Grandmaster Tse’s Wing Chun Note 408

Gahm Sáu 㩒手

Many people like to use Páak Sáu 拍手 – Slapping Hand. Once a student said to me, “Sīfú 師父, you don’t use Páak Sáu much.” I thought about this and realised they were right, I really do not use Páak Sáu in the way they thought. Most people will think of using Páak Sáu to slap the opponent’s hand away and then strike. This is one of the most common techniques that we know. With Páak Sáu we use a sudden force to slap their hand out of the way giving us room to attack. However, most of the time, we will use just enough energy to stop their attack and then we will keep in contact, holding on to their attack on hand, we do not hold on by grabbing, we just keep our palm in contact with them. This hand then becomes Gahm Sáu 㩒手 – Holding On (to something) Hand. Gahm 㩒 means to hold on to something, like when we use our hand to stop a piece of paper blowing off a table. We put our hand down on it, or when you hold a ladder steady for someone who is climbing it – this is Gahm. So with Gahm Sáu we hold on to something, we do not use it to push away. Therefore, I like to use Gahm Sáu more than Páak Sáu and I think that most of you will find that you do the same.