Wing Chun Blog -
Sifu Linda
Roots of Wing Chun
Tour
Taiwan
November, December
2015
After
leaving Singapore, our next stop was Taipei. We arrived at 5pm, it was 30
degrees, hot and sticky, I was definitely not use to the humidity.
We settled
in to our rooms and headed off for a group dinner at the Qu Plaza in Chang De
Road. It was a Thai restaurant called ‘The Silver Spoon’. The food was absolutely brilliant.
We had a
market just up from our motel. It was a food market full of snacks, fruits and
juices. The food is a variety of, strange and odd looking dishes and
delicacies, some I had never seen
before. All the exotic fruit looked amazing, so many different colours and
textures. It’s a real feast for the senses.
Asian
cultures love to come out at night, meet with friends, share a meal and catch
up on the local gossip. The streets and market were absolutely teaming with
people and the noise was phenomenal.
We had an
early night so we would be fresh for our visit to Lo Man Kam’s school in the
morning.
Lo Man Kam’s Wing Chun is Yip Man
lineage. He was Yip Mans nephew and when he was a young man around 16 he
trained with Yip Man in Hong Kong after the Communists took control over China
in 1949.
Lo Man Kam later moved to Taiwan in
the 60’s.
My
lineage is Traditional Wing Chun and has its roots with Leung Bik/Yip Man which
has different forms, science and footwork to the Yip Man system.
It was
quite a hot morning, so it was definitely going to be another hot and sticky day.
Lo Man
Kam’s house is on the top floor and his training area is the undercover rooftop
outside, awesome.
I have
trained on a few rooftops on my travels to Hong Kong and China.
It
always reminds me of Bruce Lee training and challenging on the rooftops in Hong
Kong. There are very few rooftop kwons left now, so it is a real rarity.
There were
a few students there already, some were doing Sil Lim Tao, some were doing hand
movements in the air, there was a lady practicing Larn Karn on the Dummy.
We walked
around and introduced ourselves to the students, not many spoke English. There
were also some International students from Canada, Hungary and Burma.
Lo Man
Kam entered and introduced himself; he had a big smile and was extremely
friendly and forthcoming with his knowledge on Wing Chun. He is still quiet
spritely for an 83 year old.
He
indicated that his Uncle Yip Man, did train under Leung Bik, but stressed that
Yip Man had three teachers but only one Sifu, being Chan Wah Shun. The two
other teachers being Chung So and Leung Bik.
I
presented him with some gifts from Australia; a traditional boomerang, some
beautiful fragrant honey and a Koala bear. He was very taken with the Koala
bear.
I was
touched when GM Lo Man Kam gave me one of his books on his Wing Chun and a
banner for my Kwon.
I asked
him could I perform my Chun Kiu for him, because it is different I was
interested in his reaction.
He stood
in front and watched me start, and then realizes that it is different. Half way
through my performance he turned to the side as if he had stopped watching, but
continues to observe me out of the corner of his eye. He makes a few comments
but doesn’t really elaborate on anything.
I
observed their stances to be 50/50 weight distribution, with the lead leg
turned right in to protect the groin. It looked and felt quite unnatural to me.
I didn’t feel I would have a lot of mobility in that stance. We have a lot of
footwork in my system, so stances need to be natural. We like to land on the
ball of the foot for interrupt ability and mobility in and out. We keep both
feet 45 degrees to the front, in both the side stance and the front stance
which feels very natural. Where Lo Man
Kams Wing Chun would pivot on the spot and even sometimes lean, my system would
always stay balanced and use stepping.
More
students had arrived and the training area was filling up. The students were
doing a lot of Qi Sao together. Some were doing random and others seemed to be
working on specific hand drills to sharpen them up.
I was
lucky to do some Qi Sao with two of Lo Man Kam’s students. I had a very
energetic qi sao exchange with one of the guys; it is always lots of fun
touching hands with an unknown quantity, you never know quite what to expect or
how you are going to fair. I was very happy with my skill.
We get
a group photo and say our goodbyes.
What a
great day.
We had
a couple more days of tourism and then we headed off to Fuzhou in Southern
China to visit the Southern Shaolin Temple in Putian.
Stay
tuned for my next post on the Southern Shaolin Temple. Photos and video on my
trip are posted on You Tube and Face book
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