Principles of Wing Chun

Hawaii Wing Chun Association

Principles of Wing Chun

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One of the alluring aspects of Wing Chun lies within its flexibility. There are of course specific techniques taught to beginners which must be drilled. However, as the skilled Wing Chun practitioner evolves, the art becomes evolves alongside them and becomes entirely their own while adhering to the principles.

1. Be minimalistic: One should not make any excessive movements, or over pivot as a Wing Chun practitioner. Rules such as utilizing the closest weapon to the closest target fall under this principle, as well as not chambering strikes in fear of wasting time. Think of the kick we do not bring our kicking leg back, but instead take the quickest possible route to its closest target, striking vulnerable points, and gain distance following the kick.
2. Utilize the gates principal: Our body parts are surrounded by boxes, one for the head, torso, and legs respectively. Our hands guard the upper two gates while our legs defend the lower gate. One should never move a limb outside of their box or cross the centerline unnecessarily.
3. Centerline theory: The fighter who dominates the centerline maintains a dominant position over their opponent. We guard the centerline out of necessity, as a punch to the arms/sides can be absorbed, however, a punch to the center must be taken in full force.
4. Fixed elbow: A Wing Chun practitioner should always maintain the fixed elbow principal. This will enable the use of their body structure behind a Taan Sau instead of arm strength, or have their entire body behind a centerline punch. This is a key principle in how Wing Chun utilizes structure for power.
5. Your stance and structure should maintain triangles/ pyramids: The pyramid is the strongest structure known to us and is utilized in our architecture and other martial arts such as BJJ or Muay Chaiya. You should see pyramids in numerous places within your structure at all times.
6. Redirection of energy: In the same way one does not fight fire with fire, attempting to overcome an overly aggressive/stronger opponent with aggression or strength is not effective or possible for smaller practitioners. Simply guide them to where they are forcing their energy while moving out of the way.
7. Sink into the stance: Incredibly important and vastly overlooked, the stance is your foundation. If one is rising out of their seated stance, their pivoting will not move them offline of an attack. They will become easier to pull off balance and sweep, and they will have no spring energy to pounce when they need to.
8. Chi Sau is not sparring or fighting: It is an in-between stage to develop attributes you will need in these situations. Many people forget that Chi Sau is a drill and focus too much on scoring strikes against their opponent or developing tricks within the roll. However, things should be kept as simple as possible during Chi Sau to develop attributes such as sensitivity, the ability to regain the centerline ( and the rest of the principals mentioned here ). If one wants to spar, Gor Sau sparring or boxing ranged sparring would be more honest as we practice entry from a range and where both opponents are free to attack. We can think of Chi Sau as flow rolling within BJJ, working to develop our sensitivity and reaction to certain movements making them second nature.
9. Sensitivity! : Wing Chun is a close range countering passive martial art (as opposed to western boxing) in which we react off of our opponent. As Wong Sheung Leung says “Let your opponent tell you how to hit him”. To do this we must maintain a relaxed body and open mind. If we are too tense, too focused on hitting or have a clouded mind we will not feel or see their movements.  In the same way a masseur does not use 100% of their strength to find a problem area, or doctors do not feel with all of their strength to find a problem we do not use 100% of our strength in fear of becoming insensitive. The goal is to become so relaxed and skilled that our relaxed attacks are stronger than our brute force attacks. This is what separates a master from a practitioner, the ability to maintain composure throughout any situation.
10. Survive: These rules and principles mean nothing to a dead person. Practice these diligently and if a time comes when we are forced to utilize our training, throw everything out the door and survive.

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