Chu Shong Tin 1998 Seminar – Wing Chun

Chu Shong Tin 1998 Seminar – Wing Chun

Dear Wing Chun Student,

I don’t know if you have noticed but there is a real lack of quality instruction on the art of Wing Chun in video format. I’m not saying there are not some good DVDs out there, because they are, but most are just glossing over the surface of things you most likely already know. You may pick up a point or two, but for the most part they are just a reference tool, not a learning tool.

I couldn’t watch it without taking notes!

The first time I started to watch Chu Shong Tin’s (Tsui Sheung Tin’s) seminar I knew what I was seeing was different. I stopped about 30 minutes into it. I got up and closed my door, got a pen and paper, took the phone off the hook and started over. After the first hour I had over 10 pages of notes! I wasn’t even 1/10th of the way done! I don’t know about you, but I had never taken notes off a video before (with, perhaps, the exception of videos from my personal lineage), but with Master Chu I just couldn’t help it! I knew I had to write it down so it would stay with me and I wouldn’t forget.

Since I come from a different lineage I usually just watch videos with a passing interest to see how other people train, just to be knowledgeable about the art in general. I never take notes on anything. Since Wing Chun is based mainly on theory it can be interpreted and used in many different ways. This can make it hard for you to learn from another lineage. What may be true for one lineage is not true for another. Take weight distribution, for example. It ranges from 50-50 to almost 90-10. If the lineages that keep their weight balanced try to fight like the ones that keep their weight on the back leg all the time it won’t work right, and vice versa. Most of what Master Chu teaches transcends lineages. Not matter who teaches you Wing Chun, you can learn something from Master Chu!

I had never seen things explained the way Master Chu explained them. Things that I had heard before, but did not understand, started making sense. I didn’t even know I didn’t understand them until he explained them. The way Wing Chun uses circles and triangles started clicking and I was soon able to diagram many techniques and positions in a new light! I can’t begin to describe how much I actually learned from these DVDs!

There is too much to list!

I wanted to list here some of the things you will learn on these DVDs, but I honestly haven’t had the time. These DVDs are so packed with information it would take me a good 12 hours to just list out the highlights.

You will learn 3 hours of Sil Lum Tao, 3 Hours of Chum Kiu, and 3 Hours of Chi Sao secrets that can take your Wing Chun to the next level!

Master Chu lived with Yip Man for about five years when he first started training, and was the first student of Yip Man’s to teach privately. During the first five years he got to the point of starting to learn the long pole. This means his foundations of Wing Chun were learned while living with Yip Man. One of the first sentences on the Chi Sao DVD is Master Chu saying he will show Chi Sao the way Yip Man taught him! No wonder these DVDs are some of the best material on Wing Chun today!

Sample of information covered within just the first third of the Chi Sao DVD:

• You will hear Master Chu’s own thinking on Sticking Hands and he’ll explain and teach Chi Sao the way Yip Man taught him.
• How Chi Sao helps you find a way to apply force to the opponent and maintain your power and structure.
• How Chi Sao increases your chances of winning in a fight.
• He covers single Chi Sao, double Chi Sao, and Free Sparring.
• Finding your strongest point and your opponent’s weakest.
• Watch Master Chu keep his Taun Sao structure and upset the balance of guys twice his size trying to pull and tear his arm down.
• How to find the strongest point in your structure.
• How to fight bigger opponents without your structure breaking.
• Details on the Tan, Fook, and Bong hands for single Chi Sao.
• How to make the opponent feel your body mass at all times.
• How to use structure with the Tan Sao to dissolve the force it meets, so your arm doesn’t get tired or forced downward when an opponent’s Fook Sao is applied.
• What to do when the other person is moving your hands away from the center and gaining the advantage.
• How to use Bong correctly and why it doesn’t need any force. How to use the Bong in application vs in Chi Sao.
• How to use body mass to move the opponent and upset his balance so you don’t have to use as much force.
• Watch how Master Chu finds his opponent’s weakest point upon contact and uses body mass and structure to upset the balance and clear an opening for attack.
• Watch Master Chu toss about guys three times his size!
• Learn to use your body mass, not your hands, to attack the other person.
• How to try to upset your opponent’s balance all the time so you can get in.
• Gain a fuller understanding of Chi Sao through Master Chu’s demonstrations on multiple students and as he answers their questions.
• These are just some of things covered in the first hour of a 3 hour DVD!