Wong Shun Leung Quotes

I am now teaching Wing Chun and am in no position to criticise other Gung-fu systems. I would like to say, however, that many styles ask men to imitate animal positions. Humans don't have the ability to imitate some positions. For example, some animals can leap around from here to there quite easily because they have long tails to help them maintain balance. We humans don't have such a tail to aid us, and so some techniques may not be natural. Therefore, when someone asks me what animal style Wing Chun is, I will always say that it is 'human style'. We use the weapons which nature has given us to the best of our ability.

In boxing, the style has changed over the years from crouching to being more and more vertical. Also people used to jump around, but the modern boxer like Tyson just moves in flat footed to demolish his opponent in a scientific way. In Wing Chun a person does not bob as in boxing. When two beginners fight it doesn't matter how they fight, but against professionals it makes a difference. Even a smaller [person] is better off to keep the body vertical and step back, then to bob and weave. This is because the hand can move faster than the body. Boxing is still like a game because there are rules for how you can hit and how you can't hit. If you attack someone and they bend their head, then in Wing Chun you can still hit them with your hand even without pulling your hand back.

For low side kick attacks, Wong Shun-leung uses the feet. For knee attacks, he said if you hit straight the knee cannot really get you. Against the Thai boxing round kick Wong kicks straight forward, rather than use a clashing force with a Bong leg. This forces the kicker straight back.

For such a fight, you must train hard to just develop the self confidence to enter such a match . You must, by way of your self confidence, know that you can win . When Ving Tsun (Wing Chun) practitioners go to fight and are defeated then the mentality is not to think that the other person is better than himself . Instead he needs to ask himself what were his mistakes to invite the attack . This is the kind of positive thinking which any fighter must possess.

..... when you punch the head the brain hits the side of the skull.

This situation can happen to anyone. If you learn Wing Chun you can cope with it better than someone that doesn't know Wing Chun.

Wong Shun-leung said that when you punch the head the brain hits the side of the skull. If the brain is against the side of the skull and a second hit follows, then damage and a knockout results because there is no cushioning possible. This is why Wing Chun has its rapid fire punches instead of the pull back approach.

Boxing moves the head to dodge punches, but in Wing Chun we don't, because the head can't be faster than the hand.

" If someone grabs you, you will only try to grab back if you are scared.

Against a strong kicker there are two ways to fight. If you are experienced, just go into their center and hit. But if you aren't, then back up. Each time the opponent misses, he will lose one degree of confidence. After a while you have more chances.

" The first punch causes the brain to go to one side of the skull.

The situation where you need to wrestle is when both opponents want to grab.

If you hold two arms out in front of you and someone grabs them, then you can use the third set elbow movement to escape. Bring the hand right in to touch the body. If the hand is held in a fist, it doesn't work. Then press down with the elbow.

The late Sifu Wong Shun-leung, of “Hong Kong” wing chun fame, in his seminars around the world over the years, liked to make a comparison with the modern combat sport of Western boxing, which he observed had changed quite dramatically over just the last sixty or so years, from the crouching-like postures of boxers like Joe Louis in the 30s and 40s, to the flashy footwork of the likes of Muhammad Ali in the 60s and 70s, through to the more upright and flat-footed approach of recent champions such as Mike Tyson.

In Wing Chun if you throw two fast punches to someone's head they'll be knocked out. The first punch causes the brain to go to one side of the skull. If a quick second hit comes, the person is knocked out. If you withdraw the hand to give the second punch, then the brain can recover (will have more time to recover), but if you don't give this time then a knockout results.