Unknown Wing Chun , Chin family art- technical foundation

I was approached by supposed Sifu of yet another "secret" Wing Chun style and asked to publish an article about his art. Here I will present the article written by the "last successor "of this "old" , "unique" Wing Chun style . ;Sifu" John Wrastler as he claims being the last and only descendant of this old lineage decided to make his style publicly known in fear that style may be lost   . First part is about history of the style . I have to declare that everything is this article is purely claimed by this supposed "Sifu" and I decided to publish it just as an example how easily "history" can be forged. There are zero evidence for any of his claims and the story is just compiled form the parts of of older stories of various styles. This is a second part of the article that covers "technical" part of the style. I will not comment it and will leave to readers to make their own conclusions 

Chin Family Wing Chun Kuen is defined by 13 basic points (principles) . Each point represents  specific  principles of biomechanics and specific strategies . Strategies and biomechanical principles are compatible and interchangeable which enables almost infinite number of different combination which provides the answer to any possible tactical situation . These basic points (principles) , which make a foundation  of Chin Family fist are:” Circle, Seize, Cross, Redirect, Deflection, Strike, Spit, Eat, Sink, Lift, Cut, Thrust, Chop. Centerline theory of  Chin Wing Chun Kuen's is different from usual centerline theory used , with some difference in detail but basically the same , in most popular and known Wing Chun styles today . In Chin family fist we define the centerline  not just as the middle the  physical body. Meaning the top center of your head going down too and through your tale bone and not only as a vertical plane that connects our center with a center of the opponent. In Chin family fist there are additional meridian lines used as a defining points for the paths of attack and defense . There are totally 5 sub meridian lines. Beginning with first , which was already  being mentioned , centerline(middle line in the center of the body ), next left and right nipple meridian line which can cover the  space  up to 6 inches and sometimes the space covered with this meridian (sub centerline)  exceed  outer shoulder limits . Last set are the arm pit lines which also can cover the space that exceeds about 3 inches from the outer shoulder limits. This is a very different version from any know centerline theory today. This way of defining centerline  has a flexible interpretation and allows applying any combination of basic principles of combat in scientific way , it can be said that centerline theory of Chin family fist is an algorithm of fighting for the style. Each of the 5 sub meridian lines , like it was said before , define a space with all paths down which  travel  both, attacking and defensive techniques . During  the fight, pathways of exchange can and often are redirected to new meridian path , whether it is a defensive or offensive technique .All meridian paths are can be switched in order to maximize efficiency of the technique . This switching and changing is governed by a system of footwork methods that uses a combination of geometry and physics to travel the Meridian Pathways and other interconnecting lines. Centerline principals also have a heavy influence on the upper body mechanics and hand fighting formations used in combat. While there are hand’s positions  of Chin  Wing Chun that can be found in the classic 3 hand forms -little idea, bridging, and darting fingers of other styles ,we perform them is very different way . We show more or a circular tai chi rolling manifestation in the upper body handwork. Which leads to a more internal manifestation of the end combat results. This is a synopsis of Chin Family Wing Chun Kuen and it's centerline science. Chin Wing Chun Kuen stance is a more natural, balanced one: the inside of the feet are in line with the outside of the shoulders; toes are not pointed in as much; legs are bent at 135 degrees; weight is distributed 50/50 on each leg; and the back leg is kept straight. Wing Chun maintains a 135-degree angle to the arms. This ensures maximum control in all techniques and covers four of the five centerlines. Our Wing Chun punch is also different. It is thrown with the elbow in and the fist angled at 45 degrees. This ensures maximum power behind the punch. In Chin Wing Chun, accent is put on constant  improving  and being able to explain the application of every technique from the training . This enables students to know exactly what they are doing, and to know that every technique has many different uses

The Chin Ga Wing Chun Kuen doesn't use the forms like  Small Idea, Bridging, Thrusting Hands according to the history handed down to me. But Chin Family transitioned from these because reasons stated in the first article. The new structure is about the Thirteen principles or otherwise known as 13 pillars which is the nucleus of the system that all techniques are created from. Too do this you need some other Keys. 1st are the 3 S's - Spear, Sword, Shield. This particular key is about distances transition and travel from long to medium to short distance for fighting and self-defense in a very efficient manner and with maximum protection .This is nexus of pillars to create any technique. Another key is 8 Directional stepping, this is the foundation of the footwork and evasion that begins with a version of goat clamping stance. Probably one of the most important keys is Swimming Ground Dragon which is the basis for ground fighting and internal development and manifestation of Jing power. Chin Ga doesn't use any type of wooden dummies. Instead we use two persons training and interaction to teach and develop skill. All weapons skills are developed through the understanding of  the pillars and the keys. This structure has developed from a military necessity of fighting guerrilla warfare operations. There are no fixed forms and knowledge is transmitted in a form of san sik , on the other hand , these san sik are not fixed in number and each san sik is not fixed in number of movements , only the one who truly knows and understands the system can pass it down and adjust the training to the student’s needs and potentials  . Being a family art and having only a one or two students at the time this was not a problem . Chi sao is used for sensitivity training , not only for combat purposes but also to develop better awareness of the environment . There is no set number of weapons , all kinds of traditional weapons can be used applying the style’s basic principles .

Sifu John Wrastler contact details

Johnscottwarstler@gmail.com.

Unknown Wing Chun , Chin family art- History

I was approached by supposed Sifu of yet another "secret" Wing Chun style and asked to publish an article about his art. Here I will present the article written by the "last successor "of this "old" , "unique" Wing Chun style . ;Sifu" John Wrastler as he claims being the last and only descendant of this old lineage decided to make his style publicly known in fear that style may be lost   . First part is about history of the style . I have to declare that everything is this article is purely claimed by this supposed "Sifu" and I decided to publish it just as an example how easily "history" can be forged. There are zero evidence for any of his claims and the story is just compiled form the parts of of older stories of various styles

Chin Wing Chun Kuen traces its origin . like many other Wing Chun styles in Southern Shaolin Temple. Li Gin Cheung an officer in the Ming Dynasty, was a very  strong practitioner of Mian Quan also  known as Soft Boxing.  He was also a master of Ng Ying Kuen (5 Shape Fist) system. He and his 2 sons and daughter escaped from Manchu persecution after the fall of Ming Dynasty, and finally ended  in Southern Shaolin Temple. They found refuge in the temple along with several  other military officials  from the Ming Dynasty. They all started to organize and train a new military and resistance movement against  Qing Dynasty. Unfortunately  they ran into a lot of problems and setbacks. At the first place , there was just a small number of  experienced soldiers and officers to effectively get things done.

Also , monks who joined the rebellion , while strong in their Kung fu arts, hadn’t any military experience . The loyal population to the Ming Dynasty could not muster and organize an effective, well trained, and well equipped force to go up against the Qing oppressors. So the long term resistance begins.

Li Gin Cheung according to the traditions passed down to me , was one of the military officers  who participated in the creation of first, original Wing Chun curriculum that was designed to help teach and develop a fighting force that would be ready in a 3rd of the time needed to train the classical form of kung fu , 10 to 15 years training period  was shortened to only 3 -5 years.

Li Gin Cheung and his family did escape the  destruction of Southern Shaolin . They went to underground and created new identities for themselves and positions in the society. As they settled down , they started to work on organization of the resistance. First few years resistance movement was very successful in their effort  to  disrupt Qing government and it's military actions  were very successful . But it did not last long ,   Qing Officials started to adapt to the tactics of the resistance  and rebels .and started to suffer loses in both ,man power and logistics . So ,Li Gin Cheung using his  old military , and ku experience started to reorganize  rebellion structure  and went with small isolated cells of fighters to carry out guerilla fighting hit and run tactics. And change the Wing Chun to not be recognized as such. So he restructured the wing chun by adding  Mian Quan and Ng Ying Kuen to help disguise  Wing Chun and make an even more effective and lethal.

Another issue was loyalty to the cause , different version of the art was  taught the  outside fighters (none family ), and  newer and modified version taught only  to family and those adopted into the family who's loyalty was unquestionable. With each generation and years passing the hallmarks of this system was it's willingness to adept new martial technique and movements that would keep it on the fighting edge . And to this day it has never been taught outside the original family lines and never been documented to the public.

My sifu Wei Bo Chin who was my grandfather's brother ,my uncle who adapted me as his own grandchild under Chinese custom ,since he did not have any children of his own ,since I was 5 years old. Both my grandfather Min Yong Chin and his brother came from mainland China to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek. Both my grandfather and his brother came stateside soon after .While my own grandfather went back and forth from the United States and Taiwan ,over the years it was my uncle Wie Bo who took care of me  and taught me   Chin family system of Wing Chun until I was 18 years of age when I was told by my uncle that I had learned the family system and he had taught no one else. After that he returned back to Taiwan where he lived out his remaining years until his own death 3 years ago.

Sifu John Wrastler contact details

Johnscottwarstler@gmail.com.

Midland TX.  1-432-425-7217.

History of Miao Dao , long Chinese sabre

The Miao Dao is a rare form of Chinese two handed swordsmanship arising out of a long history of two handed sword use in China.

 

During ancient times, before China became an empire under the rule of the First Emperor Qin Shihuangdi, Chinese warriors only used swords, not sabresin . ln the early Han Dynasty (206 AD – 220 BC), when frequent clashes occurred in the Northern borders of the empire, the sabre was introduced to Chinese army. Due to their battles with the Hun nomadic tribes from the Northern wastelands  the Chinese learned that sabres were much more efficient against cavalry. In the following centuries, the sabre found its  within  Chinese military, and the skills in wielding such blades reached it pinnacle during the glorious Tang Dynasty (618 – 907). The Tang Dynasty was the golden age of Chinese civilization, and many smaller kingdoms sent emissaries to pay tribute to the Tang court. The Chinese emperor would bestow many gifts to the vassal kings in return for their homage. It was during this period of cultural exchange that the Chinese long sabers (chang dao) found their way to the island kingdom of Nippon. Several versions of two handed swords appeared during Tang Dynasty -Mo Dao, Zhang Ma Dao, Tang Dao and Chang Dao . During Tang dynasty the famous General Li Siye was known for his outstanding skill in the use of Mo Dao and was later nicknamed “Mo Dao general” due to his skill in battle. Later that weapon became wildly spread among Chinese soldiers and had excellent performance in battle . The Mo Dao was   one of the weapons that king sent as a gift  to Japan during cultural exchange with China and  that weapon made major influence to the creation of the Katana. Due to the prestige of the double edge weapon (Jian) as being the noblemen weapon, the two handed sword was gradually abandoned and all the techniques of the sabre were lost in time.During the Ming dynasty China suffered from Japanese pirate raiders (Wo kou) along the south-eastern coastline.. The central government sent the legendary general Qi Ji Guang to deal with this pirate issue. Initially Qi's troops did not fare well against the pirates, and General Qi once made a comment on this by saying "长兵不捷，短兵不接，身多两断！".which roughly translate into "(our) Long weapon is not agile enough, (our) short weapon does not have enough reach, and is often cut in half" This is a clear indication on how the design of the Japanese Katana was  much more superior than the weapons used by Ming troops at the time. 

Qi Jiguang analysed their tactics, weapons and fighting methods and took several years to create winning strategies, one of which is the use of a double-handed long blade to counter the pirate’s samurai swords. Qi Jiguang later updated the documented strategies《纪效新书》 – initially published in 1560 – to include《辛酉刀法》, adding two chapters to the original eighteen. Probably the first manual in the history of China on fighting with a double-handed long blade, many practitioners of modern Miao Dao (苗刀) regard Qi Jiquang’s 《辛酉刀法》 as the origin and source of their art. The weapon has been used in continuing period until republican period where it’s usage almost stopped  .In 1928, the Central Guoshu Academy was established in Nanjing, with Guo Changsheng as its chief weapons instructor. Guo Changsheng (also known as Guo the Swallow, famous for his light body techniques) was the disciple of Pigua Tongbei master Liu Yuchun and has mastered the styles Pigua, Tongbei and the rare art of chang dao. It was during this period that the chang dao was officially renamed Miao Dao, in order to hide its (partly) Japanese origins. There are two explanations for the name Miao Dao:

1. “Miao” literally means “Grain Leave”, and refers to the form of the blade (which resembles an actual grain leave). Miao Dao therefore means Grain Leave Sabre.
2. The Miao are an ethnic minority in South-Western China who use a farming tool similar to the long sabre, thus the weapon was named Miao Sabre.

The form of Miao Dao as taught to Guo by Master Liu was the classic Ming Dynasty form handed down by Cheng Zongyou. Due to the specific teaching situations at the Guoshu Academy, Guo Changsheng developed another Miao Dao form by combining the classic techniques with Tongbei zigzag footwork and the waist movements of Pigua. The Second Road of Miao Dao was thus created to teach students more efficiently. The classic form became known as First Road of Miao Dao from then on. Among those who learned the Miao Dao system from Guo Changsheng at the Academy was Long Fist master Han Qingtang. Master Han later brought the system to Taiwan, where it is preserved until today.  

The oldest, the most original and most efficient WCK style

There is one very strange thing about Wing Chun  and that is , all styles are  the oldest, most original and most effective. These stories, without exception, can be found in  all styles . Of course, the purpose of these stories is purely marketing in nature whose main goal is to attract as many people as it is possible  who are willing to pay significant  sums of money , without second thought, to learn some '' original '' and '' superior '' style .To be cheated  today  by this method is simply put , stupid ,because it takes only a little time to  do a research search in order to verify information and just a little  engagement of  the brain in order to ask the right questions.

                So let’s answer some  important  questions. Let's start from which style is the most effective? The answer is very simple, there is no such a thing as the most effective style because efficiency does not depend on style but solely   on the approach to training and personal effort . If the training does not include  sparring,  situational training, and fighting conditioning of the body , preparing the body to withstand the shock of impact,  then you cannot expect that the practitioner will be able to fight. Many people , in order to substantiate its allegations regarding the efficiency of style talking about superior fighting abilities of the   founders of their  style, who is usually a person who lived far  in the past. Usually , “grandmaster”  had hundreds of fights, and usually never lost any . More than often these people had abilities that can be considered supernatural .These stories sound more like fairy tales and are so incredible and illogical that become  funny. Like, the story of Leung Jan and 300 fights. Even today  professional fighters do not have a third of that number, and there is no one who has never lost a fight .Professional fighters fight for living, that's their job,  they practice hard every day while Leung Jan was a doctor who worked all day with patients , it is hard to believe that he had much time to practice, especially to be so good that he won 300 fights, many of which were with the weapons !!! And finally ,he lived double of the average life span in his time . It is obvious this story is a fairytale. Or the story about on famous '' grandmaster '' who beat 12 men who attacked him with knives but  later he couldn’t  win over a single attacker who was, by all means beneath  him in sense of  skill  and knowledge .So, that is  another fairytale.

Speaking of efficiency , one should seek whether or not a particular school participate in full contact competitions and to check what kind and what level those competitions are .It is good to see the video recording or watch some of the competitions and compare it with professional fights  to estimate what is real level of training in some school . If there is no competitions , than it is good to check approach to training and if there is no full contact sparring, situational training and hard conditioning things are more than clear in that case. Finally, let me repeat once again, the fighting efficiency does not depend on the style  but  in the practitioner and his commitment to training , thus no superior style, just more  efficient fighters who have invested a lot of effort into training.

   The next question is about  originality First  we need to define what does this term really  means. Often  can be heard that some  style is original because some things are done differently  from others and that is the '' original '' and  only correct way while everyone else is wrong. This kind of stories may be believed by  people who do not know anything about wing chun , and this kind of stories were specifically  created to attract  exactly that kind of people . Wing Chun is an art   based on certain basic principles , and those principles are pretty much the same in all  styles. There are different expression of these principles which depend on many factors, such as body build, age, height, fighting experience, approach to training   etc.  That is the reason why  there are so many different wing chun styles today .It is  because the  fact that WCK  is based on principles rather than rigid rules of how something must be done and that fact  gives practitioners  freedom to adapt the art to their needs  and fully express themselves through it .

There is another kind of 'originality' and that is the statement that the style is the oldest, original ,proto style of whom were later  by modification, lack of understanding and incomplete training all other styles derived , therefore ,all other styles are inferior. Historical research shows that there is no such  'proto style' 'from which were later formed all other  styles. From the very beginning, there were several different  wing chun styles. This is a historical fact, and one must know the history of the style (not the legend of the old nun and the girl), and bear in mind the fact that Wing Chun is creation of number of  people, experienced  fighters with different skills sets  , physical attributes and approach to training . Founders , who worked together in creation one of the most sophisticated fighting styles ,  later passed down to the their successors different versions of the art . These versions are nothing more than different expression of the same basic principles.  Basically , it's the same art based on the exactly the  same principles, only the expression of these principles was somewhat different. It is obvious that there is no “original “ wing chun style , not in technical nor in the historical terms .All styles, if complete are equally original.

And finally, the question often asked is which  is the oldest wing chun style. Historically, three styles today share the title of the oldest , Snake Crane Wing Chun, Pao Fa Lien style and Lo Kwai style. Snake Crane Wing Chun and Pao Fa Lien are included in Honkg Kong’s cultural heritage list. These  three styles are the oldest known styles which  technical foundation  has not changed from the moment of creation. All other styles are created later by mixing two or more WCK styles. For example  Ip Man's style is a blend of at least three different styles of  Wing Chu  and it is possible that there were more different influences.

 

It is important to understand what someone wants and expects to achieve by practicing wing chun . Different styles and even more , different teachers  offer different approach to training . The most important thing in all of this is how practitioner feels on training , whether he is on the way of achieving his goals and he practices in positive atmosphere or not . It is more important to choose right teacher than a “right” style . From my personal experience , I have learned from many people but I’ve met only three people who I really can call teacher , they are my WCK teacher Wayne Yung , my  White Crane teacher Hong Gu Rong and Baji teacher from Tainan官鋒忠