in Wing Chun is the same as that of the letters in English.– Ip Ching

Wing Chun’s First Form

Yip Man Sil Lim Tau Sil Lim Tau, sometimes referred to as Siu Nim Tao, is the first of the hand forms of Wing Chun Kung Fu. It teaches the student the basics of the martial art. The form has been adapted and changed over the last few hundred years, but it is thought that the form was inspired by movements from both crane style kung fu and snake style kung fu. The form has evolved differently as styles of Wing Chun diverged. The snake element can be seen more in Yuen Kay San Wing Chun in Foshan, China, than it can in Ip Man’s Wing Chun which was reordered by Ip Man and his predecessors in Foshan and later in Hong Kong.

The other two hand forms in the system are Chum Kiu (Seeking Bridge) and Biu Gee(Thrusting Fingers). Sil Lim Tao is a basic, foundation form for people starting their journey in Wing Chun. Grandmaster Ip Man described the practice of the Sil Lim Tao form in the following way:

In Sil Lim Tao [Little Idea], the ideas of daily matters, such as money, work, hate, love, etc…. decrease to as little as possible, or even none, [so that the practitioner may] concentrate only upon practicing.– Ip Man

Sil Lim Tao is the foundation of Wing Chun Kung Fu. That is why almost every Wing Chun Sifu, when teaching his students, always wants the students to practice Sil Lim Tao first. The form is divided into three sections, with a total of one hundred and eight movements. Each small section has its own aim in practice, and various meanings in application.

The Goals / Benefits of Sil Lim Tao

There are a number of key benefits to training Sil Lim Tao. The most obvious benefits are as follows:

Strengthening the legs through the stance.
Teaching the student the key techniques of Wing Chun.
Teaching the student how t turn energy on and off. A key part of building good ging.
Helping the student understand key principles like economy of motion and the centreline.

The Forms’ Structure

Samuel Kwok Sil Lim Tau The first section is for training the basic power by tensing and relaxing the arm. The strength is built up by repeating the core hand positions of Tan Sau, Fook Sau, and Wu Sau. If you wish to perform well in Wing Chun, you must use the first sections of Sil Lim Tao to train the basic power and strength. There is no short cut, once the movements of the form have been learned, they must be practiced seriously to train the power and strength. Every Wing Chun practitioner knows when practicing the first part of Sil Lim Tao, that it has to be slow. To train for the strength one has to be serious, and to be serious one must do it slowly.

The second section is the training how to use use the power / strength that has been built up in the first section. In Wing Chun Kung Fu, the strength and power are used half soft, half hard. This is easily demonstrated when throwing a punch, your arm travels at great speed but the muscles are relaxed, this is the soft part. But just before you make contact with your opponent, your muscles in your arm tense up for a split second, this is the hard part. This later develops into full delivery of the Kinetic Energy of your arm and body into the target, without compromising balance. In Chinese martial arts, good use of this on off energy is often referred to as Ging.

The third section is for training the correct position of the basic hand and arm movements, and hopefully building up muscle memory. Movements include Pak Sau, Tan Sau, Gaun Sau, Huen Sau and Bong Sau. The practitioner must concentrate on executing each movement’s correctly.

If you clear your mind when you practice it’s much better. You can concentrate on what you’re doing, nothing will bother you.

Standard

How long it takes to become good?

It’s really down to you. As a practitioner, you must do exactly that, practice. Dedication, diligence, patience, persistence and commitment to training inside and outside of your school will make you a successful martial arts exponent. Think on and understand why you are doing what you are doing in practice and constantly focus on improvement of your application, be patient and enjoy the learning process. If you see a technique for the first time and try to perform it as fast or smoothly as the expert, you may never get it right. Always break the technique down to individual parts and learn the detail, the stages of applications and the feel for the movement, as you improve, your ability to apply the action in reality will increase, take small steps

Standard

Biu Gee – The third form of Wing Chun

by Dan Knight

“A lot of people think Biu Gee [Darting Fingers] is for attacking people. But the real meaning behind Biu Jee is not really attacking. Biu Jee promotes and develops many emergency techniques.”– Ho Kam Ming

Wing Chun’s third hand form

Biu Gee (thrusting/darting fingers) is sometimes also referred to as Biu Tse, Biu Jee or even Bil Gee. The different ways to spell it, arise because it is hard to Romanise (put into Latin or western letters) Cantonese speech. Despite the different spellings the pronunciation in Cantonese is the same. Biu Gee is the third and final hand form of the Wing Chun Kung Fu system and was traditionally only taught to close or trusted Wing Chun students. Usually students who had been training for a longer period of time. As a result, the Biu Gee form will vary most between lineages, even within Ip Man linage, the final form is different between different instructors.

The goals / Benefits of training Biu Gee

The following could be seen as some of the key benefits of learning and practicing the Biu Gee form.

The student learns to develop power through very short distances in order to help perfect the students ging.
Biu Gee helps the student learn how to use Wing Chun to recover from a fall or from being being trapped or pinned. These are called emergency techniques.
Improve on the turning and footwork developed in Chum Kiu.

The structure of the form

The form has a number of parts which don’t break down into 3 sections quite as easily as Siu Nim Tao.

the first part of Biu Gee teaches the student how to perfect the use of ‘inch energy’, enabling the practitioner to develop power through very short distances. It also builds on the two way energy developed in Chum Kiu.

The first section also contains footwork is known as circle stepping or Huen Ma. This is essential to the Wing Chun system. Again this builds on the Chum Kiu style thrusting stepping or Biu ma. Huen Ma enables the rapid but safe change of direction enabling the practitioner to avoid an attack and swiftly counter attack.

The fist section also introduces the practitioner to a technique known as Kup Jarn, or downward elbow. Kup Jarn can be used to attack at very close distance where punching or striking with the hand is not an easy option. It can also be used to block an incoming attack when the practitioner has his/her hands trapped. This is one of the reasons Biu Gee is said to contain emergency escape techniques.

Other emergency techniques are seen in Biu Gee, for example the use of Biu Gee/Tse to escape when the elbow has been pinned.

The last part of the form contains ways to recover the centreline along with some large areas covers and strikes to different directions. The final part of the form shows the student an effective way to recover from a fall. Therefore Biu Gee completes the hand forms of the Wing Chun system by finalising the use of power and energy in techniques, building on the Chun Kiu style stepping and providing the practitioner with options to escape a bad situation such as being pinned, trapped or recovering from a fall.

Because Biu Gee builds on Chum Kiu which itself builds on Siu Nim Tao, it should only be learned after Chum Kiu has been properly understood. Once Biu Gee has been mastered the practitioner can deliver devastating power through extremely short distances with much greater accuracy.

Biu Gee video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDc_IPQvmuw

Standard

Wing Chun Master Sum Nung: Strong Inch Power and Iron Arms

During the last New Year’s festival an America knocked on a door in Guangzhou in order to give a gift to the owner of the dwelling. The gift was a picture of the U.S. President and his wife. The man who brought the gift came across the Pacific Ocean to do so. He was a body guard for the American President, and had come all this way to visit the famous Wing Chun teacher, Sum Nung. The man was named Henderson, and had followed a student of Sum Nung’s named Kwok Wan-Ping to learn Wing Chun Kuen. Sum Nung is famous in China, but how did he come to be so? This must be told from the beginning.

As a child, Sum Nung journeyed with his relatives from South America to Guangdong, China. Japan soon invaded, however, and cut China’s communication with the rest of the world. Over night, Sum Nung’s family went from a life of prosperity to one of poverty. At a young age, Sum Nung was introduced to the Tin Hoi restaurant in Foshan where he soon began working.

Sum Nung was a nice youth, but there were many bad people around. Time after time he was bullied and he desired to fight back. He thought he would have to make himself stronger, so he went out to the streets and watched the martial arts demonstrations. When he returned home, he tried to reproduce what he had seen. For conditioning, he tried to obtain the “Copper Skin Iron Bones” skill by striking himself repeatedly with a brick. His efforts did not lead to any great martial success, and ended up consuming his money to pay for the “Iron Hitting” medicine.

At the restaurant there was a Dim Sum chef named Cheung Bo, who was a famous Wing Chun teacher. Cheung Bo thought perhaps Sum Nung was dedicated enough to last a persevere and achieve good quality martial skills, so he took him on as a student. Sum Nung had a natural talent, understood the lessons quickly, and worked very hard, managing in 2 or 3 years to learn all Cheung Bo had to teach.

Cheung Bo thought Sum Nung had great potential and attain great things in martial arts, but he knew he had no more to teach. Cheung Bo decided to introduced Sum Nung to Yuen Kay-San, hoping Yuen could help Sum reach a higher level.

Yuen Kay-San was famous in Foshan, a wealthy merchant and lawyer for the county government. He was also a “center gate master” of Wing Chun and knew its principles at a very high level. Sum Nung, however, saw him as old and thin, and doubted that he could be any good. Yuen Kay-San saw that Sum Nung’s desire was great and thought perhaps that he could inherit his martial arts, so he decided to give the youth a lesson in his skills. Yuen Kay-San invited Sum Nung to use all he had learned to test him. Sum Nung took up the challenge and tried all his skills, attacking repeatedly, but each time, after only 1 or 2 movements, Yuen Kay-San would cut him off and leave him unable to continue. He then came to realize that Yuen Kay-San was very high quality.

Sum Nung followed Yuen Kay-San until Yuen passed away. Sum Nung will always remember his teacher, Yuen Kay-San. Yuen Kay-San liked Sum Nung and taught him the fists, dummies, pole, knives, flying darts, and medicine (which Sum Nung has previously been learning from Nationalist army doctor Wai Yuk-San). Sum Nung’s whole life became Wing Chun and medicine, When he soled Dim Sum, he would think of only Wing Chun and medicine and because of this, he often mixed up orders and the owner eventually fired him. Sum Nung was just over 20 at the time and he went to Guangzhou where he worked at some local Workers Unions, teaching some Wing Chun Kuen and practicing medicine until the Communists took over.

Since then, Sum Nung’s students have spread across China and around the world. Many professional fighters and wrestlers have come to him for lessons. Yuen Kay-San Wing Chun Kuen schools have been opened in New York, Washington, Australia, Canada, Columbia, Hong Kong, Macao, Venezuela, etc.by Sum Nung’s students, grand-students, and descendants.

Sum Nung retired from osteopathy and is now in his early 60s, but still looks like a man of 40. His “Inch Power” is very strong and he is known by the nick-name “Iron Arm”. He serves as an honorary advisor for the Guangdong Wushu Committee. If he were not so modest and did not refuse many interview requests, newspaper journalists have said that he would have been written about far more often.

This writer has a special relationship with Sum Nung and over the course of a year managed to get this story.

By Yuen Jo-Tong. Roughly translated from Chinese.

Standard

Gu Lao Wing Chun Kuen

bei Robert Chu

When Leung Jan retired from his pharmacy in Foshan he returned to his native Gu Lao village in the Heshan (Hok San) area of Guang Dong province. There, the renowned doctor passed along a simple yet remarkably profound style of Wing Chun, the sei sup dim (forty points) system, also known as Gu Lao Wing Chun. Leung Jan was known as the “King of Wing Chun Boxing” and the Gu Lao style of Wing Chun is his final legacy.

History and Development

Legends say that during the Qing Dynasty, Yim Wing Chun and her husband, Leung Bok Chao taught the 2nd generation of Wing Chun Kuen. These second-generation students worked undercover as a Red Boat Cantonese Opera troupe by day and Anti Qing terrorists by night. They were affiliated with many Anti Qing groups including the Heaven and Earth Society. Their goal was to overthrow the Manchurian government and restore the Chinese Ming to the throne of China. Wing Chun Kuen was their art of choice. They could hide knives in their loose fitting garments and assassinate Qing officials in the narrow alleys of Southern China. As an Opera Troupe, they moved about freely at any time without suspicion.

The second-generation students of Yim Wing Chun included Wong Wah Bo, Leung Yee Tai, Dai Fa Min Kam, Gao Lo Jung, Hung Kam Biu, and Leung Lan Kwai. Many of these Opera members had training in Shaolin Fist and pole techniques, acrobatics, and knowledge of two man sets. They were master choreographers, performing every night the Opera was in a town. Yim Wing Chun’s art consisted of simple, direct, economical moves and was conceptual in content. Training consisted of some 40 or so repetitive techniques that could be practiced solo, with a partner, or on a dummy, empty handed or with knives. It is speculated at this point in the history of Wing Chun Kuen development, there were no set forms, as it was the goal of this training to be applied immediately to serve the purpose of self defense or assassination.

Wong Wah Bo and Leung Yee Tai had a student named Leung Jan. Leung studied the original art and later studied the art in set forms after they were choreographed by the Opera members. Leung became known for his application of Wing Chun in “Gong Sao” (Talking Hands a real match) and became known as the King of Wing Chun, or the Gong Sao Wong (Talking Hands King). Leung Jan has become the famous subject of books written by the famous fiction author Au Soy Jee and today, movies. It is known that Leung Jan became an herbalist and opened an herb stop on Chopsticks street in Fut Shan. The shop was called Jan Sang Tang (Mr. Jan’s Hall). Leung Jan was a native of Gu Lao, not Fut Shan. Leung Jan went on to teach a few, select students like his sons Leung Bik and Leung Chun, Chan Wah Shun, Muk Yan Wah, Chu Yuk Gwai, and Fung Wah.

Upon reaching retirement, Leung Jan returned to his native Gu Lao. While there, he taught a few local students his synthesis of Wing Chun. Instead of focussing on teaching the Wing Chun forms, dummy set and weapon sets that were choreographed by the Opera members, he focused his training on the forty short routines and San Sao drills, pole techniques and double knife techniques. These became known as the Gu Lao Sae Sup Dim (40 points) Wing Chun system. The 40 points are the loose expression and application of Wing Chun Kuen. The forms Siu Lien Tao, Chum Kiu, Biu Jee and Muk Yan Jong sets, and the Yee Ji Cern Dao (Ba Jaam Dao) were created later. Training in Chi Sao and San Sao are emphasized, as well as practice of the 40 points on the wooden dummy. Since we consider them “points”, as opposed to techniques or postures, their applications can be limitless. Each point teaches numerous concepts, and it is the goal of the Gu Lao sifu to teach one how to combine the 40 points. I came to learn this system from my good friend and Sifu, Kwan Jong Yuen, who in turn learned the art from Leung Jan’s grandstudent from Gu Lao, Tam Yeung. I am told that one of Leung Jan’s students in Gu Lao taught Fung Sung, who created the Pien Shen Wing Chun system. The Pien Shen Wing Chun and Gu Lao systems are perhaps one and the same, with the only difference in how they have arranged their curriculum, and who have passed them down. I have also recently read an article from Mainland China that shows the existence of a 22 point Gu Lao Wing Chun system. Until further research indicated they are different, however, I will consider them the same system as the one I learned from Kwan Jong Yuen, owing only to stylistic difference or changes in curriculum.

The Forty Points

The 40 points include classical and metaphorical names for each of the movements. In typical Chinese Cheng Wu style, this was designed so that members of other systems would not be able to understand what the movements were unless they had studied the same system. Some of these may indicate the Shaolin origin of some of the movements. Most of these names in modern Wing Chun have been replaced using modern jargon. Although few in number and perhaps not as intricate as the classical forms of Wing Chun, the forty points serve to review the Wing Chun system to the advanced practitioner, and serve as an excellent teaching tool to beginning students. They are trained in sets of repetition, alternating left and right sides. One should not simply look at the 40 points as techniques, but look at them as tactics to teach the fighting skills of Wing Chun. When the basics are mastered, a student can then look to doing combinations and permutations of the techniques while moving left and right, with high and low stances, or done high, middle or low levels, to the front and back, and while advancing and adjusting your steps. The advanced practitioner can reach the level of being able to change and vary his movements with empty hands or the double knives of Wing Chun.

The 40 points are not inseparable or different from the other forms of Wing Chun as taught today. Leung Jan simply passed on the art of Wing Chun Kuen in its San Sao (loose hands) stage when he retired to Gu Lao. Kwan Jong Yuen tells me, that in Gu Lao, when Tam Yeung was a student, it would cost a small fortune to learn one point. This included the complete application of the point while standing, with steps, during Chi Sao and with an opponent during San Sao.

Forms & Training

Gu Lao Wing Chun’s basics are trained through the forty points outlined below:

Ji Ng Chuie (Meridian Punch)- Also known as Yat Ji Chung Chuie, (Sun Character Thrusting Punch) this is Wing Chun’s signature punch with short explosive power with the vertical fist, the fists are held relaxed until impact and force is exerted with the entire body.
Duen Kiu (Short Bridge)- The Short bridge is equivalent to the Cern Jum Sao (Sinking Bridge ) movements. In application, it teaches the concept of Por Jung, breaking the centerline. The hands are open and relaxed and cut down vertically to the opponent’s attacking bridge.
Ba Gua Long Na (Eight Directional Dragon Grab)- Uses the double grabbing hands (Lop Sao), the lead hand held upwards in a clawing motion, while simultaneously the rear hand grabs and pulls the opponent’s bridges, setting the opponent up for a kick, throw or strike.
Sae Mun (Four Gates)- refers to the four gates using the on guard stance (Bai Jong); one exercises the left and right positions of the forward stance (Ji Ng Ma) and the left and right Chum Kiu horse stance positions
Siu Fuk Fu (Small Subdue the Tiger)- Uses an alternating left and right double Gaun Sao with phoenix eye fists; similar to the Gaun Sao section of the Biu Jee set.
Dai Fuk Fu (Big Subduing Tiger)- This technique is basically the same as the above, but using triangle steps to enter at an opponent’s side gates
Pien Shen Chuie (Slant Body Punch)- This is the Ji Ng Chuie using the Wing Chun shift. In application you may strike to your opponent’s outside gate, crossing over his attempted blow.
Pien Jeung (Slant Palm)- This tactic uses palm heel with the fingers pointed to the centerline to strike the opponent. The same short explosive power is used.
Biu Jee (Darting Fingers)- Although the movement implies the fingers, the technique in application utilizes the forearm when striking the opponent at the acupoints ST9 and LI 18
Wan Wun Yiu/Tiet Ban Kiu (Emergency Bend at the Waist and Iron Bridge)- Trains the practitioner to bend forward or backwards at will and can be coupled with hand techniques. It is similar in application as the fade and slip in western boxing.
Chum Kiu (Sinking Bridges)- Uses a double sinking bridge arm position that breaks into the centerline of the opponent
Gwai Ma Chuie (Kneeling Horse Strike)- This tactic utilizes the kneeling horse and a phoenix eye fist to deliver a blow aimed at the groin. This gives an insight into Wing Chun applied at a low line level.
Pien Shen Jeung (Slant Body Palm)- Uses the side palm as a slashing palm maneuver using the front/back shifting
Gao/Dae Jeung (High and Low Palms)- The high and low double palms are actually horizontal butterfly palms with palms facing the opposite direction
Lian Wan Fai Jeung (Linked Fast Palms)- utilize are a Tan Sao/Pak Sao combination followed with a circular Saat Jeung/Chong Jeung combination
Hoc Bong (Crane Wing)- uses the arm in an upwards 90 degree or 45 degree maneuver to attack or defend
Dai Bong (Big Wing)- the Big wing is a low Bong Sao position used to defend against a low attack
Jung Bong (Middle Level Wing Hand)- is the standard middle level Bong Sao
Noi Liem Sao (Inside Cutting Hand)- This is the inner line hand utilizing the Fuk Sao in a circular fashion
Oi Liem Sao (Outside Cutting Hand)- the outer line hand position utilizes Tan Sao in an outward circular fashion
Fu Mei (Tiger’s Tail)- The tiger tail is a short backward hammer-fist strike to the opponent’s groin
Gua Long Jeung (Hanging Dragon Palm)- Combines the dragon claw and Ji Ng Chuie in combination similar to a Fuk Da or Lop Da
Fu Biu Chuie (Darting Tiger Blow)- The darting tiger blow is the equivalent to Fuk Sao combined with a phoenix eye strike
Sam Jin Chuie (Three Arrow Blows)- Is done with one hand (high, middle and low straight punches or equivalent with Lien Wan Chuie
Sam Bai Fut (Three Bows to Buddha)- utilizes the Tan, Pak Sao and Gum Sao to stop multiple blows
Dip Jeung (Butterfly Palm)- Is the equivalent to the Bao Pai Jeung attack and defense
Siu Poon Sao (Small rolling hands)- Trains the Luk Sao or rolling hands of Wing Chun
Poon Sao (Rolling Hand)- This tactic is similar to a Pak Sao/Lou Sao combination, but close to the body. It is the main transitional move in Wing Chun
Juk Da (Slanting Strike)- The slant strike is equivalent to the slant body Jut Da
Juk Kiu (Slanting Bridge)- The slant bridge is essentially Tan Da done with a shift
Dang Jeung (Hammer Palms)- The hammer palms are the equivalent to the second section of Siu Lien Tao utilizing the Gum Sao. There are 4 positions: left, right, double frontal and double rear.
Ping Lan Sao (Level Obstruction Hands)-The level bar arms is the equivalent of the Kwun Sao or Tan/Bong position
Lui Kiu (Double Palms)- Utilize a double Tan Sao position to bridge the gap on an opponent
Chong Jeung (Thrusting Palm)- is the equivalent of the forward palm strike of Wing Chun done to the opponents face or chest.
Fan Cup Chuie (Flipping Upper Cut)- Is similar to the Chou Chuie from the Chum Kiu set
Cup Da Sao (Covering Hitting Hand)- utilizes th Bong Sao immediately followed up with a Lop Sao and downward back fist (Gwa Chuie)
Cern Lung (Double Dragons)- The double straight punches
Pien Shen Dip Jeung (Slant Body Butterfly Palm)- alternating low palm strike
Charp Chuie (Piercing Strike)- is basically a Wu Sao with a fist combined with a straight punch
Bik Bong (Pressing Wing Hand)- is the Wing Chun elbow strike

Training includes the complete application of each point while standing, with steps, during chi sao (sticking hands) and with an opponent during san sao (separate hands). Also taught in the curriculum are Chi Sao, application of the Gu Lao 40 points on a wooden dummy, practicing the Gu Lao points with knives (called “Yee Ji Cern Dao”) and pole exercises collectively known as the Luk Dim Boon Gwun.

Concepts & Principles

As with all Wing Chun systems, the Gu Lao 40 point system requires that the practitioner utilize the principle of “Lai Lou Hui Sung, Lut Sao Jik Chung”.

Gu Lao Wing Chun practitioners utilize the entire body, are principle oriented martial arts as opposed to the technique oriented systems. Timing and positioning are most important, and we utilize simple, direct economical movements in self-defense. A practitioner of the Gu Lao art is expected to learn the classical point, modify the technique according to circumstances, and combine a point with another point, while utilizing footwork and foot maneuvers (Gerk Faat).

It is interesting to note that the Yuen Kay Shan Wing Chun curriculum begins with many techniques similar to those in the Gu Lao curriculum. There is also a trend of modern Wing Chun (Wing Chun Do, Jeet Kuen Do, and other arts) variations to take many of the loose or separate techniques of Wing Chun Kuen.

The Gu Lao Wing Chun Kuen is a glimpse of the teachings of Wing Chun Kuen in a San Sao format. It is an ideal system to learn quick, simple, direct, economical movements for combat purposes.

Standard

Sum Nung: Master of Wing Chun

Renowned for over a half-century in China, grandmaster Sum Nung (Cen Neng) has remained a well kept secret to most in the wing chun kuen family outside of the Bamboo Curtain. It is hoped that this article can help share with the reader grandmaster Sum Nung’s incredible legacy and his great contributions to the art of wing chun kuen.

Born in Peru, South America in May 1925, Sum Nung was brought to Foshan, Guangdong province, China by his father as a child so that their family name would continue in their native land. Originally from a well to do family, the Japanese occupation of the 1930s caused great hardship for the Sum’s, stripping them of much of their wealth and cutting them off from their relatives abroad. Eventually, to help support his family, Sum Nung took a job at Tin Hoi, a local restaurant in which his aunt was part owner. That is where it all began.

Due to his background, Sum Nung became a favored target for bullies. In order to defend himself, he developed an interest in martial arts. At first he tried to learn on his own by watching street performers, imitating their movements and conditioning methods. In 1938, however, when he was involved in a particularly violent encounter, his aunt asked the restaurant’s dim sum chef, Cheung Bo to take over Sum’s instruction.

Great Grandmaster Cheung Bo

Cheung Bo was born in April, 1899. He studied Hung ga kuen (reportedly from a monk) until an encounter with a wing chun kuen practitioner named Wai Yuk-Sang convinced him to switch over. Wai Yuk-Sang, a doctor with the Nationalist Army, was said to have been a grand-student of the famed Guangzhou marshal Fung Siu-Ching (a disciple of Red Junk Opera performer Painted Face Kam) who taught both medicine and martial arts in his spare time.

Cheung Bo had a fearsome reputation as a fighter. He taught wing chun kuen at the restaurant, at the Koi Yee Union, and from his home. In contrast to the types of wing chun kuen more widely seen today, Cheung Bo’s system did not make use of any boxing sets (kuen to, such as the siu lien tao or little first training). Instead, it was composed of separate forms (san sik), as well as a wooden dummy (muk yan jong) set, double-ended pole (seung tao gwun), and double knives (seung do).

Due to Cheung Bo’s large size and muscular frame, his wing chun kuen also differed in approach. Rather than keep his elbows closed on the meridian line (jee ng sin, an important point in the practice of other wing chun kuen boxers of the time), he used wider arms and compensated with quick and powerful facing and flanking methods.

Cheung Bo’s teaching methods were demanding and many found they could not last a long time under his tutelage but, seeing a great deal of determination in Sum Nung, Cheung knew he could give him a very solid foundation.

During workdays, Sum Nung would take every spare moment he could to practice, training his punches whenever his hands were free of the dim sum trays, and his forms whenever he found himself alone for a moment in the washroom. Even when he rested he would do so in a position that helped him stretch and better attain the demanding wing chun kuen postures. At night he would stay up past midnight to practice and wake up at dawn to continue.

Sum Nung’s dedication paid off and after a few years he learned all Cheung Bo had to teach.

More than just theory and training, even early on Sum Nung was forced to test his skills in real application. On one occasion, while he was carrying a heavily laden tray, Sum was attacked by a knife-wielding co-worker. Thinking quickly, Sum used the tray to block the attack and simultaneously kicked his opponent, sending the attacker flying across the kitchen.

On another occasion, Sum Nung was accosted by a man wielding double choppers–the large knives used to cut watermelons. While Cheung sat at a table a short distance away, Sum was forced to defend himself empty handed. As the deadly blades whipped by, Sum tried to protect himself as much as he could but received several nasty cuts along his arms. Luckily, he managed to find an opening and countered with lightning speed. Sum’s skillful response sent the man’s knives tumbling through the air, with one of the blades landing, point first, into the table in front of Cheung Bo.

Great Grandmaster Yuen Kay-San

Among Cheung Bo’s good friends at the time was Yuen Kay-San, the fifth son of the Zhenbei street fireworks merchant who was often referred to simply as Yuen the fifth (Yuen Lojia), who would often drop by to take tea at the restaurant.

Yuen Kay-San was born in 1889 and at a young age, his father arranged for him and his elder brother, Yuen Chai-Wan to study under the Foshan constable Fok Bo-Chuen (a disciple of Red Junk Opera martial lead actor Wong Wah-Bo and Painted Face Kam). From Fok, they learned the fist forms siu lien tao, chum kiu, (sinking bridge), and biu jee (darting fingers), as well as the wooden and bamboo dummy (juk jong), six-and-a-half point pole (luk dim boon gwun), and the double clamping yang slaying knives (yee jee kim yeung dit ming do), iron sand palm (tiet sa jeung) and other skills. When they had completed their lessons under Fok, the Yuen brothers invited Fung Siu-Ching, then just over seventy years of age, to retire at their home and followed him to learn close body (mai san) methods and advanced application until the old martial passed away at the age of seventy-three. Following Fung’s passing, the Yuen brothers went their separate ways. In roughly 1936, Yuen Chai-Wan moved to Vietnam while Yuen Kay-San stayed in Foshan and spent his time systematically analyzing his wing chun kuen, going on to became one of the first to organize and record its principles.

When Yuen Kay-San visited the restaurant, he often got a chance to see Cheung Bo’s students practicing and over time, came to admire the work ethic of Sum Nung. Eventually, seeing his friend’s interest and knowing he had already imparted as much as he could, Cheung Bo arranged for Sum Nung to continue his training under Yuen Kay-San.

Sum Nung was hesitant at first. He had been learning from Cheung Bo for a few years and saw Yuen Kay-San, older and thinner, as a stark contrast to his powerful looking teacher. This feeling led him to question Yuen’s skills. Yuen, however, seeing in Sum Nung a great desire and potential, was willing to indulge the youth. Promising that the youth could use all that he knew, and vowing only to defend in return, Yuen Kay-San invited Sum Nung to touch hands with him.

Sum Nung, his curiosity piqued, took up Yuen’s challenge. Sum attacked with all his vigor and the full range of his skills, but each time Yuen Kay-San calmly intercepted his techniques and after only one or two movements left Sum off balance, out of position, and unable to continue. Realizing that Yuen’s skills were of the highest level, Sum quickly became his student.

Fighting Spirit

Yuen Kay-San wanted to ensure he gave Sum Nung as encompassing an education as possible. In addition to one-on-one and group fighting, Chinese medicine, Chinese literature, and other pursuits, Yuen sought to give Sum confidence and a fighting spirit. Towards this end, he set up some public demonstrations for Sum and also some friendly tests of skill.

The first such test Sum Nung faced was against a famed local practitioner of one of Southern China’s “long bridge and big horse” (cheung kiu dai ma) systems. A stark contrast to wing chun kuen, Yuen felt it an important step in Sum’s training. The encounter was set to take place on a local rooftop. When the fight began, and the powerful roundhouse of his opponent came hurtling towards him, Sum Nung stood his ground, dissolved the attack, and promptly swept his adversary, knocking him into the roof-top’s railing wall and sending a few dislodged bricks clattering down to the street below. This led Sum Nung to realize that wing chun kuen was useful against a broad spectrum of other arts.

To further this idea, Yuen Kay-San next set Sum Nung up to face a well-known local wrestler. This opponent proved wilier and instead of attacking directly, he sought to fake out Sum Nung with feints. When their bridges finally touched, Sum was initially in a disadvantageous position and his opponent moved quickly to tackle him. Sum’s reflexes took over, however, and he cleared the wrestler’s grappling attempt and at the same time struck the man in the flank, sending him to the ground.

Sum Nung also had the chance to gain experience through touching hands with friends and peers. One man, much bigger and stronger, tried to use brute force to reach his flank but Sum changed quickly, gaining the advantage, and letting him fall to the floor. On another occasion, when a man told him he didn’t believe wing chun should contain any throwing movements, Sum made use of the wrapping arm from the chum kiu set to flip the man up and over onto his head. Yet a third time, on the restaurant rooftop where he worked, a man tried to use of a hard slapping movement to shock Sum’s forearm, but Sum reacted instantly by going with the force and leaking around it.

These and other encounters, in addition to making Sum Nung very grateful for having the fortune of studying under Yuen Kay-San, helped cement concept and application, forging him into a well-rounded, effective, and experienced martial artist.

Beginning his Career

By 1943, Sum Nung had made much progress and his reputation had grown to the point where people sought him out for lessons. This led to him accepting a few students whom he taught out of the Deep Village Temple. Among those early students was his uncle, Sum Jee who had previously been a well-known Hung boxer. He quickly gained other students as well, all experienced martial artists, many of whom were much older than he, attracted by the quality of his skill. Hard working and willing to test their knowledge, Sum Nung’s early students made his reputation for teaching as solid as it already was for fighting.

Alongside his wing chun kuen training, Sum Nung had also followed Cheung Bo’s teacher, Dr. Wai Yuk-Sang, in the study of osteopathy (ditda) and breathing exercises (heigung/qigong). Late in life, Wai Yuk-Sang experienced a profound spiritual change and became a Taoist priest. Deeply regretting that he had taught the martial arts, and thinking that someday his teachings, as they were passed down and spread to succeeding generations, may be used to harm or even kill someone, he wanted to make amend. With that in mind he taught Sum Nung the kidney breathing returns to source (sun hei gwai yuen) exercise and instructed him to perform it both before and after training, so that the martial arts would always be surrounded by the healing arts.

Moving to Guangzhou

Around 1945, with his devotion to wing chun kuen and medicine leaving him little time for restaurant work, Sum Nung decided to move to the nearby provincial capitol of Guangzhou to establish his medical practice. In the beginning, to help make ends meet, he taught wing chun kuen to members of local Iron and Five-Metal Workers Unions. When teaching his early students, Sum Nung
organized some of the separate techniques (san sao) that he had learned from both Cheung Bo and Yuen Kay-San, into the twelve separate forms (sup yee san sik), which included sections such as meridian punch (jee ng choi), single dragon punch (duk lung choi), inside outside yin yang palm (loi lim yum yeung jeung), flapping wing palm (pok yik jeung), and white crane catches the fox (bak hok kum wu), among others.

In Guangzhou, like in Foshan before, his encounters with other local practitioners helped grow his reputation and attract more and more students. Due to friction between the different guilds, many of which employed martial artists to teach their members, fighting became regular and eventually, hundreds became involved in almost weekly challenge matches at the nearby mountain. This, and concerns over wing chun kuen’s effectiveness in countering the seizing and holding techniques (fan kum na/ fan qin na) of the police lead to the local government’s banning of the teaching of wing chun kuen in the city.

In the mid-1950s Sum Nung made a short trip to Hong Kong to teach a seminar for the Fruit Market Union. Over a hundred people attended and the seminar was quite successful, especially his demonstrations of the counter kicking and fast throwing techniques of wing chun kuen. Despite requests to continue teaching by the union members, offers of partnership from other instructors, and warnings from old friends that China was getting ready to close its borders, Sum Nung was eager to get back to his family and thus returned to Guangzhou. Originally, he had intended to journey again to Hong Kong but before that could become reality, his friend’s warning came true and the borders were closed.

Sum Nung continued to travel back and forth to Foshan on the weekends to visit Cheung Bo and train under Yuen Kay-San until they both passed away in 1956.

Iron-Arms

Sum Nung was sometimes referred to by the nickname Tiet Bei (Iron Arms) Nung due to the explosive short power he could generate from his forearms with techniques such as the barring arm and center-cleaving arm. One encounter that helped fuel the nickname occurred during the Cultural Revolution. In those days, Communist China did not support the traditional martial arts and many practitioners were harassed, persecuted, and sometimes even killed. It was under these conditions that grandmaster Sum Nung was reportedly set upon one day by a gang of fanatics. In the course of defending himself, Sum Nung broke the arm of one of his attackers with a penetrating barring arm technique and managed to emerge unscathed. Shortly thereafter, Sum Nung was riding his motorcycle one day when he was cut off by a truck. When he confronted the driver, a knife-wielding compatriot attacked him from the side. Sum managed to deflect most of the attack with a half-dispersing-half-wing technique, but the blade was sufficiently long that it still stabbed slightly into his chest. Knowing that hesitation could prove fatal, Sum quickly threw his assailant to the side and simultaneously struck out with a tiger tail kick to the man’s ribs. The attacker limped away, badly injured from the devastating strike.

Other encounters lead to Sum Nung also establishing his reputation among the new, government schooled, martial arts experts. Another provincial wrestling champion, seeking something to bridge the gap between his long boxing and his Chinese (sut gao/shuaijiao) and Greco-Roman wrestling came to Sum Nung and proclaimed he could take Sum’s punch and then tackle him to the ground. Sum invited him to try and when the man came in, Sum flanked him and used a spiraling wing arm (bong sao) movement to knock him down. The man quickly became Sum’s student.

Guangzhou (Canton) Wing Chun

During the turbulent times of the Cultural Revolution, grandmaster Sum Nung continued to teach wing chun kuen but did so only privately, not wanting to attract attention. When some of his students moved to Hong Kong in the late-1960s and early-70s, they used the name Guangzhou Wing Chun Kuen to both distinguish their branch and to maintain the privacy of grandmaster Sum Nung, still in the Mainland.

Expanding the Art

Over the years, teaching only those whom he felt were upright and trustworthy, grandmaster Sum Nung went on to train many outstanding students (with apologies, far too many to list here). In addition to Sum Jee, Sum Nung’s students from the late 1940s to early 1960s included Ma Yiu-Moon, former dragon-shape boxer Lao Lo-Wai, former Ngok family boxer Ngok Jin-Fun, Pang Chao, and Leung King-Chiu (know as Dai Chiu, who moved to Hong Kong around 1970 and later to the United States).

From the mid-1960s, his students included the late Dong Chuen-Kam, Ngo Lui-Kay (who relocated to Canada in 1982), Kwok Wan-Ping (Fu family internal boxer who established the Guangzhou Wing Chun Taiji Institute in Hong Kong in the late 1960s), Lee Chi-Yiu (who moved to Hong Kong in the early 1970s), and Wong Wah (Tom Wong, who relocated to Los Angeles). Others also adapted his methods and spread them throughout the Pearl River Delta and as far as South East Asia.

Sum Nung has also endeavored to help keep wing chun kuen “in the family.” Honoring a pledge he made his first teacher, Sum Nung taught Cheung Bo’s seventh son, known as Ah Chut. Following Cheung Bo’s passing, those students wishing to continue their training followed Sum Nung either directly or through Ah Chut. Sum Nung and his students have also shared their insights with Yuen Kay-San’s grandson, Jo-Tong, who has written considerably on the art Martial World (Wulin), New Martial Hero (San Mo Hop) and other periodicals. In addition, Sum Nung is passing along the art to his own family, including his son, Sum Dek.

Sum Nung’s Legacy

Grandmaster Sum Nung has continued to develop and refine his art over the decades, concentrating on practical application. So great and lengthy have his contributions been, many of his followers around the world have begun calling their art Sum Nung Wing Chun Kuen, in his honor.

Originally published in Inside Kung Fu

Standard

Northern Internal Pao Fa Lien Wing Chun

My style of Wing Chun is an internal system which came from the north. During the revolutions against the Manchurians, a monk, nicknamed Dai Dong Fung (Great East Wind), while trying to escape arrest, came to the south. In the area of Qingyuan, Guangdong, he was made a guest by bothers named Tse Gok-Leung & Tse Gok-Jeung. Of the two brothers, one was a literary mandarin while the other was a military mandarin. Even though they were working for the Manchurians, but since they were of the Han tribe, and seeing how their kinsmen were being mistreated, they had a hope that one day the Manchurians would be over thrown by the Hans. After a period of time, when the monk observed that these two brothers were decent people and not corrupted mandarins, and that they also treated him with honor and respect, he taught them Wing Chun. He also disclosed that all disciples of Wing Chun are revolutionists. Since this had been discovered by the Manchurian Court, so in order to hide identity, they broke down the two characters “Wing Chun” into a secret three lined poem. That is: “Wing Yin Chi Ji” (Always speak with determination), “Mo Mong Hong Juk” (Don’t forget the Han Nation), “Dai Day Wu Chun” (Spring will be back again).

The Tse Brothers adopted a son named Lao Dat-Sang and taught him Wing Chun from age 9. Later on Lao Dat-Sang moved to Foshan and worked as a treasurer at an establishment. He never openly taught martial arts, but little by little, his skills became known, and many people sought to be his disciples. He was very straight in choosing students, so he did not have too many disciples. When he was over 70 years of age, there was a young man named Chu Chong entered as his disciple because of Karma. He learned all the essences of Wing Chun from the meticulous instruction of Lao Dat-Sang. Later, Chu Chong along with his wife and kids moved to Sam Shui Po in Hong Kong where they opened an osteopathy clinic. Now it is many decades later, and Chu Chong is 101 years old. He still has great mobility and walks as if he is flying. However his son, Chu Wing-Ji, has taken over his medical practice. His kung-fu “brother”, Kok Gai, who still lives in Foshan, was the last disciple of Lao Dat-Sang. He’s over 80 years old and ceased to practice martial art for many years now.

Sigung Chu Chong spent many years in Hong Kong. Although he followed the way of Wing Chun, which is “only to pass down but don’t teach the art”, still he accepted many disciples. One of them is my deceased teacher Mok Pui-On. He first learned Weng (Always) Chun from Chu Chong-Man, a style passed down from Fung Siu-Ching. But later on he learned Wing (Praise) Chun from Sigung Chu Chong. From 1977 to 1978 I learned Wing Chun separately from Ho Kam-Ming and Yip Chun, which is the Wing Chun style passed down from Yip Man. [Hong Kong has Pao Fa Lin Wing Chun, Yip Man Wing Chun, Pin San (Side Body) Wing Chun, Yuen Kay-San Wing Chun; also known as Guangzhou Wing Chun, and Singapore and Malaysia also have the opera style of Wing Chun.] In 1979, I was fortunate enough to learn from my deceased teacher Mok Pui-On the Pao Fa Lin style of Wing Chun. In these 16 years, I also got a lot of tutors and instructions from my martial art “uncle” Chu Wing-Jee. Started in December of 1994, I began teaching openly for the first time my style at the Hong Kong Ching Wu athletic association. But since 1989, there were several occasions when foreigners had come from England and South Africa for the sole reason of studying the art.

Pao Fa Lien was so called because it was just the nickname of Lao Dat-Sun. When he was young he had a job to do Pao Fa (planing wood). These are plants which they boiled down the shavings to get the sap. This was used as a hair tonic in those days. The character Dat, when written in script form, looks a bit like the character Lien (Translator’s note: this is a feminine name). Therefore, the people at the time always mockingly called him “Little Lien”. After my deceased teacher had obtained permission from Sigung Chu Chong, he added this to the name of our style to distinguish it from other Wing Chun styles.

By Leo Man, Hong Kong Chin Woo Annual. Roughly translated from Chinese.

Standard

Shaolin [Pan Nam] Wing Chun

The true origins of Wing Chun are not very clear. It is said Yip Man altered the Wing Chun he originally learnt before passing it on to the world. What did it look like before? The author gives us a possible answer.

1989 was the year I returned to Mauritius (an island west of the Indian Ocean) to visit my parents and relatives. I was prepared for a relaxing and lazy holiday lounging on the golden beach of this tropical island paradise and unexpectedly all of this went out of the window. One afternoon when I visited my father’s shop, I noticed an advert in the Chinese newspaper that a certain person was recruiting students for a Wing Chun class. This came as a total surprise that Wing Chun had even infiltrated this remote part of the world. When my father read out the name of the instructor (Leung Tong Sing), I immediately realized that I had met him previously. A few years ago, as a Wu Shu instructor who recently came from China, not knowing then that he also knew the Wing Chun also. The only thing I knew about him was through my father-in-law who is a committee member of a Cantonese speaking organization which sponsored Mr. Leung from Fatshan, China, to teach Chinese Wu Shu on the island. Mr. Leung, a Wu Shu champion in the Fatshan area of the Guangzhou province of China, came highly recommended by the Chinese Wu Shu organization. A coincidence of passing interest, Port Louis, the capital of the island is twinned with Fatshan in China, the home of Wing Chun. When I first met him several years before, he was teaching Wu Shu which incorporated the monkey, drunkard and other styles. These were the jumping and flowery stuff which I was not very keen on.

Upon hearing of the advert, I immediately arranged a meeting with Mr. Leung to find out what he knew about Wing Chun. When I met him, I was totally surprised to see that the Wing Chun he practiced was not the same as the one I knew and was more surprised to learn that he had heard of Yip Man’s style of Wing Chun but he had never seen it. So mutual curiosity took the better of us and that was the beginning of lengthy and interesting conversations and training sessions. I had to kiss good-bye to the long hours I planned to lounge on the golden beach; given the chance, my wife might have had a few words to say about that.

Mr Leung’s Wing Chun teacher was Pang Lam [Pan Nam], an old master, still living in Fatshan, the legendary home of Wing Chun. This style of Wing Chun has had a separate development from that of Yip Man’s. In fact Pang Lam’s Wing Chun carried on its development in Fatshan and never left the area and it has retained many old characteristics which are similar to Shaolin Kung Fu confirming once again the Shaolin ancestry of the style. This style of Wing Chun is also known as “Shaolin Wing Chun” for its obvious ancestral connections. Yip Man, uprooted from Fatshan, continued his development in Hong Kong from where it spread to the rest of the world with a large contribution to the populanty of the style from the film star Bruce Lee, himself a former student of Yip Man.

Both Yip Man and Pang Lam shared the same lineage up to Chan Wah Shun’s generation. Yip Man, as a young man, first studied under Chan Wah Shun, then under Ng Chung So, a senior student of Chan, after the latter’s death. He later completed his studies with Leung Bik, the son of Leung Jan. Pang Lam also had three teachers but took a somewhat different root. His first teacher was Chui Chau who was a student of Chan Yu Min, the son of Chan Wah Shun. His second teacher was Lai Yip Chi another student of Chan Wah Shun and classmate to both Ng Chung So (the second teacher of Yip Man) and Yip Man himself. His third teacher was Dai Fa Min Kam, a very old man by then, who belonged to a generation previous to Leung Jan’s and was classmate to Wong Wah Bo and Leung Yee Tei. If all this sounds complicated, just imagine that you have to trace back your ancestors for the previous two centuries without much written records; it won’t be easy.

The question is therefore, why trace back the history of Wing Chun? There is a Chinese saying which goes, “Always remember the source of where you drink the water from”. Indeed you may know when you might want to drink from it again. Tracing back is not just a sentimental or academic exercise, we can still learn from the past, not only to understand the present but also to build for the future. Indeed we have a unique opportunity to look as to how Wing Chun could have looked like in the past from what Pang Lam has preserved. The style is different and sometimes off putting to those who have trained for many years in Yip Man’s method. I personally have been practicing Yip Man’s Wing Chun for about fifteen years and Pan Lam’s Wing Chun for four years; I can appreciate how the two complement each other. One is fast and dynamic, the other is slow, well focused and subtle. It might not be a good idea for a beginner to learn both, this will only create confusion. To the advanced students of Yip Man’s style, if they put aside their ego’s and vested interest and look deeper into Pang Lam’s style they will gain a deeper understanding and go into the heart of the Wing Chun system. To learn something which is opposite to our beliefs is very difficult and the only way to progress is to keep an open mind as this little story illustrates:

In olden China a well renowned scholar went to a master asking to the educated in spiritual matters. The master poured tea into the scholar’s cup and kept pouring even though the cup was overflowing. The scholar was taken aback and told the master that the cup was overflowing. The master replied, “Your mind is like this cup, full and overflowing with vour own ideas and if I teach you now, that’s what will happen (pointing to the overflowing tea). So if you want to study with me, then empty your cup (mind) so that it can receive what is being poured”.

The lesson here is to keep an open mind, don’t be judgemental until you have learnt enough to enable you to assess what you have or have not gained. Discovering Pang Lam’s Wing Chun for me was like finding a long lost love which mades me feel whole again. I feel I have merged the past with the present and can confidently look to the future because of my better understanding which filled many gaps and cleared the many unanswered questions I had about the system.

How do the two systems differ? This will be the first question that a Wing Chun practitioner is likely to ask and I can probably answer this question better by looking at the similarities first. If someone looks at Pang Lam’s forms, they obviously look different to Yip Man’s. But when you look deeper, the similarities with Yip Man’s forms are self-evident; thc ovements, techniques and emphasis may, differ visually but the principles and concepts are similar. It’s like two pilgrims setting off on different roads to reach the same destination. The basic techniques like Tan Sau, Bong Sau, Jum Sau. Kan Sau etc. are the same. Pang Lam’s Wing Chun like that of Yip Man’s have three hands forms: Sui Nim Tao, Chum Ku and Bui Chee. There is also the wooden dummy, the pole and butterfly knives techniques.

The movements in Pang Lam’s forms are more rounded, flowing, subtle, more internally focused and less ’snappy’ than those of Yip Man’s. The forms are performed at a relatively slow pace, more like Taiji but marginally quicker and stronger and this is probably why Pang Lam’s forms seem to be longer. Pang Lam’s emphasis is more on the physiological and Qi development in contrast to Yip Man’s emphasis on speed and simplicity of movements. Pang Lam has also retained the “artistic” aspects more than Yip Man who emphasized on the practicality of the movements for fighting. If we may venture into the realm of speculation, it may be possible that to better fit his character. Yip Man has removed certain movements which he felt superfluous. Maybe Pang Lam’s style is closer to the originator of the system? Who knows?

On the technical level, here are sonic examples how Shaolin Wing Chun differs to that of Yip Man’s. In Siu Nim Tao, the Horse Stance, instead of being ‘pigeon toe’ the feet are parallel like in Shaolin Kung Fu. The Bong Sau, the angle between the forearm and the upper arm is closed and the elbow is ninety degrees to the centreline which makes it resemble an elbow strike. The fists are kept to the sides ~’itli the knuckles in a vertical line. The Gum Sau is performed to the front as well as to the sides. In Chum Kiu. the moving stances are wide and deep and the manner in which the stepping is done is completely different to Yip Man’s sliding stance. In Bui Chee, the pressing down elbow movement (Kup Jam) is performed by bending the torso forward. The upward chop to the side (Man Sau) is replaced by finger jabs to the sides. The wooden dummy form includes grabbing techniques, finger and claw strikes to the nerve points. The wooden dummy arms are not fixed to the main body but can slide in and out for arm pulling/pushing techniques. The six and I half point pole techniques are performed with the arms fullv stretched with short snappy movements reminiscent of the one inch punch; whereas Yip Man’s pole techniques usually comprise of larger circles. The butterfly knife techniques comprise of slashing in four directions against multiple opponents, simultaneous slashing in two different directions, left and right, front and back, are very common. Whereas Yip Man’s techniques are usually in one direction at a time. These are by no means the only visual differences but only a few examples.

As far as auxiliary exercises are concerned, more emphasis is placed on grabbing techniques, stance stability, rooting training, waist and leg strengthening. The Chi Sau resembles more the pushing hands of Taiji Quan and the grabbing techniques (if Chin-Na than Yip Man’s dvnamic Poon Sau. In addition to arm and leg sensitivity training, Pang Lam has additional drills to develop body sensitivity, to deal with an opponent’s force when there is body to body contact.

For me, the simplicity and dynamism of Yip Man’s Wing Chun mixed with the strong, subtle and artistic aspects of Pang Lam’s Wing Chun are complementary to each other, like the left hand helping the right. Which method is better you may ask? My answer is, it does not matter whether your left hand is stronger or right hand is stronger, its making them work together which is more important.

Standard

Interview with Sifu Augustine Fong

by Derek Vernon

Sifu Augustine Fong (Fong Chi Wing)
Up close and personal

The Following interview was conducted by Derek Vernon on the 6th May 1998.

D.Vernon: Sifu Fong, Can you tell us about your early days in Hong Kong and how did you get started in Wing Chun?
Sifu Fong: Yes, I started my Wing Chun training when I was about 11 years old, that’s when I became interested in Kung Fu. Actually, my mother didn’t like me doing martial arts because she thought it was violent She was afraid that I would become a gangster and fight all the time. However, my interest was very strong and they say ” where there’s a will, there’s a way “. So the way was that I saved all my own money and went to learn, keeping it a secret from my mother all the time until I immigrated to the United States.

D.Vernon: Sifu Fong, Can you tell us, was Wing Chun the first martial art that you learnt?
Sifu Fong: Yes there was no other martial arts in Macao, until I meet Sifu Ho Kam Ming. Therefore, I went to start Wing Chun straight away.

D.Vernon: How did you get to meet Ho Kam Ming? Did anyone introduce you?
Sifu Fong: Yes I was introduced by one of my classmates at School.

D.Vernon: Does your classmate still train today?
Sifu Fong: No, at that time you see a lot of people come and go, he lost interest soon after I started.

D.Vernon: Can you tell us, how the Wing Chun was taught back in Hong Kong, is it taught the same as it is taught today?
Sifu Fong: No back then it was very hard to learn, because the teachers were very traditional in their approach to teaching. Nowadays the teachers are a lot more flexible with the students. At that time the teacher’s skills were very high, so the standard was also very high. But nowadays most of the good teachers have moved away from Hong Kong.

D.Vernon: So you know many of the Wing Chun people coming to America?
Sifu Fong: Yes that is the people who were around at the same time as me.

D.Vernon: I understand Sifu Fong, you were one of the first to teach Wing Chun in America.
Sifu Fong: Yes you can say so, actually Bruce Lee was before me, he started teaching Wing Chun but then started teaching his own style Jeet Kuen Do.

D.Vernon: Sifu Fong , when you came to the United States, was it hard to get students at first
Sifu Fong: At that time I did not pay attention to getting students, I just looked for some one to be a dummy, someone to practice with. I did not think of teaching Wing Chun to make money then.

D.Vernon: So it was important to have someone to train with then?
Sifu Fong: Yes that was my main purpose, just to keep up my training.

D.Vernon: When you opened a school did you have to get permission from Ho Kam Ming?
Sifu Fong: Yes before I came to the United States, the last thing I did was to go to Ho Kam Ming’s house. He told me to get someone to train with. To keep up my Chi Sau and open a school when I was ready to teach. Because teaching is the only way to improve learning

D.Vernon: Sifu Fong how many years did you train with Ho Kam Ming in Hong Kong?
Sifu Fong: Since 1960 when my Sifu opened the School, But the school was not registered until 1964. Just a hand full of us used to train back then.

D.Vernon: Sifu Fong I have seen you in a photo with Ho Kam Ming sitting next do Si-Jo Yip Man and you stood behind them. So you actually got to meet Si-Jo Yip Man?
Sifu Fong: Yes I got to meet him.

D.Vernon: Did you do any of your training with Si-Jo Yip Man?
Sifu Fong: No at that time Si-Jo Yip Man did not teach just anyone, especially kids. Why do you think he does not teach? He did not teach you if you were poor and had no money because he thought you should be working hard at making a living first. If you were a women or too forward he would not teach you.

D.Vernon: I understand that Si-Jo Yip Man held your Sifu Ho Kam Ming in high regard.
Sifu Fong: Yes Sifu Ho Kam Ming was a lucky guy he was so rich that he did not need to work, so he spent a lot of his time with Si-Jo Yip Man. When Si-Jo Yip Man was sick he took him to hospital, just like his own father, because he was his Sifu.

D.Vernon: So Ho Kam Ming was a true Bi-ser of Si-Jo Yip Man?
Sifu Fong: Yes.

D.Vernon: Sifu Fong, is the Wing Chun you teach the same as SI-Jo Ho Kam Mina’s.
Sifu Fong: Yes.

D.Vernon: Sifu Fong I see that your dummy form is different to the form that we see most of in the U.K, can you tell us why this is so?
Sifu Fong: All I can tell you is what I learnt from my Sifu and that is what he learnt from his Sifu. Many people have a different second half to the dummy form. The way I teach, is Siu Nim Tao then Chum Kiu followed by the first half of the Muk Yan Jong (dummy form) because the first half of the dummy form has the movements from the fist two-hand forms. Then I teach the Biu Jee form and on to the second half of the dummy form, as that has the movements of the Bui Jee form. Then we do the Luk Dim Boon Gwan ( Pole form ) and on to the Bat Jam Dao ( Knife form ).

D.Vernon: I understand that there is a saying that Bui Jee does not go out the door. What does this mean to you.
Sifu Fong: You can say that Bui Gee does not go out the door, because a lot of people lose interest at this time or they think they already know how do Wing Chun then they can never go up to the Bui Gee Level. In addition, the teacher may see that they do not have that kind of ability to go on to Bui Jee Level. You see if do not know Biu Gee, then you can not know the second half of the dummy form. This is another reson why there are many ways of doing the dummy forms around.

D.Vernon: Sifu Fong what would you say is the most important form in the Wing Chun System?
Sifu Fong: The most important form is the Siu Lim Tau because that develops your Chi Gong, your Chi power, develops your spiritual power, physical power and your fighting power all in the one form.

D.Vernon: And how long would it take a good student to learn the Siu Lim Tau, with all it’s theory and applications in one of your schools?
Sifu Fong: To learn the form is easy, every one can learn it in one day, but to understand the form and digest the form takes a very long time. But depending on the person some can pick it up in a shorter time scale, some take longer. But you have to understand why you do the form, people think it is easy, but they do not see the important parts of the form and then they just drop the form and move on to the Chum Kiu form.

D.Vernon: Sifu Fong can you tell us the main points of the Chum Kiu form?
Sifu Fong: Chum Kiu’s main purpose is to practice body unity, your whole hand motion, is based on the body. So body is the foundation of the hand, if you have a strong foundation then you can execute your hand technique better than just using your hand, then you have a body behind the hand. The body is just like a hammer, the hand is just like a nail. If you have a hammer behind a nail then you can nail the technique in.

D.Vernon: Sifu Fong I understand that Chum Kiu has two meanings, searching bridge and sinking bridge, which is right.?
Sifu Fong: Both, are O.K depending on which Chum Kiu you mean. The name of the form is searching bridge, but the name of the hand technique is sinking the bridge in the Chum Kiu form. They are different words in Chinese, but they are pronouns the same.

D.Vernon: Do you think that this has caused a lot of confusion between the interpretation of different teachers?
Sifu Fong: It has, because it depends on the teacher and how much they know of the system. If they do not know the system then they have to make up a story or something like that.

D.Vernon Sifu Fong some people say that Biu Gee is for attack and some say its for emergency. Which is the right way?
Sifu Fong: The Bui Gee form is based on the Siu Nim Tao and Chum Kiu forms. You see Siu Nim Tao develops your steady power to control your balance and Chum Kiu is to control your steady power when you are moving. Bui Gee conbines the two concepts, when you have to give up your hand position you will still be able to save your self, this is why it is sometimes called emergency hand. All the Bui Gee techniques are in the Siu Nim Tao and Chum Kiu forms already, they are only applied differently in the Biu Gee form, like from a different angle.

D.Vernon: Sifu Fong can you tell us about the Mok Jong ( Wooden Dummy Form ) Please ?
Sifu Fong: Yes, the Mok Jong is used to find the correct line. As I said before it incorporates the three hand forms. When you reach this level of training one understands more about the theory and applications of structure, Centre line, gates, triangles, timing, etc. As most Wing Chun people will tell you the Mok Jong is the next best thing to a live training partner.

D.Vernon: Do you use the dummy to condition with?
Sifu Fong: When you start to use the Mok Jong you do not hit it hard because you will hurt your hands and legs. Just tap the dummy lightly at first because the force used is not the same as brute strength. As you train you can increase the amount of force used, but do not go over the top.

D.Vernon: This morning we were training with the Luk Dim Boom Gwan ( six and a half point pole ) and you were telling us about the way in which you learnt back in Hong Kong?
Sifu Fong: Yes that’s right, when we learnt the pole we were given the techniques and how to use the Wing Chun theory. This is the way it was taught, so different students put the techniques together and now teach the form differently. If you think of just the order of the techniques in the form, then you are missing the point.

D.Vernon: Talking of points, what is the six and a half point about in the name of the form?
Sifu Fong: Actually the six and half does not mean the amount of techniques, what it refers to is the way in which you strike the target. As you bring the force to the tip of the pole, the vibration will cause the tip to leave a sixth and a half mark of the pole on the target area.

D.Vernon: Sifu Fong, moving on to the Bat Jam Do ( Eight Slash Knives Form ), can you tell us why the form has this name? , Is it about using eight directions or eight techniques?
Sifu Fong: Well you can say about eight directions, but this is not the reson for the eight. It is because the Chinese for the number eight looks like two lines coming down to a point, which is the same as the shape of the chopping motions you use with the knives. It does not mean eight motions or techniques. It is the mark that is made by the knives when you slash with them.

D.Vernon: Sifu Fong, I would like to ask you some questions about Chi Sau ( Sticky Hands ). Do you have a direct relationship between the forms and Chi Sau practice.
Sifu Fong: Yes I do because all the Chi Sau motions are what make’s the forms in the first place. The forms are just like textbooks with the right ways of doing the motions, this is the study and Chi Sau practice is just like the lab work to test the application.

D.Vernon: Sifu Fong, is there a direct relationship between the forms and the applications?
Sifu Fong: No there is not, in applications you must make adjustments to the line and hand positions. You move high or low, it all depends on the situation. Take the movement in Chum Kiu when you shift your line to the side with the Bong Sau motion, maybe in the application you move in at 45 degrees to use the Bong Sau. You see in the form you turn by yourself, but in the application you can not do this. You only turn if it is needed and your opponent will determine this with the amount of force he gives you.

D.Vernon: How do you teach your Chi Sau?
Sifu Fong: First, I teach you how to make the right structure for each of the moves ( Tan Sau, Bong Sau and Fook Sau ). Then with the structure you learn to control the point of contact. From then on, you can learn to control the point between the motions. Then you can create an equalisation of force, you make yourself a strong structure just like a wall . When another force comes in to push , you just maintain a wall, you do not push back but no force can move you. In that way, they just bounce back and that’s the way to control your energy. Chi Dan Sau teaches you how to use the horizontal and vertical mother lines and how to get the inside Centre line.

D.Vernon: Sifu Fong, you teach eight types of energy in Wing Chun and Chi Sau?
Sifu Fong: Yes that’s right, so far, I have taught eight types of energy in Chi Sau:

Bau Ja ging ( Explode Power )Ging is your internal power that is executed outwardly; people can see how much power you have. This is when they can see Ging externally.
Chi Ging ( Sticking Power ) In Wing Chun, we stick to everything so that we make our energy and our opponents energy one. Therefore, when he tries to move I can control him by using his force this is now my force.
Keng Ging ( listening Power ) listening means feeling your opponents energy and body talk, so you trap him by counter moving before him.
Juun Ging ( Drilling Power ) Drilling Power is the force that goes forward, it is like a circle, every straight line has a circle. This does not mean a circle motion, the straight line is drilling like a spiral. Just like a bullet as it turns, as it goes through the air.
Jek Jip Ging ( Direct Power ) Direct Power means I use the power to go from point to point by bouncing off the first point and going straight to the second point. Like hitting one opponent’s head and using that point to start a technique to hit the second opponent.
Yaan Ging ( Guiding Power ) Guiding force is the one you use when your opponent’s incoming force is on its way. You just turn the force a way to the side and carry on in a circle back to the starting point of the attack. Just like a wheel.
Lin Jip Ging ( Connecting Power ) Connecting Power is like Direct Power from one motion move to the next motion without stopping. Like if you do a Pak Sau use the same hand to do Tan Sau or a Punch straight away without stopping, just learn to feel what’s going on.
Choung Ging ( Aggressive Power ) Aggressive Power is used outwardly, you must be very mentally calm. However, you must not be out of control. If you do not train this, in the right way you will be out of control.

D.Vernon: Sifu Fong how do you know which one of the eight powers to use?
Sifu Fong: Simple, all of the eight Ging’s are used in all of the techniques and motions. What . I mean is, that they are all adjustable and interchangeable.

D.Vernon: Sifu Fong do you have any tips for us in the U.K.
Sifu Fong: Well if you want to do well in Wing Chun, just keep to doing one thing and try not to do all things. If you put other ideas into Wing Chun, then you will not be doing Wing Chun.

D.Vernon: Sifu Fong I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your time and sharing your thoughts with us.
Sifu Fong: your very welcome.

Standard

Enter the Wing Chun Time Machine

The following is presented in the interest of preserving and promoting the history and practice of Wing Chun Kung Fu. The information contained in this article was obtained from a recognized Master of the art and is in no way intended to offend anyone or to disparage any organization or in any way to demean the history and practice of Wing Chun as it is taught by the disciples of Yip Man. It is recommended that, before conclusions are drawn, both Part I and Part II should be carefully read and even reread because most answers are contained in the text.

WHO REALLY ORIGINATED and developed Wing Chun? Exactly which martial arts did its originator draw upon when formulating Wing Chun? Since it is supposed to have originated in the Shaolin Temple, did any internal arts influence its development?

The information which follows addresses these intriguing questions, and is derived from a small book commissioned by Master Pan Nam, from information told to Sifu Eddie Chong by Pan Nam, and from the observations and opinions of the author. Wing Chun’s unusual approach to empty hand fighting has generated much speculation regarding its origin and practice. Some have tried to draw parallels with the techniques of other fighting arts, speculating that in the past there may have been some cross-influence. Due to the lack of information, these and other questions have remained unanswered. The fact that the history and practice of Wing Chun has literally come down to us from one individual, Yip Man, has in itself caused speculation, debate, animosity, and on occasion, even violence.

Anyone who has been fascinated with Wing Chun, studied its “family tree” and read or heard its history, knows about the legendary figures who developed and refined this amazingly effective fighting art. As the accompanying chart “A” indicates,some of the notables are the Buddhist nun Ng Mui, Ng’s student Yim Wing Chun who taught her husband, Leung Bok Chau, who taught Leung Lan Kwai, who taught both Wong Wah Bo and Leung Yee Tei each of whom taught the great Dr. Leung Jan who became known as “King of the Boxers” because he defeated all challengers. Leung Jan taught, among others, his son Leung Bik and Chan Wah Shun, who each taught the world renown Yip Man, the undisputed Grandmaster of the Wing Chun system generally known outside of China today (often referred to as “Hong Kong Style” to distinguish it from several others).

While training for the past half dozen years, this author has often contemplated what those individuals must have been like both as people and as martial artists. Unfortunately, except for just a handful of stories, there are few details regarding the lives of the early practitioners or regarding the development of this unusual fighting art.

One cannot look at the chart hanging in the Sacramento Wing Chun school for very long (reproduced in part as “Chart A”) without wondering what it would be like to travel to China and find the descendants of the “others” referenced as having been students of Leung Jan or to find students descending from other unrecorded “branches” of the Wing Chun family tree. How fascinating it would be to see how their Wing Chun compares to that known to us here in the West and to hear the history they have preserved.

Sacramento based Wing Chun instructor Eddie Chong has done just that. Sifu Chong (who taught in San Francisco from 1972 to 1990, has two schools in Sacramento, one since 1981, and currently has affiliated schools in thirteen American cities and one each in Singapore and Germany) has recently returned from a lengthy trip to Fatshan, China where he traced the “roots” of his martial art to Wing Chun Master Pan Nam. Master Pan is very well known in the regions around Fatshan by the nickname “Blackface Nam” due to a large birth mark on his right cheek. (Author’s note: Fatshan or “Fat Shan” is Cantonese. On many maps the City, about 20 miles Southwest of Canton, is referenced by its Mandarin spelling, “Foshan” or “Fushan”.)

From the age of thirteen until he was about 30, Pan Nam was a practitioner of Sil Lum Kung Fu. He then changed to the Wing Chun System which he has been practicing and teaching now for over fifty years.

Pan Nam’s first Wing Chun instructors was Chiu Chau who learned from Chan Wah Shun’s son and Yip Man’s classmate, Chan Yu Mint. Pan Nam’s second teacher was Lai Yip Chi, who was another of Yip Man’s classmates under instructor Chan Wah Shun (in fact, Lai was Chan’s live-in apprentice). When Chan became an invalid as the result of a stroke, Lai Yip Chi continued training for a time under senior classmate Lui Yu Chai, while Yip Man followed Ng Chun So. Subsequently, Lai Yip Chi apprenticed to teachers whose lineage goes back to the founder of Wing Chun on a branch of the family tree about which most practitioners are totally unfamiliar.

The Shaolin Temple monk, Yi Chum, is said by Pan Nam to be the true founder of Wing Chun. Yi Chum taught Tan Sau Ng who taught Dai Fa Min Kam, Wong Wah Bo and Leung Yee Tei (Leung Jan’s teachers). “Dai Fa Min” is a nickname meaning “painted face” and refers to the makeup he wore as an actor. “Kam” is all of his true name that has survived. Painted Face Kam taught Lok Lan Koon and his nephew who taught Pan Nam’s teacher Lia Yip Chi.

This branch of the Wing Chun family tree has not only preserved a different, possibly older, form of Wing Chun but has preserved the chi gung exercises that Master Pan says have been a part of the Wing Chun System from its inception. When Sifu Chong learned that there still lived a Wing Chun practitioner who had preserved this older form of the art, he fairly jumped at the opportunity to meet and become his student.

Prior to meeting Master Pan, Sifu Chong’s dedication to his art brought him to the realization that something was lacking. While it is obvious that, at the highest levels, the proper execution of Wing Chun involves characteristics that fit the definitions used by internal stylist to describe that which makes their systems “internal,” there existed a missing “connection” with regard to history, theory, and, to a large degree, technique.

In the West, Sifu Chong observed that the fighting art taught at many Wing Chun schools varied, sometimes dramatically. Although a highly effective martial art, he recognized that the system had been modified, and therefore resolved to trace back and find as original a form of Wing Chun as possible. Obviously, the closer he could get to the system’s founder, the more pure the art would be. Eddie Chong realized the possibility existed that a practitioner might still be living who had been trained by one of the early masters. With China now open to travel, Sifu Chong decided to seek him out.

On a trip to his Singapore school, Sifu Chong took an excursion to Fatshan, the traditional home of Wing Chun. While in Fatshan, his inquires regarding local Wing Chun instructors brought information about 81 year old Master Pan Nam, the last known disciple on Painted Face Kam’s branch of the family tree. Sifu Chong learned that Pan Nam had ceased teaching in 1990 and had, in fact, “closed the door” to his gymnasium. Unknown to Sifu Chong, Master Pan had delayed officially retiring (involving certain formal rituals) because he had a premonition that someone, his final student, was coming.

There are great changes occurring in China today, everyone is busy trying to make money, and sadly, interest in the martial arts has declined. Because of this, Pan Nam had nobody outside of Fatshan he felt could or would perpetuate the art entrusted to him by his teachers, an art which, while a young man, he had gone to great lengths to trace back to Painted Face Kam’s version of the art, and which he has spent 50 years perfecting. And so Pan Nam waited for the last student to whom he intended to give his knowledge.

When they finally met, Master Pan recognized Eddie Chong’s desire and sincerity, and accepted him as his final student and, eventually, as the heir (outside China) to the original Sil Lum (Shaolin) Wing Chun system of his teachers. Sifu Chong told Master Pan that, in order to promote a better understanding of this very popular fighting system, he wanted to let the people in the United States see the difference between the Wing Chun they had been practicing and the original Sil Lum Wing Chun system preserved by Master Pan.

Mr. Chong went through the traditional Chinese ceremony of kneeling and giving a cup of tea to the old Master, asking to be accepted as his disciple (see photo above). This was followed by a special meal. Afterwards, Master Pan took out his family tree and entered Eddie Chong’s name as his closed-door student, the last he would accept.

Having fulfilled his desire to train a successor, Master Pan Nam officially hung out the scrolls that proclaimed his retirement when Eddie Chong left Fatshan in late Spring of 1992. Sifu Chong has returned to visit Pan Nam every year since.

This article will discuss the fighting art of Wing Chun as it has been preserved by Master Pan Nam, and now by his designated heir, Sifu Eddie Chong.

Motive is everything

For those who may be wondering, Pan Nam has not been in hiding. Many well known Wing Chun instructors came from Hong Kong and the West to see Master Pan in Fatshan but, apparently, none were prepared to “empty their cup.” They listened to the history and saw the art preserved by Pan Nam and, for one reason or another, decided not to accept this knowledge (some of these visitors borrowed and never returned irreplaceable books depicting the historical and technical aspects of Wing Chun). It is unknown whether they were merely comfortable with their own system or too proud to acknowledge the possibility that, just as there are different styles of Tai Chi, White Crane, etc, there exists another style of Wing Chun which has preserved a somewhat different practice and history.

Being comfortable with one’s martial art is understandable and will not cause malicious contention. However, the unfortunate nature of ego is often to favor the protection of vested interests, and to reject anything that does not conform by attacking dissenters and by “playing politics.”

Sifu Chong sincerely hopes that his efforts to preserve this significant part of Wing Chun history and practice does not meet with such animosity. He hopes that the information presented here and in subsequent articles and books will be met, if not with acceptance, at least with the open mindedness and tolerance befitting mature martial artists. After all, this isn’t a religious discussion.

The conflict between the stories of the origins of Wing Chun and between the theories and techniques of the various Wing Chun systems is not really a problem when understood and considered objectively. Though at first glance some of the differences are dramatic, each system in fact complements the other, and knowledge of the theories and techniques of the Wing Chun taught by Master Pan can only improve one’s martial skills. Understanding the differences and the reasons for any changes that have occurred gives us our only glimpse into the martial minds of the early masters, a type of “martial arts time machine,” if you will.

Certainly, the history Pan Nam has preserved fills in many gaps and explains much. Even the renown Dr. Leung Ting expresses doubts about the traditional story of Wing Chun’s origin (sometimes spelled “Wing Tsun” or “Ving Tsun”):

“I have some doubt about the authenticity of Buddhist Mistress Ng Mui’s creating the Wing Tsun System after seeing a fight between a fox and a crane, of Miss Yim Wing Tsun’s encountering the local bully, of the fire at the Siu Larn Monastery or even of the existence of Ng Mui herself! *** Of course, the final decision on their authenticity still rest with the reader.” From WING TSUN KUEN, eighth edition (1986), pages 30-31, by Leung Ting. (note: others record the legend of the fight observed by Ng Mui as being between a fox and a snake).

Similar opinions regarding the story of Ng Mui and Yim Wing Chun are expressed in an article entitled “Researching the Origins of Ving Tsun” by Yip Man’s son, Ip (Yip) Chun, that appeared in the recently published GENEALOGY OF THE VING TSUN FAMILY, 1990, pages 27-29, edited by Leung Ting, and published by the Hong Kong Ving Tsun Athletic Association Ltd. On page 28 of that article, Ip (Yip) Chun reports having visited Pan Nam in Fatshan, and that Master Pan credits Tan Sau Ng as bringing Wing Chun to Fatshan “from the North” (”Tan Sau” is a nickname meaning “palm up,” and refers to a particular technique unique to Wing Chun). On page 29, Ip (Yip) Chun also notes that Painted Face Kam was a contemporary of Wong Wah Bo and Leung Yee Tei.
On page 28 and 29 of his article, Ip (Yip) Chun reports independent substantiation in two books of the historical existence of Tan Sau Ng and of his martial skills. First, from A STUDY ON THE HISTORY OF THE CANTONESE OPERAS, by Mak Siu Har:

“In the years of Yung Cheng (Manchu emperor, 1723-1736), Cheung Ng of Wu Pak, also known as Tan-Sau Ng, brought his skills to Fat Shan and organized the Hung Fa Wui Koon (now the Chinese Artist Association)”; (author’s note: Hung Fa Wui Koon is literally, “[Red Flower Union]“).

And from the same book:

“Besides being very accomplished in Chinese opera, Cheung Ng was especially proficient in martial arts. His one Tan-Sau was peerless throughout the martial arts world.”

And, secondly, from A HISTORY OF CHINESE OPERA, by Mang Yiu, Vol. III, page 631:

“For some reason, Cheung Ng could not stay on in the capital, so he fled and took refuge in Fat Shan. This was during the reign of Yung Cheng. This man, nicknamed Tan-Sau Ng, was a character “unsurpassed in literary and military skills, and excellent in music and drama.” He was especially proficient in the techniques of Siu Lam. After settling down in Fat Shan, he passed on his knowledge in traditional opera and martial arts to the Hung Suen (Red Boat) followers, and established the Hung Fa Wui Koon in Fat Shan. Today, Cantonese opera groups revere him as Jo-Si (Founding Master), and refer to him as Master Cheung.”

It is highly probable that Tan Sau Ng had to flee the capitol because of his revolutionary activities. Also, note that the reference to “Siu Lam” (Sil Lum or Shaolin kung fu) and not to Wing Chun is probably because, as will be explained, the system did not receive its name until sometime after Tan Sau Ng.

What conclusion did Yip Man’s son, Ip (Yip) Chun, draw from this astounding information? From “Researching the Origins of Ving Tsun,” page 28 of the GENEALOGY OF THE VING TSUN FAMILY, 1990: “Comparing the legend of Yim Ving Tsun with the information on Tan-Sau Ng, I consider the latter more acceptable in our examination of Ving Tsun’s origins.”

Even though there are some differences and inconsistencies (especially regarding dates), if Sifu Chong’s introduction of this information is objectively considered by each of the contending factions of the Wing Chun community, perhaps the individuals involved will reconsider any animosity felt and be drawn closer in the realization that each system’s history and practice is a legitimate part of Wing Chun tradition.

As for the story of exactly who originated Wing Chun, Yi Chum the nun and her disciple Tan Sau Ng, or Ng Mui the nun and her disciple Yim Wing Chun, Dr. Ting’s advise is sound: let the reader consider each version with an open mind, and then decide which makes more sense. Actually, no decision is really necessary. Whatever its origin, both histories are a part of the art’s tradition, and both tell us important things about the old masters and the forces that shaped Wing Chun. Personally, this author likes the story of Ng Mui and of her first student, Miss Yim Wing Chun. At the very least, it is very romantic. However, intellectual honesty demands open-mindedness, and an objective review of the details of the history Pan Nam has preserved and of the independent corroboration of that history discovered by Ip (Yip) Chun cannot permit an out-of-hand dismissal of this information.

Perhaps the examples set by Sifu Ip (Yip) Chun and Sifu Eddie Chong will be followed by others, and further efforts can be made to trace this fascinating history so that the Wing Chun community can better know its illustrious founders and the fighting art to which they were dedicated.

Critical to the following discussion of the two systems are these facts:

Pan Nam’s association with instructor Chiu Chau gives him intimate knowledge of the system of Wing Chun taught to Yip Man by Chan Wah Shun (Master Pan refers to this as “fast hands” Wing Chun)
Pan Nam’s association with Lai Yip Chi gives him not only intimate knowledge of the earlier version of Wing Chun as it was practiced by the opera actors (Painted Face Kam, Wong Wah Bo, Leung Yi Tei, and Lai Fook Shun) of the Eight Harmony Union, but because of his own and Lai’s knowledge of “fast hands” Wing Chun, he has a solid basis for comparing the two.

Therefore, Pan Nam has the rare qualification to authoritatively comment on the Wing Chun practiced by both branches of the family tree. In Pan Nam, and now in Eddie Chong, this knowledge is perpetuated, and a better understanding of the differences between the two histories and between the fighting theories and techniques of these two great systems of Wing Chun is now possible for the first time outside of China.

By Michael Nedderman, Inside Kung-Fu

by Dan Knight

Sil Lim Tau or Little Idea

Wing Chun’s First Form

The Goals / Benefits of Sil Lim Tao

The Forms’ Structure

Wing Chun’s third hand form

The structure of the form

Sifu Augustine Fong (Fong Chi Wing) Up close and personal

Sifu Augustine Fong (Fong Chi Wing)
Up close and personal