wing chun kuen man

MasterJules, Are there more than one english translation of the Bubishi? If yes. Is there one that you recommend more than the others? Wing Chun Kuen Man

karlberg, Welcome to the KF.

Whoops, that was bearded and not "birded". Sorry. Wing Chun Kuen Man

If everyone followed that philosophy there would be less thugs,bullies and criminals around in the world today and then what would our governments do to keep the general public in fear? Oh yes I forgot there are always birded "terrorists" to scare us with. Wing Chun Kuen Man

Drunken_Apprentice, To my knowledge at least some mainland chinese lineages teach ground fighting. The ground fighting in Wing Chun takes mainly the style´s stand-up principles and concepts and adapts it to the ground. When on the ground, striking techniques and Chin-na techniques can be used effectively to overwhelm/defeat the opponent. Note: Even on the ground using the wing chun principles one can deliver powerful punchs. WC ground fighting is only taught in the later stages of the Chum Kiu level. I am still new to it but have a good understanding of the concepts involved. I would suggest that the next time you check out a class ask the teacher if ground fighting is covered in the system´s curriculum and if so is it Wing Chun ground fighting or is it "adopted" ground fighting techniques from perhaps BJJ. If you are looking to train Wing Chun then I would advise that you find a school that teaches all aspects of wing chun without having had to "import" techniques from other systems to complete their system. Wing Chun Kuen Man

Maddwraph, Hello and welcome to the forum. Here is a list of what I consider some of the best self defense styles. Kung Fu: Wing Chun (of course), Bajiquan, Praying Mantis (Bamboo Forest style), Shaolin Five Animals and Tiger Claw (various styles). There many many more kung fu styles that are good, bu these are just a few examples of good kung fu systems. Karate: Okinawan Goju-Ryu, Shorin-Ryu and Kyokushinkai...there are also other styles of karate but the ones I mention here are the ones I know most about and consider good for selfdefense. If you don´t like to do forms and do not want to follow oriental traditions and want quicker results then you try BJJ, Muy Thai or Krave Maga. Just one note, eventhough that there are exceptions bjj lacks striking techniques/training. That means if you pick bjj you may have to supplement it with a striking art. Sparring is controlled fighting carried out in martial arts schools to train the students to use their techniques in combat. Sparring can be no contact, semi contact or "full" contact. Wing Chun Kuen Man

Unfortunately where I live right now - eventhough it has its good points - there are more criminals and delinquents than cockroaches, however, FORTUNATELY the law does not protect them the way it does in some other parts of the world. That is if the police find a mugger/thug in a pool of blood and a cane stuck in his du-da they are more likely to feel happy than feel concerned for his "human rights". Of course that is the police. The lawyers are another story ($$$$). Luckily they can´t do anything if the police does not take the matter any further, which they usually don´t. Anyway, I have digressed. Wing Chun Kuen Man

ShorinryuSensei, Thank you for the reply. Eventhough I am no where near the weapons training level in Wing Chun, I believe it to be an important aspect of MA training, the mastery of which helps even more in understanding of the unarmed techniques of one´s art. I agree with you about the cane as well. It is a very practicle weapon and as far as I know it is not illegal to carry one around. Of course if you use it against an attacker you may have to justify why you were carrying it in the first place, or go into a fake limp.... Wing Chun Kuen Man

Weren´t some of the basics of TKD adapted from Shotokan? That is what I have read anyway. So Wickedwayz, you may find familiarities within TKD. However, I am not saying that they are similar arts. Wing Chun Kuen Man

kotegashiNeo, What about their sparring/fighting training. Is it full contact, semi-contact etc. ? With protective equipment or without? Wing Chun Kuen Man

PhD Peddler. Thankyou for your reply. When I try to access it, it just shows error. But no problem. Peace, Wing Chun Kuen Man

I believe a type of "brotherhood" does exist amongst martial artists. Yes, we relate to; respects and identify with other martial artists in general. Also, our brotherhood is divided into "microbrotherhoods", where each group of "brothers" practices different styles, systems etc. The feeling of brotherhood is amplified when we meet not just another Martial Artist but also someone who practices OUR particular style. I am glad to say that I have met in person one or two great Wing Chun guys and even people from other martial arts. Of course, there are the rare ocassions when a fellow martial artist will not see you as a colleague ("brother") but as competition/threat, etc. in which case one must remember that nowadays most dojos/kwoons will train anyone who pays his fees including social loosers and prats, who ofcourse exist in all walks of life. Wing Chun Kuen Man

I just want to say that some Wing Chun styles DO cover grappling. It all depends on which lineages the instructors/sifus belong to. In my school of traditional Wing Chun, (mainland China lineage), we are taught grappling, in the later stages of the Chum Kiu level. And yes, Wing Chun is a complete system (not perfect, just complete), and is a very effective self defense system. Wing Chun Kuen Man

Shorinryu Sensei, Have you studied the tonfa and or is it part of your school´s Shorin-ryu training. At least, from my readings I thought weapons training such as for the use of the Tonfa and the Sai was incorporated into many traditional karate styles, i.e Kobudo. Wing Chun Kuen Man

Raging Squirrel, Thank you for the link. It is an interesting site with references to the much forgoten (or ingnored) spirital side of Shaolin kung fu. Wing Chun Kuen Man

aefibird, Good point. I think that it is not going to be to easy to find a karate school in Beijing, eventhough there must be one or two somewhere in the city. I have looked thru the web and so far I have not come up with anything yet. Monkeymagic, if you do find a karate school in Beijing please let us know. Wing Chun Kuen Man

Your 19 year old 3rd dan instructor who likes the high kicks knows more about John Claude Van Damm movies than about real fighting. She is probably a great fan of his. You should only "lean" towards her if she is a hot babe, otherwise you better lean towards the EXIT. Like Vito said, this place sounds like a Mcdojo/dojang. And if you want to learn real fighting and you cannot find a good TKD dojo then I would suggest a traditional karate dojo would be more appealing to you as a TKD practitioner than many other styles. Try Shorin-Ryu, Goju-Ryu or Kyokushinkai. There are other good styles of karate as well, but the above styles are a good place to start. If you find a good, authentic school teaching any of the above styles then give it a try. Just a note. A third dan 19 year old in any martial arts school is a red signal. A quick word about high kicks. If you are really good at them they may even work in some street situations. It is my experience that sometimes during confrontations the parties involved expect fist attacks rather than kicks, specially high ones. Sometimes it is possible to land a high kick into someones face as they are threatening to attack you and are closing/rushing in for fist fighting distance. You can also use high kicks on opponents who are "out on their feet" from a previous hand technique, to help them onto the floor. Having said that I will stress that high kicks are not necessary and most of the time irrelevant and are also risky in a real fight as sometimes you don´t know how experienced your opponent is,or wether he is a martial artist himself. We don´t really use high kicks in Wing Chun for reasons many of which have been posted in this thread. Using high kicks against many kung fu stylists you are not only risking to have your testicles kicked but also have them torn out by claw techniques. Anyway, if you stay in your school then I would suggest that you listen to the older instructor. If you don´t (I recommend that you seriously look into other schools as mentioned above), then good luck in finding a more authentic martial arts school. Wing Chun Kuen Man

Kicks, You have a dark sense of humor and I don´t. Wing Chun Kuen Man

Just like to make a basic point about sparring and that is if practiced correctly and as realistically as possible, then it will be of immense benefit to the martial artist, assuming that all the other training involved in his particular art, be they forms, kihon or conditionning exercises are correctly practiced as well. Wing Chun Kuen Man

I could not access the link/site. What is it about? Wing Chun Kuen Man.

"katas won´t save you in the real world" Katas, if practiced correctly and the way they were meant to, and incorporated in an authentic martial arts curriculum, will help to save you in the real world. Wing Chun Kuen Man

Glow, As far as I know there is nothing spiritual about Krave Maga...It is a pure selfdefense style. If you want to learn self defense in a relatively short period of time I think that it is a good system, but no way in hell am I going to call it the best self defense system. Maybe it is even one of the best to study in the short term but, if one can commit long term (5 years or more), then there are many other arts systems that I personally consider superior (my opinion), such as various traditional kung fu and various traditional karate styles. This not to say that you will not learn more if you stick to Krave Maga for a long period of time, only that in MY opinion you will learn much, much more in systems such as I mentioned mentioned above. Let me tell you about an incident between my kung fu sifu and a Krave Maga instructor in the academy where my sifu used to teach. After explaining to my sifu how great his system was, the Krave Maga instructor asked my sifu to grab his throat/neck area anyway he wanted....my sifu obliged and used a tigerclaw grab which resulted in Krave Maga teacher almost passing out after a short futile attempt to free himself. In a real fight he would not even had time for a short futile attempt, he would have been "dead on his feet". Now both my sifu and the Krave Maga instructor have years of experience under their belts. Again, I am not putting down Krave Maga, it is a good art for the short term (and again my opinion) but if you have the time and are willing to put the commitment then there are superior martial arts out there. You may not be able to find good schools/instructors that easily but it is worth the search. Wing Chun Kuen Man

.....That is all wing chun principles and concepts etc. You will find them strange in the beginning but eventually you will get used to them and will understand their function and relevance. Remember that in Wing Chun the defense of the central line is an "obsession" and so in many ways the penetration and attacking the central line. If in theory, you come up against a good wing chun fighter and you expose your central line to him you will be done for no matter the school of fighting you belong to. As far as relaxation is concerned at least in my branch of Wing Chun you need to be extremely relaxed in your techniques more so than a few other martial arts that I know of. Anyway, please try to stick with it inspite of its "strangness"....if you do , then it will be well your worthwhile. Wing Chun Kuen Man

battousai16 It is one question.....maybe I could have worded it better....sorry. He stresses relaxation..ok. But does he find your punching too tense? I actually want to know if Hwa Rang Do punching is more "tense" than Wing Chun punching....I suspect that it is but I am not sure. Wing Chun Kuen Man

battousai16, These are early days, things will make more sense as time goes by. Don´t give up. Getting a solid stance and base requires a lot of training but without good bases your kung fu will not be good. At these early stages dummy work will not make too much sense to you (and actually dummy work usually comes in later stages of training). In a relatively short time you will be able to "appreciate" the dummy more. Also, you can condition your arms, hands and knuckles much better with a dummy than you would with a partner. The conditioning benefits of dummy work are "side effects" of your other work with the dummy that involve techniques, principles and bases. Be patiente. Does your sifu/instructor insist on you doing your techniques in a relaxed manner or does he point out that you are too tense when you are punching? Wing Chun Kuen Man