Wing Chun Kung Fu: Traditional Chinese King Fu for Self-Defense and Health

by Michael Tse and Ip Chun

Book Overview

With expert instruction and more than 100 step-by-step photographs, Wing Chun Kung Fu makes it easy to master the power and grace of this ancient martial art.

Straightforward and efficient, Wing Chun Kung Fu is one of the most popular forms of Kung Fu because it emphasizes technique over strength. By using the skills of Wing Chun Kung Fu, a smaller and weaker person can easily overcome a larger strong opponent...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312187769
• ISBN13: 9780312187767
• Release Date: April 1998
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Very,very Good Place to Start!!!!

This was my Very First Kung Fu Book. It was what made me fall in love with Wing Chun. This is a great book for the beginner student. There are other books that go well beyond this one as it pertains to Wing Chun. But this book has a soft quality about it that gives the reader a pathway of Wing Chun that other books do not. If you are exploring Marital arts and want a "Taste" of Wing Chun, this is a very, very Good start. Suggested Books to read after this are: Mastering Kung Fu, by Garrett Gee and Benny Ming (DVD's of a MAJOR help also). Wing Chun Compendium by Wayne B. And any book on Wing Chun By Randy Williams.

Can one learn Sil Lim Tao from this book? No, but...

...one might correct a few mistakes by following this book, notwithstanding the form being taught a little differently in every school. Good enough for a book, in my book. :-) The two photos on page 86 are in reverse order. Michael Tse brings a welcome combination of fluent English and unquestionable Wing Chun lineage. I also enjoyed the stories about the legendary Yip Man.

Excellent basis for learning Wing Chun

This isn't the book that will take you all the way to full understanding of siu lim tao (first form), but it will do better than any other single book. Combine this with the video "Wing Chun - Science of In-Fighting," and you will have a complete intructional guide to the first form of wing chun. I agree that some steps seem to be skipped in the form pictures, but this is more than compensated by the additional information about wing chun and how to apply it. Get the video by Wong Shun Leung too.

basic secrets

Wing Chun is not speed and punch. The secret is in energy and sensitivity, Yin and Yang (Alfa & Omega). I found this book to be really helpful and valuable. Of course you must have practiced the Siu Lim Tao before, in order to correct mistakes and reach higher levels. Wing Chun is not only movements, but a philosophy, if you don't have the basics you can not reach higher levels. Thanks a lot to Yip Chun and Michael Tse for this wonderful book.Have a great day!.

no macho, pure energy

So much of martial arts is degraded in the Western approach-- it becomes all about physicality, muscle and machoness rather than being rooted in energy, personal improvement and spirituality/philosophy. Most martial arts books are titled "the deadly something or other". Maybe it is a marketing ploy to attract all these sweaty pubescent boys who like to pick fights (and those "adults" who still act like that), but they have missed the philosophical/spiritual roots of the martial arts. They have lost the tradition and the honor; so where then is their authenticity? I found this book to approach wing chun from a more traditional, balanced combination of philosophical/theoretical (energy work) and physical. Because wing chun is a combination of both internal and external styles it is essential to understand Qi if you want to improve. Ip Chun addresses that. His analogy as an eighty year grandmaster is that as a young person you can, if you like, focus on speed and brute strength, but where will you be when you are elderly? It is only energy work that will sustain your martial arts into your old age. The first one third of the book is history and background, the second third is sil lum tao with lots of photos, and the last third is one and two-handed chi sao (sticky hands techniques) and practical application of wing chun techniques in self-defense for men and women. And of course, if you want to talk about lineage, then you cannot go wrong with Ip Chun, son of Ip Man (Yip Man) himself. As a practioner of Wing Chun/JKD (taught by the late sifu Akko Nishimura trained by sigung Francis Fong [Yip Man school] and guru Dan Inosanto), I found this book to be invaluable. It is important to understand the traditional roots, even if your own practice is more synthetic. Of course, for all those philes who like their martial arts pre-packaged, glossy and aggressive, Ip Chun's approach will be too traditional for them to handle. They should go join the Billy Banks bootcamp for Tae Bo.