The curriculum of the Wing Chun Jin Kuen system is from the Ip Man Linage and consists of six forms, drills and live exercises that are said to have their origins in the Shaolin Temple.

Forms are sets of movements that are performed as solitary exercises which develop self-awareness, concentration, balance, relaxation, correct breathing, focus and sensitivity. Forms train the practitioner in the fundamental movements, arm structures and the correct feeling of force generation for the correct application of the Wing Chun Jin Kuen concepts.

The Forms and drills of the system develop the concepts of body unity and structure through basic striking, stance development, turning and tracking and footwork. Drills teach the correct feel for bridging, changing of hand and arm positions and give the practitioner the confidence to correctly bridge to and control an opponents attacking, listening and feeling structures. As one develops the idea of listening energy, movements can become improvised and applied as the individual sees fit. Wing Chun emphasizes economy of motion and can be summed up as a system that is simple, direct and efficient.

It stresses the idea of atacking on a straight line path, with the shortest distance between two points being a straight line. All attacking movements should therefore be thrown at an opponents centre of mass from the exponents centre. There are the three empty hand forms or sets, called the Sui Lum Tao/Chum Kui and Bui Jee. One Wooden Man (Muk Yong Jong Fut) form, and two weapons forms, butterfly Knives (Baat Jam Dao) and a Long pole (Luk Deem Boon Kwun).

Wing Chun Kuen Kuit

Some schools use the kuen kuit (Rhymed Sayings) in teaching the art. These are short proverbs that outline the basic principles, concepts and rules of the system of Wing Chun. Their meanings can be a little ambiguous to the novice, however, over some years of reflection, can come to mean many things and offer great insights into the further development of the individual practitioners skill and understanding of Wing Chun. Some sayings may appear simple at first, but have a wonderful hidden depth to them.

Although there are many variations on the methods, applications, order of forms and executions of techniques, most Wing Chun/Ving Tsun schools follow the same basic theory as laid out in the Kuen Kuit. These are carved blocks or chops that detail the Wing Chun system and how to be a sucessful exponent of the skill.

Examples of just some of the systems sayings:

The fist comes from the heart.

Hands and feet defend accordingly.

The attacking hand is also the defending hand.

The body is like a mountain from which the hands move like lighting.

The theory of Wing Chun has no limits in its applications.

My enemy walks the bow, I walk the string.

Avoid slapping on the inner gates.

Occupy the inner gates to strike deep into the opponent.

Hands come, absorb, hands go, follow, hands free, fly forwards.

Glass head, Soft body, Iron bridges.

Charge the aggressor, smash their centre, execute 3 moves together.

Stick to hands with eyes closed.

Sui Lum Tao (Little Idea)

Practice of this form develops the key concepts and fundamental principles which are key to the systems successful application. Stance, Balance, focused force, body unity, the deflecting and striking tools and mental attitude are all developed through the practice of this form which is considered by the majority of Wing Chun schools to be the most important of all the hand forms, as it provides the foundations upon which all the other forms principles and concepts are built on. A significant aspect of the Wing Chun system is the development of combined defensive and offensive actions that are executed simultaneously.

Chum Kiu (Seeking/Sinking the Bridge).

This form adds motion to the actions learned at the Sui Lum Tao stage. Focus is on the coordinated movement of the exponents body weight (putting their moving mass behind the structures of the Sui Lum Tao). This lends massive force to initial intercepting and briding techniques between the exponent and opponent. This force arrives all at once and is used to take the opponents balance by crashing into them, with body mass, a strike, a deflection or a kick, destroying their ability to launch another offensive. Kicking techniques, leg trapping, and elbows strikes, deflections and grappling skills are also developed at the Chum Kui stage, as are the ability to use torquing power to recover centre, throw or lock up an opponent. Torque is generated through the controlled and balanced turning of the feet and torso which also develops the concept of tracking an opponent.

Bui Jee (Finger Thrusting)

This form is considered by many to be the most lethal in the Wing Chun systems arsenal. However, this may have been due to its emphasis on striking targets and these being kept hidden from the less experienced or trustworthy students, but as its concepts are found in the first 2 sets also, the Author sees no reason why this form should be considered any more deadly than the first two. Bui Jee consists of both short and long-range techniques. Advanced methods of using the elbows are employed, as are advanced changes in the hand positions and tools, leg interceptions, kicks, sweeps and locking techniques, as well as “recovery” or “emergency techniques” used to come back from a poor position or continue the fight when seriously injured, such as the saam bai fut (3 bows to buddha). When Bui Jee is understood, the 3 hands forms come together to give the practitioner a highly advanced fighting ability, back up by a vast arsenal of attacking and defensive tools including devastating attacking and defensive elbow actions.

Muk Yong Jong Fut (Wooden Man)

This forms purpose is primarily aimed at giving the practitioner a true sense of body unity (one sound) when moving and connecting to the dummy, timing, and power. At advanced stages the appendages of the Wooden man can be lightly adhered to and moved around with only the true sense of force being projected to the core of the post or torso of the Dummy.

The Wooden Man can be mounted on a frame, stand, or fixed into the ground. Its purpose is to represent a strong opponent, one you cannot move, and therefore must connect to and move around. Each appendage on the dummy represents and angle and level of attack which the practitioner bridges to and engages the idea of taking the centre with therefore destroying the opponents balance and posture. Practice of the Dummy form reinforces the practitioner’s understanding of angles of attack and defence, their striking power, especially when kicking or pressing, and correct use footwork.

Once the form is understood, it can be opened up to free movement, with techniques from all the 3 empty hand forms being expressed on it. As in all the hand forms, the order in which it is practiced is not of great importance, as you are practicing alone and against an imagnary or static object. It is always the concepts and understanding of these principles that is important to grasp in order to successfully apply the actions against a live opponent.

After the successful absorbtion of these 4 forms is acheived and their methods are understood, the student may move onto weaponry. The weight of the weapons used is of importance. Initially, they should be of a heavier weight to develop the students strength and further advance their understanding of Chuen ging (Inch force) and Fa ging (explosive force). The idea being to develop the ability to take energy used in the execution of an empty hand technque and express it through throwing it into the end of the weapons, i.e the tips of the knives or pole/spear.

Baat Jaam Do (Eight Slashing Knives)

This form is practiced with a pair of large “Butterfly Knives”, thus named due to their resemblance to a butterflies wings when the swords are crossed. The movements comprise slashing, stabbing, chopping and gouging actions. When used against longer range weapons such as a spear, emphasis on removing the opponents thumbs is applied which takes away their ability to weila a weapon effectively. The knives work in total harmony with the concepts of the empty hands sets. the idea being as one knife deflects, detains or parries the opponents weapon, the other knife delivers the injuring or fatal blow.

Luk Deem Boon Kwun (Six and a Half Point Pole)

This form uses a long (usually 8ft) heavy wooden pole. Its purpose is primarily to further develop arm and leg strength of the exponent as well as being able to generate massive explosive force in their striking actions. the pole could be used as a weapon however its practicality is very limited.

It should be understood that Wing Chun Jin Kuen is a complete fighting system. We work at every range of combat with the goal of finishing the conflict as fast as is humanly possible. To this end their is no fragmentation in thought of technique, it is a living, flowing and organic method that evolves within the practitioner. There seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding the systems diversity as many demonstrations of Wing Chun are based around Chi Sao (Sticking Hands), and so people assume that this is all that the system is about. Chi Sao however is just one of many methods of training exercises that hone the fighting skills of the Wing Chun exponent.

Wing Chun deals with every range of physical combat, which includes joint manipulation, throwing, kicking, ground fighting, and weapons. However, this is rarely seen by non practitioners as most that come to the system from other styles have a hugh problem just dealing with the Chi Sao aspect of the system, and so spend a significant amount of time at this level of training.  Rather than saying ‘we start with boxing, then move into Ju jitsu, then Savate kicks etc, the system applies the movements from its forms, which work as a reference library of technique that deal with any and every situation and variable within hand to hand fighting. We begin with basic striking, the counter striking, deflections, combinations of the two, then kicking, sensitivity drills, real time application and so it continues until a well rounded fighter emerges. Therefore it is a complete system. To know that though, you would have to train it for a significant period of time, and until you know the forms in detail, you are relatively blind.

Basic understanding takes just over a year, sure you can be told the details, but you must not only retain the information, you must practice it. And details evolve from a basic idea (Sui Lum Tao) into quite complex and multi dimensional application, to understand this to a applicable level takes many years more, diligent practice. This in itself opens interesting debate on ‘forms being useless, a waste of time, too constrictive and unrealistic? But forgoing the latter point, form are not fighting sequences, that is not their function.

Forms, at least within the Wing Chun system by their very nature are highly practical ways of sharpening your fighting tools. The more you practice the forms, the better your positioning, your body structure, force projection, footwork, technical efficacy, faster execution of technique, as the more familiar the movement, the better the flow from one action to the next. Forms teach you how to position yourself with maximum power, stability and accuracy when executing movement within relation to you and your opponents position. They are very important personal development practices and critical factors in prolonged practice and ability as we move into old age. You can practice Wing Chun Kung Fu your entire lifetime.