–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 – The Seminar

At around 1000 hours, Sifu Fong walked to the front of the room, and simply asked what questions people had. This caught me off guard. Having never been to a Fong seminar before, I didn’t really know what to expect. I expected we would be re-organizing the room, with chairs in the back. I was hoping for some introductions from everyone. With such a small group, twenty to thirty people, it would have been easy to go around the room with names, school and experience level. I didn’t know that blue shirts were for students and black shirts were for instructors. I didn’t realize that some people came with others from the same schools, and so on.

I did prepare questions, but waited to listen first. I didn’t know if my questions were appropriate for the setting. I had questions about curriculum. I wanted to know if my forms were the same. I wanted to know what types of drills Sifu Fong taught. I wanted to ask about some obscure theories from his old curriculum.

Did the other attendees frequent Fong’s school? Did they already know the curriculum and forms and drills? Did they have a new curriculum? What terms were used for techniques in Fong’s school?

So, I waited and listened.

The day was structured in the following manner. After a very long time going over seemingly random questions, Fong covered some stance, Siu Lim Tau, and Chi Sau. There was a one-hour lunch break at around noon.

For lunch I had some delicious Mexican food. I wanted to try more Mexican food while I was in Tucson, but decided against it, and planned to eat before and after the seminar for the next two days, so I had the lunch time to ask more questions and learn more.

Seminar Notes:

In order to pass the opponent’s defense, we must use Chi Sau

Practice the so-called “hollow fist” and “hollow palm.” This topic would come up repeatedly. The hollow fist was created by first curling the index and little fingers, with the thumb over the index finger. The middle and ring fingers close in next but not as tight. This leaves a space at the center of the palm.

The hollow palm was created by simply straightening the fingers, but not hyper-extending them, so that there was a slight cupping of the palm. The fingers were touching. The thumb was touching, but not crooked tightly inward.

I was somewhat surprised by this hollow fist concept. I was not surprised that the fist should be kept relaxed, but the “hollow” portion seemed impractical, in that the fingers would close on impact anyway. Ultimately, I don’t believe this was entirely different from how I already practiced, but it looked a little different. I noticed the hollow fist looked similar to the phoenix eye fist commonly used in Guangzhou Wing Chun.

The fuhk sau was held with the thumb gently between the index and middle fingers. The fingers were bent, but not tightly, and the palm squeezed together.

Sifu Fong emphasized eye energy to control an opponent’s mental state even prior to physical contact.

Once control over an opponent is gained, one should not relinquish that control. One should use constant movement, and yin-yang principles to maintain the control.

Sifu Fong frequently iterated to make Wing Chun your own, to adapt it to your body and your circumstances.

Tensegrity – This concept was new to me. Sifu Fong described this as keeping one thing still (the center) while moving other things in a coordinated fashion (the limbs). The six directions were controlled together, up, down, forward, backward, left and right. Sifu Fong produced a wooden tensegrity icosahedron – several small wooden dowels held together by elastic bands – to demonstrate this. He held one dowel still and moved the others. The elastic bands force all the other dowels to move together, while the one remained still.

Siu Lim Tau developed the still center. Chum Kiu developed side-to-side movement and rotation. Biu Ji developed up and down movement.

Chasing the shadow referred to the opponent moving around while one stays stationary and target facing. The body rotates around the still center.

Dexterity development was described by the axiom, one year fist, five years palm, ten years fingers.

Returning to the hollow fist, there are “Five Hollows.” Hollow Fist, Hollow Palm, Hollow Chest, Hollow Arch (of foot), and Hollow Mind (clearing of the mind).

The body in Yi Ji Kim Yeung Mah stance should form a curve from the shoulders to the knees. This should be a natural curve, and not exaggerated.

While in Yi Ji Kim Yeung Mah stance, the chambered arms should touch the body. The fists should point to the target. The center line through the body (mother line) should bisect the chambered arms (i.e. the arms aren’t pulled all the way back while in chamber).

When teaching, the student should first focus on the motions, and later develop an understanding of the meaning and purpose. What -> how -> why.

The stance should be like the Eiffel tower, with a wide base and a tight center.

The square posture (not bladed, but facing the opponent) allows for a triangle structure with the arms, and makes both arms equality available.

The opening saap ji sau (crossed hands) should be fluid. It starts low, left over right, raises up, still left over right, with the elbows to touching the body, and the rides back to chamber.

More notes to come…