Wing Chun's Grandmaster Wan Kam LeungNestled in the heart of the bustling Yau Ma lei district of Kowloon, is the headquarters of one of HongKong's most respected Wing Chun Masters, Grandmaster (Sigung) Wan Kam Leung. One of the earlieststudents of the late Sigung Wong Shun Leung, he is the former Wing Chun instructor to the RoyalHong Kong Police G4 (VIP Protection Unit), a Master of qi gong and the founder of his own system,which he calls Practical Wing Chun. In this exclusive interview, Sigung Wan gave Blitz an inside look athis early days of training with such legendary figures as Sigung Wong Shun Leung and Bruce Lee, andexplained the evolution of his Practical Wing Chun system.

Inperson, Sigung Wan KamLeung cuts an impressivefigure. At 64 years old, heonly looks to be in his late40s. Fit and agile, he moves withthe energy of a man half his age.Those who have locked handswith him in training can attest thathe's possessed of a skill that somemight call extraordinary. However,while he has been called Dai Si(Great Grandmaster) he prefersthe more humble title, Sifu.

A genuine innovator, Sifu Wanhas carefully modified his style inan effort to make the techniquesof Wing Chun, widely touted for itseffectiveness at close range, evenmore practical in the modern age.Sifu Wan explained that when hewas younger, he would go outand challenge the top people fromevery other style, and sometimeshe would win, and sometimes hewould not. When he did not, hewould examine the technique thatfailed him - usually a techniquethat always worked against a fellowWing Chun man. This was thebeginning of Practical Wing Chun.

This constant evolution hasso improved the style that Sifusand students from all around theworld are travelling to Hong Kongto experience it for themselves.This has resulted in branchschools now in Australia, Germany,Denmark, Holland and France.

Sifu Wan, thank you fortalking to Blitz. First. can you tellus how and when you becameinterested in martial arts, andwhy you chose Wing Chun?

When I was young in China,around 13 years old, I witnessedlots of different styles of martialart. At that time, I did not know of

Wing Chun. In 1959, I emigratedfrom China to Hong Kong. Myolder brother introduced me toWing Chun. My first sifu was LeungSheung, Yip Man's first student.Later on, when Wong Shun Leungopened his own school, I was in thefirst group of students at the newschoo!' In the beginning I didn'tlike Wing Chun; it didn't seem veryexciting or attractive. But my brotherexplained the difference betweenapplication and appearance, andthen I could see the value in it.

Have you studied any otherstyles besides Wing Chun?

I have touched on a lot ofdifferent martial arts but I havenot studied them seriously. Bythat I mean, in Chinese culture,when a master takes on a studentseriously, they undergo a teaceremony. The master accepts thestudent and the student acceptsthe master. I underwent the teaceremony with Sigung WongShun Leung, but not with anyother teacher. That's what I meanby touching on different styles: Istudied them, but not seriously. Ionly studied Wing Chun seriously.

What is your opinion ofother styles? Is there one youparticularly like more than others?

When I was young I liked alldifferent styles of kung fu butwhen I discovered how effectiveWing Chun was, I didn't like theothers anymore.

When did you meet SigungWong Shun Leung and whatwas it like training with him?What aspects of training did heemphasise and how many yearsdid you train?

I knew Wong Shun Leungsocially, but I did not know how

to approach him. In 1960, WongShun Leung opened his ownschool, that's when I was ableto get to know him. Wong ShunLeung emphasised horse-stanceand using the waist to increasethe power of the punch. He alsoemphasised keeping the elbow infor maximum power behind thepunch. I trained with Sigung WongShun Leung for 20 years.

doing pure Wing Chun, he wasdeveloping his own style. WhenBruce's first movie came out, herang Wong Shun Leung and asked,"Did you see my movie?" WongShun Leung said, "No:' So Brucebought tickets and took us to themovies. Bruce asked Wong ShunLeung, "What do you think of mystyle?" Wong Shun Leung said,"Your kicking is very good, but

We have all heard manystories of Bruce Lee when he wasyoung. Situ, can you give us yourrecollections of training with himand tell us about the time SigungWong and Bruce fought?

He wasn't there very longbefore he left for America, so Ididn't train with him a lot butwhenever he returned to HongKong he would contact WongShun Leung, so then we got totrain together. His inside fighting,his chi-sao, was not very fast. Buthe had developed his method offighting at long range, which is notpure Wing Chun, and then he wasvery fast at closing the distance.At this time, Bruce was no longer

you are pulling your punches backfaster than you throw them:' Brucesaid, "Yes, but only for the movies.

In real life the punch has morepower going out:'

We then went back to Bruce'shouse in Kowloon Tong. He hada special room set up for training.There was a floor-to-ceiling ball- a very small ball, at about nose-height. Bruce could kick it threetimes even though it was bouncing

around. Then he picked up histowel with his foot and wipedhis face with it. Ha, Bruce liked toshow off. Wong Shun Leung andBruce then fought. Bruce was veryfast in his movements back andforth, but when he kick~d, Wong

Shun Leung stepped inside himbeautifully with tan-da (palm-upblock and punch) and controlledhis centreline. If you ask me tocompare them, I have to say theyhad their own strengths. Theywere both about the same size butBruce had a very well developedbody. When it came to kicking, Iwould say Bruce was better. Butwhen it came to fighting at closerange, Wong Shun Leung's skillwith his hands was better.

Is there anything in particularyou learned from watchingSigUllg Wong and Bruce fighting?

I learned a lot from watchingthem fighting, like defence andoffence, distance, timing andrhythm and how to apply WingChun technically to real fighting.

Can you tell us about thephoto of you and Bruce?

One day Bruce came to WongShun Leung's school to invite himto screen-test for his next movie. Ihappened to be there so he said,"Bring Wan along:' So we went toGolden Harvest Studios and WongShun Leung tested first. Then itwas my turn. We did chi-sao andfought in front of the camera.That's when the photo was taken.Shortly after that, Bruce died.Later on I did appear in one

movie called The Life and Deathof Bruce Lee.

Bruce once said, when askedabout his speed, UI have knownmany people faster than me:'Situ Wan, do you know who hewas referring too?

Bruce probably wasn't justreferring to Wing Chun. Thereare all different styles of kung fuand they all have their strengthsand weaknesses. When it comesto speed, it depends on theenvironment - who moves first.To answer your question aboutsomeone faster than Bruce, I wouldsay no, but Wong Shun Leung wasjust as fast with his hands.

Sigung Wong Shun Leungreputedly fought between 50 and60 challenge matches. Sifu Wan,can you tell us how a challengematch is conducted and if youhave fought them yourself?

No, Wong didn't fight thatmany. After Wong Shun Leungstarted teaching, he didn't acceptchallenges anymore. He wouldget myself or one of the othersihings (senior students) to fight.Wh'en Wong Shun Leung was astudent of Yip Man's, wheneverWing Chun was challenged, hewould fight the challenger. Heonce went to Taiwan to fight and

another time he went to Japan.A challenge match is conductedthis way: the two fighters signan agreement saying that if oneof them is seriously injured,they can't hold the other oneresponsible. There are three waysa challenge match can end: bya fighter being knocked out, bysurrendering, or if a fighter is toobadly injured to go on.

Is this when you started todevelop Practical Wing Chun?

No, that came later. After threeyears of training, Wong ShunLeung matched me with a boxerand I realised there was a lot I stillhad to learn. At the time, I did nothave much experience of fighting,so I thought there was more Ihad to learn about Wing Chun. Iwas always thinking of ways thatI could be better. I was only tryingto improve myself.

What was the most difficultstyle you came up against?

Every style of martial art has itsown speciality; it's how you dealwith it. For instance, you know aWing Chun man will come straighton with chain-punches, a Choy LayFut man will use circular punches,a taekwondo man will use kicks.So there is not one that is moredifficult than another.

Left: Wan works out onthe wooden dummy

Sifu Wan, when did you startteaching full-time?

I had given my word to my SifuWong Shun Leung that I woulanot open my own school while hewas alive. So I used to teach parttime at the Ving Tsun Associationin Prince Edward. Out of respectfor my sifu, I did not open my ownschool until he passed away. Thatwas in 1997.

can you explain the maindifferences between PracticalWing Chun and the other stylesof Wing Chun?

The main differences are:1) Practical Wing Chun uses five

centrelines, other styles useonly one.

2) The Practical Wing Chun stanceis a more natural, balancedone: the inside of the feet inline with the outside of theshoulders; toes not pointedin as much; legs bent at 135degrees; weight distributed50/50 on each leg; and theback kept straight.

3) Practical Wing Chun maintainsa 135-degree angle to the arms.This ensures maximum controlin all techniques and covers fourof the five centrelines.

4) The Practical Wing Chun punchis also different. It is thrown

with the elbow in and the fistangled at 45 degrees. Thisensures maximum powerbehind the punch.

5) In some other Wing Chunschools you do what yoursifu says, sometimes with noexplanation of what you aredoing, or how to apply it ina real situation. And you areonly taught one use for eachtechnique. In Practical WingChun, it's not so much aboutchanging everything, it's aboutimproving it and being ableto explain the application ofevery technique from the threeforms, so that the studentknows exactly what they aredoing, and that every techniquehas many different uses.What did Sigung Wong think

of the changes you've made?Wong Shun Leung always said,

"When you have done Wing Chunfor a long time, then your WingChun must change, because youknow more, you understand more:'History is for the past. You shouldlearn from the past but not live in it.You should always move forward.

You've just returned fromEurope, where you conducteda series of seminars for yourstudents in France, Sweden,

Denmark. Holland, Germany andthe UK. How did that go?

It went very well. I was able toshow them the true application ofWing Chun. They were adding a lotof different styles to their Wing Chunbecause they didn't understand howto apply it properly. They especiallyliked my method of punching withthe elbow in and the fist turned inat 45 degrees. They had only seenthe straight punch with the elbowout. They liked my Wing Chun andwere very supportive of it.

withdraw some money from abank. As we were getting intothe car, we were attacked bythree men with long knives. Iwas jumped from behind and

struck on the head with one ofthe knives. I spun around andused bong-sao (wing-arm block)against the next knife and grabbedhis arm. Then they got scared andran away. Their mistake was inattacking one at a time; if they hadattacked together, it might havebeen different.

In some Wing chun schools you dowhat your sifu says. sometimes w~thno explanation of what you are doang.

or how to apply it..." - Situ Wan

Sifu Wan, all martial artiststrain for that one time whenthey may have to fight for theirlife. Thankfully most of us willnever have to experience that,but you have. Can you tell usabout the incident that left youwith the scar on your arm?

A long time ago, back inthe '70s, I was helping a friend

Having survived a life-or-deathencounter, what advice wouldyou give to someone facing asimilar situation?

When they come from thefront, you have time to escape ifyou can. But when attacked frombehind, you just have to react.There is no time to think. Whatsaved me was my Wing Chun

training and experience of fighting.Because I showed confidenceand remained calm, the attackerspanicked and ran away.

In closing, what advice wouldyou give to a new student onchoosing an instructor?

When choosing a sifu, it'simportant to know the lineage ofthat sifu. When you ask a question,if the answer is not logical or hecannot answer it, you should bewary. Kung fu is not a father-to-son thing; just because the fatherwas good at kung fu, doesn'tmean the son is. It's about theeffort the person has put in tolearn it properly. A new studentdoes not know how to tell if asifu is good or not, so they haveto go by reputation. If a sifu has agood reputation, then you shouldbe alright. Remember, it's betterto learn and understand one stylecompletely, than to learn bits andpieces of lots of styles.

About the author: Graeme Greenhas been a martial artist for 33years, having trained in judo,tai chi, karate, Muay Thai andboxing. He has been a Wing Chunexponent for 22 years and currentlytrains under Sifu Alan Graham inPractical Wing Chun. fJ/LJNJC.

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Fight tips with Brazilian 6th DanProf. ~!JrgePerei~a.