The 40 Bridges of WC

[PaulH]

Just saw from springtimesong.com an interesting article about Wang Kiu and WSL. Evidently WK had a newspaper column titled 40 bridges of WC in the beimo days. Anyone know what the 40 bridges are? Just curious. How many do you have? Perhaps Joy or Hendrik can comment here. Thanks.

[reneritchie]

Brooklyn, Champlain, Golden Gate, darn... 37 to go :)

[PaulH]

Ha! Ha! That is great, Rene! Don't forget "The Bridge over river Kwai" - My all time favorite.

[yuanfen]

London bridge is falling down!
Practice/control your wing chun kiu.

[PaulH]

Okay, I think I get the gist of what will follow hereafter, so how about a critique of another untested theories of mine:

Possible bridges from the left side:
1. Fingertip
2. Ginger fist
3. The punch
4. The palm chop/hammer fist
5. The inner hand chop/ jut
6. The top wrist/ J hand?
7. The inverted palm - palm wrist
8. The forearm
9. Elbow
10. Upper arm
11. Shoulder
12. Toe kick
13. Side kick
14. Heel kick
15. Roundhouse kick
16. The Stamping kick
17. Lower leg/ shin
18. Knee
19. Upper leg/ thigh
20. Hip

Of course, I think one should include the butt and head for evolved bridges in this modern era. So 42 is my bet.

[YongChun]

Hi Everyone,

I heard those stories from Dr. G.K. Khoe student of Wang Kiu and also from Wang Kiu. The 40 Bridges of Wing Chun refer to 40 challenge matches that Wing Chun had against the other fighting arts in Hong Kong. Wang Kiu published a weekly article in a Hong Kong newspaper under the pen name Water Dragon King (I forget the Cantonese now). The name comes from the fact that he was a lover of soup. I heard that Wang Kiu had 14 matches himself. Certainly that doesn't compare with many fighters who claim to have 300 to 400 fights. We also don't know the quality of these fighters. In one of the fights Wong Shun Leung fought a Dragon master (could have been a White Eyebrow master - I have to check). Anyway Wang Kiu flipped a coin to see who attacks first. The Dragon master won the toss. He moved right , left and right and suddenly threw a punch with his right hand that was hidden from view using a low stance, to Wong Shun Leung's lower abdomen. Wong Shun Leung used a nearly level sinking hand (Jum sau) to deflect the punch but still it slipped in. Wang Kiu could see that Wong Shun Leung was hurt. However he kept fighting and punched the Dragon master in the head knocking out three of his teeth. Then Wang Kiu told Wong Shun Leung they better shake hands and have tea afterwards to talk about the fight. Wang Kiu noticed bluish marks on the Dragon master's hands which was a sign that he was into iron palm training. Wang Kiu told Wong Shun Leung that if he continued then someone would get seriously hurt.

After more than 70 such challenge matches were fought, an association of Hong Kong martial artists got together to decide what to do about the Wong's. They issued an edict to Grandmaster Yip Man and told him to put a stop to the fights otherwise they would kill the Wong's. So after that these challenge matches stopped. (Wing Chun is no good against guns - but Jet Li wasn't bad in Lethal Weapon 4).

The arm is referred to as a Bridge. The Chum Kiu form is sometimes translated as "Searching for the Bridge" meaning to make contact with the opponent's arm. So the 40 Bridges means 40 contacts were made (that were published). Don't know if any of these articles are available anywhere.

There is one website that has a photo of Wang Kiu being the referee at one of these fights but Wong Shun Leung was not the fighter in that match. The fighting looked a bit wild, not conforming to people's club standards anyway.

These challenge matches got Bruce Lee interested to learn Wing Chun according to Wang Kiu. Wang Kiu said even if there was a mountain between Bruce Lee and his opponent, he would get through. This was his mind.

Wang Kiu talked a little about William Cheung having some challenge matches and also Lok Yu. He said Lok Yu was very powerful and sometimes broke the kicking limb of the opponent using his arms. He said Lok Yu was very very soft. You could see his attacks coming but you couldn't stop them.

Ray Van Raamsdonk

[PaulH]

Thanks for the terrific answer, Ray. I was wrong but very happy nevertheless. It would be great if someone can point out the 40 contacts later on...

P.S I am also delighted that you mentioned that unstoppable soft hand skill. I jokingly called it "The River runs through it." I still can't figure how to stop its coming so I would run if I meet guys with this kind of skill.

[Phenix]

hi Pual,

Is it bridge hand or TALKING hand? hahahaha
40 kiu sau or 40 Kong Sau? hahahaha

[PaulH]

You got a Kong sau point (Dim?) there, Hendrik! I am still waiting for the other 39. Ha! Ha!

[yuanfen]

Good post Ray. Always a pleasure to see your posts.
Wang Kiu wrote about what he knew. But challenges did not completely stop.
Leung Shun, Lok Yiu, TST, and the great fighting WSL were oart of the first wave of Ip Man'sHK students.
My sigung Ho Kam Ming was in the second wave- so was Moy yat, Koo sang and others--- all spaced out here and there.
When so inclined - he (master Ho) tells his recollections as well. I was all ears when i last visited with him. I wanted to conform some stories ,as well as chatting about wing chun. Master Ho taught first in Macao but later in Hong Kong as well.
He said to me " did you know that your sifu (Augustine Fong) fought in the streets as well-?" without the fan fare of the earlier period. Then he clearly reconfirmed an occasion when Ip man was approached as to whether he had a student who would fight
the questioner's student. Ip man asked the other (bak mei)master to check with Ho kam Ming.
The Bak mei master issued a challenge to master Ho's school and he was accomodated. Initially Master Ho had thought of assigning a more experienced student. But upon reflection and strategy Augustine Fong became the drafted/designated hitter.
A match took place and the Bak mei rep. was seriously injured.
Later the Bak mei school closed down.
Master Ho had mentioned all this before and he reconfirmed
in his last conversation with me.
These kinds of testing would not be possible in the US. today.
Master Ho has had other students as well with varying full contact experiences.
Master Ho is semi-retired due to age-but his last current young group
has some pretty able cookies with wing chun skills.. BTW Master of course knew Wong Shon Leung and speaks highly of his fighting abilities.He also admired Tyson's uppercuts before Tyson began to waste his talents.

[yuanfen]

Empty Cup sez:
Yes Ho sifu is semi-retired now as his senior student(s) teach for him but it is also due to his diabetes too if I recall correctly...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Teach" is a tricky word. Yes the seniors help the juniors but Master Ho corrects everyone himself when needed. He is a classic taskmaster.
As to the details of health-best not to speculate- so no comment.

[reneritchie]

Empty Cup,

FWIW, outside the Yip Man branch, I've only encountered the Jum (Po Chung) version, never the Gaun. That seems to be exclusive.

[Tom Kagan]

Bridges is a colloquial way to refer to the joints of the human body. 40 Bridges is an old fashioned colloquial way to refer to the hands.

SiBak Wang Kiu knows how to use a typewriter. So, he used both hands to write the stories. He also used both hands in a slightly different fashion to help create a few of them. ;)

[PaulH]

Thanks, Tom. That WK's colorful description of the hands catch my attention very well!

Regards,