Wing Chun Strategy By Michael Tse

Wing Chun is one of the most popular martial arts today. However, many people still practice it wrongly, why is this? Many people forget that Wing Chun was created by a woman. Her name was Ng Moy who was a Buddhist nun. She taught another lady called, Yim Wing Chun. This is just one story of how the style got its name. There are many stories about the history of Wing Chun but this is the story that my Sigong, Grandmaster Ip Man told his students.

This story helps us to remember that if a lady wants to fight with a man, she should not try to match her strength with his. It is almost impossible for a woman to be stronger than a man. It may happen occasionally but cannot guarantee. Actually, to reach a high level in Chinese martial arts, it is waste of time trying to make ourselves super-strong.

However, today we see so many Wing Chun practitioners trying to use a lot of

strength, using fitness or weight training to build themselves to be more powerful. If we want to be good at Wing Chun Kung Fu, we must not think like this, as this only leads to grappling and wrestling. In Wing Chun, we should not try to hold on to people for too long or use force against force as this is not the right concept and actually goes against the principles for Wing Chun Kung Fu. Instead we should think that we are physically weaker than our opponent and use our strength wisely. But remember using less strength does not mean using no strength. Many people misunderstand this. When we attack, our punches, chops, palm strikes and kicks should be powerful and strong enough to stop our opponent. So how do we defend ourselves if we do not use strength? Wing Chun teaches us how to do this and this is makes Wing Chun is a high level skill.

Throughout Chinese history there have been many, many wars. Often smaller armies managed to defeat larger and stronger ones. They won because they used good strategy. Often they might pretend to be defeated and retreat to bait their enemy into a trap, attacking them when they were surrounded and had no way to escape. If we read the book Art of War by Sun Zi, he talks about using spies and said if we can know our enemy well, then we can defeat them.

In Wing Chun, when we are fighting there are certain fatal parts of the body to attack, like the head, eyes, groin, joints, throat etc. Once we start to attack these areas we will continue without stopping until we have won. This is the reason that Wing Chun is not for competitions. When we continually hit an opponent, the referee will stop us. But in a real fight there is no stopping. In competitions, if two opponents tangle together, the referee will separate them and that means the one who is losing has time to recover. With every pause, the younger and fitter person will recover. The longer the fight continues, the older opponent will be exhausted. In real fight, there are no rules. Wing Chun can help train us for a real fighting situation through Chi Sau and the forms. However, we should remember that Chi Sau is not fighting – it is a training method. We need to learn how to use the whole body, not just attacking punching and kicking. Sometimes we need to step back and not just go forward.

This is because the principle of Wing Chun is to not use force against force. We do this footwork, sensitivity and using our opponent’s energy against them. In good Wing Chun training we do not go running, do sit ups or weight training. We train our legs and our stance by standing for a very long time in Siu Lim Tao. When our legs are strong we will have good power and we will feel light and so our footwork will be fast.

In Tsum Kiu (Wing Chun’s second form) and the Wooden Dummy there is a lot of footwork training. It does not matter if your opponent has a very powerful punch or kick if we can step to the side to avoid it. Afterwards, when we contact them, we need to be able to feel their energy so we can control and divert it. Then we will use their energy against them.

To help us develop our sensitivity and learn how to use our energy correctly, we do Chi Sau. Through Chi Sau we can feel an opponent’s energy and so we do not need to grab and hold on them and therefore ending up using force. We control an opponent's energy by using the correct angle and the correct energy. We can divert an opponent's energy in different

directions (Tok Sau), pulling them (Lap Sau) to make them lose balance, or Paak Sau to create an opening. There are hundreds of Wing Chun techniques we can use but this is based upon reading an opponent’s energy. The more we know our opponent, the better we know when and how to attack them. So correct Chi Sau training is very important.

Some people will touch hands in Chi Sau and then immediately catch their partner and hit them. This is not clever skill – it just taking a chance. In the beginning both partners should follow the routine of Chi Sau for a few repetitions before they start to attack and defend. Because we are training, we do not try to hit each other seriously. Instead we must control our strikes. If we always try to beat up our training partner, eventually, no one will want to train with us and we lose the

opportunity to improve ourselves.

Through contact with our opponent, we can read their energy but we must be able to relax. The more we can relax the more we can feel their energy. Then we can make the right response. It is through practise of Siu Lim Tao we learn how to relax the body and develop Qi and calmness. If we do not have relaxation and calmness, we will not be able to 'read' our opponent and will only react. Today, this subtlety is often missing in Wing Chun training but it is one of the most crucial parts of developing a good Wing Chun foundation.

Good Wing Chun skill does not use force against force so we must divert our opponent’s attacks using many kinds of Wing Chun skills, including footwork. Chi Sau is not a competition - there is no winning or losing. Chi Sau is a training method not fighting.

The more people we do Chi Sau with, the more opportunities we have of improving ourselves. Each different partner can help us open up a different area of the skill, teaching us how to deal with things properly. No one can be good in Wing Chun without being good at Chi Sau. When our Chi Sau skill is good, then with just one touch we will know our opponent's energy and we can respond instantly and know how to handle them. When we are very good we sometimes do not even need to touch as our sensitivity has trained our instincts. When we have good footwork and position, if someone attacks us, then we can finish them with just one hit. If there are ten people, then we just need ten hits or even less to finish the situation.

Therefore the Wing Chun strategy is “Do not use force against force, use good footwork and the opponent’s energy to defend and attack them.”

Michael Tse

Tse Qigong Centre

www.tseqigongcentre.com