About Xuan Clan Wing Chun
Read more about Danny Xuan and his history in Wing Chun.
About DannyLineage Chart
About Danny Xuan
I was born at the bottom of the Himalayas in India, in a hill-station town called Kalimpong, that shared borders with Tibet, China, Sikhim, Nepal and Bhutan. My father was part Tibetan and part Chinese; my mother a Vietnamese. The town, 1,250 meters above sea-level, was predominantly inhabited by Nepalese, Tibetans and Chinese, during my years there. It was a very small town (and still so). There were no cars to speak of. There were a few jeeps that took people from town to town. Every New Year, my friends and I treated ourselves for a jeep ride around the block, and I vomited every time. There was no public transportation or even rickshaws. Everyone walked. We all had hefty legs.
Kalimpong 1950’s in foreground, and the Kanjanjunga Range (Himalayas) at the back
For entertainment, there were two cinemas that everyone went to religiously. There were nothing else. Never mind computers and video games, there weren’t even televisions or telephones. What did we kids do for fun? Fight!
My elder brother and I fought so much that my father bought us boxing gloves to settle our differences. Even the schools had boxing in their curriculum to keep the fights under control.
My brother Jimmy, 8.5 years old, and I, 4 years old (with chunky legs)
My father, in his youth, was a fighter. We’d listen to him and our mother retell his fighting escapades, and were inspired to follow his footsteps; to prove our manhood with our fists. He was a natural fighter, so didn’t have the need and patience to undergo the Taiji and Shaolin training he had enrolled himself in. When I was born, he was 51 years old. I still witnessed him taking out strong young men for the next decade.
My father in the middle in Tibetan garb, and his cronies, holding German Lugars in Western China. My older brother, John beside him
When my family moved to the city of Calcutta, the first thing that my brother and I did was challenge the boys in the neighborhood for fights. Actually, we didn’t need to as we were often teased for our rosy cheeks burnt by the sun in the high altitude. That gave us the excuse to scrap. We easily established our dominance there. We did the same in the missionary school that we went to. The pastor’s son tried my brother first, being that he was the same age. After a licking, he tried me. He was lambasted as well. Every school we changed to, we did the same. In fact, a priest from the Catholic school that we went to enjoyed watching fights so much that he made sure he was invited to challeged fights. Apparently, he boxed as a youth.
Brother Jimmy, George, Me, and Vinod–Friends in Kolkata
Shot at a camping site with fellow scouts. I’m about 12, fairly muscular (from Judo training) compared with the other kids
In the early 60’s, after the first James Bond movie, there were a string of spy movies that came out showing Judo or Jiu Jitsu action. I was fascinated by it. When I found a Judo school in the city, I urged my parents to enroll me. They were happy to do so, knowing that the regular activity would keep me off street fights.
` First James Bond movie, Dr. No, with Sean Connery
Looking back, I see how Judo built a strong base for my total martial arts training. I learned about balance and flexibility. I was just a lad of 11 training amongst adults. I could not use my muscles against them. I went to the library and studied every Judo book it had, and learned the science behind it.
The Judo school in Calcutta was setup by Kodokan of Japan. The master who was sent to teach us found the weather and lifestyle unsuitable for him, so returned to Japan. The solution Kodokan came up was to have traveling Judo practitioners train us when they visited Calcutta. We ended up with a lot of Japanese sailors.
What we initially thought was a poor solution turned out to be a great blessing. We were exposed not only to one master’s teaching and
My first Karate book, by Bruce Tegner, which my sister bought for me.
style, but to a variety of teachers and styles. I was inspired by one particular young man, who, for a shoulder throw, squatted right down, butting his hip against his opponent’s shins (instead of the thighs), and using his straight arm against the opponent’s whole body to tossed him overhead. This was no ordinary shoulder-throw. The victim would fly straight out, in a nose-dive manner. If you didn’t know how to roll in mid-air, you would land on your face. After seeing how he toyed around with our heavies, I was determined to be like him. After intensive training for nearly four years, I was able to easily throw all but one two-hundred-pound man in the dojo. Since we did not have a regular teacher, we were not graded for belts. This was another blessing in disguise. I came to realize that it didn’t matter what belt I wore, but what I had achieved for myself.
I learned later that some of the stuff they did in the movies was Karate, instead of Judo, so I wanted to learn it. There were no Karate schools in India. There weren’t even any books on it in the stores or the library. I wrote my sister in Canada, and she sent me one by Bruce Tegner. I dug into it like an archaeologist. Soon, I found out that he was an expert on Judo, Jiu Jitsu, Aikido, Kendo, and etc. It wasn’t until I got hold of his Judo book that I realized that he was quite poor at it. I doubted his ability in Karate, and learned the reality of commercialism that day, and became a discriminating searcher for real martial arts teachers and books.
Bruce Tegner’s “Know-it-All” books
In 1967, my family migrated to Canada. In my search for a Karate school, I was fortunate to walk into Park Jong Soo’s Taekwondo Institute in the fall of 1968. I saw this superman sparring with three guys and blasting them against the walls of the school with his kicks. When he kicked the bag, it bent, jerked and bounced instead of swinging back. I had seen Bruce Lee as Kato in the Green Hornet, and read about him in the Black Belt magazines, and had much respect and admiration for him; however, Bruce’s kicks were nowhere as powerful as Parks from what I saw. No one had heard of Taekwondo then. In fact, it was advertised as Korean Karate. My friends urged me to join their Karate schools. However, without hesitation, I joined Park’s school.
I must have been the longest brown-belt wearer in the history of martial arts. I studied Taekwondo for seven years but never acquired a black belt. My interest was in mastering the art, not acquiring a belt. It didn’t interest me to pay for the belt. For those who don’t know this, students of martial arts pay for grading and tournaments. I never understood that. Boxers get paid for fighting. You acquire a University degree without paying for the exams. Anyhow, Mr. Park told me that it didn’t look good that I wore a brown belt for so long and that I should take a test. I acquired a black-stripe, and quit Taekwondo.
Mr. Park is about 5’11; rather tall for an Asian. He trained in Taekwondo since he was a young boy of 14, in Korea. He was the Korean National Champion. He was groomed for international exhibition and promotion of Taekwondo by General Choi, the founder of Taekwondo, and Taekwondo International Federation. Park Jong Soo was (and probably is still) as good and tough as a martial artist could be. Although I did well in Taekwondo, I found the learning growth slow. There was a tremendous upward learning curve in the beginning but came to a screeching halt in about a year, when it began to move in a snail-like pace. The reason, I believe, is that in the first six to twelve months, you will have learned all the Taekwondo kicks, that is, front-kick, side-kick, roundhouse kick and their variations, front-twisting-kick, back-kick, and reverse-roundhouse-kick. That’s what Taekwondo is about. The rest of the time, you spend improving and strengthening them. The hand techniques are just too few in numbers. You will notice in Taekwondo sparring or competition, how most practitioners hang their hands like dead meat, and employ their feet only.
From my experience, I found Taekwondo most effective if your legs were longer than your opponent’s, and you weighed more, and you were physically stronger as well. That is, if you’re fighting another Taekwondo man of the same calibre. In my prime, I could do incredible things with my legs and could take on most of my Taekwondo associates. However, the taller and bigger they were, the more difficult it became for me. I felt I needed something more than Taekwondo.
During my years of Taekwondo training, I began to notice (through the movies) how much more Bruce Lee had improved in martial arts than anybody I knew or had seen. Meanwhile, my instructor was losing his speed and power. The physical hardship of Taekwondo was taking a toll on him as he gained more years. Bruce Lee, on the other hand, was getting faster and more powerful. He was more rounded as a martial artist than a stylist. I especially liked the hand techniques he applied on Robert Baker in the Fist of Fury, and on Chuck Norris in the Way of the Dragon. I had often heard that Bruce Lee had taken Wing Chun, but never knew that the hand techniques he had applied in the movies were Wing Chun moves. The Wing Chun hands were usually overshadowed by his Taekwondo kicks which looked more spectacular on screen.
One day, I was invited by a Chinese restaurateur to visit his 11-year old son’s gongfu class. It was held in a small room at the basement of a house. When the class begin, and I saw the hands in action, I immediately knew that this was what I needed and wanted. I asked the instructor for information on the classes and tuition. He told me that this was not a gongfu school, but a social club for the Hong Kong boys who had come to Canada to study or work. They only “played” gongfu for past-time. I knew it was a just polite way to reject me. I later learned from the restaurateur that I hadn’t requested the master properly for acceptance to enroll. I had asked him about the tuition like I did with other martial arts schools, which usually ran a business, not a school (in a traditional sense). Wing Chun was only taught to those who ask for it, and to those who the instructor felt was of good character. I urged the restaurateur to put in a good word for me. He took me back another time, with instructions to offer tea to the master. This was the traditional way of requesting acceptance. If he refused, it meant he was not prepared to take me in. If he did, then I would ask him to please accept me as his student.
The teacher and the students drank tea during the training breaks. I offered to pour tea to the master, but he said that he had just had taken it and didn’t want anymore. On the next break, I offered him again. He said his cup was still full. I hung around until the end of the class and offered tea to him again. This time, he stretched his hand out to accept it. At that point, I asked him to please accept me as his student. He reminded me that he was only running a social club for the Chinese boys who were away from home, but will accept me into the club as one of his boys.
Thus began my journey to the art of Wing Chun. My master’s name was Wong Siu Leung. He was a student of Moy Yat and Wong Shun Leung, who were Master Yip Man’s first generation student. My experience in this house was wonderful. I learned Wing Chun not only as an art, but a culture as well. There was no belt system nor competition amongst the practitioners. We respected each other, not because of ranking or skills, but because we were Wing Chun brothers. Those who joined before us, we called them Big Brothers. However, if someone was older than us in age, we called him Big Brother, regardless of when he joined the Wing Chun society.
One day, after a year and a half’s training, an 18-year-old boy visited our class. I learned through my classmates that he was also Master Moy Yat’s student; not only that, but that he was his godson. His name was Nelson Chan. He had come to study in Canada.
My classmate, Vasco Texiera (a Portuguese-Chinese), and I became friends with Nelson. We found out that he was more knowledgeable in Wing Chun than our master. He knew it down to the minute details and was willing to share them. Vasco and I requested him to teach us. Being that we were already students of his Wing Chun brother, Master Wong, he could not accept us as his students. The only way he could teach us was to make us his junior brothers. We were not to call him “Sifu” (Master), but “Sihing” (Big Brother).
I decided to dedicate the next three years strictly towards Wing Chun training. I quit work, and began studying WC under Brother Nelson Chan. I attended Taekwondo classes in the afternoon and Master Wong’s classes at night. In between, I learned WC from him.
Brother Chan moved into the house Vasco bought specifically for training. He taught him at night when Vasco returned from work. He taught me from 3 to 6 p.m. when he got off school. In the weekends, the three of us trained together. In those days (1972), there were no protective gears for training. We first made chest pads out of bags stuffed with the Yellow Pages. Later, we used Kendo head and bodygear, and hockey shinpads for full contact training. Those were the best years of my training.
I was under Nelson’s tutelage for three years, whereupon, I left Toronto for Vancouver. I regretted very much the discontinuation of Wing Chun training under him. I tried several Wing Chun schools and teachers; but it was a long time before I found another teacher of high standing, Master Winston Wan. He learned from Master Lok Yu, who was the second student that Yip Man accepted in Hong Kong. Master Wan had a different approach to Wing Chun that I had not experienced. The added knowledge enhanced my Wing Chun skills tremendously. I spent three years under Master Wan’s tutelage. Master Wan suffered from chronic back pains, and could no longer teach WC. He handed the school to his senior-most student. I became close friends with Sifu Wan, and went to his home in the weekends to learn privately from him.I also kept up my Wing Chun by teaching a few individuals privately.
In between Wing Chun training and teaching, I also did some Taiji and Qigong. They were helpful in understanding Wing Chun holistically.
In 1994, I moved to Thailand and China. I searched for Wing Chun masters, but none were comparable to my teachers; for that matter, none were even comparable to me. So, I decided to explore Wing Chun on my own by reverse engineering it. I treated everything I knew about Wing Chun as wrong until proven right. I first took the forms and dissembled them completely, and then put each component through a test of measure for economy, efficiency, and productivity. The economy measure determined whether a certain movement was expending the minimum amount of energy to get the job done. The efficiency measure determined whether a movement was expending the minimal amount of time to get the job done. The productively measure determined whether the energy and time expended on a movement produced the best results. The 3 measuring sticks of economy, efficiency, and productivity are inherent to Wing Chun’s concepts of centerline theory, duality of defense and offence, simulateous movements of 2 or 3 limbs. By testing the movements in the forms using these measuring sticks, I was able to decypher the secret messages that was encrypted in the forms by the ancient developers of Wing Chun. Once the 3 open form movements were decrypted, all the movements and techniques in Chisao, Dummy, 6.5 Pole, and Twin Swords fell into place. I understood how ingeniously, progressively, and holistically the founders had designed the system. I even felt that the spirits of the ancestors had led me to the discovery. I had now stumbled into something very deep; something untouched by others. I now felt a sense of responsibility and mission to reveal the truth about Wing Chun to the very serious seekers. Thus began the journey.
TEXT TESTIMONIALS
The testimonials below were collected between 2010 to 2012 when I was teaching out of Thailand and running an online teaching website www.wcats.com (Wing Chun Academy of Thailand-Siam)
I studied Wing Chun under Sifu Danny Xuan for just under 3 years. His theoretical knowledge of Wing Chun is huge and he can put it all into practice too. It is pure Wing Chun, stripped of all non-essentials, added bits that pervade other WC styles.
Sifu Danny really emphasizes the understanding of correct structure, grounding and body mechanics. To say that he stresses the most direct path to the target is an understatement. After some time spent training with Sifu, one begins to grasp the real meaning of economy of movement. His approach favours real close-quarters combat, and allows no space for the opponent whatsoever.
Training with Sifu Danny is good fun, thanks to his sense of humour and in-depth explanations of theory behind each movement. Having trained with him for this time, I know that I have a solid grounding in the art, and I hope to one day complete the whole system under his guidance.”
Bart Cowling-Norwich, UK.
Bart CowlingI’ve had some martial arts experiences (karate,aikido and wing chun) before finding Sifu Xuan’s Wing Chun website.
From his articles, videos and the one-on-one training during my visits to his schools in China and Thailand, I’ve learned many useful things and secrets!!! A lot of importance in his trainings is given on body balance and body alignment for best power generation, an open mind and a continuous awareness of the contact established with the partner during Chisao. Learning these things make me better fighter now.
The most important thing I have learned from Sifu Xuan is to always question things/techniques that I was taking for granted just because big masters evangelized them.
I guess his quest and thirst to explain and find the reasons behind all the movements,the best ways to utilize the body potential by correct alignment, and his easy-to-understand explanations and patience make Sifu Xuan a great teacher.
Definitely I would recommend other people to learn or quest Sifu Xuan’s teachings.
Eddie HodemniacThank you for your very informative web site and the unique service you are providing for practitioners of (it looks to be) several martial arts. Your school in China looks magnificent! Somewhat depressing, actually, as it is — by far — the best looking school and atmosphere one could possibly hope to learn martial art (particularly Chinese martial art) in, and I despair in that no such facility exists in Canada (where I reside). This being said, I’m intrigued by your scientific approach to Wing Chun. By way of background, I have edited several volume of the late Bruce Lee’s surviving writings, when I was working with Mr. Lee’s estate (which were published by the Charles Tuttle company out of Boston) back in the late 1990s. I have also produced two films on Lee (“Bruce Lee: In His Own Words” and “Bruce Lee: A Warrior’s Journey,” in which I put together — with the help of his surviving choreography and script notes — his last unfinished film, “The Game of Death.”).
Having seen all of Lee’s surviving writings on martial art, I’m not as convinced as most seem to be that he merely remained a Wing Chun practitioner. Nevertheless, he retained a healthy respect for the art as being the one that “brought him to the dance,” so to speak.
I recently completed a film (more of a pilgrimage, really) on visiting the locales where Lee made his four completed films (Pak Chong, Thailand, Macau, Rome and Hong Kong). During this pilgrimage/travelogue I had the good fortune to interview Ip Chun at his school and my interest in martial art was renewed. By renewed I mean that never (shy of minor hockey) have I seen more politics than in martial arts (and this is particularly so in my experience in Lee’s art and, from an observer’s perspective from the outside looking in, with Wing Chun — or ving tsun — as well). I therefore like “science”-based approaches to anything, particularly physics, as these are “laws” that are inviolable, and, thus, “truths” that can be discerned, experienced and shared.
I’m interested in your teaching skills and wish we could have met during my brief stay in Thailand. I’m a bad student when it comes to reading and applying but would be willing to give your approach a go. I am more interested in the art (as opposed to ass-kicking) and am approaching this the same way one might approach the art of glass blowing, piano or painting. Art for art’s sake.
Anyway, I would welcome an opportunity to correspond with you and see if you think your distance learning program (without local hands on instruction) would help me to become proficient in the art of Wing Chun.
In any event, I was moved to write to you solely out of appreciation of your intellect and in the creation of a magnificent training establishment (your wooden dummy also looks worth acquiring — very nice job on that one!). I believe even Shik Kien would be envious!”
By the way, once I entered in the password last night I felt like a kid in a candy store having access to all of the essays and videos on SLT. I felt like I had to look at everything — and then I quickly realized that I was in WAY over my head (information overload) and recalled your council to take it slow and one lesson at a time. Starting from the beginning and progressing slowly seems a most welcome concept now.
John Little(Translated from Italian)
Hi–My name is Aldo, I’m 46 and I live in Italy … I’m Italian. I’m a fan of Wing Chun since the age of 32 years, the year that I started to practice it. After 1 year of practice, I changed my workplace, and my new family situation did not allow me to practice the art, although I continued studying WC from a theoretical point of view. During these years, when surfing the internet, I came across several sites of WC, but was particularly impressed by Master Danny Xuan’s site. He had a bit free material on the SLT. From what little I read, I immediately realized that behind it was a great teacher, a great expert. But I could not, during those years, contact him. It was only 3 years ago when I started to practice the art again in my hometown that I decided to contact him. And I must say that the reality has exceeded expectations. Because, in addition to finding a great teacher, I also found a great friend. But beyond personal relationships, I would invite anyone to know Sifu Xuan. From him, the forms, the indecipherable movements were given life and meaning. His approach is based on the study of biomechanics, research on the effectiveness of the movement in combat. Maybe these are things that you have already heard that WC offered, but it becomes much clearer with him. Well, as it is difficult for a sports player to become great, he makes the WC understandable to everyone, from the very first lessons. With him every piece of the puzzle is solved. WC in reality has no secrets. It was time, fragmentation and hostility of the various schools of WC that made this art so indecipherable. WC is only about study and application. Those who are skeptical about WC courses on-line, I would say that they are right, because the risk is real. WC cannot be learned from books. You learn by practicing. But while practicing the effort would be futile unless you had a good teacher behind. That’s why I recommend it to all practitioners to confront. This does not mean to betray his master, for whom there is still respect. But personal growth is just … personal! And everybody at some point will have to make choices. And for those who would choose to meet, or just communicate with the master Xuan, I can testify: “It’s worth it.” In his lectures there are breaths of sincerity, friendliness and intrigue. It is a different breath of time from when WC was taught secretly only to descendants. Now the family has expanded and, with new technology, everyone can join, we can exchange our views, we can grow. I decided to go with Sifu Master Xuan, although I had a master already. Anyone can make that choice freely. I take this opportunity to greet Sifu Xuan and all those in the martial arts community.
Alessandro CastaldoMy name is Zed Jones, I was born in good ole New Zealand but my travels allowed me to train with martial arts instructors around the world (including 3 Wing Chun schools that just weren’t cutting it), before I finally found Sifu Xuan tucked away in South East Asia. I was EXTREMELY lucky our paths crossed at all! At first I was not impressed. I expected a large school based on the profound teachings on his homemade website. But instead he chose to live humbly and not make a big deal of himself. He settled instead for hands-on quality instead of bigger classes. I could see the benefit in that, so, I put my prejudices aside … and found myself blown away. WHY?
Well. many reasons, but what really got to me at first was that, at 60 years old, he was still training and fighting with his younger and stronger guys without breaking a sweat. It was stuff from the movies!!!
I watched in awe as he LITERALLY:
Dissolved attacks by sending force down his structure
Delivered attacks by sending force UP his structure
Fought blindfolded and knew our moves through touch
Exploded with sharp, short and efficient power
Controlled his opponent’s limbs and rendered them impotent
Flowed from technique to technique seamlessly
I almost couldn’t see what was happening!
IT WAS LIKE FIGHTING RUBBER!
Now, here I was … a 2nd-Dan Blackbelt in Taekwondo; several tournament titles under my belt; learnt various martial arts since a child; almost 40 years younger, fitter, stronger, faster AND bigger than this guy. So, you can imagine I was eager to test him out this “kung fu master” myself and took him on in a sparring match.
I found myself tangled up and on the floor in seconds! No matter how many times, no matter what attack I used, every attempt ended up the same.
15 years of my martial arts training was reduced to a puddle on the floor.
What had I done wrong? How could this old geezer beat me no matter what I did?
Noticing my puzzled look. Sifu explained that I had spent my life simply cramming techniques into a bag and dishing them out as I fought. As he received every one of my attacks and gave it back with interest
It dawned on me that I had spent my life learning techniques that I had to recall rapidly one after the other, countering moves with different moves. But the problem with that approach is, there is a never-ending supply of moves!
I was useless against someone who did not draw his attacks from set moves, but from adapting naturally; in other words …
His whole body WAS the technique.
Wingchun in its true form is a methodology that trains your body to fight instinctively and naturally based on the universal principles of combat. I had wasted my time by not training my body to adapt to ANY move or situation. All my other martial arts training had taught me simply the branches … but not the ROOTS. And that was just one of my problems. In several weeks of classes, I realised dozens of limitations of all the martial arts I had studied. Yep, I had been fooling myself all these years.
Sifu Xuan’s teachings addressed the root of fighting itself. The universal physical laws of the world we live in. In fact I’ve applied his Kungfu to many aspects of my personal life with great results! I also realised I wasn’t alone in my admiration! Many others who had found him through the internet or head hunted him down knew his teachings were life changing stuff.
A session with him was a mixture of Geometry, Physics, Biology and perhaps most heavily, his teachings drew from the ancient yet ever relevant battle strategies of the Great Generals: Sun Tzu’s Art of War and Miyamoto Musashi’s Book of 5 Rings. He showed me how the Wing Chun system had hidden concepts through its forms for your body structure to decipher.
It was difficult for my ego to admit. but, it was powerful teachings that all my other teachers combined could not compare to.
I have now returned to New Zealand, and have started a training group under the guidance of Sifu Xuan.
Zed JonesI’ve been reading your work and would like to commend you on the very well written material you present. It is both clear and instructive. I would like to support your efforts by paying to view your works.
William Lye(Having been a student of wingchun for 10 years now)…I already knew that Wing Chun was a system based on efficiency, but Sifu Xuan laid it out in such a way that made perfect sense. I also realized that much of what I was taught before was not the most efficient and was simply a mindless transmission of generalizations…Sifu Xuan’s explanations were so detailed that it allowed me to improve my technique dramatically in a very short time. I have not been able to ask him a question that he hasn’t answered to my satisfaction, and he is more than happy to prove his ideas through scientific testing and experimentation whenever there is a challenge. I feel extremely blessed I was able to find him. Seriously, if you spend a few minutes talking to him, you will instantly know he is the real deal.”
Dennis LeeLooks like you are doing wonderful work and have an ideal way to enjoy your life – good on you, Sir! 🙂
David PetersonI have thoroughly enjoyed watching these videos, and it has given me a lot to think about. It has helped me see some of the practical uses of the movements and how to maintain structure while moving. It’s a lot to take in – even though it’s only one training session. It’s also hard to really internalize the lessons without a partner, but I can definitely see the power of sinking in and striking/pushing/pulling as one unit.
I haven’t had a chance to watch the rest of the videos just yet, but I am looking forward to it. I feel like I still have a lot to learn from rereading your lectures and doing a lot more forms. There’s so much involved in each movement, it’s incredible. I can honestly say I love wing chun… I feel very fortunate to have stumbled onto your site.
Mark RemeikisYour web page is fantastic. Not only does it offer you a way to share your vast knowledge of Wing Chun, but it also demonstrates your excellent web page skills. I am truly impressed on both levels.
I have been training in martial arts on and off for years, and I am familar with Wing Chun. I feel competant in the first empty hand form. But my training has been sporadic. I attend seminars and martial art workshops on occasion, which have allowed me the opportunity to train with some excellent instructors. But I have not been able to devote myself to “one” style or sifu. Your training classes interest me very much.
My martial arts background started in Judo as a young boy, and matured into American Karate in the 80s, when I won 1st place in the Tri-State Kickboxing Championships in 1984. Soon after this I traveled to Thailand, where I fought in a tournament in Phucket. While in Thailand, I spent most of my time with the Ahka tribe in North Thailand. It was a real pleasure to visit your country.
After leaving Thailand, I spent a year in Alaska, where a Vietnamese man introduced me to Wing Chun. From that day on, Wing Chun became my primary focus in Martial Arts. Unfortunately I have not lived in a place that has a Wing Chun instructor, but I took seminars and had short training sessions when visiting other cities. In addition I read most anything I can find on the subject, and have for years.
With the training (particularly my training with the centerline theory), all my physical movements take on an efficiency and flow that is with me always, even when my mind is on other things.
I would like to locate a sifu who is willing to help me pull together my scattered teachings. Being under your Wing Chun instruction, would enable me to move forward in an orderly, stable fashion.
Tom MurrayI have been visiting the wcats site for a while now and really enjoy all of the information you have presented in such an unselfish way. The quality seems to be there as well. I only say seems to be because I am simply a wing chun beginner. I have studied numerous other martial arts since I was a child and have recently become fascinated with the philosophy of wing chun. I’m dying to learn the art and hope to study it for a long time, possibly one day to teach in order to further myself in it as well as promote it to others. There are no instructors in my area that seem as qualified as I would like them to be. So I continue to search . In part this is why I’m so greatful to the wcats site. It is allowing me to learn a little technique and study mental aspects of the art while I look for the right instructor. Thanks again, it really has been a help to me and turned me on to this exceptional martial art. To me it was sort of a throwback to the days of old when knowledge didn’t always have a price in dollars, but the reward was simply promoting the art you love.
The premise of an online school is amazing! What a visionary approach to promoting a truly wonderful art.
I must once again say that I’m so impressed with your attitude and openness that I’m beside myself. The way you approach the arts is always the way I promised myself I would share knowledge. I thank you for it.
Don TwingI come from a Taekwondo background. I cannot begin to tell you how much I have enjoyed reading your lessons and studying the history and basics of Wing chun to this point. I have never been taught so easily as with your descriptions. I really enjoy learning from someone who explains the “why” instead of just going through the motions so to speek. I am very eager to continue your lessons.
The premise of an online school is amazing! What a visionary approach to promoting a truly wonderful art.
I must once again say that I’m so impressed with your attitude and openness that I’m beside myself. The way you approach the arts is always the way I promised myself I would share knowledge. I thank you for it.
Matt BrownI have been studying your lectures and videos over the past few days. They are proving to be very enlightening. I’m grateful for you taking the time to so carefully and eloquently explain the principles, concepts, and motions and making them available online.I must once again say that I’m so impressed with your attitude and openness that I’m beside myself. The way you approach the arts is always the way I promised myself I would share knowledge. I thank you for it.
Joshua McMichaelI wanted to email you to greet and thank you for your new approach to Wing Chun, which is enlightening to a new beginner like me. I am especially interested in the way you locate vulnerable points on a human body, and the way you compare a human body with a castle, among other things which are much beyond my understanding.
Dinh KhoiCongratulations for the Wing Chun site, it introduced me to serious research about what WC really is (I’m a starter and I think my WC courses here aren’t very good..). The explanations of the theoretical and strategical aspects enlightened me, as you’re the only one who used graphicals to expose the lines/gates structures… Great!”
Franck Marchand
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