Grandmaster Tse’s Wing Chun Note 315

Kwán Sáu 綑手 and Gāan Sáu 挌手 pt4

As we have seen, Kwán Sáu 綑手 moves from the inside to the outside, that is to come out from the centre of the body. Gāan Sáu 挌手 moves from the outside in. Kwán Sáu is applied when the hands are in contact and Gāan Sáu is used when there is no contact. They are a pair of defensive techniques that match each other perfectly.

Within Gāan Sáu we have Seuhng Gāan Sáu 上挌手 – Upper Gāan Sáu and Hah Gāan Sáu 下挌手 – Lower Gāan Sáu. This means that Seuhng Gāan Sáu blocks the upper part of the body and Hah Gāan Sáu defends the lower part. If our opponent attacks our chest, we can use the Seuhng Gāan Sáu individually to block it, and if they were to attack our stomach then we can block it using the Hah Gāan Sáu on its own. However, if we are not sure if they are attacking high or low, then we can use both Upper and Lower Gāan Sáu to cover ourselves. This is the reason we train Seuhng Gāan Sáu and Hah Gāan Sáu together. Therefore Gāan Sáu is very useful in real figting as in a real fight you will not start with the hands in contact, your opponent will attack you first, or there may be more than one opponent. Then you can use Gāan Sáu to defend the left and right side and so this helps us cover all areas. Once we have made contact then we can use Hyūn Sáu 圈手 – Circling Hand or if we are able, we can simply strike them directly.