Notes from a visit to Eddie Chong in 1982, by Ray Van Raamsdonk
In 1982, I had the pleasure of meeting Sifu Eddie Chong (who is now a Master) while on a computer conference in San Francisco. Later our Victoria Wing Chun club invited him a few times to give us a seminar on the traditional Wing Chun and then later on Pan Nam Wing Chun. He also taught us a special kind of Wing Chun Qi Gong. Eddie Chong was a very nice person and good teacher. Here are just a few of the things he told me when I first met him. At that time I just started to learn Wing Chun from Dr. G.K. Khoe.
Leung Sheung was noted for his expertise at the Bil Jee.
The knees are in to stop the front kick. When you turn a kick is also stopped. Practice with a brick between your legs.
Practice with a tennis ball between your elbows.
The Bil Jee is the enemy of the Chain punch.
Practice the wrist hit on the sandbag. Practice the slanted kick on the dummy post.
Never have a high Bong sau otherwise a quick slapping leverage technique can be applied against the elbow.
Always Pak sau the elbow. Even against a very strong guy it works.
Do the Huen sau slow and with some tension to build up the forearm muscle. Don't move the elbow too much.
Do the Chi sau but learn to charge in with it.
Don't lean back in the stance.
Eddie does not do the low Wong Shun Leung Gan sau like Leung Ting's version in section 6 of the first form. Wang Kiu's version is the same as Eddie's version in this part.
Practicing the double palm hit, Jut sau, double Huen sau, double low palm hit continuously on the wooden dummy is good for building up power.
The knife can beat the stick and the stick can beat the knife.
In chi sau, as soon as my attack started, I was countered with multiple hits. They were good at catching the timing early.
Eddie prefers the pressing flat palm over the pressing vertical palm. (Gum sau vs. Chum sau)
Never take the hand back. Never suck back your force. Always keep a forward force.
Against Eddie's TaeKwonDo kicks (brown belt level) Kenneth Chung charged in and double palmed him into the wall every time no matter which type of kick he threw. Eddie said he had very fast kicks.
When grabbing the opponent's hand, never use the thumb or else you can't punch quickly enough.
Against the Judo throw, put the palm into the hip and you can't be thrown.
Eddie's group had a lot of experience against Hapkido, Karate and Aikido.
Eddie was good at the heavy arm of Wing Chun.
Don't use the long hand in Wing Chun. Just use it for demonstrations. Wing Chun also has shortcuts.
If you can do the Huen sau a few thousand times, then you are pretty good.
Against my left hand grabbing his right arm, Eddie applied the Bil Jee elbow. Against a straight punch, he applied the Tok sau to send me backwards. Against the Chum and punch he applied the Bil sau to trap both hands. Against the shoulder attack he applied the horizontal Chum Kiu elbow. Against my attempt to grab his fingers, he let me do it and then punched me with the other hand. Against a cross wrist grab. Eddie applied a simultaneous Tan sau and punch. Against my Tai Chi wrist and elbow control maneuver, Eddie just turned the elbow in and I was countered. Everything had very simple solutions. Against my front kick, Eddie circled his foot and kicked my support leg.
Eddie had nice controlled counters to my various attack attempts. The club was very friendly and treated other Wing Chun people like they are part of the same family. In 1990 I visited again and they were very friendly again. All of Kenneth Chung's line treated me in a respectful friendly manner. To me this reflects well on the teachers.
