Master Tse’s Wing Chun Notes #85

First Part of Siu Lim Tao 小念頭 – Gong Lihk功力

Wing Chun Stance TrainingSiu Lim Tao 小念頭 has three parts which we need to practice and develop. The first part is for developing Gong Lihk 功力, the second part is Fa Ging 發勁 and the third part is training basic applications 手法.

When we are studying Wing Chun there are certain names and terms that you will not hear or learn in everyday language. Also this is traditional Chinese Kung Fu, so there are many special and specific names and terms to describe it. In these cases we have to just get used to using these terms. In any case, some names cannot be described and translated into English and so it is better to make the terms simple and shorter rather than having many long sentences to describe it. Actually some things cannot be described completely in words, for example, if you try to write down on paper the description of water whatever you write it will not be complete. So it is better to describe some things in a few words so people can get the rough idea, then this is good enough. They will understand properly when they have trained enough.

The first part of Siu Lim Tao training is Gong Lihk. “Gong功” means “Work” and “ Lihk力” mean “Strength”, so literally it means “Work of Strength”. This strength however, is different from weight training. This is Chinese training and it is internal strength which comes from the bones, the legs, the whole body being connected together and then finally to the muscle. Gong Lihk is able to change speed, direction and strength very quickly. So it is not just one way and it only comes from a long time of standing and training. Therefore, the first part of Siu Lim Tao should be done very slowly and over a long period of time.

Michael Tse

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