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6th Roots of Wing Chun China Tour

6th Roots of Wing Chun China Tour

Wing Chun Masters outside of China

It was extremely exciting getting ready for my 6^th “Roots of Wing Chun” Tour.

This tour would concentrate on Wing Chun outside of China, namely Singapore and Taiwan.

Also, I wanted to visit the Southern Shaolin Temple, having already visited the Northern Shaolin Temple in 2012.

The Southern Shaolin Temple, according to Experts today, state that Wing Chun’s origins comes from there.

I do not believe this story.

I firmly believe there were two factions.

One from the northern temple and one from the southern temple.

Grandmaster Lo Man Kam from Taipei, is Yip Man’s Nephew.

He believes Wing Chun’s roots come from the Northern Temple.

More about that in a later blog.

Our first stop was Singapore.

Wow, what a hot and humid City! I am very fortunate to live in Melbourne’s Climate.

Sifu Joel Lee’s lineage stems from Leung Ting whom taught Tam Hun Fan.

This lineage is very interesting as it was taught to Leung Ting during Yip Man’s final years alive in Hong Kong.

Sifu Joel Lee‘s style of wing chun produced different forms to my system.

They also had different stances.

Jee Shin Wing Chun has 50/50 stances.

Sifu Lee’s students assumed a 60/40 stance with more weight on the back leg.

My Lineage being Traditional Wing Chun has its roots with Leung Bik / Yip Man.

My wing chun system has different forms, footwork and science.

It is fascinating to research other expressions of wing chun kung fu.

Grandmaster Lo Man Kam also indicated that his Uncle Yip Man did train under Leung Bik.

He stated that Yip Man had 3 teachers but only one Sifu, being Chan Wah Shun.

The other 2 teachers were Leung Bik and Ng Chung So.

Wing Chun is classified as Soft, Soft and Hard and Hard. Traditional wing chun is Soft and Hard.

It appears that Leung Tings expression of wing chun is Soft.

Soft doesn’t indicate weakness. “Soft in training but very powerful in application”.

Our next stop is Taipei, the Capital of Taiwan.

Taiwan always had an intrigue for me due to its history with Chiang Kai Chek.

He was driven out of China by Mao Ze Dong, in the late 1940’s.

Lo Man Kam trained with his Uncle Yip Man in Hong Kong after the Communists took control of China in 1949.

Lo Man Kam moved to Taiwan in the 60’s.

It was very hot and humid arriving at Lo Man Kam’s school in Taipei.

His apartment is on the 4^th floor and his school is on the rooftop of the Building.

Grandmaster Lo Man Kam was extremely friendly and hospitable.

He shared his knowledge on wing chun.

He gave me one of his books on wing chun and I was very privileged to touch hands with him and do Chi Sao.

There style of wing chun training is also relatively Soft.

I did a lot of rolling arms with the various students training there.

We were fortunate to also meet some students from Hungary.

They were staying there and training for a couple of months.

There stances appear to be 50/50 but there lead leg is turned in quite far towards the centre.

I am a firm believer of a natural 50/50 weight distribution, stepping toe first.

This prevents over commitment, which will have a major impact on speed and of course interrupt ability.

After we left Taiwan, we stayed in Fuzhou, preparing to travel to Putian to visit the Shaolin Temple.

I am slowly posting photos on my facebook wall. Please feel free to go there and make a comment or just have a look.

Stay tuned to my next post on the Southern Shaolin Temple.