it refers to different breathing
exercises. But then you also have
something that’s martial chi; a
certain energy that you have to
develop and ‘sink’ down to the
dantien, and work from there —
that’s different again.
I call it ‘martial chi’...then
people say, ‘He came up with a
different kind of chi, it’s fake —
martial chi doesn’t exist’, but it’s
because I have no other way to
explain it! My sifu says martial
chi to differentiate it from the
other forms of chi, but if he
explains it in Chinese to my
[Chinese] wife, for example, he
just talks about chi!
Not all chi is the same. Chi
is the energy flow in the body
for charging and discharging,
according to Chinese medicine.
‘Breathing’ and ‘air’ are also
described by the Chinese as chi,
but in my book when I talk about
chi, I talk about the tsun chi (real
chi): the bioelectric/biochemical
energy of the body.
How many martial artists
have I met who have that martial
chi and are able to use it in a
combative situation? Very few.
It’s almost a lost art, because it
takes years to cultivate and is
very hard training, and has a lot
to do with the mind. The more
people are ‘outside’ themselves,
on their iPhones and so on, the
less they can go ‘inside’. And then
you have the ego that stops that
whole process, and then you get
that situation where things get
lost...not only in kung fu, but
many types of arts.
We try to restore it a little
bit, to the best of our abilities —
that’s the goal of the IWK. But
it’s very hard because internal
training is not for everyone. To
give an example, we are here in
Australia, where the people like
to look good and be fit, muscular,
tattoos here and there...and it’s
all the opposite of the internal
art. So to get them to understand,
it’s harder. Whereas in Italy, for
example, the people are more
into grand history, culture and
so on, so it’s easier to make them
understand these ideas.
Some kung fu schools,
especially traditional ones,
are quite protective of their
methods. Have you faced much
resistance in your search to
discover Wing Chun’s origins
and train in different styles?
Some teachers don’t take
you seriously. If they’re Chinese,
they already think you don’t
understand anything! Somepeople forget the whole human
aspect of it, that it’s difficult to
get a relationship with some
teachers — sometimes it takes
years. Every week you go and
eat with them, you talk and
you build a relationship, and
they release more info. Some
teachers are more easy-going,
more Western-minded, they
share more easily. And some
teachers, they can do the kung
fu themselves, but they can’t
explain it; they don’t have any
skill in teaching, so you have
to get it out in another way. So,
it’s been quite hard, but people
forget also that I’ve been doing
the martial arts full-time since
I was 16, and teaching as well.
Now I’m 42, so I’ve had a lot
of time to do my research and
to be fully involved in it. If I
wanted to know something, I
just went ahead and found a way
to get the info. I managed, but it
wasn’t always easy.
I had a teacher in Foshan
and I’m sitting on the back
of his scooter, riding, and I’m
hungry, but he stops at this
restaurant where they eat insects
and all kinds of things. I could
almost not eat over there...
we were three or four daysin mainland China, in these
villages, and I was so hungry
and just living on Coca-Cola!
I tried to eat many things, but
it was very hard sometimes.
Sometimes I really thought,
what am I doing here? Why am
I doing this? I don’t need to do
this! But then, the drive to learn
just kept me going.
I’ve heard from some
Western instructors that,
after the initial suspicion
has passed, they’ve been
welcomed by some of the
older Chinese or Japanese
masters because these
masters find that their own
children and those from their
kids’ generation are too busy
Westernising themselves, and
getting involved in Western
sports and lifestyles, to bother
with learning the ‘old ways’.
Have you come across that
situation?
For sure, that also happens.
But still, Chinese are Chinese;
they will not so easily accept
that you also study othersystems. I’ve had trouble with
that when looking into a lineage
and learning it, and then I’ve
posted something to Facebook
about some other sifu or some
photo and then a student of
my sifu sees it, passes it on to
him, and then vis-a-vis I get a
telephone call: Sifu’s angry that I
studied there! Then I have to go
to Sifu and make an excuse, and
after a whole day sitting there in
his doctor practice with him not
saying anything, he talks to me
again, and then it’s another three
or four days to make it okay. So
it’s not so easy and can be very
tiresome also.
Has being based in Hong
Kong helped to open doors
for you?
Of course. When I was living
in Hong Kong and I interacted
with my sifus much more and
I saw them every week, and we
built a closer relationship, they’d
open up more. And they gave
me more on the same topic that
I thought I’d finished already,
you know? If I didn’t move to“How many martial artists have I met who
have that martial chi and are able to use
it in a combative situation? Very few. It’s
almost a lost art, because it takes years to
cultivate and is very hard training...”
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