Master Tse’s Wing Chun Note 272

Chī Sáu 黐手 with Beginners part 2

Sometimes senior students can be hit by beginners when they are doing Chī Sáu 黐手. Beginners can often just hit without thinking how vulnerable or how incorrect their technique is. This is because they think that is the way to Chī Sáu. Seniors who are not used to them can be very surprised, get upset and start to hit back. Of course most of the time they can hit the beginner, but sometimes the beginners may have some other martial arts experience or even studied Wing Chun at another school before they do not know what meaning or purpose of Chī Sáu is and so just fight. Some seniors are not used to that kind of strong, fast and aggressive attack, and so are embarrassed and then they also start fighting back. Sometimes their techniques do not work as usual, then the senior is using force against the beginner’s force and so the strongest wins.

When we are hit during Chī Sáu we should in fact be happy! This is because our opponent has shown us our vulnerability and so we can improve ourselves. To overcome this we need to follow the Wing Chun principles and use relaxation, sense our opponent’s energy, keep a good distance and always find the right position so they cannot hit us. So we must wait until the situation is right before you can attack. So beginners help us get better.