Blitz - June-July 2017

FEATURE STORY |ƫ333ċ(%06)#ċ*!0ƫđƫ^75

kept the same core of three hand
forms, although the applications
may differ. It’s only natural
that different emphases and
curriculums would emerge as
knowledge and skills were passed
down through the generations.
There is an interesting
story about the evolution of
Wing Chun’s side-body stance
involving Leung Jan, one of
Wing Chun’s most famous
fighters and Yip Man’s sigung
(his teacher’s teacher). After
living in Foshan for many
years, Leung Jan returned to his
native Gulou village in Heshan
County, Guangdong province,
where he taught a very skinny
student, Wong Wah Sam,
who just couldn’t handle a
more powerful opponent
head-on. But rather
than teach him Wing
Chun’s traditional

front-facing form, Leung Jan

introduced the side-body or

pin-san stance, which produces a

more efficient angle and enables

the use of soft power. The

technique was simply the opposite

side of the same coin, with the

front-facing approach being

more yang, while the side body

stance was more yin. By slightly

changing the essence of the Wing

Chun stance and energy, Leung

Jan really made the art complete

and took Wing Chun to another

level through the introduction of

a spinning stance and the side-

body fighting approach.

According to the biographic

history of Leung Jan carved on

a stone tablet in the Leung Jan

Cultural Park in Gulou village,

however, these pin-san skills were

learned directly from Yim Wing

Chun, who is said to have learned

the original Wing Chun system

from Ng Mui, a Shaolin nun who

created the Wing Chun system.

At the time, Leung Jan’s sifu,

Wong Wah Bo, recommended

that he meet Yim Wing Chun,

after which he studied with her

for three years to learn these skills.

If this history is accurate, then the

pin-san skills were not Leung Jan’s

own creation, but he nevertheless

played a big role in passing them

down to succeeding generations.

Although this closed-door

system doesn’t really exist now

as it once did, it’s only natural

that any serious martial artist will

want to learn the secrets of his

particular martial art, especially

any training methods for attaining

higher levels of skill and fostering

unusual abilities. However, the

essence of martial arts sometimes

boils down to very simple things,

which, if cursorily taught or not

taught with care, can be devalued

The biography of Wing Chun master Leung Jan, carved in
stone at the Leung Jan Cultural Park in Gulou, China.

by students. This will then make

those training methods lose their

underlying value. To avoid this, a

cloak of secrecy sometimes needs

to be put over these training

methods in order to retain their

value. The truth of the matter is

that producing unusual skills and

abilities in martial arts is often

laborious and time-consuming,

so the road becomes too long

for some even before the results

can be seen. Basic skills need to

be practised repeatedly over and

over again until students can

master them, and if they are not

willing to do this, they will be

both technically and mentally

incapable of passing on a martial

arts tradition — hence they may

remain on the other side of the

closed door.

Sifu Donald Mak began

studying Wing Chun in 1979 with

Master Chow Tze Chuen, one of a

few direct students of Grandmaster

Yip Man. In 1987, he began

teaching in Master Chow’s school

before setting off on his own in

1997. Mak’s International Wing
      Chun Organization has over 100
      branches in 17 countries. A keen
      academic researcher of Wing
      Chun’s theories and history, Mak
      contributed to the book Ip Man
      Ving Tsun 50th Anniversary
      and has published his own book,
      Willow in the Wind: Wing
      Chun’s Soft Approach. In 2010,
      he worked as a consultant on the
      Wing Chun movie Ip Man: The
      Legend is Born.