–Preface–

The following text is part of a series documenting my time in Tucson, AZ, in the Spring of 2025, for Augustine Fong’s Wing Chun Gung Fu Federation Annual Seminar. The series is broken into short digestible parts, some describing my experience in Tucson generally, and some with detailed notes from the seminar.

Friday, 25 April, 2025 – Arrival at Sifu Fong’s School

I woke early for my gongfu cha practice (this is a Vipassana, or insight meditation, with Chinese tea). I stretched, and practiced some Wing Chun forms to prepare for the day.

Approximately two years ago, I transcribed a copy of Augustine Fong’s very old Wing Chun curriculum into a more organized format in which used Yale Cantonese romanization instead of the makeshift romanization used on the original document. I packed this with me, along with a copy of Henry Ho’s book on Ho Kam Ming and his students – which I am working to translate. I thought it might be fun to try to get a signature, or at least have it as a talking point, as I wasn’t sure if anyone else had seen it.

I walked to Fong’s school and stepped inside. Simou – a term which refers to the wife of the Sifu, or teacher – was sitting next to a man whom I later learned was Sifu Lee Keener, a long time student of Augustine Fong. Other people began to arrive, to include local students and instructors, a group from Devon, England, a group from Chicago, Illinois, and Sifu Keener’s group from Port Heuneme, California. I was the only one from the Seattle area. Just before 10:00 hours, Sifu Fong casually entered, wearing relaxed clothes and a vest, and proceeded to the back room.

The school, or kwoon, was a small desert hut surrounded by a small parking lot. To the right of the entrance was a storefront, which contained a great selection of Wing Chun merchandise, to include shirts, patches, coasters, mini-dummy’s, wood knives, and other martial arts training supplies. To the left was a large gym space.

The far wall to the left was lined with mirrors. The front wall was lined with wooden dummy’s, iron palm bags and wall bags. The back of the gym had a wall of various weapons and a traditional alter with candles, red paper and other religious symbols surrounding it. A hallway in the back lead to an office. The right wall was lined with photographs. Two large dragons hung from the ceiling.

To my great relief, the space was air-conditioned, and large fans hung from the ceiling.