※詠春八手 8 Hand Gestures of Wing Chun

In the movie The Prodigal Son, the Master Lin had mentioned "8 Hand Gestures of Wing Chun " (or just "8 styles"), they are Bil, Huen, Gum, Bong, Kwun, Gwa, Gan and Fook. When Master Lin was demonstrated those 8 hand gestures, he demonstrated with both hands and turning horse at the same time, I guess it was for dramatic purpose.

After a year of Wing Chun practicing, I found out almost all the hand gesture of Wing Chun is important. Maio-wen would pick Kwun, Gan, Lan and Fook as Maio-wen 4 hand gestures of Wing Chun.

Since the movement of Master Lin in the movie is so handsome, I will like to borrow his moves to demonstrate those 8 hand gestures.

Please be noted, the phonetic writing here is in Cantonese.

※一週最愛Favorite of the week


So, just remember Sau means "hand" in Chinese.

Bil Sau 標手 is palm facing down fingers stretching up and poiting forward. The one go with right Bil Sau is left Wu Sau 護手 in the first graphic. 護 means protect and Wu Sau is to protect one's head or upper torso.

The one go with right Bong Sau 膀手 is left Lan Sau 攔手 in the last graphic.

In Wing Chun, most of the hand gestures are using body structure in order to protect and attack more effectively. I'll talk about it more later on.


Actually Kwun is the combination of (right) Tan Sau 攤手 and (left) Bong Sau 膀手 in the first graphic.

Gan is the combination of (right) Tan Sau 攤手 and (left)Gan Sau 耕手.

◎Thanks to Joe for Cantonese pronunciation◎