Grandmaster Tse’s Wing Chun Note 406

Touching Hands to Know High Level

When we Chī Sáu 黐手 with an opponent both our hands touch each other, and we should almost know whether or not the person you are with is better than you. What tell us this? When you touch hands, if their hands are soft on the outside, but firm on the inside, you know that you will not be able to move their hands away. This is because their Gūng Lihk 功力 – Internal Strength is strong. Gūng Lihk is power, but they do not need to use it, just by touching their hands you can feel it. It is like touching a big tree, you can feel it is strong, but is you touch a small tree, you can tell it is weaker. We should be able to feel a high-level Wing Chun person by feeling their Gūng Lihk. This means that no matter what we do, if their Gūng Lihk is strong and better than ours, we can lose very easily. However, if we have very good footwork, are very sensitive and can change position and hands very quickly then we have a chance. Some ladies who have good footwork, distance and changing can handle a big guy very well and the big guy cannot do anything. At the same time though, some one who has good Gūng Lihk usually has fast footwork, are very sensitive and can change their hand techniques very quickly. It means their skill is very good also.