Tag Archives: Bruce Lee

Wing Chun Poetry

Wing Chun Kung Fu was named after the girl Yim Wing Chun, by her instructor, the Shaolin buddhist nun Ng Mui. People who have heard about Wing Chun understand that it is a martial art developed by these two women over 300 years ago, and is simple and efficient martial art, that can be used to protect you and your loved ones against bigger, stronger, and more powerful attackers.

Typically when people think of Wing Chun they think of Yip Man, Bruce Lee, and the symbols of Wing Chun: the crane and snake, and also the double knives.

Yet, Wing Chun is more than a person, school, or image. It is more than a collection of techniques and concepts. Wing Chun is a martial art, and as with any art, develops creativity, presence of mind, and most importantly, the spirit.

Here is one of the lesser known symbols of Wing Chun, the Wing Chun Poem. It’s meaning is not one of words, but of concepts and ideas, and the spirit. This is true in both English, and the language of its writing, Chinese. The Chinese version is shown below, as well as a rough transliteration of the poem in English. Study the meaning, and share your interpretations of this artful symbol.

SiFu James Sasitorn
Wing Chun Kung Fu Academy, Houston

Sing of the coming plum blossoms,
Heaven’s wonderful way,
Spring engenders peaches and plums,
amazing, fragrant forests.

Wing Chun Warrior by SiFu Duncan Leung

I’ve heard conflicting reports from my students regarding the availability of  the book: Wing Chun Warrior by my SiGung, SiFu Duncan Leung. I wanted to get a copy to keep at the school, and was able to order the book through SiGung’s website at:

http://members.tripod.com/~Wing_Chun/Catalog.html

The book is also available on Everything Wing Chun:

http://www.everythingwingchun.com/Duncan-Leung-Wing-Chun-Warrior-p/dl01.htm

Unlike most of the Wing Chun books you’ll find, this isn’t the typical instructional book with history, theory, techniques, and applications. Instead, its a collection of stories from SiFu Duncan Leung about his experiences learning and applying Wing Chun, intermixed with philosophy and Wing Chun theory. This book helps elucidate the more intangible and profound aspects of Wing Chun and martial arts in general. It also provides us a deeper understanding up the character of Yip Man and his teachings. Here are two reviews on it:

The story of Duncan Leung – childhood friend of Bruce Lee and disciple of Wing Chun master Yip Man – is valuable not only for the insights it offers into Chinese martial arts but also for its portrayal of the lost Hong Kong of the 1950s and 1960s. Reading Ken Ing’s Wing Chun Warrior, which chronicles Leung’s Kung Fu escapades, will be a jarring revelation to anyone familiar with the manic but orderly and largely peaceful city of seven million people that is Hong Kong today. The city described by Ing is a place where Kung Fu practitioners wielded eight-chop knives in the streets and literally battled their way from one martial arts studio to another to prove their fighting prowess. — Asia Times, May 16, 2009

There are some gems in the text that have the feeling of a 1950s Hong Kong film. For example, when Leung is queueing up for an evening function and two triads jump the queue, he decks them, much to the admiration of the crowd. But he has only a moment to enjoy their adulation before he spots 20 men with broken bottles heading for him. He then runs 2km, loses his entourage and comes to rest at the Queen Victoria statue in Victoria Park, where he promptly vomits. There are also his references to his friend Bruce Lee, who to a certain extent has become more legend than man — that as well as fighting, they were Elvis Presley fans and enjoyed dancing, at which they were apparently skilled. The book describes the two teenagers going to weekly dance classes so they could swivel their hips like the King. –South China Morning Post, March 1, 2009

Regards,
SiFu James Sasitorn
Houston Wing Chun Boxing Academy