Although the Wing Chun I study comes from Yip Man in his later years in Hong Kong, I have recently visited and trained at another club, who come from a very different lineage. They trace their lineage back to Lun Gai, the first student of Yip Man in Foshan, bafore he fled to Hong Kong.
The main differences I noticed was that they placed more emphasis on the physical side of training, for instance the warm up was much more intense, involving press ups and such. The Hong Kong style is much more yielding to force, whereas looking at the Foshan style you can see how a younger Yip Man would have practiced, putting much more emphasis on power and directness.
Also looking at the forms the first thing I noticed was that whereas in Hong Kong style we place most of the emphasis on correct angles and positions, their emphasis was placed on the development of power. Also their forms were more flowery, ours looks more refined.
Also I noticed that they placed more emphasis on footwork drills than we do, when we practice Chi Gurk it is a freeflowing exercise similar to Chi Sau, whereas they practiced set drills more akin to Dan Chi Sau/Lap Sau. Whereas we practice more Chi Sau and set drills to ensure correct positions, they seemed to practice more sparring and grappling type exercises. The Foshan style also used a lot of armlocks as well, which we do not.
So to conclude I feel that from attending this other class I feel it has given me a greater understanding of Wing Chun, enabling me to see how Yip Man progressed through his life. I would not like to say that either style is better, only that they both reflect different aspects of the art. It is evident how Yip Man liked to simplify things, as looking at the Foshan Wing Chun it is much more traditional, Hong Kong Wing Chun appears more practical and faster to learn. The Foshan Wing Chun however does seem to have a much larger syllabus, incorporating a larger variety of techniques and applications of things.
Saturday 20 January 2007
Friday 19 January 2007
What is Wing Chun
What is Wing Chun
Wing Chun is a type of Chinese martial art that dates back about 400 years. It is classified as a type of Kung Fu, which is a Cantonese term used to describe a skill aquired over a long period of time. This may refer to cooking, drawin, playing a musical intrument etc. So in China someone who has worked hard and has aquired a sufficient level of skill in something is said to have good Kung Fu. The term as understood in the west is almost always used to describe Chinese martial arts, which the correct term for this would actually be either Wu Shu (martial art) or Chuan Fa (fist skills).
Wing Chun translates as Everlasting/Beautiful Springtime. This denotes a thinking mans martial art and as we know Spring is a time of growth and development and so the name suggests that with Wing Chun we are always growing and developing, never stagnant and resting on our laurels. It was started by Ng Moi, a female Shaolin Nun who survived the destruction of the temple. When she fled she took refuge in a town in Canton province where she met a man called Yim Yee who had a daughter called Yim Wing Chun. Ng Moi had developed her Shaolin to a new level, no longer confined by the temple she was free to chip away at her system until she came to the roots of it and then built it back up, with none of the previous set routines and dead techniques in it. She worked from the fact that as a woman she was not physically strong and so had to use her structure and the opponents own force to defeat them. So she taught it to Yim Wing Chun, whos husband, Leung Bok Chau, named it after her when she died.
Through the generations it got passed on to a man named Leung Jan, who was a famous herbal doctor in the town of Faatsan (Foshan). He took the art to a new level and broke it down into three levels characterised by three set patterns known as Siu Lim Tao (way of little idea), Chum Kiu (searching for the bridge) and Biu Jee (thrusting fingers); and a set on the wooden dummy (Mook Yan Jong Fat), a training device simulating an opponent. He bacame very famous for his skill in challenge matches and passed his art on to his 2 sons, Leung Chun & Leung Bik and a disciple named Chan Wah Shun.
Chan Wah Shun was a very big man who was physically strong and his art reflected that. Not being educated he explained things in the common mans simplistic language. His most famous student was a young rich kid by the name of Yip Man.
Yip Man moved to Hong Kong to attend college there and 1 day saw a policeman beating up an old lady, he helped the lady and one of his friends knew an old man who was interested in seeing what Yip Man could do. So Yip Man went ot see the old man who looked at his Kung Fu and said it was crap. Yip Man was so angry he tried to defeat the old man and couldnt. He later found out the old man was none other than Leung Bik, son of his Sigung (teachers teacher), Leung Jan. So Leung Bik was much smaller and more educated than Chan Wah Shun and taught him a more advanced and refined version of the art.
Yip Man later moved back to Faatsan for many years until the Communists took over China and persectued the people.Yip Man fled like many others to Hong Kong as it was owned by the British at least their lives were safe. At first he didnt want to teach, but then necessity caused him to do it to make a living. Many of his students were parts of gangs and went out and tested their skills on the streets against all kinds of opponents. One of his students was Li Jun Fan who moved to America and became the movie star Bruce Lee.
When Yip Man died many people tried and still try to cash in on his legacy, using the fact they were trained by him to make money. Also Yip Man taught every student differently due to build, education, character etc so Wing Chun is now so diverse that everyone argues over who has the true Wing Chun.
I personally believe that what is more important is the experiences that each master through the generations has added to the core philosophies compiled by Ng Moi. So what we practice now will look different to how it was done before, and everyone will practice differently as they have different experiences governing their art.
Wing Chun is a type of Chinese martial art that dates back about 400 years. It is classified as a type of Kung Fu, which is a Cantonese term used to describe a skill aquired over a long period of time. This may refer to cooking, drawin, playing a musical intrument etc. So in China someone who has worked hard and has aquired a sufficient level of skill in something is said to have good Kung Fu. The term as understood in the west is almost always used to describe Chinese martial arts, which the correct term for this would actually be either Wu Shu (martial art) or Chuan Fa (fist skills).
Wing Chun translates as Everlasting/Beautiful Springtime. This denotes a thinking mans martial art and as we know Spring is a time of growth and development and so the name suggests that with Wing Chun we are always growing and developing, never stagnant and resting on our laurels. It was started by Ng Moi, a female Shaolin Nun who survived the destruction of the temple. When she fled she took refuge in a town in Canton province where she met a man called Yim Yee who had a daughter called Yim Wing Chun. Ng Moi had developed her Shaolin to a new level, no longer confined by the temple she was free to chip away at her system until she came to the roots of it and then built it back up, with none of the previous set routines and dead techniques in it. She worked from the fact that as a woman she was not physically strong and so had to use her structure and the opponents own force to defeat them. So she taught it to Yim Wing Chun, whos husband, Leung Bok Chau, named it after her when she died.
Through the generations it got passed on to a man named Leung Jan, who was a famous herbal doctor in the town of Faatsan (Foshan). He took the art to a new level and broke it down into three levels characterised by three set patterns known as Siu Lim Tao (way of little idea), Chum Kiu (searching for the bridge) and Biu Jee (thrusting fingers); and a set on the wooden dummy (Mook Yan Jong Fat), a training device simulating an opponent. He bacame very famous for his skill in challenge matches and passed his art on to his 2 sons, Leung Chun & Leung Bik and a disciple named Chan Wah Shun.
Chan Wah Shun was a very big man who was physically strong and his art reflected that. Not being educated he explained things in the common mans simplistic language. His most famous student was a young rich kid by the name of Yip Man.
Yip Man moved to Hong Kong to attend college there and 1 day saw a policeman beating up an old lady, he helped the lady and one of his friends knew an old man who was interested in seeing what Yip Man could do. So Yip Man went ot see the old man who looked at his Kung Fu and said it was crap. Yip Man was so angry he tried to defeat the old man and couldnt. He later found out the old man was none other than Leung Bik, son of his Sigung (teachers teacher), Leung Jan. So Leung Bik was much smaller and more educated than Chan Wah Shun and taught him a more advanced and refined version of the art.
Yip Man later moved back to Faatsan for many years until the Communists took over China and persectued the people.Yip Man fled like many others to Hong Kong as it was owned by the British at least their lives were safe. At first he didnt want to teach, but then necessity caused him to do it to make a living. Many of his students were parts of gangs and went out and tested their skills on the streets against all kinds of opponents. One of his students was Li Jun Fan who moved to America and became the movie star Bruce Lee.
When Yip Man died many people tried and still try to cash in on his legacy, using the fact they were trained by him to make money. Also Yip Man taught every student differently due to build, education, character etc so Wing Chun is now so diverse that everyone argues over who has the true Wing Chun.
I personally believe that what is more important is the experiences that each master through the generations has added to the core philosophies compiled by Ng Moi. So what we practice now will look different to how it was done before, and everyone will practice differently as they have different experiences governing their art.
Friday 5 January 2007
The 4 Elements of Chi Sau:PERT
To help with our Chi Sau training and development we tend to break it down into 4 areas of training. These are not levels which you progress through, rather they are all inter-dependant of each other and are parts of a whole. So in order of being hardest to grasp they are:
Position refers not to hand positions, but your position in relation to your opponent, eg at 45*, square on, at the side etc. This is the hardest to grasp, but once understood you can see the different options from different angles. This is very important, because without an understanding of the various angles you can utilize, you will be merely crashing in down centre and probably onto the opponents flurry of attacks. In Wing Chun we make an effort to be on the "outside", which refers to the outside of the opponents body. This is important because from the outside we have covered both the opponents arms with our one. If we stop a punch on the inside then we still have to think about the other hand which could attack us. However sometimes we must go on the inside, in which case we should stay there as it is faster to counter immediately than to move to the outside, then counter.
Position refers not to hand positions, but your position in relation to your opponent, eg at 45*, square on, at the side etc. This is the hardest to grasp, but once understood you can see the different options from different angles. This is very important, because without an understanding of the various angles you can utilize, you will be merely crashing in down centre and probably onto the opponents flurry of attacks. In Wing Chun we make an effort to be on the "outside", which refers to the outside of the opponents body. This is important because from the outside we have covered both the opponents arms with our one. If we stop a punch on the inside then we still have to think about the other hand which could attack us. However sometimes we must go on the inside, in which case we should stay there as it is faster to counter immediately than to move to the outside, then counter.
Energy refers to your Chi and how well you can focus it. Now this may sound a bit esoteric for some, but it is not. Chi in Chinese can be translated as several things: air, breath, energy, force, the cosmos etc. So what we are refering to here is the cultivation of correct usage of force or energy. This is developed through several means: practicing Siu Lim Tao slowly, repeatedly practicing basics, weapons and of course Chi Sau. In Chi Sau you should use energy only when needed, or you will become tense and lose the point of training. You should never meet force with resistance, but rather by yielding to it and redirecting it away. This is why a good Wing Chun person should feel soft and hard to grasp hold of, yet immensely powerful when required in Chi Sau.
Reaction is trained through Chi Sau and through various drills. In Chi Sau we train our sensitivity to touch, so that once we have got the first contact, then we can react much faster than if we rely on sight, in which case our brain must analyise the data and then react ot it. Eventually it will appear that your reations are so fast it will seem almost telepathic. This is not true, it is only because as Bruce Lee said "from your thought to your fist how much time is lost!!" What he means here is that when you decide to attack you have to think and then do it, by which time your Chi Sau partner will have already reacted because he did it out of instinct by training it over and over again. So that is why in Chi Sau we should think defensively so that we dont just charge in blindly, instead we just feel the partners movement and when a gap appears we intinctively strike through it. There is a saying in Wing Chun that goes "receive what comes, follow what goes, when the hand is free, thrust forward" or as Bruce Lee said in Enter the Dragon "When my opponent expands, I contract, when he contracts, I expand, and when there is an opportunity I do not hit, 'it' hits all by itself".
Technique is the only one that can be shown, the rest come from practice and cannot be learnt by books or DVDs. Technique refers to the correct way hold your body. Body and arm structure are vitally important to receive and to give force. If our structures are weak, then we will literally collapse under pressure, also we cannot exert as much power oursleves. We always begin by learning the correct techniques and then correct energy will develop and the nwe can learn application, when position and reaction will come into play so that the four are united as a whole.
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