Master Tse’s Wing Chun Notes #88

The Second Part of Siu Lim Tao – Faat Ging 發勁

The purpose of the second part of Siu Lim Tao is to develop Faat Ging 發勁. “Fa發” means” Release “and “Ging勁” means “power”. Bruce Lee called it “One inch punch寸勁”, but in Wing Chun we call it Cheuhng Kiu Faat Ging 長橋發勁. “Cheuhng長” means “Long”, “Kiu橋” means “Bridge”, but in Chinese Kung Fu it means the forearm. “Cheuhng Kiu長橋” therefore means “Long Bridge” and this means we extend the arm out to release power. In most martial arts, we withdraw the hand before punching out in order to make it more powerful. In Wing Chun however, we do not want to withdraw our hand first and instead punch by just extending our arm. This is harder to do, but is also quicker and means we can strike our opponent earlier, before they hit us. When we strike we need to hit their centre of gravity and when we use Cheuhng Kiu Faat Ging it also needs to connect to our whole body. This means the strike must come from our legs, to the waist, the shoulders and then finally the hands.

When we train properly it is very powerful. In the second part of Siu Lim Tao we train both hands to do the same techniques and Faat Ging in many ways.

Michael Tse