Grandmaster Tse’s Wing Chun Note 416

Studying with Sīfú 師父 – Part 3

I felt nervous while I was demonstrating Síu Lihm Tào 小念頭 – Reducing Thought – Wing Chun’s first form in front of the eldest son of my Sīgōng, Great Grandmaster Ip Man 葉問師公! It was a challenge, so I tried to do it very slowly, but it was quite fast and took about 15 minutes. When I learnt with my Uncle, Tse Chui Hung 謝超鴻, he taught us to do 30 to 40 minutes. I still remember my hand movements being slower than the clock. I could see the hands of the clock moving. It is very interesting, when we go slowly, everything around us seems fast and when we are still, we will notice everything around us. After I had finished and done Sáu Máh 收馬 – Close the Stance, Sīfú Ip Chun 葉準師父 said, “Not bad, you have a good foundation!” After many years, when I had gotten to know Sīfú better, I saw that he was a very kind person, a scholar, and a gentleman, like a Rújiā 儒家學者 – Confucian Scholar. He never put down anyone else’s Wing Chun, he just gave you the ideas of how Wing Chun works so that you can work it out. I had heard that my Sīgōng, Ip Man, was just like this, a gentleman. This was all based on a traditional Chinese Rújiā – Confucian background. After this meeting, I began to join Sīfú’s classes to start my new Wing Chun journey.