Grandmaster Tse’s Wing Chun Note 503

The second student knew I was more senior than his Sīfú 師父 – teacher and he called me Sībaak 師伯 – Elder Kung Fu Uncle. He was stronger, but nervous and he used a lot of energy and moved very fast during our Chī Sáu 黐手. In this situation, we must be very careful at maintaining our distance, which means our footwork must be good. Distance is the key for fighting. If someone quickly moves their hands a lot, we cannot just Chī Sáu and must treat this closer to fighting as there is not much contact. Then if we get hit, then it is because of our carelessness, not maintaining our distance. We cannot say we are only doing Chī Sáu, we should not be lost contact that much to the partner, we should just follow whatever happens. So, we must always keep a good distance, then once we have contact, we can use Laap Sáu 擸手 – Grasping Hand, and keep a firm grip, then they cannot withdraw their hand easily. This is exactly what I did with that student and then I pretended to hit him many times. It is just like catching a snake, once you have its head, all the movement of its body is no use. However, it is always case by case. No one is invincible, we just keep learning.