Wing Chun Kung-fu Volume 2. Joseph Wayne Smith, Dr.

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      Introduction

      THE FIGHTING SKILLS OF WING CHUN KUNG-FU

      This is the second volume in a three-volume treatise on the nature of Wing Chun kung-fu. The broad aim of these books is to present a concise, systematic, and scientific discussion of a somewhat controversial martial-art system. Chinese kung-fu, rightly or wrongly, has often been shrouded in secrecy and mysticism. There is often great vagueness about why skills are as they are, and why techniques work or do not work. Those who adopt a mystical approach to the martial arts are welcome to do so. But for those who do not accept that world view, these books may be what they are looking for. My approach to the martial arts is based upon common sense and an appreciation of biomechanical principles. However, this free thinking does not result in a freestyle approach where often incongruous techniques and approaches are thrown together in the hope of obtaining a coherent, complete, and unified combative art. What I have attempted to do here is to analyze a classical martial-arts system—Wing Chun kung-fu—using Western modes of thinking; namely, through examining it with logic, physics, and biomechanics, but without undue technicalities or the use of mathematics.

      Volume one of this series gave a comprehensive analysis of the basic building blocks of the Wing Chun system, namely, the three forms—Sil Lum Tao, Chum Kil, and Bil Jee. The aim of that volume was to define terms, to outline the meaning of specific body movements, and to summarize the key principles of the Wing Chun system. That book was, to use a military metaphor, a study of martial-art ballistics, what the Wing Chun weapons are and how they work. This book is a study of martial-arts strategy, or logistics, or how to actually use the Wing Chun weapons in realistic combat situations. According to the scientific philosophy of the martial arts, the very point or reason for the existence of the martial arts is effective self-defense. Techniques must be judged by the criterion of whether they have worked or will work in a street situation for the average student, not whether the techniques are aesthetically elegant, beautiful, or graceful. There is a place for martial-arts aesthetics, but it is not in this system of Wing Chun kung-fu. Just as a scientist is concerned about whether or not a theory is predictively successful, I СКАЧАТЬ