–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.

Saturday, 26 April, 2025 – The Seminar – Day 2

Well, it turns out I’m not the best correspondent. I can hardly keep up with my task. If you want the truth, these letters were written after the trip. I was unfocused and tired during my time in Tucson, and struggled to do more than take notes.

Morning Walk

I woke up early today, and had time to practice my forms prior to leaving. I wanted to have time during the lunch break to train and ask questions, so today my plan was to eat breakfast, skip lunch, and eat at the Vietnamese restaurant I found on my way back to the hotel. I made my tea, a strong Da Yu Ling, high mountain Taiwan Oolong, packed my bag and went down to the hotel lobby to see what there was to eat. I ordered a small egg and bacon sandwich and an iced Americano coffee. The sandwich was awkwardly packed into a large cardboard box, which didn’t really fit well into my backpack. I made do, put in my earbuds, and began my trek to the school.

I received a new album just days before going on this trip, and was listening religiously to this rhythmic, clangly, fast paced industrial. The morning wasn’t as hot as the prior afternoon, but it was still hot. Between the sidewalks and businesses were several feet of fauna, which consisted of palm trees, small bushes, rocks and desert dirt. As I walked, it appeared the rocks were shifting, and I quickly noticed there were tiny lizards scurrying away into the shadows as I approached.

I arrived early again, and ate my sandwich as people trickled in. Several new people began to show up for the Saturday seminar.

I had learned that my father had attended a seminar many years ago. One of Fong’s old students, who began learning at the age of fourteen, who I knew only as Danny, had received his twenty-five year certificate on the year that my dad visited. I made it my goal for the day to figure out which year that was, and try to find an old photograph.

Today, Sifu began by having the entire group practice Siu Lim Tau together, before going into questions.

The Seminar:

Several questions were a review of topics covered the day before.

—Siu Lim Tau Notes

There are three elbow positions. I drew a little diagram of this, which showed the three positions relative to the body and the mother line. In the outside position, the elbow is touching the side of the body. In the inside position, the back of the elbow is touching the front of the body. The middle position is halfway between these two.

In the first section, the fuhk sau wrist is straight, not bent. I remember learning the fuhk sau was flat, and one could hold a teacup in the fuhk sau hand. In this case, however, the fuhk sau wrist was in line with the forearm, making the hand also in line.

While in Yih Jih Kihm Yeuhng Mah stance, the low back should push out slightly with the hips tilted up to be more in line with the thighs. The hips position was obvious to me, but I didn’t notice this little adjustment with the back before.

In the third section, the gaang sau does not cut forward, but rather, cuts back, to the line of the imaginary triangle, with the palm in, and the fingers pointing to the tip of the triangle. Normally, I would practice with the wrist on the center line, but in this case, the tips of the fingers were on center line.

I asked for clarification on the hollow fist. Sifu Fong explained that the hollow fist is always practiced, even on the wall bag and in other situations. I drew a picture of the hollow fist, with the index finger and pinky finger closing first, and the thumb over the index finger. Then the middle fingers close lightly, so the center of the palm is exposed, i.e. hollow.

The tyut sau (shucking hand) was performed from below the elbow joint.

We explored the third section elbow positions again (as previously describe), and confirmed the following:

When going from taan sau to gaang sau (skipping chahm sau), the elbow is in the inside elbow position.

When returning from gaang sau to taan sau, the hand raises straight up (not circular) and ends in the middle elbow position.

When the bong sau drops to taan sau, it drops to the outside position, protecting the ribs.

The hands should be regarded as the children to the body. They want to stay close.

More to come…