Grandmaster Tse’s Wing Chun Note 385

Kūng Fū 功夫 – Part 9

Although we learn Kūng Fū 功夫, we might not need to use it, or if we do it might happen so quickly that we are not expecting it. When I was a policeman in Hong Kong, I was once patrolling in the Hong Kong Underground, which is called the MTR (Mass Transit Railway). Whilst I was at Kowloon Tong station it was rush hour and there were many people rushing about from to get their trains or leaving the station. I noticed one young man behaving suspiciously, so I approached him and asked him for his Identity Card. In Hong Kong, by law a Hong Kong Policeman has the right to ask anyone for their Hong Kong Identity Card, this was because there were a lot of illegal immigrants in Hong Kong that time. Suddenly the young man ran, I was so quick to catch him! However he still tried to get away, so I swept his legs and he fell to the floor. I knelt down and grabbed his hands whilst pulling out my handcuffs and locked his hands together. I thought he was an illegal immigrant, but when I searched him I found heroin in his pocket!

We never know when we might need our Kūng Fū. If I had never learnt any, the man may have been able to get away, or if he knew some he may have been able to beat me! So the real use of Kūng Fū is much better than competition.