Wing Chun Kung-Fu Volume 3. Joseph Wayne Smith, Dr.

further kicking skills to the Wing Chun system. The section begins with a right taun sao against an imaginary straight punch, and a left heel kick to the groin. The left hand is then raised into a bong sao defense as the left foot stamps on the knee. The knee on the opponent’s lead leg is usually attacked. A stamping kick is a low kick that involves allowing your body weight to fall through a kick. This in itself makes this kick the most powerful low kick in the system. However, further power is added to this kick by pulling the opponent onto the kick. This technique is also seen in section eight.

      Also featured in section seven is a skill from sticky-leg (chi gerk) fighting. Walk close to the dummy and slip your right foot behind the front dummy leg, parrying the dummy hand. The heel is raised off the ground but the toes are on the ground. Then simultaneously palm-strike the chest of the dummy and flex the right calf muscle backward. This is a typical Wing Chun throwing technique. Here, as in all parts of Wing Chun, emphasis is placed upon balance by keeping at least part of both feet on the ground. If you were to lift your right leg off the ground, at precisely that instant you would be vulnerable to a counter-throw.

      Section Eight. The concluding section of the wooden-dummy form also features some excellent techniques. The first is the opening move, which involves the chicken-wing bong sao. We first saw this type of bong sao in the Chum Kil form. In this section, the chicken-wing bong sao is used to deflect a lower body attack, typically a straight punch or linear kick. This is done by the skillful use of pivoting to harmlessly redirect the force of the attack rather than to meet it full on; it is never advisable to use hard force against a potentially harder force. To cover the upper body from an attack, a taun sao sweeps up, and after redirecting an attack, a palm-strike is delivered in one fluid movement.

      However, the most noteworthy technique in this form is the following technique: against a straight punch, defend with a high side bong sao as in the Chum Kil form. Now jerk the opponent down, pulling him forward with the force of both your arms, and simultaneously kick the opponent’s knee. The receiving knee not only suffers the force of the kick, but the violent jerk forward jackknifes the opponent’s own body against his knee joint.

      This technique is a symbol of the sort of fighting skills found in Wing Chun kung-fu. The system, as we have shown, is a no-nonsense system especially designed for street fighting survival, and the wooden-dummy training form is an important aspect of this training. In these violent days, when ordinary citizens are beaten up, robbed, and raped, I hope that with respect to unarmed self-defense, my discussion helps someone survive a violent attack.

      THE WOODEN-DUMMY FORM