Having spent the morning judging brown- and black-belt tests out at the Clifton, New Jersey branch of Yee’s Hung Ga, I’ve got martial arts on my mind today, and thought I’d offer those of you who have an interest in this stuff an informative video clip.
I’ve written in the past about the emphasis some kung fu systems place upon “sticking” to your opponent; this refers to the practice of maintaining a light contact with the hand or forearm in order to obtain a flood of tactile information about your opponent’s intent. Once you’ve really got the hang of it, it’s almost as if you tap directly into the other party’s proprioception; sometimes it seems as if you know what he’s going to do before he does.
Sticky-hands training, known in Chinese as “chi sao”, is an essential part of a Southern Praying Mantis education, which is where I learned it, but it is also a central element of the Wing Chun system. This video shows Sifu Augustine Fong giving an entertaining public demonstration of what Wing Chun chi sao looks like. Enjoy.
PS: I’d like to congratulate my student and younger training brother, 17-year-old Frankie Aline, who, having studied with our system since he was 8, today successfully demonstrated his command of two of our most advanced long-weapon forms (the Chun Choy Dai Dao, or “Kwan Dao“, and the Yu Ga Dai Pa, or “tiger fork“), and was awarded his black belt.
6 Comments
It has been so many years since I’ve trained that I wouldn’t even really call myself an enthusiast, let alone a practitioner. So if the following question is a bit foolish, forgive me: how does chi sao work against an opponent who doesn’t maintain close quarters?
Hi Charles,
That’s a good question. I’ll point out for starters that for either opponent to strike the other, the two fighters have to be within arm’s reach of one another, however briefly.
It’s true that some (generally more “northern”) styles feature “longer-range” techniques – primarily kicking, as in tae kwon do, but also various hand techniques as well. The southern fighter’s wish is to force matters to operate at close range. If, as they say, the “mountain won’t come to Mohammed”, then it’s necessary for the southern stylist to take charge. The simplest approach is to close rapidly with some technique that must be blocked, for example a strike to the head or upper torso. Once the opponent raises his “bridge” to block, the connection is made. An important skill for the southern fighter is to be able then to close the range quickly behind his bridging hand. For example: one throws a strike to the opponent’s head at fairly long range, which is blocked by a raised forearm. One then brings one’s stance and lower body forward, closing the arms inward to maintain the sticking contact as the range narrows — after which one uses one’s “short power” to control and attack the opponent inside his preferred range. One needs to be both mobile and rooted in one’s stance.
It would be much easier to show you this than convey it with words, but I hope you get the idea.
I do get the idea, but not having ever trained in this style there is a limit to my comprehension. I would like to see it in action (by that I mean experience it for myself), but unfortunately that’s probably not going to happen any time soon.
(On the login front, I’ve logged in again, and I noticed that the “remember me” checkbox was not checked in the login form. Perhaps this has something to do with it? I checked it, so hopefully I’ll stay logged in. If not, though, at least I can log in again easily.)
Next time you’re in Gotham, Charles, I’ll be glad to demonstrate.
Glad to hear about the checkbox; I think that was probably your problem.
Indeed. Next time I am in town I will definitely drop you a line and take you up on that offer (maybe followed by lunch?).
I seem to be still logged in, so it appears to have been the checkbox. Boy do I feel stupid now.
Stupid you ain’t, amigo. And lunch will be on me.