Wing Tsun is Chinese Boxing

Wing Tsun is Chinese Boxing

As my Si-Fu always reminds us, “..afterall, wing tsun is Chinese boxing.” I think many of us forget that this is the case. It’s the Chinese method of exchanging fists. It is not an exchange of flowery arm positions, accompanied with a high crane stance or low horse stance. Could it be that we’ve been brain-washed into thinking that the ideal display of kung fu is that of a choreographed two-man wushu set? Or maybe that in Jet Li’s epic “Once Upon a Time in China”?

Wing Tsun is kung fu and kung fu is Chinese boxing. That is where I will have to go with regards to my own training. It’s time to move on from “wing tsun movements” and step into the realm of “boxing with wing tsun concept and structure”. I can already picture the difficulties of this – my body will be so used to the idea of bong sao, of pak sao, of chain punching. It’s time to let all of this go and bring boxing to the forefront. Bong sao, pak sao, tan sao, etc will simply be a momentary reactive fallback and nothing more. But that’s hard to do.

Tan sao seems to want to be more than a tan sao – it wants to be a tan sao and that, in itself is too much. What is enough, would have to be defined by its function, not by its appearance or perception.

Shadow boxing, repeated drills in front of the mirror, full exertion beyond the limited scope of the chain punch, hook punch and lifting punch…the realm of Chinese boxing covers all punches and angles in between. Those three punches can be seen as only extremes along a continuum of punching methods.

Can’t wait – this perspective of “wing tsun is Chinese boxing” refreshes the mind and frees the warrior. There is no limitation, no boundaries. Why should there be? On the street, who says I gotta square my shoulders?

Until then.