Grandmaster Tse’s Wing Chun Note 418

Studying with Sīfú 師父 – Part 5

I remember the first time I went to Sīfú’s 師父 evening class. There were only three or four people. I think one pair was doing Chī Sáu 黐手 – Sticking Hands and the others were watching them or doing Síu Lihm Tào 小念頭 – Reducing Thought – Wing Chun’s first form. Also because the room was very small, we could not have 2 pair Chi Sau except they were beginners, no footwork training. If they were attacking and defencing, sometimes even one pair was not enough room. The atmosphere in the class was very casual, there was no formality and everyone could do what they wanted. Of course, the main training was Chī Sáu. The first person to Chī Sáu with me were Ah Chun 阿松. He was very skinny. He worked in textiles and travelled to China on business a lot. His hands were very gentle, and he corrected my Tāan Sáu 攤手 – Opening Hand, Bóng Sáu 膀手 – Wing Hand and Fuhk Sáu 伏手 – Resting on Hand. So now I started to know the real Chī Sáu skill. In the past, from studying with my Uncle, Tse Chui Hung 謝超鴻, Chī Sáu was more like fighting and I did not know what was right and wrong. Ah Chun taught me the positions of those basic hands, then Sīfú taught me the four situations Tāan Sáu and Bóng Sáu, Fuhk Sáu and Fuhk Sáu, one Fuhk Sáu and Tāan Sáu, and finally one Fuhk Sáu and one Bóng Sáu. Sīfú taught me how to change from inside to outside and from outside to inside and so I started to know the proper way to Chī Sáu and why it should be like that. His explanations made things become very clear, and I realise before I was lost in a jungle and now Sīfú had pointed out the road through it so now I could enjoy it even more.