Snake vs Crane Wing Chun



Wing Chun: The Science of In-Fighting

Why We Bong Sau

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“Basically what the Bong Sau is, is a way of continuing down the centerline, but not with the end of your arm, but with the middle of your arm, so you can once again get back to using the end of your arm.”
Sifu David Peterson

An excellent, very clear explanation of how and why we use the Bong Sau in Wing Chun.  Many thanks to Sifu David Peterson and his student, Sifu Morten Ibsen for posting this primer on the Bong Sau (which as I’ve said, is one of the most misused actions in the Wing Chun repertoire).  The distinction about always going forward (never up or to the side) is critical.  I hurt my shoulder pretty badly making just this mistake for many years.  And once you get the bad habit, even if you become aware of it, its easy to slip when you’re tired or lack focus, and then the damage to your tendons is slow but steady.  Beware!

Movie Fights: Jackie Chan vs Benny “the Jet” Urquidez

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In his interview in The Incredibly Strange Film Show, Jackie Chan complained  that the Hollywood stuntmen (pre-2000s) weren’t used to the speed of Hong Kong fighting, so their reactions were too slow.  Jackie would hit them three times and they would only react once.  Maybe this is why he enlisted actual fighters like Benny “the Jet” Urquidez for some of his best movie fights.

Benny Urquidez was one of the early fighters in the crazy American kickboxing/Full-contact Karate scene, along with Bill “Superfoot” Wallace and Chuck Norris.  Those early attempts to incorporate other forms of martials arts into professional matches were a Wild West of vague rules and wildly different fighting styles.  Despite these hurdles, Urdiquez had a record of   49–1–1 (win-loss-draw) with 35 knockouts.  And those draws and losses were probably wins, and more due to problems with the fight promoters (his “loss” was supposed to be an exhibition, not a scored match).

The movie Meals on Wheels was one of the sillier entries starring the three kung fu brothers who had grown up together in one of Hong Kong’s Peking Opera schools, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, and Jackie Chan (they made at least four movies as a trio).  Yet it had one of the best (and most realistic, in its way) fight scenes of Jackie’s long career.  Half way through the fight (which he is losing), Jackie decides to pretend it is just a training bout, to take the pressure off.  He switches to a looser approach (reminiscent of Bruce Lee’s bout fight with Chuck Norris in The Chinese Connection).

Sifu Gary Lam on Pulling

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“Then fly away.”

Sifu Gary Lam

Crane Productions has just posted a nice demo from Sifu Gary Lam on pulling in Wing Chun.  In Sifu Lam’s Five Elements analysis of the system, this is one of the five (crossing hands, closing, footwork, pushing, and pulling).  When you approach mastery, these all flow together seamlessly as the opportunities present themselves (“let your opponent show you how to hit them”).  Pulling is a “second action,” that is to say, we are always trying to hit, but sometimes, we find ourselves in the (rare) position relative to the energy of the opponent when the opportunity to pull makes more sense than to hit.  When everything aligns in this way, then the power is surprising, as your pulling energy coincides with their pushing energy.  You are adding your force (mainly your body weight as you sink, connect to them through the arm, and step back).  And of course, the technique allows us to ideally guide the opponent’s head into a wall or a car or whatever.  Then, we say the hit is on the “other end.”