The below article was written to share my experience learning from one of the great Wing Chun master in Hong Kong, Master Wan Kam Leung.
July 14th, I had a business assignment from my company which required me to travel to Hong Kong. In my mind, I have always wanted to go to Hong Kong as the place is known as heaven to martial art lovers. One of my intentions to go there is to meet and train with a Wing Chun master called Master Wan Kam Leung. Life felt even more interesting as my friend Yance Paulana somehow booked me in a hotel close to Master Wan Kam Leung Wing Chun School without her even knowing it. As an aside, I also went to Kowloon Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and met Taki Kimura there, but I will not expand further as this is a Wing Chun page, not Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu page.
Although Master Wan Kam Leung’s school was supposedly nearby from my hotel, but life was never easy. I asked many people in Kowloon, but no one could tell me where the exact location of the school. After searching for a while, I finally found the school, located not even 8 minutes by foot not far from my hotel! Talking about perseverance!
As soon as I stepped on to the school, I was welcomed with a big smile from Pui Yee and of course the Master himself! I was all excited when Pui Yee offered to help me arranging my private session with Master Wan Kam Leung. It was quite strange as I know for a fact, I would get my ass kicked by the Master!
My private session started with me showing off my Siu Nim Tau, Chum Kiu and Biu Gee in front of Master Wan Kam Leung. While performing, I managed to catch a glimpse of his smile and his head nodded a few times. Pui Yee as a translator, translated his remarks: “You really are familiar with the forms and I can see that you practiced them for a long time.” I was happy but concerned at the same time with his comments, but hey, there was nothing else I could do right?
He asked me to follow him and brought a piece of paper and pencil then started explaining his system by saying “Our style is different.”
He went on and elaborated on the differences by explaining his concepts and systems to me, e.g: 5 centrelines, etc. He also made a powerful comment that he has made changes to his Wing Chun because his Sifu (the late Master Wong Shun Leung) taught him a lot of good techniques, but did not manage to clearly describe Wing Chun concepts to him, hence a lot of exploration was done by Master Wan Kam Leung.
He made a lot of adjustments to my stance, posture, and punching method. As you had guessed already, we also did chi-sao where the result was quite clear. I was beaten to a pulp! He also demonstrated his Siu Nim Tao and the mechanics behind the movements.
One notable event that occurred that night was when he invited me to punch his stomach. I tried my best but the man was a beast! He did not feel a thing! He mentioned that improvements could be made to my method of punching so the power could be maximised. To that effect, he asked me to feel his punch which I stupidly consented. First, he did it to my arm and I instantly felt so much pain. I began to feel worried on what could happen next! He requested me to hold a mitt on my chest and stood nearby a wooden ledge where people normally sat and chatted. I freaked out when he landed his punch and landed my ass to the ground. It felt like all my body weight thrown to the ground and planted my leg as if I was trapped in a quicksand.
He smiled and in my mind I thought that he must have laughed at me. He made a comment that my punch has more of a pushing effect instead of penetrating effect, thus he gave me a few pointers for me to bring back home. Two words resonated in my mind that he always repeated – “relax” and “let your power penetrate”.
He smiled and in my mind I thought that he must have laughed at me. He made a comment that my punch has more of a pushing effect instead of penetrating effect, thus he gave me a few pointers for me to bring back home. Two words resonated in my mind that he always repeated – “relax” and “let your power penetrate”.
Closer to the end of training, he asked me to follow one of his students performing Siu Nim Tao while he made some observations and occasionally corrected my movements. Notebook was my friend that night and I made a lot of notes during the class.
The night was closed with me and Master Wan Kam Leung doing chi-sao for the second time. This time around, with his pointers in my mind, I actually performed well than before (at least that how I felt!). Regardless, I was still no match for him as he was still playing me like I was some kind of a ragdoll.
Finally, a few takes that I managed to draw from my encounter with Master Wan Kam Leung are relaxed stance, focus, and centreline principles. Additionally, I also made more friends in the Wing Chun community. I surely will come back and meet him again on my next trip to Hong Kong.
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