Master Tse’s Wing Chun Notes #46

Do We Need Daan Chi Sau?

Note 46Daan Chi Sau 單黐手 is part of traditional Wing Chun training. Once, when I was having a conversation with my Sifu, Ip Chun, he said to me, “We do not need to practise Daan Chi Sau.” Of course, I immediately asked him why? He said, “It is not necessary and people can straight away learn Seung Chi Sau 黐手 (Double Hand Chi Sau) because this is the whole meaning of Chi Sau.” This made me think.

Before that I had never really thought about it as we had always done that. Skill must always be improved to make it better. Every master does this. They inherit the skill, they practise it and they apply it. Eventually they will discover how to make the skill better. It is true, during Chi Sau we never do the things we do in Daan Chi Sau, so is it useless?

After many years practising and teaching Chi Sau, my personal answer is that it is necessary. Daan Chi Sau is basic. It teaches the student to use one hand only and not move the rest of the body. Today, many people do not know how to use one hand and also move too much during Chi Sau. This is because they did not practise enough Daan Chi Sau and Siu Lim Tao 小念頭 both of which teach us to stay calm, move only one part of body when it need and to overall not move too much. This is the special thing on Wing Chun Kung Fu.

Michael Tse

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.