Master Tse’s Wing Chun Note #158

Can’t Step Back

Many people have said to me they have been told that Wing Chun does not step backwards. I have never heard that. My Sifu, Ip Chun 師父葉準, has never said that, and when he does Chi Sau 黐手 he always steps backwards more than forwards. So many people have said it to me though, but I cannot imagine when in a fight we cannot step backwards.  Imagine a punch or a kick coming towards your face and you are only allowed to use your hands to block them, this will require a lot of energy and power and besides this is using force against force and so the stronger person will win. This goes against the Wing Chun principles. I can understand that if we are winning and our opponent is losing and has become weak then we should keep going forwards, but definitely not being allowed to step back in any situation cannot be right. How about the situation where the opponent is pretending to lose and just letting you come forwards so that you use most energy, he then use your energy to make you lose balance? This is why in Wing Chun we put more weight on the back leg, just in case our opponent tries to pull us. Then we use our flexible footwork, so we can move forwards, backwards, left, right or even keep stationery. This is the original Wing Chun way.