Master Tse’s Wing Chun Notes #25

Hard and Soft Laap Sau 擸手

When using Laap Sau 擸手, we can use different kinds of energy. If we want to pull our opponent with Laap Sau, we should do it quickly so he does not have enough time to defend against it. That is Hard Laap Sau. We can also hold the arm without doing anything with it. This can irritate our opponent and make them tense up. That is Soft Laap Sau. Many seniors, when they do Chi Sau 黐手 they like to hold onto their opponent’s forearm(s), sometimes using one hand and sometimes two hands. This makes the opponent irritated and uncomfortable and makes them use more strength which we can then use against them.
So it is so important when using Laap Sau to feel or read the opponent’s energy. If they are tense, we can pull them quickly and hit them, but if they are soft and weak, we can hold their forearm and see what happens. Then we can decide whether to hit or pull or even change our hand to get a better position. Reading the opponent’s energy is so important.

Michael Tse