…there are no unstoppable techniques.
Robert Chu

I’ve been reading an excellent book by Jose M. Fraguas called Kung Fu Masters.  The author interviews various people, including Jackie Chan, Wong Shun Leung, William Cheung, and Robert Chu.

I bought Chu’s book Complete Wing Chun: The Definitive Guide to Wing Chun’s History and Traditions back in 2001 but only read about 20% of it.  Now that I’ve read his interview in Kung Fu Masters, I will read the rest ASAP.  Chu seems very pragmatic and intelligent (maybe because what he says jibes with what I believe?).

Robert Chu found what I would call the secret (which isn’t secret, just little known) to kung fu after studying with Hawkins Cheung.

Hawkins Cheung was one of Ip Man’s students in that legendary period in the Fifties which included other students such as Wong Shun Leung and Bruce Lee.

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Wing Chun is not a style. It is a System of Principles that can enhance any art.
Wang Kiu

The title of this post is a quote for Wang Kiu, a student of Ip Man’s and Herbert Maier’s teacher.

Maier’s book Bai Sao: Wing Chun’s Taproot is not an easy read. In fact, although I bought it back in 2007, I only finished it this weekend.  I’m afraid its pretty dry and academic.

But at its heart, it has some very valuable ideas which I think deserve to be heard.

This is the only place I have ever heard about “BaiSao.” Maier says it is a “little exercise” which his teacher Wang Kiu called a “demonstration hand.” The book was worth its price just for the insight or new perspective of this simple demo.

The hands are placed like so:

As Wang Kiu said, “I have two hands, you have two hands. One hand is outside, one hand is inside. Where else will you find so many options?”

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