What do you think?
Rate this book
Wing Chun Martial Arts: Principles & Techniques
Yip Chun is a Grandmaster of Wing Chun, and the eldest son of Yip Man, Bruce Lee's mentor. With the help of Danny Connor, Yip Chun explains the moves, the importance of the relationship between teacher and student, and the Confucian theory. Students will learn Chi Sau, Siu Lim Tao, Chum Kiu, and Biu Tze from the many illustrations that show the forms. 150 photographs.
- GenresMartial Arts
Paperback
First published November 1, 1993
18 people are currently reading
254 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 12, 2023
I became interested in Wing Chun after watching the Ip Man movie series. As a former ballerina, the close, fluid movements seemed to fit in perfectly with ballet. There are numerous books available on Wing Chun, but I decided to read and review “Wing Chun Martial Arts: Principles & Techniques” by Yip Chun with Danny Connor primarily because the main author, Yip Chun (or Ip Chun) is the son of one of one of Wing Chun’s most famous lineages, that of Ip Man.
According to an old legend, a woman named Wing Chun learned martial arts from a Buddhist nun in order to repel an unwanted suitor who simply wanted to take advantage of her. Wing Chun mastered the technique, which was later named after her, and was able to take a spouse of her own choosing. The co-author, Danny Connor, traced the origins of Wing Chun. Although he found that the above was really just a legend without fact, the fact remains that martial art is suited for all, and especially women and anyone of slight stature.
The authors describe in detail all three forms of Wing Chun (Siu Liam Tao, Chum Kiu, and Biu Tze), along with discussions of the Baat Cham Dao (Butterfly Knives) and the long pole. A lot of images were included in the e-book, primarily of Yip Chun in stances using the now-famous Chi Sau, or Sticky Hands, with an opponent.
Despite the many photographs, people are not going to read this book and automatically become an expert in Wing Chun. In fact, as Yip Chun (or Ip Chun) said in the book, “…Learning forms is not the final thing, you must practise…” and “…practising with a real opponent is the best way to improve…”. However, this book is an excellent reference for practitioners for both the history of Wing Chun and to evaluate the correct position of hands and feet as shown in the images.
The book revealed how Ip Man’s teaching style changed after arriving in Hong Kong from Foshan. After arriving in Hong Kong, Ip Man he didn’t change the movements but instead gave them names that were shorter and easier for students to remember.
I especially liked how both Yip and Connor were able to clarify some misconceptions that other practitioners have about this martial art. I myself have studied karate (and took classes!). Yip states that karate uses force all of the time, while Wing Chun only uses force in movements when absolutely necessary. This makes complete sense, especially given the legends regarding Wing Chun’s origins: the whole point is to defend oneself.
One of my favorite parts about this book was learning about Qigong. The authors discuss both forms of Qigong (Taoist and Buddhist). After doing some of my own research, I discovered Primordial Qigong. I found a YouTube video showing Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang and decided to do the exercises prior to going to bed. I have a tendency towards insomnia, but after I did the Primordial Qigong, I went to bed and slept the soundest that I’ve ever slept in my life. I have this book to thank for introducing me to this practice.
While the content of the book is excellent, the e-version is pretty sloppy. There are **SO** many problems with the formatting that at times, the book is difficult to read. For example, throughout the book there are too many unnecessary spaces in between words. For example, “c are” should be “care.” Usually in e-books, publishers will include photographs. In the case of this book, the publishers included actual photocopies images of the entire pages, any in many cases, the text was repeated. Likewise, the font in the e-version of the book is pretty variable, with different fonts appearing throughout the book. It would have been a better reading experience if the publishers had just digitized the entire book instead.
Overall, this book is a great introduction to Wing Chun and the content by itself is a solid 5 stars. But the formatting for the e-version was so bad that it made a really good book worse. However, I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the martial arts.
According to an old legend, a woman named Wing Chun learned martial arts from a Buddhist nun in order to repel an unwanted suitor who simply wanted to take advantage of her. Wing Chun mastered the technique, which was later named after her, and was able to take a spouse of her own choosing. The co-author, Danny Connor, traced the origins of Wing Chun. Although he found that the above was really just a legend without fact, the fact remains that martial art is suited for all, and especially women and anyone of slight stature.
The authors describe in detail all three forms of Wing Chun (Siu Liam Tao, Chum Kiu, and Biu Tze), along with discussions of the Baat Cham Dao (Butterfly Knives) and the long pole. A lot of images were included in the e-book, primarily of Yip Chun in stances using the now-famous Chi Sau, or Sticky Hands, with an opponent.
Despite the many photographs, people are not going to read this book and automatically become an expert in Wing Chun. In fact, as Yip Chun (or Ip Chun) said in the book, “…Learning forms is not the final thing, you must practise…” and “…practising with a real opponent is the best way to improve…”. However, this book is an excellent reference for practitioners for both the history of Wing Chun and to evaluate the correct position of hands and feet as shown in the images.
The book revealed how Ip Man’s teaching style changed after arriving in Hong Kong from Foshan. After arriving in Hong Kong, Ip Man he didn’t change the movements but instead gave them names that were shorter and easier for students to remember.
I especially liked how both Yip and Connor were able to clarify some misconceptions that other practitioners have about this martial art. I myself have studied karate (and took classes!). Yip states that karate uses force all of the time, while Wing Chun only uses force in movements when absolutely necessary. This makes complete sense, especially given the legends regarding Wing Chun’s origins: the whole point is to defend oneself.
One of my favorite parts about this book was learning about Qigong. The authors discuss both forms of Qigong (Taoist and Buddhist). After doing some of my own research, I discovered Primordial Qigong. I found a YouTube video showing Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang and decided to do the exercises prior to going to bed. I have a tendency towards insomnia, but after I did the Primordial Qigong, I went to bed and slept the soundest that I’ve ever slept in my life. I have this book to thank for introducing me to this practice.
While the content of the book is excellent, the e-version is pretty sloppy. There are **SO** many problems with the formatting that at times, the book is difficult to read. For example, throughout the book there are too many unnecessary spaces in between words. For example, “c are” should be “care.” Usually in e-books, publishers will include photographs. In the case of this book, the publishers included actual photocopies images of the entire pages, any in many cases, the text was repeated. Likewise, the font in the e-version of the book is pretty variable, with different fonts appearing throughout the book. It would have been a better reading experience if the publishers had just digitized the entire book instead.
Overall, this book is a great introduction to Wing Chun and the content by itself is a solid 5 stars. But the formatting for the e-version was so bad that it made a really good book worse. However, I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the martial arts.
March 17, 2011
It's pretty clear that Yip Chun realizes that you can't learn Wing Chun, or any other martial art, from a book. Therefore he doesn't try to teach you Wing Chun from a book. He does briefly go over the three basic hand forms and chi-sau but only enough so that he can comment on them and remark on how they relate to Wing Chun's big picture. This book is mostly his philosophy on Wing Chun and how it can help improve your life. Turns out, even the "street fighting" art has uses beyond fighting. Yip Chun discusses how WC is good for both physical and emotional health and how it relates to Confucianism much like Tai Chi relates to Taoism and the Shaolin arts to Buddhism. He even includes a translation of Confucius' Doctrine of the mean because he feels studying it will make one a complete Wing Chun practitioner.
You won't learn how to fight by reading this book, but you shouldn't be trying to do that anyway. Go find a good teacher and train hard. If you're patient enough to take the time and effort though this book will help you make the most of your Wing Chun
You won't learn how to fight by reading this book, but you shouldn't be trying to do that anyway. Go find a good teacher and train hard. If you're patient enough to take the time and effort though this book will help you make the most of your Wing Chun
July 23, 2012
A decent overview of Wing Chun, but clearly not a book that could be used to learn step by step. More pictures for learning Sil Nim Tau would have been nice.
Want to read
November 10, 2012impossible is nothing wing chun kung fu
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 26, 2024
Fantastic stuff on grandmaster Yip Chun (son of famous Yip Man) and their legendary martial art style Wing Chun. The book has questions & answers, pictures that go step by step through each stroke, and a nice history of Wing Chun. I wish there was more in depth descriptions that walked you through the forms in a language that is applicable in English terms. The terms in Chinese were difficult to follow. The paragraphs also got cutoff from the layout so the reader needs to flip over a few pages to continue a sentence.
December 8, 2013
i think this nice book
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews