Preambule

To remember and honor the Skill, Greatness, and Wisdom of the late GM Kang Sin Sin (江新辰), the disciples Michael, Rio, and Febry decided to publish this website as we need to preserve the Wing Chun KungFu of the late GM Kang Sin Sin by spreading his way of teaching and the style that he learnt from the late GGM Ip Man (Yip Man), the late GM Leung Sheung, and the late GM Chu Shong Tin.

Chum Kiu

Chum Kiu (Seeking the Bridge)
(International Wing Chun Martial Art - Indonesia)


Background

While Siu Nim Tao is the first and foremost empty-hand form in Wing Chun, Chum Kiu (CK) is the second one. People generally translate CK as “Seeking the Bridge” or in some instance I can even find the translation to be “Destroying the Bridge”. No matter what the translation is, I believe that CK provides Wing Chun practitioners with correct issuance of force in combination with mobility/footwork.



The form and its benefits

CK contains three sections with the aim to deepening your understanding of Siu Nim Tao (SNT). The most obvious intention of CK is to apply SNT movements and combine them with footwork. With CK, you are introduced to Wing Chun footwork, e.g: Chor Ma, Bik Ma, etc, and the way to utilize them to generate energy.

Combining with SNT’s mind force, the training of CK is useful for learning:

1. Understanding the connection between hands and footwork
This is the basic foundation of CK. In learning CK, we are learning to connect our upper body and lower body every time we execute the movements. As what was mentioned in the earlier SNT article, the force came from the ground traveling through the heel, waist and finally the hand. Learning CK is to learn exactly this.




2. Issuance of force with pivoting and footwork
As a short-range style of traditional Chinese gung fu, Wing Chun utilizes a lot of short, but explosive, attacks. One of the ways to achieve this is by utilizing pivoting and footwork. Using Chor Ma, we can increase the power as well as the reach of the punches. However, this issuance of force can only work when you have a good comprehension of the connection between hands and footwork.



3. Maintaining structure with mobility
Using mind to issue the force such as that in SNT is a key to training CK as well. In general with CK, all movements should not compromise structure. In this way, every movement is executed as with the whole body as a unit, instead of just moving your legs or hands.



With a solid understanding of SNT which serves as your basic, it will be easier learning these concepts in CK. Finally, we also need to understand one final concept in CK which is what people called “bridge”. This in actual fact resembles forearm. Seeking the bridge or destroying the bridge literally means a method of reducing distance between yourself and the opponent. Therefore, in CK, you see a lot of dynamic movements in combination with basic SNT movements.




Summary

This second empty-hand form in Wing Chun complements the previous learning which is SNT. Without proper understanding of SNT, it is impossible for any Wing Chun practitioner to master CK.

One needs to understand the connection between upper body and lower body, master the pivoting and footwork, as well as consistently maintaining structure dynamically.

This short article is not intended to explain thoroughly about all concepts in CK, but hopefully this article can enlighten all Wing Chun practitioners during their journey.

Happy training and good luck.