Pearls of Wisdom

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Training for Life December 1988

By Grandmaster Doc Fai Wong

While attending tournaments and performing in martial art exhibitions throughout the U.S., I’ve seen many different martial arts forms and sparring. Unfortunately, only a few people emphasize focus and intention through their eyes when doing these moves. Too many people have the bad habit of looking at the ground when they do forms, and not at their opponent.

Most traditional Japanese and Okinawan stylists are aware of intention and focusing on an imaginary target. Perhaps that comes from their one-punch, one-kill concept. If you want to make the first technique meaningful, you had better focus on your target.

Many traditional Chinese stylists just work on their form sequence and movements, forgetting about their strike’s imaginary target. The exception among Chinese stylists are wushu practitioners. They are quite good at projecting intention and spirit.

Some teachers understand the concept of focus and intention, but either don’t explain it to their students, or the students don’t pay attention to the explanation. I teach what my instructor, Woo Van-Cheuk taught. He says, always look at a martial artist’s eyes first. The eyes show the person’s confidence or lack of confidence. They also illustrate concentration on their fighting techniques.

Your eyes directly affect your strength and determination. For that reason, a good martial artist should work on his visual expression before other factors like his stance.

In sparring matches your eyes can give you more courage. For instance, have you ever met an opponent who looked at you with such determination that you backed off in your fighting? Boxers do it to their opponents all the time. They look mean and determined. They don’t believe they can be beaten, and it shows in their intention and focus. A Thai boxer’s visual expression often intimidates his opponent into giving him the edge in the fight.

Internal Chinese martial arts, such as tai chi chuan or hsing-I, talk about breathing opponents’ chi or spirit by looking at them with angry eyes. Angry eyes is a term in Chinese martial arts that describes increased intention through determined focused looks. From that angry-eye intention comes more physical power.

Another word for intention is yi. Tai chi practitioners use yi instead of sheer physical strength, first defeating their opponents mentally, then finishing them with a minimum of physical power. Yi is also connected with chi. Old tai chi masters said that if you use your yi correctly, you get stronger, while your opponent gets weaker. Before you can use yi, you must first use your eyes to look at the target. If you don’t look at your target, imagined or real, your yi won’t emerge. When you do look at your opponent, it’s not with just a casual glance. You must think about hitting the target, so that your yi makes the same connection. Then your intention and yi unite with your chi, giving you more jing, or fighting energy.

Your eyes are also exit points for shen, or spirit. People who have low spirit, because they are depressed or sick, have tired-looking eyes that are not clear and bright. You can instantly tell that those people also lack mental and physical energy. On the other hand, healthy happy people show their spirit and liveliness through their eyes. Angry people also show shen. They often look like they have fire coming through their eyes.

Martial artists must develop the angry eye in fighting situations and forms practice. Do it when you practice your forms. If you need it for sparring or self-defense, it will come naturally. Your eyes should always be looking at the opponent, the same way a guard dog looks at anyone who comes into his territory. Of course, don’t stare so hard or look so mean that it makes you stiff and tense. The correct way to express intention is by focusing on the target with confidence and determination.

Tai chi people must also be careful where their eyes are aimed. Tai chi translations describe how the eyes follow the hand. Many people misunderstood those translations, thinking they just look at their hand, rather than looking beyond, where the target is. Look at the direction of the hands, but don’t stop at the hands.

One good way to develop shen, expressed through your eyes, is by practicing square horse-stance training outdoors. Focus on a tree in the distance. Try to keep your eyes from blinking by starting gradually, about a minute, and building up to five minutes without blinking. If you can only practice indoors, stand in a horse stance looking down a long hallway, or out a window, and focus on a distant object. I prefer looking at something green. Green doesn’t hurt the eyes as much as other bright colors. Be sure you don’t stare too hard at that distant object. That will make your eyes tear and could give you a headache. Stay relaxed, using mental intention. After you practice this for several weeks, apply it to your forms and fighting. You should notice a great improvement.

If you have a habit of looking down when you do forms, have someone watch and remind you not to look at the floor. That is sometimes a habit that takes much reminding to overcome.

Hollywood gave us one key to successful martial arts with the movie Rocky II. Rocky’s trainer told him that good fighters had eyes like a tiger’s eyes. Without them he wouldn’t win.

Training for Life September 1988

By Grandmaster Doc Fai Wong

It’s long, straight, sharp on both sides, and exclusively Chinese. You won’t find any other country’s martial art using a straight bladed sword that draws its energy primarily from wrist action and flexibility.

Chinese call it “Gim” in Cantonese and “Jian” in Mandarin. It’s a far different weapon than the more popular broadsword. Unlike the brute force broadsword, fighting Gim techniques are practically unknown today. Most people learn only fancy performing techniques that turn the weapon into a blur of flashy figure-eight circles and ground-hugging stationary postures. However, in traditional Chinese martial arts the Gim was an advanced weapon that required top-notch teachers and years of correct practice before it became an effective fighting tool.

In the days when combat with a straight sword was practiced, most students had over ten years of martial art training before they were exposed to the Gim. The average student learned only broadsword and staff techniques. Those two, one long and the other short, were Chinese martial art’s major weapons. Occasionally, different implements found their way into a fighter’s arsenal because they were more convenient than swords or staffs. Horse bench, fan, smoking pipe, and hoe were all routinely pressed into service as kung fu weapons, using basic techniques from those popular long and short weapons - the staff and the broadsword.

Even in those times, those who routinely carried straight swords were high-ranking military officials who used the weapon for punctuating command or military ceremonies and Confucian scholars, who practiced intricate sword forms for daily exercise. During the height of Chinese Confucianism, all Confucian scholars wore Gims as decorations and signs of their scholarly office, not for self defense. Those scholars and officers gave rise to the Gim being strictly a gentleman’s weapon. The real swordsmen of ancient China were Taoist Priests of Wu-Dang Mountain. They practiced straight sword-fighting techniques as part of their daily martial art training.

A famous Taoist priest-fighter named Lu Dong Bin made the sword popular among other Taoist martial artist. His trademark was the way he carried the weapon – on his back over his right shoulder, where it was easy to pull from its scabbard. He was so famous that all later-day Taoist Priests wore their swords the same way.

Buddhist monks favored the Chinese broadsword, calling it the “precept knife”. They made personal vows that if they broke any Buddhist Priest or vows, they would cut off a limb with their broadsword. Shaolin monks practiced broadsword form for exercise. Their daily broadsword practice made them experts with the broadsword.

What were the Gim techniques that distinguished the difference between combat and dance?

First, understand that the Chinese straight sword was fragile, lightweight weapon. It isn’t strong enough for contact against the much sturdier broad sword. However, the Gim has two cutting edges, one on each side of the blade. Those two cutting surfaces give it the versatility of slicing left and right, as well as poking straight.

Fighting Gim experts took advantage of the two-edge blade by using only three-to-four inches near the tip for cutting. That’s the only truly sharp area, besides the tip itself, of an authentic Gim. The rest of the blade was kept dull and slightly thicker for any emergency blocking techniques. I say “emergency”, because sword technicians did not want to use their weapon for blocking. The sword is thin and long and not very strong. Speedy dodging actions and small circles angular cuts aimed at the enemy’s wrist better suited its size and shape.

Wu-Dang sword experts taught special basic training techniques that trained Gim students to put their force out into the last three inches of the blade. These were waist and wrist loosing exercises, similar to Western fencing. Some, still taught today, include a variety of movements. The tip of the sword is circled clockwise or counter-clockwise. The blade’s tip is snapped up and down. The cutting section slices from side to side. These basics are done thousands of times in front of a knowledgeable teacher who will direct the student along the right path. Of course they also had a special way to hold the sword. It wasn’t a five-finger grab.

True Wu-Dang swordsman used only three fingers, the thumb and two center fingers. The three-finger grip gave them more wrist and hand flexibility for the small slices and pokes that characterize straight-sword techniques. The index finger was pointed forward, guiding the blade along its path to the target.

The unused hand was called the “sword finger” hand. Its first two fingers formed a miniature sword, which was used to help balance the uneven weight of the other hand. Pressure point strikes also were made with the free hand.

Among China’s best-known teachers in recent history are General Lee Jing-Lin and Guo Chi-Feng, both members of the fabled seven swordsmen of China. Of the seven, they are the only ones known to have living students. The famous seven were trained by a Taoist priest called Fung Tao-Zi, who was said to have been 100 years old when he taught the techniques.

My own teacher, Woo Van-Cheuk, now 84 years old, was a disciple of both General Lee and Guo. To the best of my knowledge, Woo Van-Cheuk is the lone remaining student outside China.

Karate and Fitness International, March 1991

by Jane Hallander

Photos Compliments of Nathan Fisher

Throughout man’s long history of unarmed combat you would think there would be one standardized fighting style. With the fighting experience and background that fills each country’s history books man should have found the best method of dealing with assailants and made is popular throughout the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. Not all fighting systems use the same self-defense techniques, with some radically different from others—employing techniques that imitate fighting animals or believing that the best defense is to directly withstand the blow, rather than block it.

There are those who prefer long, circular hand movements, while others claim that only straight, direct, short hand techniques are truly effective.  Chinese martial arts are a perfect example of differences in successful fighting styles. Southern Chinese kung fu systems typically use many short hand movements, with straight punches predominating. At the other extreme, northern styles prefer long hand actions along with relaxed flowing circular power.

One of the best known theories about the difference between Southern and Northern Chinese martial arts describes Southern Chinese as mostly farmers who worked with their hands and squatted in the fields in low stances. Supposedly, they were more muscular than Northerners, unable to kick high and using short explosive power when they punched.

Northerners, on the other hand, were considered more scholarly, with primarily military men engaged in martial arts, riding horse back and developing strong, flexible legs for high kicks. Since they did not perform manual labor with their hands, Northern Chinese fighters had less muscle mass, using long distance arm techniques with active footwork. Of course, remembering that this is a general theory and not a definite fact, there are exceptions.

One of the exceptions is a Southern Chinese martial art called Choy Li Fut. Choy Li Fut Kung Fu is a long range, circular hand fighting style with quick, active footwork—the opposite of what Southern Chinese kung fu is supposed to look like.  Choy Li Fut is one of the most popular kung fu styles in the Orient, having a great number of practitioners and tournament fighting competitors. It is equally popular on the West Coast of the United States, with almost every major city containing at least one Choy Li Fut Kung Fu school.

Choy Li Fut’s founder, Chan Heung, had three different teachers; two were Southerners who had studied at China’s southern Shaolin temple in Fukien, and the other, a Northern Shaolin monk.  The fighting techniques employed by monks of the Northern Shaolin temple showed strong influences from one of China’s oldest kung fu systems, Chang Chuan (long fist). Chang chuan is characterized by smooth flowing, long circular hand techniques.

As Chan Heung combined the teachings of his three instructors, he developed a unique fighting style utilizing long range circular blitz-like strokes that drew their power from strong active stances and footwork.

Choy Li Fut is unique because it does not really resemble either southern or northern kung fu systems, combining both types into one fighting style.  Although Choy Li Fut and most northern Chinese martial art systems use long-distance hand tactics, Choy Li Fut’s power comes from explosive waist, shoulder, and hip movements. Northern styles, such as northern Shaolin, utilize quick snapping power produced from quick footwork.

Much of Choy Li Fut’s footwork resembles that or northern Chinese kung fu rather than the almost stationary stances of popular southern styles such as Wing Chun or Hung Gar. While Wing Chun and Hung Gar often stay in one position, only advancing one foot at a time, Choy Li Fut uses the running horse stances of northern kung fu, giving Choy Li Fut quick active footwork.

Southern Chinese martial arts like Wing Chun and Hung Gar are famous for their short, straight punches. Wing Chun uses a rapid-fire attack to the opponent’s centerline, disabling him, while Hung Gar proponents like to overwhelm their opposition with sheer strength of muscles developed through isometric exercises called won kiu.

Choy Li Fut Kung Fu has its own characteristic long range circular hand techniques. They are not broken down into offensive and defensive movements, since at the advanced level, offensive hands are simultaneously defensive and offensive.

Do not get the idea that Choy Li Fut is restricted only to empty hand techniques. This fast moving southern Chinese martial art also contains a vast array of kung fu weapon forms. The two standard weapons in Choy Li Fut are the staff and broadsword, reflecting long and short weapon techniques. Long weapons like the Kwan-Do (General Kwan’s knife), spear, and gold coin spade also make appearances in Choy Li Fut. Of course, short weapons are not limited to the broadsword. The straight double-edged sword is another Choy Li Fut short weapon.

Other weapons may fall into the double weapon category, such as butterfly knives, double axes, and hook swords, or flexible weapons, represented by the chain whip, three section staff and two section staff. There’s even a special category for typically southern implement weapons, such as the tiger fork (trident), horse bench and fan. These are only a few of Choy Li Fut’s many weapons.

Not only is Choy Li Fut Kung Fu one of the most popular fighting styles in the Orient, it also contains one of the widest varieties of forms.  Aside from hand and weapon forms, there are also a number of wooden dummies to train on. Choy Li Fut Kung Fu is truly a martial art with something for everyone!

By Jane Hallander

Karate Kung Fu Illustrated November 1988

Since it’s one of the most popular Chinese martial arts, people tend to talk about Choy Li Fut’s powerful punches, devastating palm strikes and strong kicks. All true, but there’s a lot more to Choy Li Fut Kung Fu than striking techniques. Actually, those are just skimming the surface in Choy Li Fut training.

First, here is a little background on the system itself. Choy Li Fut Kung Fu is a southern Chinese style, originating about 150 years ago in Kuangtung province. Unlike other southern styles, Choy Li Fut’s wide-reaching hand techniques and high kicks often appear to resemble fighting systems from northern China.

There are ten basic fighting techniques in Choy Li Fut. Always listed in the order of their importance, they are kum, na, sow, kwa, tsop, biu, kup, pek, dat and jong. With the exception of the first two, all are either fist or forearm strikes. But wait - didn’t we say they are listed by importance? Indeed, the most important are first.

Kum-na in Mandarin in chin-na.  Chin translates in capture, and na means grabbing. Whether it’s in Mandarin or Cantonese both words mean the same thing - joint-locking techniques. And since Choy Li Fut’s founder placed kum-na at the beginning of the fighting list, they are among the system’s most important techniques.

Joint-locking moves are so important that they’ve become a rare, almost secret art within Choy Li Fut. Sounds strange, however, there is a valid reason for it. Because Choy Li Fut’s punching techniques are easier to grasp, students always learn them first. Many students, who eventually become instructors, don’t stay with their own teachers long enough to master the joint-locking art. They smokescreen their lack of advanced training by claiming that Choy Li Fut joint locking is a secret.

Now, 150 years after Choy Li Fut came into being, few people know kum-na techniques. Only those who learned through direct lineage from the founder’s family still emphasize Choy Li Fut joint locks.

Nathan Fisher is one of those select few. Fisher, whose White Dragon School in San Diego is one of the largest Choy Li Fut schools in Southern California, studied from Doc-Fai Wong in San Francisco. Wong’s martial art lineage is linked directly to Choy Li Fut’s founder, Chan Heung.

Actually, Fisher states joint locking is one of the most useful fighting aspects of Choy Li Fut. “Most self-defense confrontations happen at very close range, where you can’t kick or use power punches,” said Fisher. “Also, today’s laws often make you the felon if you injure your assailant. So you may not want to cause them any bodily damage. Joint locks are perfect. You can effectively handle close-range situations without seriously injuring your attacker.”
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