ONE VOICE ALL LINEAGES ISSUE 33

Philip Ng
WING CHUN ACTION STAR

Liz Parry Alan Lamb

EYES BEAMING WITH COURAGE REMEMBERING KOO SANG SIFU

How Good is Your Wing Chun? Maintaining Your Boundaries

LEAVE YOUR COMFORT ZONE TO FIND OUT THEY CAN’T HIT WHAT THEY CAN’T REACH

www.wingchunillustrated.com
Precision Wing Chun™
and Eight Ways to Cross the Bridge
from Combat Chi Sau by Sifu Greg Tupper

Here are two facts that all Wing Chun lineages have in common:

Lut Sau, or balancing while rolling, is made up of only three hands;

Taan Sau, Fok Sau and Bong Sau.

When one or more of these hands is not balanced against the

opponent’s hands, the offending hand(s) will either be too strong
(yang) or too weak (yin).

Precision Wing Chun is not about any one lineage’s view of Wing Chun.
It doesn’t care who your teacher is. It doesn’t care about race. It does
teach you precise human movement.

You can get Greg Tupper’s books from www.WingChunSource.com

 Everything you need for your
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® “Everything Wing Chun” is a registered trademark of Everything Wing Chun, LLC. All rights reserved.
section

features
12 HOW GOOD IS YOUR WING CHUN?
Leave Your Comfort Zone to Find Out
By Martin Murphy

Sifus in Hong Kong and Europe have been holding open

competitions in Chi Sau, free fighting, and forms to test
practitioners’ skills. While still a work in progress, their
aim is to capture the true nature of Wing Chun fighting.

20 REMEMBERING KOO SANG SIFU

By Alan Lamb

Sifu Lamb reminisces about his training in Hong Kong

with his late Sifu, probably best known in the Wing
Chun community for his Wooden Dummies; however,
his weapons techniques were superb, and he was held in
high esteem by his contemporaries in Hong Kong.

38 STANLEY JUE
Wing Chun’s Hidden Master
By Dr. Robert Chu

Stanley Jue is Boston’s premiere Pin Sun Wing Chun

practitioner. Focused on the practical aspects and the
ability to use the forms and drills in application, WCI staff
writer, Dr. Robert Chu, interviews Sifu Jue for his insights.

46 LIZ PARRY
Eyes Beaming with Courage
By Mia Velez

Sifu Liz Parry talks about her journey and the courage it
takes to persevere and become an influential Sifu in the
Moy Yat Ving Tsun system.

52 ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS

IN FOCUS
REALISTIC?
By Tony Massengill

Often, Wing Chun practitioners develop a false sense of

security, believing exaggerated stories of how lethal

28 PHILIP NG Wing Chun is, without examining these stories under

the microscope of common sense. This problem is often
Wing Chun Action Star
By David Peterson exasperated by unrealistic training methods.

Known as an accomplished martial artist from a long-standing and respected

Chicago-based martial arts family, Sifu Philip Ng is highly regarded in the
Hong Kong film and television industry, where he has been making a name for
himself since the early 2000s. Philip has recently received great praise for his
co-starring role in the very popular TVB action series, A Fist Within Four
reviews
Walls, which broke records in Hong Kong and throughout Asia. Earlier this
year, he completed work on Birth of the Dragon, a Hollywood studio film 54 IN PRINT
about the young Bruce Lee, in which Philip plays the lead role. Philip recently
took time out of his busy schedule to sit down with his Sihing, David Peterson,
to chat about his career, his goals, and his deep connection to WSL Ving
56 SCREEN FIGHTING
Tsun Kuen Hok.
58 SCREEN EDUCATIONAL
Cover photo David Lee ISSUE 33
 contents
ONE VOICE

ONE VOICE

ONE VOICE
ALL LINEAGES

ALL LINEAGES

ALL LINEAGES ISSUE 33

12
departments
columns 06 BODY STRUCTURE
The Wing Chun Stance
By Dr. Robert Chu
16 SECOND NATURE
Maintaining Your Boundaries Many Wing Chun lineages have widened stances. The
They Can’t Hit What They Can’t Reach Yee Ji Kim Yeung Ma has its origins in the Ping Jian
By Wayne Belonoha 16 Dang of Emei 12 Zhuang. What may have been a
correction may have become distorted, with these crippling
Understanding and protecting your boundaries are two of
“orthopaedic” corrections.
the most important keys to consistently winning a fight.
With the knowledge from this article, you will have the
tools you need to train purposefully and grow your skills. 08 THE INQUISITIVE HAND
Why is it so Hard to be Soft?

24 MOON POINTING FINGER By Alan Gibson

Make Wing Chun Your Slave… Not Your Master!
By David Peterson
Don’t mess with Wing Chun and try to reinvent the
wheel; do everything you can to understand, train,
and apply it in all circumstances!
34 KEEPING IT SIMPLE
Teaching and Learning is Always Backwards
By Shaun Rawcliffe
We all know teaching can be challenging and remember
how difficult it was learning a new technique, but why?
The discussion about hard vs. soft actions or internal vs.
external Gung Fu is frequently misunderstood. However,
24 both ways have their place in the continuing development
and understanding of our Wing Chun.
10 BUILT UPON FUNCTION
Deliberate Practice
The Gold Standard in Learning Anything
By Mark Hobbs
Sifu Hobbs shares the latest research on practice and
50 learning, and explores how we can apply it to Wing
Chun to build reliable expertise.

42 THE INNER CIRCLE 46

Sae Hok Wing Chun
By Jim Roselando Jr.

The art of Sae Hok Wing Chun has gained significant

popularity in recent years. For this issue, Sifu Roselando
talks to Sifu Mok Wai Keung to gain a deeper insight into
this rare Wing Chun lineage.

50 THE STRAIGHT LEAD

Having No Way as Way
Jeet Kune Do Tactics
By Jason Korol

Everyone knows Lee said, “Be Like Water” and “Have No

Way as Way.” What’s less known is these were exhortations
for the JKD fighter to develop devious and cunning tactics
in which to apply his simple, direct and few techniques.

www.wingchunillustrated.com 3
 editorial
WELCOME TO THE THIRTY-THIRD EDITION of Wing Chun
Illustrated. It has been another exciting year for WCI.
Earlier this year, we published Sifu David Peterson’s
latest book, WSL Ving Tsun Kuen Hok: An Overview
in the Form of Essays, which quickly turned into a
bestseller. A few months ago, we launched our “Video on
Demand” service (wciondemand.com) and released
the long-awaited documentary, Wong Shun Leung:
The King of Talking Hands, and its companion film,
The Art of Wong Shun Leung: A Ving Tsun Journey.
This year had a huge surprise in store for me as the
World Ving Tsun Association (WVTA) inducted me
into the WVTA Hall of Fame as “Sifu of the Year”!
A huge thanks must go to all our readers and advertisers and, last but not least, the
entire WCI team for their continued support throughout the past year. We wish one
and all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
This year, we’ve unfortunately seen a lot of famous faces pass away, but fortunately for
us, their legacy lives on through their music, films and performances. Sadly, in November,
the Wing Chun community saw three admired and respected Sifus pass away: Sifu
Robert Vogel Sr., Sifu Joseph Man and Sifu Cheng Moy For. Our deepest condolences
to their families, friends and students. May they rest in peace.
On a happier note, David Peterson sat down with Sifu Philip Ng for this issue’s cover
feature to chat about his career, his goals, and his deep connection to WSL Ving Tsun
Kuen Hok. Philip recently completed work on the Hollywood studio film, Birth of the
Dragon, in which he plays the lead role as Bruce Lee. He has received great praise for
his co-starring role in the very popular TVB action series, A Fist Within Four Walls,
which broke records in Hong Kong and throughout Asia.
Philip is a multi-talented, hardworking guy, in front and behind the camera, as well as
a skilled martial artist, who, despite his well-deserved success, has remained humbled
with both his feet firmly on the ground. I’m honoured to feature my WSLVT brother on
this issue’s cover!
And so, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays to all of you, dear
readers. Whether your faith observes Christmas, or if you practise any religion, the
holiday season is still a time we can celebrate what is important in our lives with the
people we love.
See you next issue… One Voice. All Lineages.
Eric Lilleør, Editor-in-Chief
P.S. If you happen to read this issue on a smart device, don’t forget that WCI is also
available in PRINT! Digital might be convenient, but who doesn’t love the smell of a
crisp, freshly printed magazine? You can order our Print Editions here:
www.magcloud.com/user/wingchunillustrated
this issue’s contributors
[PAGE 6, 38] DR. ROBERT CHU is internationally known in Wing Chun and Acupuncture
circles, specialising in body structure methods. He is the co-author of Complete Wing
Chun and has been featured in Masters Magazine, Inside Kung Fu, Black Belt, UK’s
Martial Arts Illustrated, and other publications. www.chusaulei.com • [PAGE 8]
ALAN GIBSON is renowned as a leading author of Wing Chun educational books and
films. He founded The Wing Chun Federation in 1990 to promote the development of
Wing Chun in both a relaxed and positive atmosphere. Alan’s popular seminars are
always in demand. www.wingchun.org.uk • [PAGE 10] MARK HOBBS is a student
of Master Lun Gai, Ip Man’s first student in China, and Master Hung Nguyen,
Vietnamese Wing Chun. Renowned for getting Wing Chun functional in the MMA cage,
he is the Head Coach at Kinetics Fight Academy (www.teamkfa.co.uk), co-owner of
Fusion Fighting Championship, Wing Chun Online University (www.wingchunou.com),
and Pagoda Imports. www.woodendummies.co.uk • [PAGE 12] MARTIN MURPHY
is a former US diplomat and a freelance writer currently living in Hong Kong. He started
training Wing Chun in 2005, and has been studying with Sifu Donald Mak since back
in 2009. Martin took home a silver medal at the 2012 1st Hong Kong International
Wing Chun Cup. www.hongkongreporting.com • [PAGE 16] WAYNE BELONOHA is
a certified instructor of the Ip Man/Moy Yat/Sunny Tang Wing Chun lineage, he is the
author of the best-selling Wing Chun Compendium series of books, and is currently the
flagship instructor at the Wing Chun University™ (WingChunUniversity.com) with his
comprehensive video series. www.waiskungfu.com • [PAGE 20] ALAN LAMB moved
to London in 1968 to study Wing Chun, first with Paul Lamb, then with Joseph Cheng.
Finally, he studied under Koo Sang, one of Ip Man’s most knowledgeable disciples in
Hong Kong; he graduated in 1974 to become the world’s first non-Asian to master the
system. www.alanlambwingchun.com • [PAGE 24, 28, 56] DAVID PETERSON is a
direct student of the late Sifu Wong Shun Leung and is well-known for his books,
DVDs, and many published articles on the Wing Chun (Ving Tsun) system. He is an
in-demand seminar presenter all over the world and he is the Principal Instructor of
WSL Ving Tsun Combat Science Malaysia. www.wslwingchun.my • [PAGE 34]
SHAUN RAWCLIFFE is a former professional bodyguard who began training in Wing
Chun during 1979, mainly to supplement his unarmed combat skills. Since 1989, he
has studied under Ip Chun in Hong Kong and is one of only 20 instructors in the world to
be certified by Ip Chun to teach and represent him. www.wingchun.co.uk • [PAGE 42]
JIM ROSELANDO JR. is a disciple by ceremony of Sifu Henry Mui and Master Fung
Chun in the art of Pin Sun Wing Chun boxing. Jim’s Kulo Boxing Association is the HQ
for Pin Sun Wing Chun in the US. His Kulo DVD, eBooks and plethora of articles have
become true classics in the Wing Chun world. www.parkavewellness.com • [PAGE
46] MIA VELEZ has been a disciple of GM Pete Pajil since 2006. She is a co-founder
and organiser of the International MYVT Kung Fu Sisters’ Retreats. As a certified Yoga
Instructor, a Biologist and a Naturopathic Practitioner (under the guidance of her Sifu ),
Mia combines her knowledge of healing and biological mechanisms to create an
intuitive approach to transmitting Ving Tsun Kung Fu. www.vingtsunsumfot.org •
[PAGE 50] JASON KOROL is a leading authority in Jeet Kune Do and Wing Chun, an
author of two books on the arts he teaches, and has been featured numerous times
on TV and in Empire Media’s Mastering Wing Chun series. He is a Senior Instructor in
the Ip Man Wing Chun Union and the co-founder of Cornerstone JKD along with Ted
Wong’s student Jonathan Parsons. www.cornerstonejkd.com • [PAGE 52] TONY
MASSENGILL is an instructor in the Ip Man family lineage, and is well-known for his
books, DVDs, articles and seminars. His background in public safety (Police/Fire/EMS)
has provided him unique experience in the area of Real World Application Based
training. He is the director of the Ip Man Wing Chun Union. www.IpManWingChun.com •
[PAGE 54] LAFAYETTE HARRIS began training in martial arts in the mid 1980s.
Lafayette is a senior student and instructor of Sifu Tony Massengill in the Ip Man family
lineage. He has been featured in Empire Media’s Wing Chun Combat Chin Na, Wing
Chun Close Range Combat and Wing Chun Training Drills DVDs. Lafayette is currently
teaching in Hampton Roads, VA. www.efficientwarrior.com • [PAGE 58] DWIGHT
HENNINGS is the Head Coach of S3VT: System/Science/Skills Ving Tsun (WSLVT) of
Toronto, Canada, and is recognised by the WSLSA. Dwight has formally trained under
Sifu Lawrence Leung Chee Sing since 1996, and is continuing to evolve his skills
under the guidance of esteemed WSLVT international instructors. www.S3VT.com

Editor-in-Chief Editorial submissions website, please contact Eric Lilleør: of this publication may be copied
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MUI FA PUBLISHING are only interested in material that Fa Publishing. The opinions the express written permission of
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4 ISSUE 33
 Mui Fa Publishing proudly present
the new MUST-HAVE book by world-renowned
WSL Ving Tsun Kuen Hok teacher and author
Sifu David Peterson.
A whopping 336 pages, fully illustrated with rare and
never-before-published photos, in both colour and black-and-white!
WSL Ving Tsun Kuen Hok
An Overview in the Form of Essays
By David Peterson
“Sihing David Peterson’s writing style and the
way he illustrates things are extremely clear
and easy to understand.”
Sifu John Wong Hong Chung
Son of the late Wong Shun Leung
In this inspiring, comprehensive
and knowledge-packed new book,
Sifu Peterson offers a unique and
detailed insight into the entire
WSL Ving Tsun Kuen Hok method,
exploring the forms, concepts,
techniques and drills as taught by
the late Sifu Wong Shun Leung.
336 full-colour pages • 8.25" x 10.75" • Casewrap hardcover
Also available in economical B&W hardcover and
paperback editions, as well as digitally for iOS, Android,
Kindle Fire and Web.
Order your copy today for worldwide delivery.
www.wslvtkhbook.com
“If this book is your first introduction to the
ideas of Ving Tsun Gung Fu master Wong Shun
Leung, you are very fortunate, as you are
about to find wisdom in a simple, direct and
efficient approach to combat.”
Sifu Philip Ng
WSLVT instructor
Star of Bruce Lee biopic Birth of the Dragon
 body structure

The Wing Chun Stance

BY DR. ROBERT CHU PHOTOS ANDY TRAN

“A bit less than shoulder width” is very

Yee Ji Kim Yeung Ma
different from the wider stances of
today. Many Wing Chun Kuen lineages
descended from Ip Man have widened
the base and practice a larger frame of
the Yee Ji Kim Yeung Ma and the Chum
Kiu Ma. Yet, in the older systems of Yik
Kam, Yuen Kay Shan, Law Family Sae
Hok Wing Chun Kuen, Pao Fa Lien,
Yiu Choy and Gualo Wing Chun Kuen
systems, the frame and width of the Yee
Ji Kim Yeung Ma has remained small.

What is known, today, in Wing Chun

Kuen as Yee Ji Kim Yeung Ma has its
origins in the Ping Jian Dang (平肩襠)
of Emei 12 Zhuang. Ping Jian Dang is
translated as “Equal Shoulder Stance”
in English, but if we analyse the
characters, it is composed of three
characters: Ping, meaning “level”,
“equal”, or “even”; Jian, referring to the
“shoulders”, Dang, referring to the
“crotch”, implying the space between
the legs or a “stance.” Altogether, it is a
stance with the width of the shoulders
from top to bottom.  

Ping Jian Dang later became known,

colloquially in the Southeast, as the Yee
Ji Kim Yeung Ma with different
characters (二字钳陽馬), which can be
translated in English as the “Parallel
(Legs) Clamping/Pinching of the Yang
Channels.” Yee Ji is referring to the
“parallel legs” or “parallel feet” position,
with toes pointing forward. The Yang
Channels refer to the three Yang
Channels of the leg, including the
Stomach, Gall Bladder and Urinary
Bladder. These three channels run
IN IP MAN’S 1972 INTERVIEW IN NEW MARTIAL HERO MAGAZINE, down the front to lateral to posterior
portions of the leg and foot and would
HE DESCRIBES THE YEE JI KIM YEUNG MA AS, “ONE FIXATES TO
make an ancient “suction cup” with
THE GROUND BY SPREADING LEGS TO A BIT LESS THAN SHOULDER both feet. In Wing Chun Kuen, we do
WIDTH AND THEN SITS DOWN ON AN ‘INVISIBLE CHAIR’.” not put weight on the arches of the foot.

6 ISSUE 33

To the untrained ear, the Yee Ji Kim
Yeung Ma terms are homophones, but
the ramifications are evident.
The feet have long been thought to be
internally rotated to form the Chinese
character Baat (八). However, if one
looks at the position of the toes and
heels, one can imagine the Yee (二)
character. In the ancient Wing Chun
Ping Jian Dang of the 1840s, breathing
is more relaxed and deeper when toes
are out, or straight ahead, and being more
open, loose, light, then Qi and blood
flows easier. Toes out, or external
rotation of the feet, is also the Yee (二)
character, as it is the heel making one
line and the toes making the longer
horizontal line.
Because the toes can be straight ahead
or slightly outwards, the stance will be
less tight, rigid, and stagnated, and one
will experience more awareness, and
better use action/reaction force flow
with the relaxed sensitivity through the
body and arms. This is ideal in close-
quarters sticking body, short striking
method for which Wing Chun Kuen
is famous.
Because of the changes due to necessity
of civil war of the Tai Ping period, Wing
Chun Kuen became an art necessary to
teach fast and apply quickly. The stance
became parallel leg with both feet pointed
forward and with less training in the
internal methods. Perhaps, to combat
the common Chinese habit to stand in
Wai Ba Zi (外八字, “External Character
Eight”), a characteristic overly external
rotation of the feet, the stance was
changed to be a more toe-in position to
allow for a straight position while under
stress, just as the elbows were forced to
clamp inwards to protect the lower
abdomen and rib cage.
In Southern China, the saying, Gerk Kim
Yeung, Sau Kim Jang (“Legs Clinch the
Sheep, Hands Clinch Elbows”) became
well-known. The imagery to clinch a sheep
was a common sight for farmers and
shepherds. This was to overcompensate
www.wingchunillustrated.com
body structure
for the diseases of turning the feet out
too much or to maintain close-in elbow
positions to ward off the disease of
“flying elbow” in close-quarters fighting.
Fei Jang, or flying elbow, refers to
elbows flaring out in a posture. It’s
common in Tai Chi, but a disease in
Wing Chun Kuen.
What may have been a correction to a
few, because of poor mechanics, may
have become distorted as proper. As I’ve
observed over the years, there has been
an evolution to turn the feet in too much
and lock the Yee Ji Kim Yeung Ma and
sit in a rigid posture, placing the knees
together too closely, devoid of flexibility,
looseness and flexibility to transfer
power from the ground up or down. In
addition, the elbow position has locked
to maintain it to a fixed fist and a half
distance from the torso and over-rotating
the arm towards the centreline. These
two “orthopaedic” corrections have now
left Wing Chun Kuen crippled!
In structure, there is a lot of holding
tension in the body in these methods.
Although it seems strong, it is not full
potential because of holding tension.
Holding is stagnant, inflexible, unhealthy
and un-relaxed. Breathing is shallow in
this way. Because one is breathing with
the chest, one runs out of wind faster.
Without being relaxed, one is less apt to
be sensitive and feel. This would lead to
a more externally oriented Wing Chun
Kuen, more efficient at a longer range,
as momentum is needed to generate
Ping Jian Dang
force in their strikes, with less emphasis
on sensitivity.
Without being Instead of holding onto it, one must let
go of holding structure, relax, and keep
the body loose. This allows Qi and blood
relaxed, one is to flow and heal the body. In this manner,
the Qi of the Yin Channels will ascend,
less apt to be and the Qi of the Yang Channels will
descend in the stance, but without proper
sensitive and feel. training, one cannot attain this.
For more information about Sifu Robert Chu,
please visit: www.acuchu.com
7
 the inquisitive hand
Why is it so Hard to be Soft?
BY ALAN GIBSON PHOTOS ALAN GIBSON
THE DISCUSSION ABOUT HARD VS. SOFT ACTIONS OR INTERNAL VS.
EXTERNAL GUNG FU IS FREQUENTLY MISUNDERSTOOD. HOWEVER, BOTH
WAYS HAVE THEIR PLACE IN THE CONTINUING DEVELOPMENT AND
UNDERSTANDING OF OUR WING CHUN.
My endeavours into the world of martial
arts began at the age of about 18, with
Goju Ryu Karate. Apparently, Goju Ryu
translates roughly as “the hard and soft
way.” At the time, I asked my teacher
about the meaning of hard/soft and how
this applied to fighting, and he told me to
defend soft if the attack was hard and
vice versa. He also said we should bend
like the willow, not be strong like the
oak; this advice was suitably oriental
sounding and esoteric; however, as far
8 ISSUE 33
as I could see, my teacher was pretty
much hard all the time in all of his
actions. Consequently, the concept
remained vague and somewhat
unattainable to me in practical terms.
When I discovered Wing Chun, I was
again met with the idea of taking the
path of least resistance and going with
the force. Initially, I understood that if
forces were too great, you could release
them through your arms and use the
opponent’s force, to some extent,
against them.
It took quite a lot of time before I
understood that, by utilising the posture
and stance to a greater extent, it was
possible to shift the centre or the whole
body out of the path of an attack (like a
rotating cylinder) and recycle incoming
forces this way. However, this was not
always easy to perform under pressure
when my opponent was not helping me,
or against a fighting style not employing
Wing Chun-type actions. Let’s face it,
most of the time, you would not be
expecting to fight someone else from
Wing Chun, so why would you always
train that way.
Nowadays, I understand the body moves
as if two separate cylinders, one on top
of the other. The waist can move
independently from the shoulders, subtly
shifting the centre, without telegraphing
the intention via the shoulders. The lower
limbs and footwork do all the work, not
so much the arms. The shoulders do not
press; the waist does, allowing the arms
to relax. The arms do not spring forward;
the whole body does. The striking force
is amplified because the whole body is
moving as one unit, and the base is
pressing from the root.
It is stated that all Wing Chun actions
can be performed in a hard (external)
or soft (internal) way, and this is typical
of many Chinese martial arts. A very
good example to demonstrate this concept
would be Paak Sau. In Siu Nim Tau,
the sideways movements, coming from
the centre, to the edge of the body and
back are not Paak Sau but Juk Jeung
and Gon Sau. Paak Sau is actually a
variant of Wu Sau and is shown in
Cham Kiu and in the Dummy form.
Also, we know all the actions in the
 the inquisitive hand

forms should be performed in a dynamic,

springy, relaxed manner, emphasising
power from the ground via the waist
and elbow. Actions should not be stiff or
held out strongly; they should be sprung
back to a neutral position (as they
would be in use).

Paak Sau is never demonstrated as a

forward action in the forms; yet, this is
sometimes the way it is taught to be
used in training. It can be employed to
shock an opponent’s frame and disrupt
a stiff structure, but you need to be
stronger or more aggressive than your
enemy for this to work. Also, a skilled
opponent can exploit any stiff or forceful
actions and use excessive force against
you. However, Wing Chun is stated as a
method that enables smaller, weaker
people to overcome larger, stronger
people. So, thinking in these terms, we
can show a more effective method is to If my punch is more relaxed, it can
use Gon Sau as a soft (internal) technique.
You will need to shift the waist and
allow the force to miss your centre,
change shape without affecting my intent
enabling you to move in close to strike
with the whole body force and disrupt or my body’s balance and direction.
with your posture effectively.
will try to strike me back. If my punch So, after about 35 years of asking
I once naively asked Ip Chun what his is more relaxed, it can change shape questions, experimentation, training
father’s favourite technique was; he without affecting my intent or my body’s and evolution, I am finally seeing the
replied it was a punch on the nose! At balance and direction; this can enable me light! That elusive, magical, mystical
the time, I found this surprising; however, to get closer. When I am close enough, ingredient I have been searching for is
now, I understand more clearly. After all, I will be stronger and able to disrupt my revealing itself to me. I continue to have
even the most fundamental of techniques, enemy. This will make them weaker, wonderful Eureka moments, but more
like the punch, can be performed in a less skilled, more susceptible, and and more, I understand why Gung Fu
hard or soft way. If I am confident that I vulnerable to my subsequent attacks. translates as Skill Made Over Time.
am stronger (and more skilled) than my
opponent, I can simply march forward There is a saying about Chinese Gung Understanding and acquiring all these
and smash my way through their Fu: First Bravery, then Power, then skills took me a long time and an awful
ineffectual guard by hammering through Skill, meaning that, if two people fight, lot of practice, not to mention expense.
strong, stiff punches until I have knocked the bravest will win. If they are equally Now, though, I can pass this knowledge
them down. This is all well, and in brave, the strongest will triumph. If and attributes on to my students far more
fighting, winning quickly is important, they are equally brave and strong, then quickly; they will learn these methods
but this might not work against a skilled the most skilled should win. Sifu Cliff and techniques from the start. However,
or stronger enemy. Au Yeung once told our group that Wong they still must spend a lot of time and
Shun Leung turned this around to bring invest a great deal in their own practice
Against a stronger or more skilled it in line with a more modern coaching to develop and evolve their own skill
opponent, I need to understand that perspective. His model became First and hone their own attributes.
errors are expected; my strike may not Skill, then Power, then Bravery, i.e., you
reach its intended target. If this occurs, learn skill initially; this enables you to
I will need to change my shape or angle, become powerful, and over time, you For more information about Sifu Alan Gibson and
whilst continuing to close my enemy who will develop bravery (confidence). The Wing Chun Federation, visit www.wingchun.org.uk

www.wingchunillustrated.com 9
 built upon function
Deliberate Practice
The Gold Standard in Learning Anything
BY MARK HOBBS PHOTOS ERIC PEARCE
MOST OF US APPROACH LEARNING A NEW SKILL, BY KNOWING WHAT WE
WANT TO DO. WE’VE SEEN SOMEONE DO IT, WE’VE IMAGINED OURSELVES
DOING IT, AND WE’RE MOTIVATED.
So, we get information. We go to a
book, a magazine, or YouTube. We join
a class, find a teacher. We get basic
things to practise.
At this stage, we accept what we’re
practising on blind faith, as we don’t know
what expertise is or how to get there.
However, we’re practising something
that seems in the right ballpark, and we
have the first flush of motivation, so we
practise until we reach an acceptable
level. Then, this new skill, while not
perfect, becomes automatic.
We do this with driving, cooking, tennis,
10
swimming, martial arts, musical
instruments, mental arithmetic, you
name it.
At this stage, there is one important
thing to understand: once you’ve reached
this satisfactory skill level and your
performance has become automatic,
you stop improving.
I know; this goes against the grain. We
assume the more we drive or Chi Sau,
the better we get, because performance
is practice, and so we can’t help but
improve. The longer you do something,
the better you get, right?
I see this in my MMA gym and on Wing
Chun forums all the time. People boast
they’ve been practising Wing Chun for
10 or 20 years—like time is a mark of
proficiency. It’s not! Often, someone
who’s practised Wing Chun for 10 years
stopped improving after the first two, and
they’ve been treading water for eight. This
is not 10 years of steady improvement.
We assume someone who has been
driving for 20 years must be a better
driver than someone who has only been
driving for five. We assume a doctor who’s
been in practice for 20 years must be
better than one who’s been in practice
for five.
We’re wrong.
A growing body of research shows, once
a person reaches that level of acceptable
performance and automation, where
they can play a round of golf, drive a
car, Chi Sau, swim in a pool, play a
game of tennis, cook, play a few tunes
on an instrument, or do whatever they’re
into, the additional years of practice
don’t lead to improvement. The doctor
or driver who’s been at it for 20 years is
often worse than the one who’s been
doing it for five, because automated
skills gradually deteriorate absent
deliberate efforts to improve.
Time spent practising is not enough.
What and how you practise are more
important. Two well-researched forms
of practice bring this to life: Purposeful
Practice and Deliberate Practice.
Purposeful Practice has several
characteristics that set it apart from the
naive practice discussed above (doing
ISSUE 33
 built upon function

something over and over, expecting

repetition alone will build skills).

Characteristics of Purposeful Practice:

• Well-defined specific goals—stringing

a series of small practice steps
together to reach a longer-term goal.

• Focused—the practice always has

your full attention.

• Out of your comfort zone—perhaps,

the most important characteristic. If
you never push beyond your comfort
zone, you never improve. We like to
practice what we can already do,
because it feels better than practising
what we can’t. I have stand-up
fighters who avoid practising their
ground game, and ground fighters
who avoid practising stand-up.
However, avoidance is not the route
to expertise.

• Feedback—to identify exactly where

and how you are going wrong,
either from yourself or others. Time spent practising is not enough.
Positive feedback is a critical factor
in maintaining motivation and What and how you practise are more
consistent effort.

(Ericsson A., Peak, 2016)

Purposeful Practice means repeatedly
getting outside your comfort zone in a
focused way, with clear goals, a staged
plan for reaching those goals, and a way
to monitor progress and maintain
motivation.
This is a great recipe for skills
improvement. However, we can go a
step further...
Deliberate Practice is a form of Purposeful
Practice, but unique in two ways:
• Needs a field already well-established,
where experts reach performance
levels that clearly set them apart
from beginners. Think gymnastics,
think music, think martial arts.
• Needs a teacher who can provide
practice activities designed to help
each student improve their
important.
performance. Sounds obvious and
commonplace, but it’s not.
In Purposeful Practice, you push yourself
to improve. In Deliberate Practice, your
practice path is informed and guided by
current experts’ achievements and by an
understanding of what they do to excel.
Deliberate Practice is Purposeful
Practice that knows where it’s going
and how to get there.
This ties into to the Functional Testing
we discussed in a previous issue. Will the
skills you’re practising stack together to
build real fighting expertise? Can they
hold up to pressure, tested in a live
environment against a non-compliant
opponent? Or, are they based on fantasy,
spurious logic, and Thinking Traps. And
how do you know, either way?
Last thought: How do you rate your
current practice? Are you stuck in a
groove, blindly repeating the same
game, hoping something will magically
shift? Are you more into Purposeful
Practice, or have you tasted Deliberate
Practice, and the rewards it can bring?
From today, what specific changes can
you make to what and how you
practise to maximise time and build
real fighting skills?
For more information about Sifu Mark Hobbs and
his new online learning site, please visit the website:
www.WingChunOU.com

www.wingchunillustrated.com 11
 feature
HOW GOOD IS
YOUR WING CHUN?
LEAVE YOUR COMFORT ZONE TO FIND OUT
BY MARTIN MURPHY PHOTOS INTERNATIONAL WING CHUN ORGANIZATION
MANY OF US HAVE BEEN TRAINING IN WING CHUN FOR A LONG
TIME. FOR OTHERS, IT MAY BE JUST A FEW MONTHS OR A FEW
YEARS. REGARDLESS OF LENGTH, YOU’VE MOST LIKELY BEEN
DOING YOUR FORMS, DRILLS AND CHI SAU WITH THE SAME SIFU
AND GROUP OF STUDENTS THROUGHOUT YOUR TRAINING.
12
So, how do you know how good your Wing Chun
really is? How well do your forms stack up against
the standard? And has your Chi Sau become so
routine you and your classmates all know each
other’s tricks? How is your Wing Chun progressing
absent outside reference points, agreed standards
and the force of competition, or are you training
in a bubble?
A group of Sifus in Hong Kong and Europe has
been trying to help students answer these questions.
Sifu Donald Mak, head of the International
Wing Chun Organization (IWCO), with some of
his colleagues of the World Wing Chun Union
(WWCU) and the Russian Wing Chun Federation
in Hong Kong and Russia, respectively, have been
holding several regular, almost annual, Wing
Chun competitions since 2010. Held in Hong Kong,
Mainland China and Russia, the competitions are
open to all Wing Chun practitioners from any
country and any lineage. In the most recent
competition, held in October in Hong Kong, over
300 people from 15 countries and regions
participated.
Based in Hong Kong, with branches around the
world, the WWCU was established in 2009,
hoping to set aside the differences among Wing
Chun schools and lineages and uniting fellow
practitioners from around the world by providing
a platform for Wing Chun’s development and
communication to the public. One of its main
activities has been organising Wing Chun
competitions, including setting rules and
standards and training judges and referees.
As Sifu Mak explains, “In the old days, martial
arts in China was used for lethal purposes,
including for protecting treasure and important
rich people. Many martial artists became
bodyguards or worked in security. But today,
ISSUE 33
 feature

there are few ways to use Wing Chun and other

martial arts in a way that can keep their original
spirit alive. Competition is the best way to do this,
and it can raise the standards of the art and
arouse interest, similar to what is done in Boxing
or Muay Thai.”

However, Sifu Mak will be the first to admit that

such competitions cannot fully replicate the
lethal nature of Wing Chun, given the emphasis
on safety and the enforcement of rules. The very
nature of the competitions does not adequately
allow the original skills of Wing Chun to manifest
themselves in the ring. Critics of the competitions
say there is too much Boxing and pushing, and
it’s hard to detect the deployment of Wing Chun
in many fights.

While acknowledging such drawbacks, Sifu Mak

and his colleagues in Hong Kong say it’s still
early, and the competitions have evolved since
their first event in 2010 into a set of rules that
reward fighters who can demonstrate Wing Chun Judges look for the uses of Wing Chun
skills, rather than just scoring points pummelling
their opponent with punches.
techniques and the competitor’s
The competitions test four categories of Wing
Chun skills. The first is Tau Lu (forms). These ability to control power with accuracy.
include the three empty-hand forms of Sil Lim
Tao, Chum Kiu and Biu Jee, and the Wooden only differences being that fighters started from
Dummy, the Long Pole and the Butterfly Swords. a rolling position and no kicking was allowed.
What the judges are looking for in these forms is Many felt this format did not reflect the true
not so much a sequence of movements or a nature of Chi Sau, so the IWCO revised the rules
particular style, as different lineages will perform prior to the 2014 competition in St. Petersburg.
the forms in a variety of ways, but how the For starters, to preserve the Chi Sau format that
practitioner demonstrates smoothness, power, most Wing Chun practitioners are familiar with,
balance and fluidity. Judges are also looking for the IWCO did away with all protective gear.
certain intangibles, such as Jing (“Essence”),
Hei (“Internal Energy”), and San (“Spirit”). According to the current Chi Sau competition
These elements form the standards by which rules, the bouts take place inside a 1.6 by 1.6
practitioners are judged under the current rules. metre marked area, which the competitors should
try to stay within, using turning, pivoting and
A second category is full-contact fighting. Here, footwork, or they lose points. Fighters are
the competitors wear full protection and are discouraged from excessive pushing and pulling
expected to use an array of Wing Chun techniques to get their opponent out of the marked area.
to subdue their opponent during a three-round
bout. Points are given for the number of effective Competitors should aim to score points using
strikes and use of Wing Chun attacking methods, Wing Chun techniques to strike the body or take
including takedowns and kicks. down their opponent. Light strikes or touches to
the side of the neck are acceptable, but strikes
Perhaps, the area that has evolved the most since or touches to the head or throat are disallowed.
the early competitions in 2010 and 2012 is Chi In addition, no elbow strikes or joint locking or
Sau. In those matches, the Chi Sau category dislocating techniques are permitted, although
was not that dissimilar to full contact, with the grappling is sanctioned. Judges look for the uses

www.wingchunillustrated.com 13
 how good is your wing chun?

Points are While demonstration of the forms, full-contact

fights, and Chi Sau are now the main categories
showcased in the competitions held in Hong Kong
given for and Mainland China, the Russian branch of the
IWCO and the Russian Wing Chun Federation
the number have introduced a fourth category, called Duai
Chak. These are choreographed two-person pre-
of effective set fights that should demonstrate an array of
Wing Chun elements. Both the benefit and
strikes and challenge of the Duai Chak is it tests the
practitioners’ understanding of Wing Chun
use of concepts and techniques, e.g., what defence is
best used for certain attacks, how to use footwork,
Wing Chun and knowing how to coordinate kicks and hand
strikes in the most efficient way. The scoring
criteria are like those of Tau Lu (forms).
attacking
So far, the WWCU has held four major competitions:
methods. two in China in 2010 and 2014 and two in Hong
Kong in 2012 and 2016, while the Russian branch
of the WWCU has held four separate events each
year since 2013. Competitions are being arranged
for 2017, but no dates have been set.

While detractors may say these competitions

For those interested in holding
or learning more about Wing
Chun competitions, Sifu
Donald Mak is willing to share
his experience and provide a set
of the current rules for judging
and scoring. He can be reached
at info@hkwingchun.com
of Wing Chun techniques and the competitor’s
ability to control power with accuracy. Punches
or palm strikes that land just short of hitting or
touching the opponent’s face or nose will earn
points, while strikes to the body must be executed
with controlled power, i.e. only a slight touch to
the body will score points.
give people the wrong impression of Wing Chun,
its advocates argue the more competitions held,
the more judges are trained, and the more
practitioners and students see them as a way to
demonstrate their skills, rather than just winning
a punching match, then the more they will evolve
into a format that will more accurately capture
the original spirit and nature of Wing Chun.

14 ISSUE 33
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 second nature

Maintaining Your Boundaries

They Can’t Hit What They Can’t Reach
BY WAYNE BELONOHA PHOTOS NIKI MURPHY

he has zero percent chance of hitting you.

This zero tolerance for risk is a big deal.
Sure, if you are fast or big enough or
there is a large enough skill gap, you can
take risks and win with consistency. In
these cases, you are using your skills to
lower the probability (but not the impact)
of being hit. The trouble with this is
classic underestimation, where you
believe there is less risk probability than
there is. We often take winning as
evidence we chose the right strategy.
However, winning is not the measure
I recommend using to determine
if something is right; instead,
I recommend logic.

Winning is one way to prove your

logical approach has merit, but it is not
a guaranteed way. Let me illustrate with
an example. You meet an untrained
person. He is bigger than you and
ONE OF THE KEYS TO SUCCESS IS, NATURALLY, NOT TO GET HIT. lethargic in his movements. He throws a
straight punch. With your training and
A HIT CAN BE THE END OF THE FIGHT. YOUR OPPONENT MAY BE
good timing, you can swing your arm in
LARGER. HE MAY HIT HARDER. HE MAY HAVE A WEAPON. GETTING a big arc and hit him on the jaw, just
HIT IS SIMPLY NOT A HIGHLY RECOMMENDED OPTION. before his fist gets to you. He falls. Your
technique worked, but the question is,
Let’s understand your boundaries. Take You can be hit by any of these weapons “Was your technique good technique
both hands and put them in front of you, with devastating results. Your job is to because it worked?” Here, we have an
palm to palm, with your fingers facing protect your boundaries, so no attacks instance where the logically efficient
forward as far as they will go. The tips of get in, while entering your opponent’s approach was not used, but you won.
your fingers make the outer boundary. boundaries.
Keeping your arms straight, swing them Let’s look at another example. You meet
in an arc, until they are out to your Many of us think of hitting our opponent an untrained person. He is bigger than
sides. That path your fingers took, that and knocking them down. That’s a great you and lethargic in his movements. He
big arc, defines your boundaries. approach. Hit your opponent before he throws a big circular punch. With your
hits you, and you will win. That’s a great training and good timing, you rush up
Many of us have heard there are three approach, too. However, there is another the middle and hit him. He falls. His
ranges of bare-hand weapons, long, mid facet to this approach, and that is one of punch never entered your boundaries.
and short. The long-range weapons are risk. When I say, “Enter your opponent’s
those long punches. Mid-range can be boundaries while protecting your own”, Both examples worked. Does that mean
the elbows, and short-range can be the that has embedded in it a zero tolerance both were “right”? Possibly, it depends
shoulder or hip. for risk. You can hit your opponent, and on how you define right. What I will

16 ISSUE 33

stand firm on is that one was more
efficient and risk averse than the other,
so I give this one more “Wing Chun”
points. Above is an example of where “it
worked” is not enough justification that
the technique was great. So, instead of
talking about whether something works,
I prefer to talk about its benefits and
downfalls. Besides, everybody can make
something work on somebody, so every
technique “can” work. The discussion
comes down to consistency, probability,
and risk aversion.
Back to the main point. When you are
going to protect your boundaries, it also
means you may not use mid or short-
range weapons (elbows/shoulders, etc.).
Even though the shorter-range techniques
may hit and may make your opponent
fall, they are not as efficient or risk
adverse as possible and are, therefore,
not dissimilar to the circular technique
in the example above. When your elbow
or shoulder strike is used, your boundaries
have been compromised. So, although
they work and have logic, there are more
efficient, more risk averse techniques.
www.wingchunillustrated.com
To enter another’s boundaries, while
protecting your own, you need to keep
your distance and displace their hands
from the centreline.
To enter another’s boundaries, while
protecting your own, you need to keep
your distance and displace their hands
from the centreline. This can mean they
collapse their boundaries or turn away
from you (so you outflank them), or
they can just move their hands off the
line of attack. Any of those situations
will allow you to protect your boundaries,
while entering theirs.
If you are striking after controlling the
opponent’s hands and one of his hands
gets free and comes toward you, Wing
Chun strategy says you must take care
of that hand before hitting. Protect your
boundaries before hitting. Even though
it’s possible you started earlier, had a
good line, and will hit first, that’s not
second nature
good enough. There is the risk of a
trade if your punch does not knock him
out. This is not a case where your
boundaries were protected, even though
your punch may have done the job.
Here are a few Chi Sau exercises. Play
your Chi Sau as normal. After you hit,
take a second and work with your
partner to determine if his hands are
inside your boundaries. If they are, then
try again to find a solution where his
hands are not inside your boundaries.
Next, check if his elbows are inside
your boundaries. If they are, then work
with your partner to find a solution where
his elbows are not in your boundaries.
There are multiple solutions to both
these situations.
17
 second nature

Next, we can use a graduated analysis.
Let’s say your partner’s hands or elbow
was inside your boundary. I would like
you to assess how deep it went into
your boundary. Is his hand or elbow at
your forearm? Is it past your elbow?
Try to minimise the amount that his fist
enters your boundary. Each time you
play Chi Sau and hit, look to determine
where his hands are and if they are
inside your boundaries. Try to improve
on that next time.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• Your boundaries are defined by the outer reaches of your arms in all directions.
• Prevent your opponent’s hands from entering your boundaries.
Winning is one way
to prove your logical
approach has merit,
but it is not a
guaranteed way.
As you will quickly find out, a few key
skills are paramount to keeping your
opponent out of your boundaries
successfully. You will need good Faan
Sau (“Changing Hands”) and sensitivity.
As you try to keep your partner’s hands
out of your boundaries, he will adapt.
You will have to counter-adapt. You will
find you’re playing a longer version of
Chi Sau, where changes and control
happens further away from your body,
which is great. Your techniques will
have more power as they extend and
can engage the elbow more. You can
shift and stay facing your partner more
easily as you will be the hub with longer,
more extended “spokes.”

• Use “Changing Hands” skill and trapping to ensure your opponent has no options By maintaining your own boundaries,
to attack. while entering your opponent’s, your
• Do not rely on your attack hitting first to stop an opponent. odds of a favourable outcome increase
dramatically. Train purposefully to
• The fists, elbows, and shoulders make up the three ranges of attacks:
long, medium and short. develop these skills and watch your
consistency grow!
• Use your long attacks when your opponent tries to use their short attacks.
• Use footwork and positioning to your advantage to outflank your opponent. For more information about Sifu Wayne Belonoha and
Wai’s Kung Fu, please visit www.waiskungfu.com

18 ISSUE 33
 feature

REMEMBERING
KOO SANG SIFU
BY ALAN LAMB

I later studied Wing Chun under Sifu Paul Lam

in London. Paul was the first Chinese master to
teach Wing Chun to foreigners in the UK. He was
held in high esteem by the local Chinese community
there, as a teacher and a businessman.

After Paul closed his school to focus on other

business opportunities, I trained with Sifu Joseph
Cheng in London. Joe and I became like brothers
and, like Paul, Joseph taught his classes in
Chinatown. However, when he closed his school
to become the personal bodyguard to a Saudi
Prince, I realised the only way I could get certified
to teach Wing Chun was to move to Hong Kong
and study with the Chinese masters there.

I wrote to the Hong Kong Martial Arts Association,

and they recommended I study with Koo Sang.
They passed my letter on to him, and Koo Sang
agreed he would consider taking me on as a
student. This was a very big deal for me, as
traditionally, teachers in Hong Kong refused to
teach Gwailo (or “Foreign Devils”).

When I arrived at the airport in Hong Kong, one

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON’T KNOW ME, I AM FROM ENGLAND
AND THE WORLD’S FIRST NON-ASIAN, HONG KONG TRAINED
MASTER OF WING CHUN GUNG FU. I WAS CERTIFIED TO TEACH THE of a chair and go into the next room. I was to put
ART BY KOO SANG SIFU IN 1975.
I began my martial arts training in Wado Ryu
Karate in the early 1960s under Sensei Danny
Chaganis in the little seaside town of South
Shields, in the North East of England—the town following morning.
from which famed moviemakers, Tony and Ridley
Scott, hail.
of Koo Sang’s students picked me up and took
me directly to Koo Sang’s gym on Shanghai Street,
where I was introduced to Koo Sang. Physically,
he was fairly tall and wiry, but well-proportioned.
He was friendly and shook my hand. After formal
introductions, we all went across the street to
the local restaurant, where a student explained
we would go back to Koo Sang’s gym after eating.
He then handed me a red envelope and explained
that Koo Sang would leave his jacket on the back
some “Lucky Money” into the red envelope and,
depending on how generous I was, he would then
decide whether to take me as a student. Obviously,
I was generous enough, as he took me as a
student and told me to come back early the
The next day, when I arrived for my first class,

20 ISSUE 33
 feature

there were a lot of young guys and high school

kids practising in the morning class. Some were
shocked, and others were amused to see a Gwailo
participating in their class. But mostly, everyone
was friendly and wanted to know who I was.

For the first session, Koo Sang gave me the grand

tour of his gym. Since he was a carpenter, he
had built a lot of specialised training equipment.
There were rows of wall-bags near the entrance,
and each bag got progressively harder to work on
as you moved down the line. You were expected
to do a couple hundred punches on each bag and
then rub Dit Da or Chinese medicine into your
knuckles as they became bruised. This was just
a warm up before the class began. Then there was
a series of Wooden Kicking Posts he had built for
specialised Wing Chun kicking techniques. After
that, there was a wall-mounted Wooden Dummy,
a Long Pole Dummy and a Baat Jaam Do Dummy.
Koo Sang was a consummate martial
Rounding off the equipment section was a series
of heavy bags, including a sausage shaped bag he
had built specifically for Wing Chun centreline
artist. As a teacher, he was somewhat
punching. For the evening sessions, he would take
down the heavy bags to make enough space for
of a perfectionist.
the students to practise their Chi Sau and Wing
Chun forms. He also had wall-mounted racks, like morning sessions, and I got to know Sifu well
a billiard parlour, for holding the long poles and after doing that.
training poles of varying lengths and thicknesses.
Koo Sang loved the social interaction of eating
To end my morning training session, he taught out. The inside of the restaurant we went to was
me his version of the Siu Lum Tau, which was a like a zoo, with people feeding birds and animals
lot different from the way I had learned it in on their tables as they ate. Koo Sang was well
London. Then, when he gave the formal salute to liked there, and he had one good friend, a Tai
end the morning class, he went back into his Chi master, who loved to spar with me; he would
private room. Meantime, the students were running launch a series of attacks at me as we walked
around like hornets, frantically trying to get out into the restaurant! When I counter-attacked, he
of there ASAP! Kenny, one of the high school would squat down, scurry backwards, and hide
students, ran out of the door laughing as he was under a four-legged stool by the entrance that
pulling on his sweater, almost tripping up as he was only three feet off the ground. He could fit
ran. He looked back at me saying, “You don’t under it, while still in his boxing poses! Talk
know the rules yet! Last person out has to take about flexibility! Koo Sang would laugh at all
Sifu for lunch!” Koo Sang popped his head around this commotion and then order his favourite dish
the door of his room and said, “Alan?” Actually, of Char Siu (roast pork). Not exactly the food of
it was okay by me. We went to the local restaurant, champions, but he loved it.
where I picked up the bill.
After eating, I would spend the rest of the day
Normally, the Chinese would charge foreigners exploring Hong Kong and get back in time for
double. However, when I went in with Koo Sang, the afternoon and evening classes. After the
they charged me the regular price. So it was the evening class, Koo Sang would give me my For more information about
same price for me, whether or not I took Koo private session before I would turn in. I stayed in Sifu Alan Lamb, please
Sang with me. It soon became a regular thing for a room attached to Koo Sang’s gym for a few visit the website:
me to take him for lunch every day after our months before I found my own place. www.alanlambwingchun.com

www.wingchunillustrated.com 21
 remembering koo sang sifu
Koo Sang I will always remember the day Koo Sang was
preparing the room for me. In the middle of his
took his gym was a beautiful table he had built. I said to
his students, “That’s a really nice table Sifu built.”
They told him, and they all fell down laughing.
Wing Chun They interpreted as he spoke, “That’s not a table;
it’s your bed!” That’s when I found out the Chinese
training like to sleep on a hard surface. However, he gave
me a bedroll and a regular pillow, though, so that
seriously. was somewhat of a break.
Koo Sang was best known in the Wing Chun
community for his Wooden Dummies. Everyone
in the Wing Chun Clan wanted to own a Koo Sang
Jong. Sifu built his dummies entirely by hand,
and I used to watch in amazement as he was
constructing them. Often, he would customise a
22
dummy to suit the height and weight of the
practitioner. He would start with an eight-sided
piece of teakwood for the trunk. Sifu would buy
a square block of teakwood from a local vendor,
who would cut it to the appropriate length. He
then carried it on his shoulder to the shop of a
friend who owned a bench saw. His friend would
then cut the block into an eight-sided piece. Koo
Sang would then carry it to his gym and make it
perfectly round by using an electric hand sander.
He made the holes for the arms and the leg by
using a hammer and chisel. He took many hours
and a lot of elbow grease to make one, but they
all turned out beautifully.
And being a master carpenter, Sifu was also a
fine artist. He loved to paint using Chinese
watercolours. When he was not making Wooden
Dummies, he would relax with a steaming hot
cup of tea in one hand and a paintbrush in the
other, standing in front of a giant easel, with a
full-sized painting in progress displayed on it. He
really was a multi-talented individual.
Koo Sang took his Wing Chun training seriously.
He seldom laughed during our classes, unless he
was the one telling the jokes—then he could
laugh heartily. Sifu was a good guy and a
straight shooter. He always made direct eye
contact when he spoke to you, and he could be
very intense. However, his touch in Chi Sau was
light, compared to some teachers I had worked
with in the past. His execution of techniques
during Chi Sau practice was always quick,
precise, and accurate, with a good sense of flow
and sensitivity. His weapons’ techniques were
superb, and he was held in high esteem by many
of his contemporaries in Hong Kong.
Koo Sang was a consummate martial artist. As a
teacher, he was somewhat of a perfectionist. He
would put the time in with you, until you got
what he was trying to convey to you. I was
constantly reminded by all of the masters I met
from Ip Man’s school how fortunate I was to
have someone who was so well-respected in the
Wing Chun community as Koo Sang Sifu, to be
my teacher. But I didn’t need reminding! I knew
how fortunate I was to be his student, and I will
always be grateful I could spend the time I did
with Koo Sang. I thank him (now in spirit) for
the generosity he showed in accepting me as his
private student and for sharing with me the art
of Wing Chun Gung Fu.
ISSUE 33
 ooks on Ip
Man’s famous
Wing Chun system
B F ut Sao Wing Chun
was brought to
America in 1961
are plentiful, yet by Grandmaster
focus mainly on Henry Leung, (Hong
the choreography Lei, Chi Man), who
and applications learned the whole
of the forms. Yet, system under Great
to master Wing Master Gao Jhi Fut
Chun one must Sao. The system
develop mastery was passed down in
of internal body America to Master
structure, energy Leung’s one disciple,
generation, and Sifu James Cama.
proper force In this book Cama
issuance in his sets out, for the first
own movements time, the outline of
and especially the Fut Sao system
when controlling of Wing Chun Kuen.
an aggressive
opponent. In The Structure of Wing Chun Kuen, Alan Orr This book is special because, for the first time ever, the
teaches this very method in great detail. Fut Sao Siu Lin Tao and its two-man set are revealed. The
Hei Gung set and meditation visualization practice are
The Six Core Elements of Wing Chun have become also detailed. The gem of the art is its internal practices
essential learning to master the Wing Chun and in this which are rarely seen in Wing Chun. Chapters included:
book Alan shares the teachings of grandmaster Robert Chu forms training, weapons, training enhancement devices,
and Hendrik Santo, who have helped him to master Wing sensitivity training and internal training.
Chun and produce successful full-contact competition
fighters. The Structure of Wing Chun Kuen is a blueprint “All martial artists can find value in reading through
for a deeper understanding of this world-famous art. the 8 Peerless Actions and the 4 Principles section.
It provides a context by which to filter your practice
“This book serves as an important reference for Wing allowing a student the capacity to add depth to their art.”
Chun practitioners who need to grow while facing the —Chicago Fut Sao Wing Chun Association
reality of martial art practice.” —Sifu Hendrik Santo
“I found Fut Sao Wing Chun to be a very interesting
“I am honored to have Alan Orr as my disciple and and educational read… All in all, I believe this book
representative to uphold our family’s martial arts and accomplishes what the author intended, which is to
medicine. I can think of no individual more capable to do present a great introduction of Fut Sao Wing Chun, and
such a task and shoulder such a responsibility.” beyond that, this book is a fitting tribute to a Wing Chun
—Sifu Robert Chu
brother who will be greatly missed.”
—Tony Massengill, Wing Chun Illustrated

KONG HAN 光
“This book is a most welcome addition to the sparse reference materials on the
LO & KUN

Fukien art of Ngó Chó Kûn. I congratulate Sigong Henry Lo and Sifu Daniel Kun on a
job well done.” —Grandmaster Alex Co, Beng Kiam Athletic Club

NGO CHO 漢
“Packed with over 1,300 photos, Kong Han Ngo Cho covers a lot of ground—most
notably Kong Han’s curriculum up to O-Duan (Black Belt)—making this a most
valuable resources on this dynamic art.”
—Dr. Mark Wiley, International Beng Hong Athletic Association

五
KONG HAN NGO CHO

Forms • Weapons • Fighting

N
祖
go Cho Kun, also known as Wu Zu Quan or Five Ancestor Fist, is the official style of the
Southern Shaolin Temple in Quanzhou, China. The art’s founder, Chua Giok Beng, had 10
disciples (known as the 10 Tigers of Ngo Cho), each developing his own branch of the system. This
book presents the core training of the Kong Hang Athletic Club, founded by Dr. Lo Yan Chui, a

拳
disciple of one of the 10 Tigers.

Kong Han Ngo Cho begins with a historical presentation of the development of the various lines of
Ngo Cho then delves into the fundamental training that sets the basis for mastery of this style. Empty
hand techniques, internal organ qigong exercises, solo forms, two man forms, training sets, fighting
applications, weapon forms and applications, and full-contact  competition training are all presented
in this comprehensive volume.

Henry Lo was born in 1961 and started Ngó Chó Kûn training in 1971. In 1995, after his father
武
Grandmaster Dr. Lo King Hui pass away, Henry became the Headmaster of Dr. Lo Yan Chui
Memorial Institute of Kong Han Martial Art Club, Philippines. That same year he also won second
place in full contact sparring at the International San Shou Tournament at Zhengzhou, China.
術
系
Daniel Kun started training at the Kong Han Martial Arts Club in 1975. From 1977-79 Daniel
successfully became the national open style martial arts full contact champion of the Philippines with
a record of 9 wins, 0 losses. In 1995 Daniel and his family migrated to Canada and in 2002 he started
the Canada Kong Han Ngo Cho Kun Kung-Fu Assn.

Tambuli
Media
Spring House, PA
TambuliMedia.com

HENRY LO AND DANIEL KUN

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Media HOLIDAY SALE! DISCOUNT CODE: Kungfu30
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 moon pointing finger

Make Wing Chun Your Slave…

Not Your Master!
BY DAVID PETERSON PHOTOS PEIN LEE

want to attack our opponent in a very

direct and savage manner. Other styles
will contradict this objective by
attempting non-direct attacks. If we
combine them (different styles/methods)
with Wing Chun, our objective can
become confused in the heat of the
fight. We will be less effective.”

Those who have, in recent times, claimed

they are “improving upon” WSL Ving
Tsun Kuen Hok by adding ideas foreign
to Wong Shun Leung’s stated methods,
or who claim they are following his
philosophy to the letter by adding ideas
and techniques he never condoned,
based solely upon their complete
misinterpretation of his words, are
missing the point of his actual meaning.
In following this approach, they are NOT
improving the system, but complicating
it and making it far less efficient than it
was to begin with.

It is worth looking closely at his original

statement, from which the title of this
THE TITLE OF THIS ARTICLE IS PROBABLY FAMILIAR TO NEARLY ALL
article was derived: “Wing Chun is very
WHO READ IT, BEING PART OF A FAMOUS QUOTE FROM THE LATE SIFU logical. As long as the art remains
WONG SHUN LEUNG, A STATEMENT HE MADE TIME AND TIME AGAIN logical, it doesn’t matter what you call
DURING HIS MANY YEARS AS AN INSTRUCTOR AND MENTOR TO SEVERAL it, and it doesn’t matter if what you are
doing isn’t ‘Wing Chun’ as such. If it’s
GENERATIONS OF STUDENTS.
logical, if it WORKS, then you can use it
to make your art your slave, not your
These days, as more people are drawn If one reads the full version of the quote, master. However, you have to be careful
towards the WSL Ving Tsun Kuen Hok as opposed to simply paraphrasing it, about mixing Wing Chun with other
approach, many who really haven’t fully his meaning becomes clear, and it most styles. A man from the North and a
absorbed his ideas, or who have only a definitely does NOT indicate he was woman from the South can have a baby,
superficial understanding of his methods, advocating the use of techniques or but whether a man and a dog can have a
take that now famous quote out of context methods outside of his clearly defined baby, I’m not so sure!”
to justify their often contradictory ideas, and road-tested system. As he stated
somehow believing that, by doing so, it precisely, “Styles have different concepts While adding a little of his trademark
will validate what they are doing. and objectives. With Wing Chun, we dry humour in that last line, his meaning

24 ISSUE 33
 moon pointing finger

should come across loud and clear. He

was never advocating the practice of
mixing styles, believing that mostly,
they do not complement each other and
are not likely to work under real pressure.

On another occasion, when speaking on

the same topic, Wong Sifu made the
following statement: “It is never a case
of correcting one’s system, but improving
one’s self. Say you play chess with a very
good chess player. Even if he wins, he
will have had to sacrifice some pieces
along the way, but he knows that the
sacrifices were necessary to ensure the
victory. Some people, when they get hit,
feel that they have been hurt and that
their particular Gung Fu system is no
good. In Wing Chun, if this happens
(that we get hit), we don’t think in these
terms. Instead, we’ll ask ourselves ‘What
have I done wrong?’ or ‘What is it that I
can’t do?’ Our question isn’t ever ‘How
does Wing Chun work?’ but ‘How can I
Don’t mess with Wing Chun and try to
make Wing Chun work for me?’ In other
words, don’t be bound by Wing Chun, reinvent the wheel; do everything you
or any other system for that matter,
make it work for you. Be the MASTER, can to understand, train and apply it in
not the SLAVE.”

Wong Shun Leung was adamant there

was little left to improve in the Wing
Chun system, and that it would always
be more of a question of how we can
find better ways to train and improve our
use of Wing Chun, rather than changing
or adding to it. He deplored the idea that
we should add things to the system
because of some perceived notion it was
lacking anything. Unlike many before or
since, he had taken the system out into
the Pavement Arena and road tested it
under real conditions. His understanding
of Wing Chun wasn’t theoretical—it was
battle tested! The knowledge he gained
in these celebrated Beimo matches was
brought back to his teacher, Sigung Ip
Man, and discussed at length to extract
the best from the system and to find
better ways to train and apply it.
To think any of us, who lack the
experience and skills of both Ip Man and
Wong Shun Leung, can somehow come
all circumstances!
up with a “better way” by simply adding
“new tools” into the mix, smacks of
arrogance and is fraught with danger.
Combat involves specific tools for specific
ranges and situations, and if the wrong
tool is applied, the risk of defeat and injury
is high. The range at which Wing Chun
is designed to operate most efficiently
is up close, in-your-face up close!
The main goal of Wing Chun, as stated
by Wong Sifu, is to attack the opponent
aggressively and directly, so how does
the introduction of grappling and
throwing, when direct strikes are the
better option, make for an improvement
in the system? Wing Chun is a science-
based system that works because of its
consistent and logical concepts. To
tinker with a balanced system, such as
this, is akin to adding a fifth wheel to a
Ferrari; it won’t make it go faster and it
won’t improve the handling.
How does the introduction of round
punches and kicks improve the directness
of a straight attack and shorten the time
taken to deliver that attack? Why teach
students to use an elbow action when a
punch can be delivered with less risk
and more control of the opponent?
Adding such things, just because you
cannot make your Wing Chun work as
is, is illogical. You are just making
things more complicated and less
efficient—not improving anything.
It would be far better to look at what
you cannot do well and find a better
way to train those concepts until you
CAN make them work under pressure.
Looking for a “magic bullet” or a fancy

www.wingchunillustrated.com 25
 moon pointing finger
new method isn’t the answer to the
problem. Quoting Wong Shun Leung to
justify your methods is dishonest and
ridiculous. If it’s such a great an idea,
man up and take credit for it!
Don’t get me wrong and don’t get Sifu
Wong Shun Leung wrong, either. I’m
not, and he wasn’t, saying you couldn’t
step outside the box if a situation calls
for adaptation when things are not going
well. The Biu Ji form is telling you exactly
that approach, whereby so many of the
“rules” of the system are contradicted
and ignored within the concepts and
techniques to be found in that form.
However, what is the essential theme of
the Biu Ji form? It acknowledges that
things can go wrong and that, sometimes,
you’ve just got to “bend the rules” and
adapt to the moment. It teaches us
exactly what Wong Sifu is saying: Don’t
be a slave to Wing Chun!
However, like the now famous quote,
Biu Ji is NOT telling us to abandon
Wing Chun or to change the system;
just be the MASTER of the moment and
26
His understanding of Wing Chun wasn’t
theoretical—it was battle tested!
do what needs to be done to solve the
problem at hand. It isn’t telling us to
modify the forms, add techniques, or
incorporate ideas from other systems;
it’s telling us exactly what Wong Shun
Leung was trying to tell us when he
made the quote: Attack directly and
aggressively and always try to hit your
opponent, not play a game with them,
but if you find that something cannot be
used as desired, be open to adapting
under pressure, and then afterwards go
back and ensure that such problems are
eliminated by improving how you train.
Don’t try to improve Wing Chun; improve
how you USE it!
That doesn’t mean adding sweeps and
throws to the forms and drills, but taking
advantage of a situation that makes the
opportunity to sweep or throw possible.
It doesn’t mean adding round kicks and
punches into your forms and drills, but
realising that, if the situation you find
yourself in allows no straight kick or
punch to land, but offers an opportunity
for a rounded action, then take the shot
and hit the opponent. Whatever gets
your fist or foot on your opponent’s
body when needed is what needs to be
done. It’s not about thinking, “Oh, I can’t
do that, it’s not Wing Chun”—it’s about
hitting the opponent at all costs! That’s
what Sifu Wong Shun Leung meant by
what he said, and that should be the
message people are taking away from
his words.
Don’t mess with Wing Chun and try to
reinvent the wheel; do everything you
can to understand, train, and apply it in
all circumstances!
For more information about Sifu David Peterson,
please visit www.wslwingchun.my
ISSUE 33
Northern River Productions and Wing Chun Illustrated Magazine
are extremely proud to announce the release of two new,
full-length documentary films directed by the acclaimed author,
filmmaker and Bruce Lee historian, John Little.

Almost four years in the making, and featuring over

TWENTY individuals from around the world, who knew,
learnt from or admired the man, Wong Shun Leung:
The King of Talking Hands (approx. 120 min.) and its
companion film, The Art of Wong Shun Leung: A Ving
Tsun Journey (approx. 80 min.) are now finally available
to the public for the very first time!

Containing exclusive interviews, amazing archival footage,

and an abundance of previously unseen material, Wong
Shun Leung: The King of Talking Hands tells the life
story of one of martial arts’ greatest legends—the late,
great Wong Shun Leung! The man who represented the
art of his Sifu Ip Man where it mattered most—on the
streets of Hong Kong, in bare-knuckle challenge matches
where he was undefeated. The man who mentored a
young Bruce Lee and inspired him to future greatness.
The man who refined the art of Wing Chun Gung Fu into
a truly scientific combat system.

In The Art of Wong Shun Leung: A Ving Tsun Journey,

we are taken on a trip to China and Malaysia, to explore
the WSL Ving Tsun Kuen Hok method developed by the
late Wong Shun Leung. Presented by his renowned
student Sifu David Peterson, it traces the history and
development of his teacher’s method and outlines the
importance of his Sifu’s legacy. This second film perfectly
complements Wong Shun Leung: The King of Talking
Hands, providing further insights into just how much of
an impact Sifu Wong Shun Leung has had on Wing Chun,
and how he is the true unsung hero of the art of Gung Fu.

INSTANT DELIVERY ON MOST DEVICES

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Smart TVs & Blu-ray players with browsers • Apple TV via AirPlay
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www.wciondemand.com
 in focus
section

P HILIP NG
WING CHUN ACTION STAR
BY DAVID PETERSON PHOTOS DAVID LEE @CHINAPIXE

PHILIP NG HAS RECENTLY RECEIVED GREAT PRAISE

FOR HIS CO-STARRING ROLE IN THE VERY POPULAR
TVB ACTION SERIES, A FIST WITHIN FOUR WALLS,
WHICH BROKE RECORDS IN HONG KONG AND
THROUGHOUT ASIA. HE HAS ALSO RECENTLY
COMPLETED WORK ON BIRTH OF THE DRAGON,
A HOLLYWOOD STUDIO FILM ABOUT THE YOUNG
BRUCE LEE, IN WHICH PHILIP PLAYS THE LEAD ROLE.

ALREADY KNOWN AS AN ACCOMPLISHED MARTIAL

ARTIST FROM A LONG-STANDING AND RESPECTED
CHICAGO-BASED MARTIAL ARTS FAMILY, PHILIP NG
IS HIGHLY REGARDED IN THE HONG KONG FILM AND
TELEVISION INDUSTRY, WHERE HE HAS BEEN
MAKING A NAME FOR HIMSELF SINCE THE EARLY
2000s. I SAT DOWN WITH PHILIP NG RECENTLY TO
CHAT ABOUT HIS CAREER, HIS GOALS, AND HIS DEEP
CONNECTION TO WSL VING TSUN KUEN HOK.

28 ISSUE 33
 in
section
focus

“I feel I have always

been and always will
be a martial artist,
no matter what my
chosen profession.”

Please tell us how you got started in martial arts

and how you gravitated towards Wing Chun?
I started training when I was about seven in the
backyard of my grandparents’ home, with my
father and couple of uncles we were living with
at the time. I was overactive and was taught
forms like “Tiger and Crane”, which I believe was
mainly an exercise to expend my energies. When
I was about 13, I got floored by a punch to the
chest, courtesy of a schoolmate, after which
I questioned my training. It dawned on me
I needed to be able to apply this skillset, rather
than merely going through the motions.

Soon after this experience, I was recommended

by one of my uncles to travel to Hong Kong to
train with Sifu Wong Shun Leung, a man who
would lead me to view all fighting methods as
strategies to incapacitate your opponent, while
minimising harm to yourself, with some
strategies more efficient than others. I found
Wing Chun to be “Gung Fu distilled” into its

www.wingchunillustrated.com 29
 philip ng
most essential elements to solve the problem of
incapacitating an aggressive opponent. Naturally,
I invested more time and effort in understanding
and training to apply this strategy.
There is obviously quite a big difference between
the Choy Lee Fat approach to combat and the Wing
Chun approach; with the two systems being famous
rivals, how was your decision to follow the WSL
Ving Tsun Kuen Hok method received by your father
and classmates?
My father is quite an open-minded martial art
teacher, so I was always given his blessing, no
matter what method I chose to practice; besides
Choy Lee Fat and WSLVT, I have trained and
earned applicable skillsets from quite a few other
methods, as I believe he knew I would not train
30
anything halfway and appreciated that I brought
back new skillsets to the school. And during my
training in Wing Chun, my father was teaching
mainly through the community centres in Chicago’s
Chinatown; it was not until I was given the
blessing to teach WSLVT by Sifu that my father
and I consolidated our students and formed the
Ng Family Chinese Martial Arts Association.
Regarding the rivalry between Choy Lee Fat and
Wing Chun, that was between the practitioners
and their misunderstanding of each other’s
methods, sometimes even misunderstanding
their own, rather than the methods themselves.
Understanding both, I can appreciate how both
methods utilise their own particular structures
and strategies to accomplish the very similar
goal of incapacitating an opponent. Everyone at
our school shares this attitude, and while very
few, other than myself and a couple others,
cross-train in both methods practitioners of each
method will often train together (i.e. sparring).
So, you found yourself in Hong Kong and accepted
into the school of someone who was a living legend
in Wing Chun; what was that experience like for a
young man fresh off the plane from the United States?
When I first arrived in Hong Kong, Sifu was away
in Europe doing a seminar and would return a
week after my arrival. During the first week,
I remembered being picked on by a few Gung Fu
brothers, but the experience immediately
brightened when Sifu returned. When I first saw
Sifu, I was taken aback by how normal he
appeared in his jeans and short-sleeved striped
T-shirt and a handbag under his arm. However,
as I got to know him, his wisdom was anything
but normal.
You were a key participant in what was ultimately to
become the last interview ever conducted with Sifu
Wong Shun Leung, an interview that features
prominently in the newly released documentary by
John Little, Wong Shun Leung: The King of Talking
Hands; how did that experience come about?
I was training with Sifu in Hong Kong at the time,
and the producer of the video interview and his
Gung Fu brothers were on a training trip to Hong
Kong with their Sifu. While they were there,
I acted as the translator for my Sifu during his
instruction, as he mentioned he trusted my
translation; not only did I speak both Cantonese
and English fluently, but he believed I understood
his fighting method. When it came time for the
ISSUE 33

interview, I was asked by both Sifu and the
producer of the interview to be the translator,
and the rest, as they say, is history.
Please tell us about the late Sifu Wong Shun Leung
and your relationship with him; how did his sudden
passing impact you? Are you still actively involved
in preserving and passing on his legacy?
Wong Sifu was simply a person with advanced
knowledge and experience in utilising the Wing
Chun method and was adept at teaching others
to do so. Outside of that, I found him to be a
caring and loving man. While not minding the
little tuition I could afford, being a student from
abroad, Sifu would treat me to supper every night
and show me around Hong Kong on days off
from training. Before his untimely passing, I was
asked by Sifu to be his translator in the United
States for his, then, upcoming seminars, but sadly,
Sifu passed away before that could happen.
I remember I got a call from my Sihing Rusper
Patel during Christmas break in 1996. My Sihing
rarely calls overseas, and I remember having a
bad feeling, even before he spoke. I was informed
that Sifu had suffered a stroke and was in a
coma waiting for surgery. By the time January
came around, I received an e-mail from my
Sihing that Sifu had passed. It hit me hard, as I
had just recently spoken to Sifu on the phone
about training with him and remembered how he
www.wingchunillustrated.com
in focus
“Sifu would treat me to supper every
night and show me around Hong
Kong on days off from training.”
asked me not to waste my money on the phone
call and save it for my next trip to Hong Kong.
Sadly, the next time I visited Hong Kong, he would
no longer be around.
How hard was it to establish yourself in the Hong
Kong film industry?
My first real break happened when I was hired as
one of the martial arts choreographers and actor
trainers on Star Runner. A singer friend of mine
from a church fellowship introduced me to the
action director of the show, Chin Ka-Lok, and
after successfully completing this project, I worked
under his team for several years before moving
on to action direct my own projects and acting in
bigger roles on larger projects. Working on Star
Runner was also where I met two of my best
friends in this industry, Andy On and Vanness Wu.
It has always been an uphill climb for me in the
film industry, but I count that as training, learning
and experience. I was later introduced to my
current boss, the prolific director/producer
Wong Jing, who I credit and am grateful to, with
setting the tone for my career by producing movies
for me to display my skillsets both in front and
behind the camera.
Before the lead role in Birth of the Dragon, you
played the lead role in another outstanding film that
many thought would be a huge help in establishing
your position in the Asian film world, Once Upon a
Time in Shanghai. Tell us about that experience and
do you think that film was pivotal in bringing you to
where you are today?
It was my first starring role in a big budget Gung
Fu movie, action directed by Yuen Woo-Ping and
co-starring Sammo Hung! Playing my best friend
in the film is my best friend in real life, Andy On.
It was perfect, a dream project that turned out
more exciting than what we had imagined during
production. I can whole-heartedly say I have
almost no regrets watching this film, even today.
In the North American market, audiences were
31
 philip ng
“Sifu was
not only
wise in
teaching
Gung Fu, introduced to my work through this film, as it
was offered on Netflix and on sale through DVD/
but also Blu-ray. It is my understanding that opportunities
in Asia and abroad came about after producers
in being had seen my performance in Once Upon a Time
in Shanghai, such as my recent television
drama, A Fist Within Four Walls, which broke
considerate all viewing records in Hong Kong this year.
to all of What’s next for Philip Ng in terms of film and
television career?
those he I have four more films to be released (as of this
interview) with three in post-production and one
in production, where I will work with the awesome
taught.” Donnie Yen. One of the films mentioned slated
for release later this year is my passion project,
tentatively titled, Undercover Punch and Gun.
Besides my role as an actor and action-director
on this shoot, this was my first attempt at
producing as a co-producer. Bringing together
some of my best friends from the film industry
(i.e., Andy On and Vanness Wu), we banded
together and attempted to recreate some of the
magic of the Hong Kong style action films of the
1980s that influenced the work we do today. It was
one of the toughest projects I have ever worked on,
but we are happy with the results and anticipate
sharing it with the world as soon as we can.
As you are also a highly qualified teacher of the
martial arts, do you still get much opportunity to
teach, and are there any plans to open a school and
teach more regularly? What is your personal training
schedule like?
I don’t get to teach like I did while I lived in the
United States, but I visit my family’s martial arts
school in Chicago whenever I can to give the
instructors I assigned some fine-tuning and to
receive fine-tuning myself. I had been teaching in
the United States long enough to have students,
who opened their own academies, spreading the
WSLVT method. Through them and the instructors
at my family’s academy, we aim to keep WSLVT
relevant, functional and applicable.
32
While in Hong Kong, most of my time is spent
filmmaking, with little time left for teaching. I do
my best to stop by various Gung Fu brothers’
schools whenever my schedule allows, training
with and offering advice to their students, but
that is as much teaching as I get to do.
A little bird told us you have a close group of fellow
actors and martial arts devotees that you like to
spend time with and train with, which include
Nicholas Tse, Andy On, Vanness Wu and others;
what can you tell us about those guys and what
makes you guys click? Is it true that you have
introduced quite a few of your colleagues to WSL
Ving Tsun Kuen Hok?
I think, for the most part, we all share the same
values for friendship and loyalty. We share the
common background of growing up in English-
speaking communities outside of Asia and always
seem to feel slightly out of place wherever we end
up (be it the West or the East). We are passionate
about our work and are always there for each
other when needed, on and off screen. It’s a
relationship built through years of collaboration
and friendship.
I have worked with, as a martial arts choreographer
and action director, all those listed above, with
Nicolas Tse having studied WSLVT with me long
and in-depth enough to earn him an instructorship
from my family’s academy. I remember him
practising the Siu Nim Tau form for hours upon
hours a day when he trained WSLVT seriously.
Can you tell us something about your memories of
training with the late, great Wong Shun Leung? Are
there any special anecdotes you can share with our
readers, or training tips he passed on to you?
In terms of content, Sifu taught me what he
taught everyone else, a functional and applicable
combat strategy based upon simplicity, efficiency
and directness. Personally, I remember being
culturally insensitive in the past and was bugging
him all day about teaching me the last few
sections of the Wooden Dummy form with no
response from him each time I asked. When
everyone had left the class at the end of the
evening, Sifu got up and taught me. Apparently,
Sifu didn’t want the other students to feel as
though I got special treatment, since I had a lot
of material to cover each time I visited him in
Hong Kong. Sifu was not only wise in teaching
Gung Fu, but also in being considerate to all of
those he taught.
ISSUE 33

Do you see yourself continuing as both a martial
artist and film star, or do you think one may
overtake the other? Have you any plans to direct
more, or is acting and fight choreography still your
biggest passion as far as filmmaking is concerned?
I feel I have always been and always will be a
martial artist, no matter what my chosen
profession. My choice to enter the film and
television industry stemmed largely from my
passion for the martial arts and my desire to
promote it. I enjoy working in front and behind
the camera, as both are ways for me to express
my ideas and stories in a medium I am most
familiar with. As of now, I feel I will focus more
on working in front of the camera, while
directing the action mainly on films I am acting
in. That’s not to say I will not work on projects
purely as a director, action or otherwise, but it
just seems to be the direction my career is
taking at the moment. I love what I do and am
grateful I get to be so much more consistently
involved creatively now in all the projects I am
involved in.
What is the Philip Ng philosophy for success? What
is it that drives you, motivates you, and what role
does Wing Chun play in that?
www.wingchunillustrated.com
in focus
“Wing Chun
offers a
strategy for
solving this
problem,
using the
simplest,
most
efficient,
and most
direct
method
possible.”
Combat is a process of problem solving in real
time, where your goal is to solve the problem of
incapacitating your opponent, while minimising
damage to yourself. Wing Chun offers a strategy
for solving this problem, using the simplest,
most efficient, and most direct method possible.
I find attempting to overcome any obstacle in
such a manner often yields positive results.
What are your views on the future of Wing Chun,
and do you hope to continue your Wing Chun
journey and spread the teachings of your late Sifu
to future generations?
I feel, even with the advent of communication
technologies, like the Internet, a strong body of
like-minded people are needed in keeping the
wisdom of WSLVT relevant and applicable. While
technology has made it easier to record and
transmit particular aspects of the method, it is
the consistent training and the hands-on feedback
of qualified instructors that will ultimately decide
the fate of this very precise skillset as it passes
For more information about
onto future generations. Through my work in Sifu Philip Ng and the
film and media, I hope to continue to bring Ng Family Chinese Martial
awareness and interest to the benefits of the Arts Association, please
martial arts, offering advice and instruction when visit the website:
and where I can. www.ngfamilymartialarts.com
33
 keeping it simple

Teaching and Learning around, the need to cut the orange means
we look for a knife. We search for a
solution or create a solution because

is Always Backwards
there is a need for it, not vice versa.

“Human beings are born intelligent. We

are by nature question-asking, answer-
making, problem-solving animals, and
we are extremely good at it.”
BY SHAUN RAWCLIFFE PHOTOS STEVE UNDERHILL —John Holt

Apparently, though, it is not as obvious

as you may think in terms of learning a
new Wing Chun technique; all techniques
we learn and teach are reactions and
responses (the answer) to an
unpredictable, unprovoked attack, threat
or perceived threat (the question); each
potential attack has a thousand variations,
ranging from the angle or path of the
attack, whether armed or unarmed
attack, single or multiple assailants, the
height of the attack, and the target of
the attack, etc.

This makes learning a new technique

difficult, particularly, when it is in a
partner environment, as you are relying
on that partner to work with you to
enhance the learning experience. There
has been much debate and discussion
regarding whether you should or shouldn’t
train with a compliant partner. In reality,
when you are competent and confident at
a technique, training with a non-compliant
partner is essential, as unpredictability
is essential to develop reactive and
appropriate responses and skills.

However, that same unpredictability can

be extremely inhibitive and restrictive
when learning a technique from scratch
or when there is uncertainty about the
structure of the technique and its
application limitations. That uncertainty,
with a partner not willing to work with
another student to help them develop,
stifles the learning process and can
WE ALL KNOW TEACHING CAN BE CHALLENGING AND REMEMBER HOW knock their confidence.
DIFFICULT IT WAS LEARNING A NEW TECHNIQUE, BUT WHY?
Learning is always backwards….
Which came first: the question or the we use a knife to cut an orange, we don’t To start to learn the “answer”, you need
answer? Well, the question, you might say; pick up the knife first, and then look for a partner to present the correct “question”;
it’s obvious, isn’t it? For example, when an orange to slice; it’s the other way if we consider the physical question to

34 ISSUE 33
 keeping it simple

be a punch, then the physical answer is

the appropriate defensive tool, let’s say,
Taan Sau.

The vast variety of attacking techniques

that can be countered with Taan Sau
makes learning that technique complex,
daunting, and challenging. The first stage
in the learning process is to develop
and understand the structure, shape,
correct muscle utilisation, and path that
Taan Sau requires to succeed as a solo
tool. That can be achieved through Siu
Nim Tao and/or solo drilling where the
technique is not diluted by or has to be
adapted to the size, speed, or power of a
training partner.

Solo drilling is essential to learning a

new tool or skill; the more adept you
become at a skill, the less work your
brain must do. Over time, that skill
becomes embedded in the brain, and
you no longer must think about what
you’re doing, because the recall is now on
a subconscious level, not on a conscious
level. This is because the brain is
strengthening itself over time as you
learn that skill.
To learn, understand, and appreciate
Taan Sau as a defensive tool, a Wing
Chun practitioner needs the punch that
allows Taan Sau to work. It is essential
to start simple and at a basic level; after
all, the physical question is drawn out
and requires the appropriate physical
answer. Once Taan Sau has been trained,
drilled, and understood in isolation, the
next stage is to drill it interactively and
dynamically with a partner.
The problem with learning a technique,
such as a Taan Sau, is that students are
learning the physical “answer” to which
there are a variety of physical “questions”.
Unfortunately, if the partner does not
ask the correct “question”, there is no
way the “answer” will be appropriate.
To state the obvious, it will be impossible
to teach or to learn Taan Sau, which
can cover from around the sternum up
to approximately eyebrow height, if the
training partner is throwing a punch at
Practical training and exploration results
in the practitioner connecting the moves
and techniques they are learning with real
world tasks.
almost waist level, where Taan Sau is
not designed or able to cover.
It is essential, therefore, for the Wing
Chun practitioner to learn and practise
Taan Sau solo first to understand its
shape and musculoskeletal structure,
before considering the supporting
principles that make it work before
adapting it to suit an opponent.
The first stage then is to practise a
simple defence against a simple punch
and then, when that is working well,
explore the variations the particular
technique being learned can cover and
resolve. As soon as the Wing Chun
practitioner works with a partner, then
the real learning starts—that’s where the
skill to apply the technique is learned.
It is important, however, that the
student’s partner confuses the learning
process by attempting to counter the
Taan Sau defence at this initial stage of
learning; better to allow the partner to
develop the technique, become powerful,
quick and confident in the technique,
then try to counter it; there is no skill or
benefit in defending a technique when
the student is still learning.
Unfortunately, when students are trying
to learn a new tool, technique, or
application, they are sometimes tempted
to take the “easy” route and go to Sifu
YouTube for video demonstrations and
tutorials to help start the process.
Unfortunately, by doing so, they are not
resolving the problems, which means
they won’t ever learn. Focussing on
“learning whilst doing” encourages and
promotes physical and verbal questions,
which then enhance the learning process;

www.wingchunillustrated.com 35
 keeping it simple
Instructors should be clear about the
attitude, skills and habits they require,
and be clear about defining the end goal
in simple and effective terms.
this means the Wing Chun practitioner
is implementing everything required to
make their memory input and recall work.
Practical training and exploration results
in the practitioner connecting the moves
and techniques they are learning with
real world tasks, which forms the bonds
in their brain, and subsequently, the skills
they are learning will be remembered
and able to be recalled and repeated,
especially with physical skills such as
Wing Chun, where application is the
key to learning quickly.
Teaching should also be backwards
Most instructors believe that, when you
teach, you start at the beginning and
move forwards through the lesson,
developing and expounding on the
information until the students reach a
logical conclusion. However, this common
forward-facing lesson/teaching process
is not necessarily the optimum or most
appropriate method for teaching students
Wing Chun. Teaching backwards is a
common process in the military, Close
Protection training, etc. where the desired
end results is known—the methodologies
and skills required to get there are also
known, but where the skill of those
learning has yet to be determined, defined
or refined, and it’s something I have
always utilised in teaching Wing Chun.
Wing Chun instructors who “teach
backwards” start with a clear and well-
defined end goal or solution in mind—
they know in advance what they expect
their students to achieve and what they
need to cover along that journey to
achieve that end solution. The process
starts by defining and clarifying ambitious
36
goals and objectives, and then establishing
the students’ starting points, even before
starting to plan and teach.
Instructors should be clear about the
attitude, skills and habits they require
and be clear about defining the end goal
in simple and effective terms. The key is
to keep things simple, allow the students
to make the end-point their personal
goal, and help them feel competent and
have a sense of achievement. All Wing
Chun instructors know that, although it
looks relatively simple, the correct
practice and performance of Siu Nim
Tao requires a very complex set of
mechanics and thought processes.
Stage 1: Identify desired results
When teaching Siu Nim Tao, start with
the desired take-away message that the
Wing Chun practitioner must understand
in that lesson or assessment. Students
will gain and demonstrate an
understanding and appreciation of the
fundamental purpose of each of the
three sections, whilst deploying the
correct body posture, leg structure,
centreline awareness, use of Gung Lik
and Sung Lik, and the correct arm
structures. It is equally important not to
assume that, just because the student
has practised the form in a class situation
that they are competent in the basics,
which are needed to reach the end-point
as defined.
Stage 2: Define acceptable evidence
To know students are developing and
improving, it is essential that, throughout
the lesson, the student is observed and
questioned regarding the movements,
the emphasis in each section, and the
clarity of the techniques performed.
The goal is to see the three clearly
demonstrated in their performance,
clearly defined shapes being used, and
a correct and acceptable Yee Gee Kim
Yeung Ma, and body posture being
adopted and maintained throughout the
form and the correct use of energies.
Stage 3: Plan learning experiences
and instruction
The next stage is to think and plan the
tuition journey from the start to the
end-point to achieve the teaching/
assessment objectives, covering
everything the student needs in terms
of skill, knowledge, and input at each
logical stage to achieve the desired end
results. So, using the Siu Nim Tao
example, first consider the knowledge
and skills the student will need to
complete the assessment/lesson.
Teaching methodology should include
demonstration, explanation, direct
tuition, and constructive feedback.
In Conclusion
Many instructors do some of this within
their teachings but don’t realise it; when
teaching Siu Nim Tao, instructors
demonstrate the form for the students to
show exactly what they expect of them
in terms of quality, timing, positions,
energy use and concentration. Experience
has shown me that, by defining the end-
point/result and showing students exactly
how you want the move/technique/
application and then planning the
training session from a basic starting
point to that end-point, encourages
meaningful discussion and tuition.
I cannot remember how often in my early
years of study I asked, how do I improve
this technique or make this work; I was
supplied with the immortal words, “You
have to train harder!” That is not an
answer; it’s an excuse by the teacher for
lack of knowledge and/or lack of planning.
That’s like telling a drowning man to
swim harder!
For more information about Sifu Shaun Rawcliffe and
the Midlands Wing Chun Kuen, please visit the website:
www.wingchun.co.uk
ISSUE 33
 S
feature
TANLEY JUE
WING CHUN’S HIDDEN MASTER
BY DR. ROBERT CHU PHOTOS LISA BERNAZANI
STANLEY JUE IS A HIDDEN FIGURE, KNOWN BY A FEW WHO
PRACTISE WING CHUN. THE FIRST INNER DOOR DISCIPLE OF
SIFU HENRY MUI, HE WAS INTRODUCED TO THE ART BECAUSE
OF HIS FATHER’S RELATIONSHIP TO MUI IN 1977.
An unbroken lineage from Gulao village, Mui
studied with Fung Ju, descended from Leung
Jan’s Wing Chun art. Pin Sun Wing Chun, as it
is known formally, is focused primarily on the
practical aspects of Wing Chun and the ability
to use forms and drills in actual application.
Please give us a little background on your Pin Sun
Wing Chun training and experience.
I started at age 17, in 1977, with Sifu Henry Mui
at his studio in Brighton, MA. When the school
closed three years later, I continued my studies
with him privately. We went to several Karate
tournaments, always losing by points, rather
than skill or force. My peers and I learned the
38
style slowly, and it was many years before I felt
I had a grasp of the style.
How long have you practised?
About 35 years, as a student and as a teacher.
Who was your teacher? What lineage? Whom have
you taught?
My teacher was Henry Mui of Pin Sun Wing
Chun. His lineage was from an unbroken line,
descended from Fung Gen Ju (aka Fung Ju),
Fung Chun, Wong Wah Sam, to the founder, Dr.
Leung Jan. I’ve taught 300-400 students during
my practice. Some of the most notable students
in skill, accomplishment, and dedication were
Stan Pasqualie, Troy Singletary, Walter Lewis,
Manway Liu and Matt Gregory.
How did you get into the study of Pin Sun Wing Chun?
My father chose the style for me, so that I should
learn the true way to fight, rather than just forms.
I also practised Uechi Ryu and Goju Ryu
Okinawan Karate and Hung Gar Fu Hok Pai.
What is the difference between Pin Sun Wing
Chun and other Wing Chun systems?
Pin Sun Wing Chun is focused primarily on
the practical aspects of the style, the ability to
use the forms and drills in actual combat,
rather than based on perfecting the structure
and practice of the forms alone.
There’s a modern approach to fighting on the
ground, as the Brazilians and MMA do; what is
your opinion of that?
Pin Sun Wing Chun actively avoids fighting on
the ground; the style has techniques that allow
a fighter to return quickly to an upright
position to continue the fight on our terms.
Ground fighting encourages and rewards
dominance; the goal seems to be to come out
on top and stay on top, and grind your
opponent further under your dominance. Pin
Sun Wing Chun, by contrast, encourages you
to stay upright and take your opponent on with
ISSUE 33
 feature

room to move, manoeuvre, and react with a

space between yourself and your opponent.
Although it can be used in tight quarters, it’s in a
different world from ground fighting. The
techniques have almost no common ground,
since the environment of the fight is so different.

What unique contributions have you made to Pin

Sun Wing Chun?
When I was learning from Sifu Mui, his teaching
style was very sporadic; he would allow students
to teach whole classes, and each lesson could be
very disjointed from the next. It often seemed that
only Sifu knew the larger picture of the style,
and he would teach each lesson from a different
“chapter” of the whole. Much of my contribution
to the style is how I teach it, drawing more logical
connections to take each lesson to the next, so
the students could start with solid foundations,
and use those foundational lessons to build upon
the next lesson, using what they had learned
before in a more expedient, understandable way.

When you teach, what are the benefits to the students?

Because of the natural progression and the
individual nature of my lessons, each student
continuously built their skills from previous
lessons, using them in new ways, with new
information. In terms of the individual nature of
the lessons, you will not find a student who has
the same style as the next.

Though they all studied the same lessons, each

took away a different strength that suited their
personal style, both as a fighter and a student.
Some of my students respond better to techniques,
some to strategy, some to force. Some rely more
on instinct, and the abilities they take away from
lessons allows the chaos of their reactions to
retain form, even if they are not actively pursuing
“Pin Sun Wing Chun draws strength
that structure.
from solid footwork and using
When I teach a class, it isn’t uncommon for every
student to be practising different techniques, redirection and technique to trap
rather than drilling the same forms in unison one
after another. Instead, each student practises
each form they enjoy and which feels most
and react to an opponent.”
natural to them, allowing them to use their
passion and natural skills to the advantage of
their view of the lesson. of Pin Sun Wing Chun is the flexibility and
interchange ability of the core forms. For each
Tell us a little about the theory, principles and concepts strike from an opponent, there are dozens of
of Pin Sun Wing Chun. forms that could be used; there is never only one
From a defensive perspective, the key attribute move for one attack. The only constant for the

www.wingchunillustrated.com 39
 stanley jue
“At its core, style is that you will never stand in front of a
strike and take its force head-on. Any form will
do to respond to the strike, and each will redirect
Pin Sun the strike in a unique way, and the next strike
will be affected by the last form, used to deflect
Wing Chun the previous one.
comes From the oppositional perspective, there are also
two variants to that re-directional rule. For
beginner students, movements are larger, and
down to strikes are encouraged toward the outside (left
and right sides) of your opponent, isolating one
the basic hand to defend against two attacking and
occupying.
stance and Once a student becomes more advanced, they are
encouraged to attack the centre of the opponent
the basic more often, engaging both hands in the trickier
business of deflecting two hands of your opponent,
forms.” using one hand to occupy, while the other seeks
a weakness to strike.
What are the core teachings of Pin Sun Wing Chun,
as you teach it?
At its core, Pin Sun Wing Chun comes down to
the basic stance and the basic forms. Before a
student learns what forms and techniques suit
their learning, their strengths, and their
weaknesses, they must learn to keep good stance,
good footwork, and to use the basic hand forms.
What weapons do you teach? What’s the benefit of
learning weaponry?
For more information about I teach the 10-foot Pole Staff and Butterfly Swords.
Sifu Stanley Jue and Pin Sun Weapons are learned like learning a new body
Wing Chun, please visit the part. To hold a Butterfly Sword is to have, instead
website: www.wckfa.com of a wrist, a second elbow and an extra length of
40
arm. To wield a Pole Staff is to reach your arm an
extra nine feet and add the force of that length
to each strike with both the strength of gravity
and leverage to your own. Weapons make you
feel powerful, because they add to the deadliness
of your empty fist, but they also teach you new
ways to look at the ways you use your body.
What would you think other Wing Chun practitioners
can gain through the study of this method?
Many other styles overemphasise force and
headhunting, overpowering opponents with raw
strength in a predictable straight line. Pin Sun
Wing Chun draws strength from solid footwork
and using redirection and technique to trap and
react to an opponent, diffusing an opponent’s
strength, and attacking the core, making all
movements more difficult to predict and more
adaptable to reaction.
How would you sum up the changes in Pin Sun
Wing Chun that you’ve seen over the years?
As a student with Jerome and Mark, the style felt
chaotic, almost lost. Together, we three found a
sense of structure in Pin Sun Wing Chun. Over
time, we learned the larger structure, as lifelong
students eventually do, and drew our own
conclusions about how to communicate that
larger picture of the style, which was so hard for
us to grasp as students. Students of this style,
today, learn much faster than we did. The style
has not changed—the students I see now reflect
the student I was, but they learn everything I
learned at such an accelerated pace.
If today was your last day, what would you teach
your students; what advice would you give them to
carry on and improve?
If you learn nothing else, learn the first eight
basic hand techniques, the first four basic foot
techniques, and the first three basic kick
techniques. All of Pin Sun Wing Chun is the
practised applications of these techniques.
What is your impression of Pin Sun Wing Chun in
the United States, now?
The style is so rare, here, it’s often mistaken for
other forms of Wing Chun, especially the Hong
Kong style, due to its celebrity users, Bruce Lee
and his teacher Ip Man. The 40 points now known
in the US largely only to you, Sifu Chu, are from
the same source as Pin Sun Wing Chun; the
impression of Pin Sun Wing Chun in the US is
singular; it is my students and my classmates.
ISSUE 33
 the inner circle

Sae Hok Wing Chun

BY JIM ROSELANDO JR. & DANIEL STARK TRANSLATIONS ALBERT LAM
Chi Sin. That is why some parts of our
history are missing. Also, admittance to
this branch is via a very old traditional
ceremony. Perspective members must
kneel, displaying red and yellow papers
(in which there is a name and age of the
member) in front of the Master, offer a
cup of tea, and name all the ancestors
“chops” and a glass picture of the word 
“佛” (Buddha), showing a relationship
to the Shaolin Monastery.

How old were you when you studied Sae

Hok Wing Chun? How did you meet Sifu Law?
I learned Gung Fu at an early age.
I studied Choy Li Fut, Northern
Shaolin, Eight Trigram Butterfly
Palm, and even studied Karate for a few
years as a teenager. While working at my
father’s factory, I studied an art called
Eagle’s Talon Leopard’s Fist at the Si
Bak Da Gung Fu Association. In 1971, 
I represented the club in competition.

In 2000, Law Chiu Wing invited me to

learn Sae Hok Wing Chun. However,
Sifu Mok Wai Keung demonstrating I had learned several kinds of martial
Sae Hok Wing Chun’s Siu Lin Tao. art and could ask questions. After a
quick demonstration and hearing Mr.
IN RECENT YEARS, THE ART OF SAE HOK (“SNAKE CRANE”) WING CHUN Law’s explanations, I greatly admired
Sae Hok Wing Chun, as it had scientific
HAS GAINED SIGNIFICANT POPULARITY. THIS ART, WHICH HAS BEEN
principles and simple actions I found
PASSED DOWN BY THE LAW FAMILY, HAS COME OUT OF THE SHADOWS, impressive. Sae Hok Wing Chun attaches
AND ITS REPRESENTATIVES OPENLY SHARE THEIR ART. FOR THIS ISSUE, great importance to its boxing theory
I DECIDED TO INTERVIEW SIFU MOK WAI KEUNG TO GIVE THE WING CHUN and philosophy. There’s no gaudy series
of skills, as our art is simple and practical.
COMMUNITY A DEEPER INSIGHT INTO THIS RARE WING CHUN LINEAGE.

Can you tell me the history of the Law
family’s Sae Hok Wing Chun?  kept Sae Hok Wing Chun low-profile
During the late Qing Dynasty, Grandmaster
Law Tiu Wen was skilled at Chinese
martial arts. In the Revolution of 1911,
led by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, Law Tiu Wen
worked as the secretary for General Li
Fok Lam. In the beginning of the
Republic of China, he quit his position
as Government Official and returned to
his birthplace, Foshan (Sai Chiu)
Guangdong, where he taught his son,
Law Ting Chau. Law Ting Chau came to
Hong Kong in the 1940s. He passed the
art to his son, Law Chiu Wing. All
successors since Master Sun Kam are in
the lineage of the same family and have
Source of the lineage
during each generation.  by Master Chi Sin
(Unknown) 
Wing Chun is very difficult to examine, ☟ 
because in the past, there was no formal Ancestor Master Sun Kam 
documentation. After the Taiping ☟ 
Heavenly Kingdom (1851-1864) and the
Ancestor Master Law Tai Wen 
fire of King Fa House, Sae Hok Wing
Chun hid itself to avoid trouble from ☟ 
the Qing government, and Master Sun Ancestor Master Law Ting Chau 
Kam mentioned little about the ancestor ☟ 
chart to Grandmaster Law Tiu Wen. Master Law Chiu Wing 
☟ 
The only thing Law Tiu Wen knew about
Master Mok Wai Keung
the source of this lineage was Master

42 ISSUE 33

I studied with Law Sifu for a decade,
and today, I’m the primary disciple in
the public, promoting this classical art.
Are there other active lineages in Hong
Kong or the Mainland of Law family’s
Sae Hok Wing Chun? If so, is the family
all in contact?
There are no other branches of Sae Hok
Wing Chun in Hong Kong or other
countries. In Guangzhou, there is a club
called the Snake Crane Wing Chun
House, but it’s solely for leisure activity,
not a place for Gung Fu. I would note,
Guangzhou Wing Chun has often been
referred to as “Snake Crane Fist.”
Can you tell us which forms are preserved
in Sae Hok Wing Chun? Are the empty-
handsets more similar to Hong Kong or
Guangzhou Wing Chun?
The Guangzhou Wing Chun system is
very similar to our Sae Hok Wing Chun.
I have kept in contact and attend the
yearly gathering with the masters of
Guangzhou Wing Chun. Together, we
exchanged the skilful techniques of
Wing Chun.
www.wingchunillustrated.com
Historical photo of Sifu Law Tiu Wen. First generation
master of Sae Hok Wing Chun.
Does Sae Hok Wing Chun have any training
of Qigong or Noi Gong?
Officially, there’s no Qigong or Noi
Gong (internal strengthening) training
in Sae Hok Wing Chun. I have studied
Qigong, but it’s not from Law Sifu.
the inner circle
Sifu Mok Wai Keung demonstrating applications
from Sae Hok Wing Chun’s Luk Dim Boon Gwun.
“I have dedicated
myself to the
promotion and
popularisation of
Sae Hok Wing Chun.”
However, I’d say there’s a good effect
and function for internal strengthening,
when training Siu Lin Tao, Chum Kiu
and Biu Jee.
Sae Hok Wing Chun has an old notebook
with Kuen Kuit from the 1890s. Can you
tell us which family member wrote the
book and what is the source of the info?
There was a notebook written by Mr. Law
Tiu Wen in the late Qing dynasty to
record the system and governing rules
of Sae Hok Wing Chun.
Which weapon forms are preserved in Sae
Hok Wing Chun? Do you preserve the 6.5
43
 the inner circle
Group photo of Sifu Mok Wai Keung and pupils.
“Wing Chun is very difficult to examine,
because in the past, there was no formal
documentation.”
Pole and Twin Knives? Does your system
have a Wooden Dummy form?
Sae Hok Wing Chun preserves the
Wooden Dummy, 6.5 Pole, and Twin
Knives. Our Wooden Dummy form has
ten sections.
Can you tell us about some of the unique
training signatures preserved in the art
Sae Hok Wing Chun?
There are no major differences from
44
other systems of Wing Chun. There are
several similar concepts towards offensive
and defensive strategy among the other
four major styles of Wing Chun. If
anything, Sae Hok Wing Chun tends to
be more offensive where other systems
may be more defensive in nature.
Are you still actively training and teaching
Sae Hok Wing Chun?
I teach several classes in different
districts. I also associate with numerous
martial art organisations. Our club has
become popular and respected in the
martial art community for passing on the
classical and practical Sae Hok Wing
Chun of the Law family. My teacher,
Law Sifu, no longer accepts pupils and
is very low profile.      
What is your vision for the future of the
Sae Hok Wing Chun family?
I have dedicated myself to the promotion
and popularisation of Sae Hok Wing
Chun. I take my inheritance of Sae Hok
Wing Chun to be very important not
only for boxing, but also for cultural
reasons. I openly teach, hoping Sae Hok
Wing Chun can spread across the globe.
In Conclusion 
Mok Sifu states, Sae Hok Wing Chun is
a traditional Chinese martial art, suitable
for both men and ladies. Training focuses
on developing the offensive and defensive
techniques to react using the smallest
amount of effort to maximise the
delivery power with the muscles relaxed.
This is a special and rare system he
wishes to share with all who respect
their tradition.
For more information about Sifu Jim Roselando Jr.
and Pin Sun Wing Chun, please visit the website:
www.parkavewellness.com
ISSUE 33

The latest English
language book is
“Inner WingTsun –
Coursebook”
361 pages, 9x13,5 cm
25.-€ Online Shop:
http://ewto-shop.de/article/218
The EWTO
(European WingTsun Organisation)
— A consistent quarantee of quality since 1967 —
The EWTO emerged from the “Budo Zirkel Kiel”, a legendary German martial
arts club in which GM Prof. Keith R. Kernspecht, PhD, taught Oyama &
Shotokan Karate, Kempo, Ko-Budo, Grappling and since 1970 Lee Sing’s
Wing Chun according to what he had learned from Joseph Cheng. After 1976
he added Escrima (Bill Newman), Thai Martial Arts (Sunthus Supasturpong)
and Leung Ting WingTsun.
He studied up to 2006 from Great Grandmaster Leung Ting and is his
highest and most successive disciple world-wide with the 10th grade.
Moreover Kernspecht studied Jesse Glover’s Non Classical Gung Fu (from
Bruce Lee) from 1979 to 1982 and has now declared himself “an eternal
student of the internal arts”, very much like his friend Hawkins Cheung who
inspired him to take an interest in arts like Tai Chi, Liu He Ba Fa, Hsing-I ,
Bakua, Yi Chuan and Tai Ki Ken.
Other disciplines taught within the EWTO are: Groundfighting and Grappling
according to Kernspecht’s Sensei Jon Bluming, Gene LeBelle and Gokor
Chivichyan.
His highest disciples are Giuseppe Schembri, MA, Dr. Oliver Koenig, Thomas
Schroen, BA, all of them 9th grade Grandmasters and sport scientists.
There are gyms in nearly all European countries and in Germany alone there
are about 1,000 EWTO-gyms.
facebook.com/ewto.de
twitter.com/EWTO_official
 L
feature
IZ PARRY
SIFU LIZ PARRY WAS 11 YEARS OLD WHEN SHE SAW HER FIRST
BRUCE LEE MOVIE. SHE HAD SEEN NOTHING LIKE IT BEFORE AND
WANTED TO DO WHAT HE DID. IT MAY HAVE SEEMED LIKE A FAR-
FETCHED DREAM, ESPECIALLY AS A GIRL GROWING UP IN
MALAYSIA IN THE 1970s. WHEN LIZ TURNED 18, HER FATHER SENT
HER TO ATTEND COLLEGE IN CANADA—A MOVE THAT, NOT ONLY
FULFILLED HER CHILDHOOD DREAM, BUT EXCEEDED IT.
46
EYES BEAMING
WITH COURAGE
BY MIA VELEZ PHOTOS NIKK VAN RYCK
Sifu Liz has won multiple Wushu and Ving Tsun
awards, both nationally and internationally. She
has officiated many competitions and is considered
a Senior Level Instructor amongst her peers.
This year, she is celebrating her 30th year in the
Ving Tsun system under Sifu Grandmaster
Sunny Tang (Dunn Wah).
I recently sat with her during our annual Moy
Yat Ving Tsun Gung Fu Sisters Retreat to talk
about her journey through the system and the
courage it takes to persevere and become one of
the influential Sifus in Moy Yat Ving Tsun.
How did you start Ving Tsun?
I’ve always wanted to take up martial arts, so
when I was at York University, I took Judo, then
some Taekwondo. I found my Sifu when looking
to buy equipment at his school in downtown
Toronto, two blocks from the university. I saw
the sign for Ving Tsun Gung Fu. I walked in and
asked to be a student instead. That’s where my
Sifu, Grandmaster Sunny Tang, and I started. I
trained with my Sifu and learned the first three
forms, and then I got pregnant. I couldn’t afford
to go, time-wise or money-wise, so I stopped.
However, I still practised and read more; plus, I
stayed in touch with my Sifu.
Did you ever think you’d be back?
I always wanted to go back, but I thought it would
be much later, because my priority was my son.
When my son was around eight, I enrolled him
in Wushu at my Sifu’s school. He said, “Mom,
why aren’t you practising anymore?” and so I
started again.
Everyone hits a plateau in his or her training. What
causes it, and what is your advice to overcome it?
I recently posted a quote by Sigung Moy Yat,
“Mastery is excellence in the basics.” There are
ISSUE 33

Liz Parry with her Sifu, Grandmaster Sunny Tang (Dunn Wah).
many reasons for the plateau, and the big one is
the ego. Instead of spending time working on the
basics, the ego says, “Yeah, yeah, I already knew
that. Next!” Some only want the fighting part
and use force, which doesn’t work. If you don’t
spend enough time in the basics, your Chi Sau
will suffer, and you’ll get stuck in a rut.
However, there is something else within the
practice; let’s call it energy. How do you teach
something like that?
Energy is the sum of many things. The culmination
of energy can be broken down. First is the mind-
body connection. If the mind is too cluttered and
disorganised, it can’t meld with the physical body.
And, if the physical body is too exhausted, it can’t
understand what the mind is generating. The
practice for the mind is to be calm; otherwise,
it will be hard for the mind to give direction.
Understanding structure is another key element.
Uniting hands and feet, hips and shoulders,
knees and elbows. They work in unison, because
the body is like a giant pulley system that moves
larger wheels. That’s why we have to work on the
correct angles. Energy is also the culmination of
the different powers. The number one power I
express is Jair Lik, which means “Sharing Power”.
With Jair Lik, we see we need not produce our
own energy; rather, we can get it from others.
The body becomes a vessel, where we can gather
and store energy. That way, we can move in an
www.wingchunillustrated.com
feature
Photo by Carrie Collins
explosive, absorptive, or redirecting manner,
which is a method of how we deal with a
stronger force.
Going back to basics, the practice of Siu Nim “Other
Tau teaches us to look at the beginning idea,
how to notice the energy, and how it moves. With
the little idea comes the desire to learn more.
women need
That’s why we’re all excited about Ving Tsun.
to see a
Some schools have created women-only classes;
do you think that’s necessary to keep women in woman Sifu,
the school?
I don’t like segregating people, but people have
different learning curves. If a person comes in
so they know
and feels isolated, they will not stay long. Most
women need a little more time to settle in, adjust it is a
and feel comfortable with the instructor; otherwise,
they may not ask questions of the teacher, and possibility
they get lost in the technicalities. Also, women
have the roles of taking care of the children and
the home, so it may take a lot to come to class.
for them if
So, to keep women in the school, I say,
accommodate a woman’s life. they want it.”
47
 liz parry
For more information
about Sifu Liz Parry,
please visit the website:
http://wingchuntoronto.ca/parry
48
You have supported the Moy Yat Ving Tsun Gung
Fu Sisters Retreat since the beginning, what keeps
you coming?
Ving Tsun is my passion—I love it! It has given me
so many things, like confidence and friendship.
It has helped me grow so many aspects of my
life. In my work, it’s allowed me to be a leader.
In my way of life, ethically, it’s helped me on a
good path. I’m more apt to listen and be peaceful,
but it doesn’t mean I can’t object or fight. I’ve
learned to be fair because of the Gung Fu. These
and so many other aspects of Ving Tsun I want
other women to enjoy. It is a lonely journey,
especially when I started, but it’s getting better.
The retreat is a way for us to get together, grow
and share Gung Fu Life with other women,
“I’m more
apt to listen
and be
which is a rare experience for some. Coming
peaceful, here, I realise my role as a Sifu. Other women
need to see a woman Sifu, so they know it is a
possibility for them if they want it. I want to see
but it doesn’t this retreat grow and reach out internationally
and meet with other sisters.
mean I can’t
When we first met, you talked about “eyes beaming
object or with courage.” What does that mean?
My Sifu talks a lot about how Ving Tsun gives
people, especially women, confidence. There’s
fight.” definitely a disparity between the lives of women
and men right at the get-go. Violence is a reality
for many people, and usually, women get harmed.
I used to teach at a women’s shelter, and the
women there won’t even look up; they wouldn’t
even look at me because they were so fearful.
Most of the time, the women were fearful for
their kids, and they were hiding to protect them.
When someone is loved and given enough security,
when one knows of one’s abilities and can rise to
any occasion, then you can see that look of “eyes
beaming with courage,” because there is nothing
to fear because they have a place in the world.
ISSUE 33
 “The look and feel are AMAZING—

true craftsmanship! They are

without a doubt the finest Wooden

Wing Chun Butterfly Swords

available on the market today!”

Sifu Morten Ibsen

Teak
Founder and Head Instructor
The Danish Ving Tsun Federation

Length: 465 mm
Blade length: 320 mm
Handle length: 125 mm
Thickness: 24 mm

Wooden Butterfly Swords

High Quality Made in Denmark

These amazing Wooden Butterfly Swords are

based on the late Sifu Wong Shun Leung’s
preferred dimensions and are available in Teak,
Black Stained Beech, and Natural Beech.

Teak Black Stained Beech Natural Beech

We use Teak FEQ (First European
Quality) from Southeast Asia, which
has been legally sourced. Teak FEQ
is a sorted timber that contains
no sapwood, knots or wormholes.
Unfortunately, this tropical hardwood
is unequivocally endangered and is
therefore very exclusive.
Weight (pair): 800 grams
128 Euro/pair
All specifications are approximate
We use beechwood exclusively Weight (pair): 850 grams
sourced from Danish forests and
87 Euro/pair
offer two versions: natural and black
stained. Beechwood was used way
back in the Viking Age to make
weapons, due to its hardness, wear-
To place your order, visit:
resistance and strength. www.woodendummy.dk/shop/
Weight (pair): 850 grams
93 Euro/pair Discounts available for bulk orders.
For rates, please contact:
woodendummydk@gmail.com
 the straight lead

Having No Way as Way and flawless, so one can use the technique
under stress without having to intentionally
focus on it. That’s always the goal of

Jeet Kune Do Tactics

technique training. Mastery doesn’t
mean doing something right once; it
means having to think about it to do it
wrong. Under stress, we don’t rise to
the level of our challenge—we sink to
BY JASON KOROL PHOTOS JAMES SCHOENI the level of our discipline.

Next, a Special Forces soldier works out.

They’re in outstanding physical condition.
They run, march, lift weights, etc. One
hopes the Jeet Kune Do fighter takes
his/her physical condition seriously.

Finally, and more to our point, the

Special Forces soldier spends a good
amount of time studying and training

Bruce Lee’s Jeet

Kune Do was heavily
tilted toward tactical
considerations.
FOR ALL OF BRUCE LEE’S EXHORTATIONS FOR ALIVENESS AND HIS
combat tactics. Why do they do this?
CRITIQUES OF “LAND SWIMMERS,” YOU’D THINK MOST JEET KUNE DO Well, most Special Forces units have
STUDENTS WOULD BE CAT-LIKE, EVASIVE AND RAZOR SHARP. state-of-the-art equipment, but that
doesn’t stop them from getting shot if
they do something stupid. Just standing
You’d guess they’d be out there sparring are negligent in training their physical up and yelling, “Here we are, bad guys…
and learning how to hit a moving target qualities, instead focusing solely on and we’re special! So, bow down at our
that wasn’t cooperating and was trying techniques, then even fewer invest time high-tech awesomeness and be
to hit them back. Well, you’d be wrong! in systematically studying and applying vanquished”. Ah, no. That doesn’t work
Look and you see too many teachers and logical fighting tactics. This is a massive, so well, because people have a tendency
students obsessing about mechanics and massive black hole at the centre of one’s not to be as stupid as you’d prefer them
not enough (or at all) about aliveness martial art. And I don’t call it a black hole to be.
and strategy. However, studying Bruce by accident, as leaving a tactical void in
Lee’s fighting method doesn’t mean your martial art will invariably suck in Winning consistently in combat/war
imitation; it means integration and and destroy your combat effectiveness. requires you have a logically consistent
application of the core principles that macro plan, with several adaptations
Lee used from Wing Chun and old- Look at military training and compare it based on conditions. You have a non-
school (fencing influenced) Boxing. to Jeet Kune Do for a moment. Special contradictory and well thought out
Forces soldiers train with their weapons overall goal that can be flexibly applied
We often speak of the “three Ts” of routinely, just like Jeet Kune Do fighters in differing environments against varied
martial arts: Technique, Training and practice their kicks and punches. The goal and specific opposition. To merely think
Tactics. Well, if many in Jeet Kune Do is to make the weapon use instantaneous you will hit the guy with your favourite

50 ISSUE 33
 the straight lead

technique is not, repeat not(!), a real

strategy. Simplification never means
over-simplification, which is leaving out
relevant detail.

That great fight philosopher, Dalton, in

Road House, instructed his pupils never
to underestimate their enemy, to expect
the unexpected, to take it outside (try
not to fight) and always be polite. The
thing that stands out about that movie
in my mind (besides Kelly Lynch) is how
Dalton had a clear philosophy of tactics.
He, like all true warriors, saw technique
as one part of the pie, not the whole pie.

Many JKDers, however, give no real

thought to fighting tactics. They just
assume that, being so awesome because
they do Bruce Lee’s fighting method (as
if that alone counts for something in a
fight), they merely need to fire their
super-special Jeet Kune Do techniques,
and there’s nothing at all that can be
done about it. Well, if that doesn’t sound
like a bad plan, I don’t know what does.
Your fast jab or sidekick or slick trapping
skills mean absolutely nothing if you
can’t apply them outside of the Kwoon.
Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do was heavily
tilted toward tactical considerations.
The whole genius of it was that Lee
understood the primary goal of a self-
defence system was to keep himself
safe. That sounds like a great “duh!”
statement, but watch how people confuse
the point. They might say they agree with
the former statement and then act as if
their only goal was to hit the enemy. No.
No, it’s not. Your goal is to keep what
you already have—your safety. Dalton
again: “No one ever wins a fight”. Lee
understood this critical point and built
his method around it. That’s why the
fighting measure, stop-hit, and footwork
feature so heavily in true Jeet Kune Do.
Real Jeet Kune Do seeks to achieve a
tactical and technical integration, not
giving too much emphasis on the one at
the expense of the other. Another way of
saying this is that technique and attribute
training is about understanding and
Real Jeet Kune Do seeks to achieve a tactical
and technical integration, not giving too much
emphasis on the one at the expense of the other.
developing you. Tactical training, to be too stupid to get out of the way.
including the in-depth study of faking, Nothing is more bizarre than watching
timing, distance, counter-attack, riposte, Jeet Kune Do fighters supposedly train
etc. is about the enemy. First, mechanical fakes against a dude standing there like
performance, then application. You a statue. Why do you need to fake a
can’t “fit in with the opponent” or “float statue anyway? This training leads the
in totality” or “be like water” with only Jeet Kune Do student into becoming a
technique any more than you can be a great poser, not a fighter.
good mechanic because you have a
great toolbox. Real Jeet Kune Do absolutely must
include aliveness training (non-
The fact is, not only did Bruce Lee say cooperative partner drills, such as
Jeet Kune Do was really the art of sparring in varying degrees of intensity)
faking and the movements connected to to adequately prepare the student for
them, he relied heavily on sound combat the real world. Without it, there’s no
principles to assure his success. A fake, hope of “fitting in with the opponent”,
like its tactical brethren the stop-hit, and the only water you’ll be like is the
counter-time, and riposte is a tactical mud puddle you fell into when you got
use of a particular weapon that takes knocked out!
advantage of a specific mistake by the
opponent. Follow that? There’s far more For more information about Sifu Jason Korol and the
to landing a straight punch than just Greenville Academy of Martial Arts, please visit the
throwing it and expecting the other guy website: www.cornerstonejkd.com

www.wingchunillustrated.com 51
 feature
ARE YOUR
EXPECTATIONS
REALISTIC?
BY TONY MASSENGILL PHOTOS CHRISTINE KOROL
SO, YOU VISIT THE WEBPAGE OF THE LOCAL BRANCH OF WING
CHUN’S INVINCIBLE ACADEMY OF SELF-DEFENCE AND WORLD
DOMINATION TO FIND OUT A LITTLE MORE ABOUT THIS MARTIAL
ART YOU HAVE BEEN HEARING SO MUCH ABOUT.
On the webpage, you read about how Wing Chun
is so dangerous it cannot be used in MMA, because
all other fighters would end up blind or crippled
for life. Sounds damn impressive! So, you look
further and find a link to the school’s YouTube
page, and there, you find videos of the instructor
demonstrating the martial prowess of Wing Chun.
Having experience in Western Boxing, you are
excited when you find one in which he
demonstrates “Wing Chun vs. Boxing”. In the
video, you watch as the instructor faces off against
one of his novice students, wearing Boxing gloves,
but can barely throw a punch, and you can tell
that the closest he has ever been to a Boxing gym
was in watching Rocky on Netflix.
52
What’s worse, the instructor is getting no
resistance once the “boxer” has thrown the first
punch. You watch as the instructor, in his silky
Gung Fu uniform, annihilates the “boxer” with
his 17-move “Wing Chun Dance of Death”,
while the “boxer” stands motionless like a
mannequin, initial punch hanging in mid-air,
frozen in time, with no defensive or counter-
offensive reactions.
The above scenario would be more humorous if
it wasn’t playing out somewhere around the
world nearly every day. There are many schools
and clubs that match the above description in
nearly every way. The thing that makes things
worse is that some schools and clubs are filled
with unsuspecting students, following blindly and
believing the exaggerated claims and developing
a false sense of security.
It Starts at the Top
It’s not just the so-called “want-to-be” types doing
this. There is one very famous Chinese
“Grandmaster”, student of Ip Man, who will
remain nameless just to keep the hate mail I
receive at a minimum, with an old video series in
which he demonstrates a defence and counter
against a hook punch. His defence comprises:
the opponent throws a right hook, with his left
hand in guard, at-the-ready. The famous
“Grandmaster” defends with a right-hand Paak
Sau to the inside of the hooking arm, followed
by a left Taan Sau, replacing the Paak Sau; he
then steps to the outside of the opponent and
replaces his left Taan Sau with a right Taan Sau,
now on the outside of the hook, which he then
replaces, yet again, with a left Paak Sau—finally,
followed by a counter-punch to the opponent’s
face. Yep, you read that correctly; he used four
defensive techniques against a single hook
punch before delivering his own punch! During
ISSUE 33
 feature

this five-count defence, the attacker stands

motionless, with his left hand frozen in place.

We React the Way we Train

An old military and law enforcement training
maxim states, “When the defecation hits the
revolving oscillator, you don’t rise to the occasion,
but sink to your level of training.” When our
training, or even our mind-set and beliefs are
inaccurate, we are setting ourselves up for
failure, and failure in a violent confrontation is
unacceptable! So, let’s examine how we train
and what we believe about our skills.

First, putting Boxing gloves on doesn’t make one

a “boxer”, any more than standing in one’s garage
makes one a car. Training against a fellow student,
with no formal Boxing experience, who is throwing
a few jabs, crosses and hooks, does not translate
to you handling the skills you will face against
an ACTUAL boxer. And believing you can is a
good way to end up on your back for a quick nap!
In today’s martial arts world,
Second, if you are spending most of your time
working Wing Chun vs. Wing Chun, then you
are not getting the experience you need to utilise we have many more “martial
Wing Chun in a practical, street self-protection
situation. The chances of facing another Wing hobbyists” than martial artists.
Chun practitioner on the street are very slim.
What you train against is just as important as
what you train! You must learn to apply the tools your ability to protect yourself in a real-life
of Wing Chun against boxers, grapplers and encounter. You must come to grips with the
others you are more likely to face. explosiveness and violence of real-world
encounters. Your classroom training partner
And third, our training must be more realistic. passively delivering a punch comes nowhere
Unless you assume you will face an opponent who near what you will face when attacked by a
is angry, motivated to remove your head from violent, aggressive, mean, motivated and skilful
your body, and skilled enough to accomplish that street predator.
task, you are not preparing yourself for real-world
violence. Too often, we train against compliant Wing Chun is a great and effective fighting
training partners, who will allow us to apply our system, but it must be trained in a way that
techniques, with no resistance whatsoever. This prepares one for the realities of street violence.
is a fatal mistake. One of my students once asked me if I thought
Wing Chun has been “watered down.” I replied
In Conclusion that I don’t believe it’s the martial arts that have
If you are training a defence against an attack, been watered down, but the martial artist.
which requires your opponent to remain still for Martial means WAR. In today’s martial arts
a beat in time (or for five beats in time like the world, we have many more “martial hobbyists”
“Grandmaster” example) IT WILL NOT WORK! than martial artists. We have schools presenting
the “martial art experience”, complete with the
For more information
If you are training Wing Chun vs. Wing Chun, silk uniforms and frilly sashes, rather than about Sifu Tony Massengill
spending most of your time playing Chi Sau, not training people to fight. It’s time to make sure we and the Ip Man Wing Chun
doing actual, contact sparring against boxers and are PREPARING FOR VIOLENCE—not playing Union, please visit the website:
grapplers, you are building a fatal weakness in at martial arts! www.IpManWingChun.com

www.wingchunillustrated.com 53
 reviews
IN PRINT
BY LAFAYETTE HARRIS
THE ART OF MENTAL TRAINING
A GUIDE TO PERFORMANCE
EXCELLENCE
Author(s): DC Gonzalez
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent
Publishing Platform (2013)
ISBN: 978-15-306026-8-1
Where to order: www.amazon.com
The Art of Mental Training: A Guide
to Performance Excellence by DC
Gonzalez is a compact and easy to read
book that is amazing and entertaining,
with a lot of potent information. Many
people have different challenges or
conflicts to deal with and, sometimes,
don’t know where to turn for guidance.
54
This book is just what is needed to motivate
you and point you in the right direction.
This book is just what is needed to
motivate you and point you in the
right direction.
Gonzalez uses his own stories, personal
experiences and lessons from his
teacher to show how to become better or
overcome challenges in life. Each chapter
has a story of a challenge someone had
to deal with and the lesson learned from
it. At the end of each chapter, there is a
reminder or summary of the lesson
learned to help you reach your goals.
Sometimes, people go through a difficult
or stressful time and they know it can
be a matter of changing their mind-set
or mental thoughts. The problem might
be they just have no idea how or what to
do. Gonzalez tells how to magnify or
raise your performance by turning
nervousness or fear, which is negative
energy, into unbreakable courage, which
is positive energy.
I liked the story in the first chapter “The
Three Minute Lesson”, when Gonzalez
was a Mental-Edge trainer for university
athletics. He noticed that one kid was
not interested in the mental training
sessions. Only a freshman, he was
entering the big leagues, competing at
NCAA level for the first time. Just a few
minutes before his first match at this
level, he got scared and begged Gonzalez
for mental training on the spot!
Gonzalez used this opportunity to put
his lessons to work. He gave the kid
three simple tasks to do at one minute a
piece before the match. Within a few
minutes, he went from fearful to fearless.
Although the kid lost the match, only by
one point, he gave the opponent a run for
his money. The kid’s mental state was a
mess before the match, but Gonzalez
changed that in just three minutes. Just
think what that kid might have been able
to do had he paid attention to the lessons
being taught by Gonzalez during practice.
This one example shows how powerful,
simple mental lessons can change the
mental state of a person and ultimately
the outcome of physical tasks.
The Art of Mental Training focuses on
mental training for sports, but that does
not mean it cannot be used with any
other part of our lives. Gonzalez puts a
lot of knowledge that is easy to read and
understand into this guidebook. He shows
how to stay positive, keep out the negative,
and stay focused to reach your peak
performance in anything you are doing
in life.
The Art of Mental Training: A Guide
to Performance Excellence should be
on everybody’s bookshelf, as it contains
many excellent lessons that can give
you an advantage not only in sports, but
also in daily life.
ISSUE 33

CONFLICT COMMUNICATION
A NEW PARADIGM IN CONSCIOUS
COMMUNICATION
Author(s): Rory Miller
Publisher: YMAA Publication Center
(2015)
ISBN: 978-15-943933-1-0
Where to order: www.ymaa.com
I have heard other people mention Rory
Miller’s name and his books, and they
have nothing but positive things to say.
This is the first book I have read by
Miller, and I agree—the information in
this book is very useful and insightful.
Conflict Communication: A New
Paradigm in Conscious Communication
discusses the subject of conflict, where
www.wingchunillustrated.com
The information in this book is very
useful and insightful.
it starts, how to recognise it, and how to
use clever or tactical ways to manage it.
The book is divided into three sections.
Section 1, “Background”, starts by
comparing the violence and conflict of
today with sex in the 1950s. In the 1950s,
teachers did not teach children about
sex in school. Nowadays, children are
not taught about conflict and violence.
Even though these subjects were not
taught, sex and violence will happen.
Miller then discusses how we have three
brains: the “lizard”, the “monkey”, and
the “human” brain. The lizard brain
deals with survival. The monkey brain
deals with status and what people might
think, and the human brain is thoughtful,
rational and slow.
In Section 2, “Fundamentals”, Miller
discusses your responses to conflict
and how it is “scripted.” The scripts are
predictable and recognisable. He gives
examples of a parent with a child, an
office worker and employee, and a cop
and a suspect. They are examples we
have all heard and recognise. These
scripts work with our monkey brain and
can escalate into a conflict. Miller
discusses how to recognise this and
de-escalate yourself first to avoid conflict.
Section 3 is called “Tactics, Tools,
Techniques” and describes what you
need to know to recognise a script and
reviews
choose your response. Miller discusses
techniques to manage conflicts, like
coordinating your mind, active listening,
the tactical apology, and other concepts.
Different types of people or different
environments can use these concepts too.
In the book’s introduction, Miller explains
he is not an academic or scientist, but he
has extensive experience with conflict.
He also explains that working with
dangerous and violent people is not that
different than working with angry,
annoyed, or selfish people. The book is
based on the “Conflict Communications”
course he helped to develop. During the
course, it was discovered that, not only
will this work on criminals, but everyday
people, such as somebody’s boss or
somebody’s wife. They plunged into
something more than dealing with the
everyday criminal or violent person.
I even tried the technique of “asking for
help” instead of trying to take over a
project that a group of us were working
on together. I was very impressed on
how well the task was accomplished
without any conflicts. On that note, I
will be studying this book a little more.
I recommend Conflict Communication:
A New Paradigm in Conscious
Communication for anyone, from all
walks of life and any working background.
The information in this book can benefit
you in more ways than you can imagine.
55
 reviews
SCREEN FIGHTING
BY DAVID PETERSON
KUNG FU CHEFS
Language: Cantonese, Mandarin
Subtitles: English, Chinese
Format: NTSC
Region: 0
Running Time: 91 min.
It is always a pleasure to revisit older
films of popular stars, and Kung Fu
Chefs, starring screen legend Sammo
Hung (Pedicab Driver), is a delightful
choice. First released in 2009 and
recently re-released on Blu-ray, Kung
Fu Chefs combines two Hong Kong
cinema favourites, food and fighting,
making an enjoyable action comedy that
will please both young and old audiences.
56
Kung Fu Chefs combines two Hong Kong
cinema favourites, food and fighting.
Joining Sammo, who plays disgraced Can he survive his nephew’s vengeful
chef Wong Bing-Yi in this romp, is attacks? Can Lung win the competition
Vanness Wu (Monk Comes Down the against the odds? Will old rivalries be
Mountain), playing arrogant cooking ended and new romances bloom? Watch
prodigy, Lung Kin-Yat, who can kick and enjoy Kung Fu Chefs and not only
butt as well as he can cook. will you get your answers, but you will
probably crave a Chinese meal
After being exiled from his village and afterwards as well!
losing the coveted “Dragon-Head Clever”,
a symbol of power in his clan, Wong
becomes Head Chef at Four Seas
restaurant for owner, Shen Qing (Cherrie
Ying, Rob-B-Hood). There, he meets and
reluctantly takes on Lung as his disciple.
His vengeful nephew Jo (Fan Siu Wong,
Ip Man) plots to gain revenge on behalf
of his father (Bruce Liang, Kung Fu
Hustle) by sabotaging Lung’s attempts to
win the coveted “Top Chef” competition
against two-time winner, Chef Tin (Lam
Tze Chung, Shaolin Soccer), the Head
Chef at the Imperial Palace restaurant,
owned by Jo.
With strong supporting roles by Sammo’s
son, Timmy Hung (Ip Man: The Final
Fight) and Japanese actress and singer,
Kago Ai (Ju-on: White Ghost), there is
plenty of action and many mouth-
watering cooking scenes to boot, as
Wong tries to prevent his nephew from
harming his friends, whilst endeavouring
to regain his reputation by making the
Four Seas a top restaurant, once again,
for owner Shen Qing.
ISSUE 33

Hollywood has a long-standing
tradition of taking ideas from Japanese
cinema and remaking certain films in a
Western style. Films such as Akira
Kurosawa’s Yojimbo and Seven Samurai
became cult classics, as Sergio Leone’s
A Fistful of Dollars and John Sturges’s
The Magnificent Seven, the latter being
remade often and in varied settings
(including the 1980 sci-fi film, Battle
COLD WAR II
Language: Cantonese, Mandarin
Subtitles: English, Chinese
Format: NTSC
Region: 3
Running Time: 110 min.
Following the great critical and
commercial success of crime thriller
Cold War (2012) comes the 2016 sequel,
Cold War II, starring most of the original
main cast members and following on
directly from the original film.
Once again, written and directed by the
talented duo of Longman Leung and
Sunny Luk, Cold War II has proven to
be just as popular with critics and fans,
breaking the all-time box-office record
in Hong Kong.
www.wingchunillustrated.com
UNFORGIVEN (YURUSAREZARU MONO)
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Format: PAL
Region: 0
Running Time: 136 min.
Beyond the Stars), with a successful
remake released just months ago.
However, a Japanese director taking a
Hollywood film and remaking it in a
Japanese setting has not been done before,
but that is exactly what director Lee
Sang-il has done with Clint Eastwood’s
celebrated award-winning film,
Unforgiven, and the result is spectacular.
Transposed to the northern Japanese
island of Hokkaido, during the Meiji
period (paralleling the period in which
the original film was set), the storyline
closely follows the plot of the original,
except the story now centres on a
former Samurai warrior, who has gone
into hiding, widowed and with two young
children, eking out a simple existence
in a barren, hostile landscape.
If you haven’t yet seen the first film, it
will help to do so before watching the
sequel; however, the main plot points
are clearly presented, so the story is easy
to follow.
The corruption uncovered in the first
film is still a clear and present danger,
and it isn’t too long after the opening of
the film we are thrown into the thick of
the action.
Lead actors, Aaron Kwok (The Monkey
King 2) and Tony Leung Ka-fai (Bruce
Lee, My Brother), reprise their roles as
Police Commissioner Sean Lau and
Deputy Commissioner M.B. Lee, and
joining the cast in this chapter of the saga
is Chow Yun-fat (A Better Tomorrow) as
barrister Oswald Kan, who is in charge
of a public enquiry that seems determined
to remove Lau as Commissioner.
reviews
Played by the brilliant Ken Watanabe
(The Last Samurai), Jubei “The Killer”
Kamata is approached by an old friend,
Kingo Baba (Akira Emoto, Shin Godzilla),
to join him in tracking down a pair of
brothers who have disfigured Natsume,
a sex worker (Shiori Katsuna,
Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV) in a
small frontier town.
Local lawman, Ichizo Oishi (Kôichi
Satô, Samurai Resurrection), has let
the brothers go with little punishment,
so the sex workers offer a bounty on the
brothers, attracting several bounty
hunters to the area.
Jubei and Kingo are joined by a brash
young half-Ainu man, Goro Sawada
(Yûya Yagira, Nobody Knows), and the
three set off to find and kill the two
brothers and collect the bounty.
Lawman Oishi is just as determined to
stop any such attempts and having
humiliated one former Samurai bounty
hunter, he and his men will stop at
nothing to prevent Jubei’s plans.
Highly recommended!
Behind the scenes, a group of corrupt
businessmen, politicians, and former
police officers, with the help of escaped
prisoner Joe Lee (Eddie Peng, reprising
his role from Cold War), work to create
havoc in the community to speed up the
process of getting Lau dismissed from
office and replaced by M.B. Lee, father
of fugitive Joe Lee.
The shadow powers behind Joe gradually
rise to the surface, creating tension
among the police, the judiciary and the
ICAC (Independent Commission Against
Corruption), until they reach the boiling
point. This results in retiring Deputy
Commissioner M.B. Lee being dragged
back into a dangerous power struggle
within the top ranks of law and order,
culminating in a deadly confrontation
between him and his former friend and
colleague, Lau. Riveting stuff!
57
 reviews

SCREEN EDUCATIONAL
BY DWIGHT HENNINGS Sponsored by www.everythingwingchun.com

exercising skeletal manipulation of and end points through every

TONY MASSENGILL
COMBAT CHIN NA
Language: English
Running Time: Approx. 45 min.
Format: NTSC
Region: 0
Availability: DVD & EWC Instant
Access Download
Breaking from standard Wing Chun
presentations, Sifu Tony Massengill
attacks the joints point by point to expand
one’s martial arts arsenal with Chin Na,
“which is the Chinese art of capture,
control and destruction.” It is a concise
look at engaging an opponent through
one’s opponent, not only to immobilise,
but also to render any opportunity of
recovery or counter measures ineffective.
Lock down 45 minutes to set into a
thorough and detailed video offering that
anyone from a novice to an experienced
practitioner will appreciate.
Sifu Massengill does well to articulate
all details that not only go into creating
and employing the varying joint locks,
but addressing the essentials required
to make them most effective in an array
of engaging scenarios with an attacker.
Understanding the workings within an
applied technique is given due attention
when applying actions that require
accuracy when applied, as timing is of
the essence, and that attention to each
step of making them come to life is given.
“Each of these movements is going to
create a different action and response…
as well as dangers,” acknowledging there
is an actual opponent offering real harm,
which requires solid applications to
diminish the threat.
“Make sure our techniques are designed
to neutralise him,” continues Sifu
Massengill, addressing the responsibilities
that fall upon the martial artist in
exercising restraint while handling an
attacker, as legal consequences may
befall one defending himself. To control
oneself and the opponent is the common
denominator of operation as starting
breakdown of the subject at hand.
Structural, positional, and lines of
force management build upon
establishment of control not only to
make the locking techniques come to
life, but reinforced by the discomfort
endured in the facial and physical
expression of the training partner.
Credit to the instructor, who also
acknowledges Chin Na is incidental and
best suited for when two combative
parties are tied up versus the fantastical
notions of magically catching attacks
mid-flight in some Hollywood style
method of application. Fighting is
“situationally dependent,” and the
variables one is confronted with are
well-noted to replicate those real-life
situations in a safe training environment.
“Striking opens up opportunities for
Chin Na and (vice versa)” to maintain
control of and ultimately finish an
unruly opponent.
This video has hours upon hours of
review and training offerings. Bringing
the virtual classroom to the screen, the
viewer will take a lot of notes not to make
up for the absence of chapters to navigate
to preferred points of interest, but to get
a grip on handling each one of the tools
provided to build a broader resource pool
from which to draw upon, working points
and joints to deconstruct the strongest
of frames with one’s solid foundations
in any martial arts style or system.

58 ISSUE 33
 reviews

THE MARTIAL ARTS INSTRUCTIONAL DVD MARKET IS A LUCRATIVE ONE.

BROWSE AROUND THE INTERNET AND YOU WILL FIND A VAST ARRAY OF
MATERIAL COVERING EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING YOU COULD EVER WANT
TO LEARN. OF COURSE, JUST LEARNING FROM THE SCREEN WILL NEVER
BE A SUBSTITUTE FOR HARD GRAFT, BUT I DO BELIEVE THAT SOME DVDS
CAN BE AN EXCELLENT SUPPLEMENT TO YOUR PERSONAL TRAINING.

TONY CHAN
WING CHUN FREE FIGHTING VOL. 1
Language: English
Running Time: Approx. 55 min.
Format: Digital
Availability: EWC Instant Access
Download
Many people pursue martial arts for a
variety of interests, whether they are for
fitness, hobby, relative cultural interest,
or for what they provide universally-
fighting and/or self-defence skills.
Picking up a few techniques along the
way is inherent if one does not choose
the path of a challenge, tournament, or
prize fighter, but there is more to
becoming proficient than just drilling
and practice.
Sifu Tony Chan ventures to impart some
of his insights into developing proficient
free fighting methods and skills during 55
minutes of the production, which may find
the audience challenged to comprehend
the audio because of the recording
dependant on the camera’s microphone
solely and in standard definition.
Sifu Chan introduces his video instalment
containing “fighting stances, footwork,
the first-hand form of Wing Chun, and
many free fighting techniques.” With
those words prefacing the subjects to
be discussed, the foundation is set with
fundamental stances that one can build
on toward developing fighting techniques
and the quintessential foundation
practice of Siu Nim Tau. The first form
is played patiently, while subtitles,
rather than a running narrative, define
each movement played and guidelines
how they are to be played.
With Wing Chun’s template form
established, the viewer is introduced to
simple simultaneous block and attack
actions addressing basic lines and means
of attack of an advancing attacker
followed by flurries of finishing punches.
The simple attack action of the Taan
Sau/punch is then evolved to employ an
arm bar in substitution of chain punching
as an alternative to managing an
opponent then added onto again with
the employment of kicking to disable
larger and longer body types.
From a disengaged position, Sifu Chan
tables engaging an opponent who has
engaged you through contact, having
one’s arm grabbed or personal space
impeded upon. The demonstrations are
no frills and move with the quickness
known of Wing Chun, so the analysis
of the method behind the movement is
lost in a blur, resulting in the frames
being replayed a few times over and
then in slow motion, but without a
breakdown of the how and why. The
quick and to the point presentation
provides Sifu Chan with an
opportunity to cover many fighting
techniques that viewers will recognise
are found in the empty-hand forms and
the Wooden Dummy.
The production of this video instalment
mirrors what engaging a street attacker
is like in its essence. It’s gritty, unpolished
and not meant to be visually appealing,
but effective. Practice and experience
are the best teachers to unlock one’s
potential through the system, but
perspective can only be shared through
the experience of another.
Sifu Tony Chan offers a unique and
basic point of view that, through his
countering moves, provide in classic
Wing Chun fashion with non-fancy
means of managing many potential
attacks and attackers.

www.wingchunillustrated.com 59
 DIRECTORY
ASIA
WSLVT COMBAT SCIENCE – MALAYSIA
Head Instructor: David Peterson
Lineage: Wong Shun Leung
Address: Classes in Kuala Lumpur and
Seremban. Private lessons also available.
Telephone: +60 12699 2094
E-mail: wslvtmalaysia@gmail.com
Website: www.wslwingchun.my
About us: Classes conducted by David
Peterson (direct student of the late Sifu
Wong Shun Leung), an instructor for over
35 years, prolific writer on WSLVT and author
of Look Beyond the Pointing Finger: The
Combat Philosophy of Wong Shun Leung.
IWKA  many hours to practise and train.
Head Instructor: Sergio Iadarola
Lineage: IWKA Wing Tjun
Address: 2B Kam Hong Building, 285 Des
Voeux Rd. Central, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong  Lineage: Ip Man > Leung Sheung >
Telephone: +852 2851 7755
Website: www.wingtjun.com
www.wingchunhongkong.com.hk
About us: The Asian HQ of the Internal
Wisdom and Knowledge Association led by
world renowned Sifu Sergio Pascal Iadarola
is located in the heart of Hong Kong Central.
IWKA is currently represented in 18 countries NORWEGIAN VING TSUN FEDERATION
with over 20,000 members worldwide.
INT’L WING CHUN ORGANIZATION (IWCO) John Wong
Head Instructor: Donald Mak
Lineage: Ip Man > Chow Tze Chuen >
Donald Mak
Address: Flat 812, 8th Floor, Yuen Fat
Industrial Building, 25 Wang Chiu Road,
Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong
Telephone: +852 5618 3588
E-mail: info@hkwingchun.com
Website: www.hkwingchun.com
www.iwco.info
About Us: With almost 40 years of practice Head Instructor: Alan Gibson
and contemplation on Wing Chun, Donald
Mak (IWCO’s founder) has more than 100
affiliated schools located throughout 15
countries. He teaches in a direct and open
manner, through modernised and scientific
approaches including standardised syllabus
and grading system.
EUROPE
INT’L WING CHUN ORGANIZATION (IWCO)
Head Instructor: Simone Sebastiani
Lineage: Ip Man > Chow Tze Chuen >
Donald Mak > Simone Sebastiani
Address: Via Bartocci, 21, 05100 Terni, Italy CHING MO WING CHUN CENTRE
E-mail: info@iwco.eu
Telephone: +39 329 732 5460
Website: www.iwco.eu
About us: The International Wing Chun
Organization (IWCO) is a worldwide
organisation based in Hong Kong whose
mission it is to spread, develop and teach
Wing Chun as taught by Sifu Donald Mak.
The Italian representative for IWCO is Sifu
Simone Sebastiani.
60
IWKA ITALY
Head Instructor: Mauro Gibin
Lineage: IWKA Wing Tjun system
Address: Via Ignazio Scotto 10,
17100 Savona, Italy
Telephone: +39 347 069 7907
E-mail: info@maurogibin.com
Website: www.maurogibin.com
www.iwkaitaly.com
About us: Located in Savona, the Italian
branch of the IWKA (Internal Wisdom and
Knowledge Association) is headed by Sifu
Mauro Gibin who teaches the curriculum of
Sifu Sergio’s IWKA Wing Tjun system.
THE DANISH VING TSUN FEDERATION
Head Instructor: Morten Ibsen
Lineage: Wong Shun Leung
Address: Thorslundsvej 2A,
DK-5000 Odense C, Denmark
Telephone: +45 2046 5299
E-mail: moibsen@gmail.com
Website: www.vingtsun.dk
About us: The objective of DVTF is to teach
Wong Shun Leung Ving Tsun in a relaxed and
accessible manner, where emphasis is placed
on good technique and personal development.
Head Instructor: Frode Strøm
Lineage: Ip Man > Wong Shun Leung >
Address: P.O. Box 302,
3301 Hokksund, Norway
Telephone: +47 909 42 428
E-mail: frodestrom1969@gmail.com
About us: We offer regular classes,
seminars and private tuition in Ving Tsun.
UNITED KINGDOM
THE WING CHUN FEDERATION
Lineage: Wong Shun Leung
Address: 2 Priory Rd, St Deny’s,
Southampton, Hants, UK
Telephone: +44 (0) 778 660 7776
E-mail: alan@wingchun.org.uk
Website: www.wingchun.org.uk
About us: Alan Gibson founded The Wing
Chun Federation with the express purpose of
concerning himself with the development
and promotion of Wong Shun Leung Ving
Tsun and creating an effective and focused
training atmosphere for his students.
Head Instructor: Billy Davidson
Lineage: Ip Man > Ip Ching > Billy Davidson
Address: 69 Piccadilly, Manchester, M1 2BS
Telephone: 0161 950 2471
E-mail: Sifubilly@chingmo.co.uk
Website: www.chingmo.co.uk
About us: Sifu Billy Davidson is a direct
student under GM Ip Ching and has received
the honour of setting up the first official fully
certified sub association outside of Hong
Kong. Our aim is to pass on pure Ip Ching
Ving Tsun.
NORTH AMERICA
MOY YAT MARTIAL INTELLIGENCE
Head Instructor: Jay Hitchman
Lineage: Moy Yat > Pete Pajil
Address: 209 North York Road,
Hatboro, PA 19040
Telephone: +1 (215) 442-8188
E-mail: vingtsunstudiopa@gmail.com
Website: www.kungfuphilly.com
About us: We have an adult and kids Ving
Tsun Kung Fu program. Sifu Jay has over 20
years of Martial Arts experience. We offer
CONNECTICUT WING CHUN
Head Instructor: Andy DiGuiseppi
Ng Wah Sum > Chung Kwok Chow >
Kevin Becker > Andy DiGuiseppi
Address: Waterbury School: 847 Hamiton Ave. application, from science to skill. Empowering
Waterbury, CT 06706.
Danbury School: 33 Crosby Street,
Danbury, CT 06810
Telephone: +1 (203) 470-4623
E-mail: wingchunkuentao@gmail.com
Website: www.CTWCK.com
About us: Complete Wing Chun system.
Including: Chi Gung, Warrior Style Yoga, Six
Classical Wing Chun Forms. Form Applications, Lineage: Yip Man > Leung Ting >
Trapping, Chi Sao, Chi Gerk, Kham Na and
Ground Fighting. Nutrition & physical training Address: 820 N. Orleans, St. Suite 100,
for fitness, health & sport competition.
GUALO BOXING ASSOCIATION
Head Instructor: Jim Roselando
Lineage: Leung Jan (1st Gen.) > Wong Wah About us: Wing Tsun Kwoon is focused on
Sam (2nd Gen.) > Fung Min/Fung Chun
(3rd Gen.) > Fung Ju (4th Gen.) > Henry
Mui (5th Gen.) > Jim Roselando (6th Gen.)
Address: 8 Park Ave, Arlington, MA, USA
E-mail: info@parkavewellness.com
Website: www.parkavewellness.com
About us: Park Ave Wellness is the USA HQ Head Instructor: Clark Tang
for the Gulao Boxing Association. We offer
training in Dr. Leung Jan’s rare system of
Pin Sun Wing Chun and natural Qigong /
Meditation. Contact us for more info on our
group classes, personal training and seminars. Telephone: +1 (562) 276-0108
WING CHUN COMBATIVES HAWAII
Head Instructor: Wayde Ching
Lineage: Ip Man > Wong Long > Robert
Yeung > Wayde Ching
Address: Teaches in Aiea, but takes people Long Ching. The foundation of the WING
from all over Hawaii if they are serious about CHUN TEMPLE is HEALTH, WISDOM, and
training.
Telephone: +1 808-220-3111
E-mail: wayde@wingchuncombatives.com
Website: www.wingchuncombatives.com
About us: The entire system of Wing Chun
is taught as it was passed down by Sifu
Robert Yeung. In our training, we often
incorporate scenarios to help address the
adrenal stress response to help deal with an
actual confrontation.
LEBLANC WING CHUN
Head Instructor: Greg LeBlanc
Lineage: Gary Lam Wing Chun
Address: Oakland, California, USA
Telephone: +1 (510) 593-0165
E-mail: coachleblanc@leblancwingchun.com
Website: www.leblancwingchun.com
About us: We offer Wing Chun Kung Fu as
taught by Sifu Gary Lam.
S3VT – SYSTEM / SCIENCE / SKILLS
VING TSUN
Head Instructor: Dwight Hennings
Lineage: WSLVT
Address: Toronto
Telephone: +1 (647) 966-2496
E-mail: makecontact@s3vt.com
Website: S3VT.com
About us: Putting the Wong Shun Leung
Ving Tsun system to work from concept to
the individual through a comprehensive
training format that is thorough and effective
in a non-commercial training environment.
Certified and recognized by the Wong Shun
Leung Students Association.
WING TSUN KWOON
Head Instructor: Ray Jurado
Carson Lau > Steve Chan
Chicago, IL 60610
Telephone: +1 (312) 985-6114
E-mail: info@wingtsunkwoon.com
Website: www.wingtsunkwoon.com
helping its members on their own personal
growth, development and actualisation,
through training in the classical art of
Wing Tsun.
WING CHUN TEMPLE
Lineage: Wong Long Wing Chun
Address: 2601 E 28th Street, Suite 308,
Signal Hill, CA 90755
E-mail: info@wingchuntemple.com
Website: www.wingchuntemple.com
About us: Enlightened and Inspired by the
Universal Truth and Revelation, WING CHUN
TEMPLE came to life. Founded by Sifu Clark
Tang and later inspired by his Sifu, GM Wong
SPIRITUALITY for the hope of LOVE, PEACE,
COMPASSION, UNITY and HARMONY.
ISSUE 33
 The Original Wing Chun Equipment Company since 1999
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Based on a design that we were shown by an old
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now each pair features the distinctive Pagoda logo
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always train hard & improve, year after year!

happy holidays from everything wing chun!

Thank you for helping to spread and elevate the art of Wing Chun through your hard
training and dedication to its mastery - your skills represent the style to others. Your
continuous support also allows us to bring high-quality training gear, educational
materials, and free research sites to the entire community. We hope your expertise grows
and that you achieve all of your goals in the new year. Have a great holiday season!

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