※詠春黐手 Wing Chun Chi Sau

Here is Chinese version.

※一週最愛Favorite of the week

After you have learned Siu Lim Tau 小念頭, the first movements of Wing Chun, it's time to start practicing Chi Sau 黐手. Chi 黐 means stick, Sau 手 means hand, and Chi Sau 黐手 means "sticky hand" in Chinese. Sticky hand is a special technique for soft style of Chinese Martial Arts. In order to unload powerful opponent's attack, we need to stick, not resist, to its hands, which requires relaxation and feeling.

What we called "sticking to a hand when there is a hand and seeking for a hand when there is no hand in front of you"(有手黐手無手問手). Chi Sau 黐手 is the heart of Wing Chun, after one get used to the first movement Siu Lim Tau 小念頭, one should start practicing Chi Sau. One can get to know how it feels when our hands touch opponents' only if one practice Chi Sau. The priority of Chi Sao is to train one's reactions, feelings, and get used to the feeling of contact one's opponent's hands.

Usually we start with one hand and it's called "Chi Sau with single hand". We have to stay on the adduction stand, which is the horse stand of Wing Chun, when we practice "Chi Sau with single hand". Start with "Fook Sau"伏手, "Tan Sau"攤手, "Bong Sau"膀手, and "Jum Sau"枕手 at the beginning.



(01) When Ji-Guan-Tou uses Fook Sao to hook Maio-Wen's Tan Sau,

(02) Ji-Guan-Tou will use Jum Sau to press down her hand. While Maio-Wen keeps her elbow still, she can shift from Tan Sau to Bong Sau from the inside. Pay attention to Ji-Guan-Tou's elbow, it keeps still as well.

(03) Then Ji-Guan-Tou shifts from Jum Sau to Chung Kuen 衝拳 (thrusting punch).

(04) Maio-Wen keeps her elbow still and shifts from Bong Sau to Tan Sau.


From Maio-Wen point of view, when her elbows stay still, all she needs to do is shifting from Tan Sao to Bong Sao, then shifting it back from Bong Sao to Tan Sao. When Maio-Wen's right hand is Tan Sao, Ji-Guan-Tou has to use Fook Sao to control her hand.

Practice with a real person is the best way to practice Wing Chun Chi Sau. Some said Wing Chun is meant for the rich based on everytime only one person can practice with Sifu. There is only one Sifu, and there is never has enough time for everyone. As regarding to the nickname of "Female Martial Arts", no matter the gender of Wing Chun founder, compares to other Chinese Martial Arts, Wing Chun has it unique way due to its small movements and effort-saving gestures. What's wrong with "Female Martial Arts" anyway? Asian men are so affraid to be called sissy. Whenit comes to useful and powerful, who cares if it's male or female? Was Bruce Lee famouse by this "Female Martial Arts"?

※Bad habbits of the beginner(3)

Here are Chinese version and Japanese version.

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90% of male beginners believe in "if I grab my opponent steady enough I am going to win it all", especially when the opponent is a skinny woman. In fact when it comes to Wing Chun's "keep changing all the time", grabbing opponent's hand means losing that hand to your opponent as well, not to mention your opponent can use your power to against you. In Wing Chun, usually we use "hook" or "stick" in order to control opponent's hands instead of "grab".


When Si-Xi thought he can grab Mao-Wen and pulls her to himself because he is more powerful than her, he is making a huge mistake. All Mao-Wen needs to do is lifting her elbows and follows his power, she can easily get out and hurt him.

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※Bad habbits of the beginner(2)

Here are Chinese version and Japanese version.

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The second bad habit of the beginner is "Don't know/can't use straightline is the shortest way".


People tend to use hook to attack the opponent, they thought a hook can store up some power. But they don't know that a hook also takes time and energy to strike the opponent. While Si-Xi is throwing a hook toward Mao-Wen, most likely Mao-Wen already hits him with a straight punch.


If Si-Xi starts with a straight punch, which sends out from his center line, most likely he can avoid Mao-Wen's direct punch and get right back at her simultaneously.

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※Bad habits of the beginner(1)

Here are Chinese version and Japanese version.

※一週最愛Favorite of the week

Assisting Sifu Di for almost six months now. From my observation, most of the Wing Chun practitioners can't relax at the beginning, especially those male practitioners. Since "can't relax" is a big problem of modern people, so let's leave it just for now.

Right this moment I am more concerned about "economy of movement", which is one of the principle of Wing Chun. The beginner always tries to block the strike from the opponent then strikes. What a waste of time and energy! Bear in mind that when we study Wing Chun, we need to be more efficient. Efficiency makes us faster and more powerful.

The first bad habit of the beginner is "Don't know how to block and strike simultaneously".


When Si-Xi, who is the beginner of Wing Chun, strikes a punch toward Mao-Wen, the best way for Mao-Wen to do is just turning herself a little bit then strikes a straight line punch to Si-Xi, the punch will just block Si-Xi and attack him at the same time.


If Si-Xi tries to throw in another punch(left fist), all Mao-Wen needs to do is turning a little more while catches his left fist from below with her right hand, and pulls her left hand back on top, make sure to hold on Si-Xi's elbow and her right hand goes up and left hand goes down, it will become a hurtful Qin-Na(capture).

Although Qin-Na is good female participated, personalty I don't recommend it, since it's a highly skills and required long time training. From my opinion I suggest to attack the opponent's weakest parts, such as eyes, throat, and groin first.

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※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.

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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◎

※小念頭Siu Lim Tau

看起來單調又無用的小念頭是詠春第一套也是最重要的一套套路，讓初學者在簡單的動作中學到許多和人體結構角度及借力使力的觀念。

除了結構等，小念頭也是讓初學者熟習二字拑羊馬進而紮好馬步的訓練。因此在練習小念頭時，下半身是完全不動的。

Siu Lim Tau 小念頭 is the first sequence of movements of Wing Chun and it seems easy and harmless but really is the best feature in Wing Chun. It tells so much about structure and angles and the direction of power.

Besides structure learning, Siu Lim Tau is a great way to train the horse stance, so the lower torso can't move at all during practicing Siu Lim Tau.

Here is the Japanese version.

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Siu Lim Tau always starts with left hand since most people are right-handed, it's good to train left hand more often.


Here comes the most important part of Siu Lim Tau: one Tan Sau and three Fook Sau (一攤三伏). You can practice this part as slow as you like.




After one Tan and three Fook, you need to do it a bit faster, so you can feel the "flow".


No. 28 Lan Sau (攔手) is also important.




No. 43 Gan Sau (耕手) usually uses against opponent's feet attacking.


Here comes No. 49 Bong Sau (膀手), one of the greatest hand gesture of Wing Chun.


Repeat No. 55 with left-right-left-right hands four times then do the punch three times.

※Basic Theories of Wing Chun

Since I have been talking about Wing Chun for a while and never wrote anything about it in English. I guess it's about time to introduce Wing Chun to non-Chinese readers now. From my understanding, some may say Wing Chun, Wing Tsun, or Ving Tsun, it just tells us how difficult to translate Chinese into English. In Chinese 詠春 literally means "Spring Chant", how beautiful is that. Some say it's the name of the founder of Wing Chun, and a beautiful name like that of course the founder was a woman...

I have practiced Wing Chun for a year and I really enjoy it. I guess it's one of the martial art actually suits female. It doesn't require a lot of strength but it can strike powerful and fast. The secret are relaxation, shifting and feelings, which female knows the best. Anyway, I'll explain it more on the way. Enjoy.

Here is the Chinese version.

※一週最愛Favorite of the week


Most Wing Chun attacks take the straightest possible path to the target (usually a straight line) to break the opponent's structure, and we called it "centerline". Besides centeeline theory, there are horse stance, the vertical fist straight punch and motionless elbow.

二字拑羊馬Horse stance is double-weighted stance, each foot has 50% of power, and that makes you firm and flexible.

日字衝捶The vertical fist straight punch is the shortest path between your opponent and you, in that case you can attack your opponent faster and more easily.

不動肘The elbow is kept low to cover the front midsection of the body. When the elbow is down, it's harder for your opponent finds an open space to attack.

If you want to strike more effective, first at all you have to relax. After you are relax then you can stick with your opponent in order to control he or she. The you can feel what your opponent's power and go with the flow, then it the matter of timing, distance and position.