The Wing Chun of Hawkins Cheung

The following comments come from a phone conversation with Master Hawkins Cheung for our 1989 “Wing Chun Viewpoint newsletter.”  Hawkins Cheung taught in Los Angeles. He was a well known and respected first generation student of the late Grandmaster Ip Man. He generated many good students. Being a very small man, his techniques really showcased how Wing Chun could work for the smaller person. If you are big and strong, then you don’t need much of an art to fight.

How do you view Wing Chun?

Wing Chun is not a style. The style and movement is dead. If you are made by the style, then you are mechanical and you are wrong. Only the theory makes it alive. But the theory doesn’t teach you the timing. It doesn’t teach you the right answer. Wing Chun is like a Rolls Royce. The person who drives the rolls Royce s the person who can feel the car. The felling belongs to the driver, not to anyone else. Feeling is very personal. There are many Masters. Their talk is all different. They have their personal point of view. What may be right for Bruce Lee may not be right for his students.

Is Wing Chun good enough against the kicking arts like TaeKwonDo?

This depends on each individual. It depends on the driver. The style doesn’t teach you the timing. The style doesn’t teach you to have a good eye. If your eyes are slow, then you will lose.

Shouldn’t Wing Chun teach you timing and distancing?

No, nobody can teach you this. You have to get experience. I have gone through experiences that even Wang Kiu and Wong Shun Leung haven’t gone through. I weigh 105 pounds. How can I afford to take a shot? I can’t let anyone hit me.

I have heard that you also practiced other styles such as Karate and Tai Chi. Why don’t you just do Wing Chun?

The more you know the other styles, the more you know your own style. You need a feeling for the other styles. If you don’t plan to play with the other styles, how can you develop this feeling?

Can you comment on the fights of the first generation students of Ip Man?

The first generation had a lot of experience. Their experience dates back to the 1950’s. It is now 1989. The world has changed. If you still think like thirty years ago, then you are out of date. The times have changed. If you don’t change, then you are behind in your feeling, and you are not accepting another feeling. You don’t fell the 1980’s feeling. I also learned in the the 1950’s, but the fighting there and the fighting in the USA is different. You fit into the game, the game doesn’t fit you.

What are your thoughts on people who declare themselves Grandmasters?

Who cares about the title Grandmaster? In America, things are different. There you have freedom of speech. The important thing is whether they can master the feeling and understand the theory. The theory of Wing Chun never changes. The root or core fighting principles are always the same.