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Keeping in mind that this form of pugilism was invented by a woman, you
must ask yourself this: "How does a woman immobilize a man who is
bigger in muscles, fat and bones? Answer: She must strike at points
where muscles and fat cover them the least. She must apply pressure to
joints where little force is required. Where do you find these points?
Without having to know the full anatomy of a human body, you can say
that several vulnerable points lie in the centerline of a human body.
Looking at left figure above, you will see that the third eye, nose,
upper jaw, chin, wind pipe, sternum, bronchus, dantian, and groin are
located in the centerline. Striking any of these points will either
disorient, immobilize, knockout or even cause death to a person,
depending on the force of the strike. If you were to draw a centerline
on a leg, you will find the vulnerable points located from the knee,
down the sheen, to the middle of the foot's instep. None of them are
covered with muscles. Striking them will cause serious injuries to the
opponent, no matter how big they are. All joints are covered with
thin and small muscles, as they require flexibility. With the proper
angle of pressure, muscles are unable to resist it. No matter how large
a person is, the pain is inevitable, excruciating, and completely
immobilizing. The joints are the neck, arm sockets, elbows, wrists,
knuckles, back of the waist, leg sockets, knees, ankles and toe
knuckles. If an opponent faces you sideways, the centerline is drawn
in his middle again as in the middle figure above. His vulnerable
points are again found within this line: The temporal veins and
arteries, ear, side jaw, carotid artery, rib cage, side of the knee, and
ankle bone. If he has his hands on the side, then the elbow and the
back of his hand are the points of vulnerability. If the opponent
turns his back, as with a spinning kick, the centerline of his back
becomes vulnerable as in the right figure above. There, you find the
Medulla Oblongata (brain stem), back of neck, spinal column, and tail
bone. Blows to these points are deadly. Looking at the charts, the
vulnerable points seem easy to locate, but in reality, difficult to
strike during confrontation as the opponent is moving unpredictably in
various directions. The principle of Wing Chun is to direct the strike
towards the centerline. This focuses the strike to one target, or
target line, rather than chasing several spots. A moving straight line
is much easier to nail than a moving spot. The important thing is that
you focus on a target. Without focusing on a target, you are in a
guessing game. In war, the Generals must plan their target before
sending out the bombers. With specific marked targets, they can
accomplish their mission more successfully than letting the bombers go
on their own to search and destroy. Similarly, if you do not have a
specific target, you waste your time probing. If you were to attack the
head only, the opponent quickly realizes your limitations and reacts
accordingly. On the other hand, if you aim at the centerline, the
target is obvious, large, and visible to you, while being unspecific and
unpredictable for the opponent. Striking anywhere on it will cause
damage. From your point of view, your target is specific, although not
a specific spot, it is a line made from many spots. From the opponent's
perspective, your attack is not specific as you are striking anywhere
from the top to the bottom, especially if he does not understand that
you are using the centerline as the line of attack. Your attacks become
unpredictable, unlike those that just go for the head.
War has been part of humanity since its existence. It has become a
science. No one knows the art of war as the Chinese do because of their
volatile history. General Sunzi's book on the Art of War is studied
today by world leaders, military, and business persons alike. (See Lecture X on more about
Sunzi's Art of War.) Pugilism is the art of war between two
individuals. It can be as simple as uncontrollable anger expressed in
physical form to very sophisticated concept, planning, strategy, and
movements. Wing Chun sees pugilism as war in the broader sense. It
looks at a person's body as a castle. His arms and legs are the
soldiers. His hands and feet--the weapons. His head is the
headquarters where the generals do the planning and do the dispatching.
The aim is to penetrate the castle, immobilize the soldiers, and destroy
the headquarters. On the other hand, you defend your headquarters and
castle by building walls around them and stationing your soldiers around
them. Many fighting forms concentrate on strong blocks to break an arm
or a leg of the opponent. This is almost impossible, as the force would
only send the arm or leg in the direction of the strike. Without an
opposite force to resist the motion, it will not break. (When you see
boards or brick-breaking demonstrations, you will notice that they are
resisted firmly from the other end.) Trying to destroy an arm or a leg
is like destroying weapons. Weapons are plentiful and replaceable.
They are merely tools of war. From the Wing Chun's point of view, it is
senseless to try to immobilize the weapons. In war, you do not fight
weapons, you fight soldiers. The objective of fighting the soldiers is
to capture a post. Better still; capture the General in command. The
battle is over when this is done. Therefore, Wing Chun's objective is
to penetrate the castle by breaking through the gates and walls,
immobilizing the soldiers by trappings or diversions, and finally
capturing and immobilizing the commander.
 The
human body is a castle. It is held and protected by walls and
structures (i.e. muscles and bones). The castle walls and floors are
held and supported by beams and joints. To knock a castle down, you
strike the thin beams and joints (thin bones and joints). Within the
castle, there are rooms (vital points) that are vital and vulnerable to
attacks because of their importance and relationship to the
headquarters; this is where the colonels and majors operate. The
headquarters (brain) sits on top, where the planning and the decisions
are made. It is of vital importance to guard it. Captains and
lieutenants (inner arm and elbow; thigh and knee) guard the first inner
gate. The sergeants and corporals (forearm and leg) guard the outer
gate. The privates and their weapons (wrist and hand; ankle and foot)
form the first flank of defense and attack. The human body is a small
castle. There is no room to create wide walls and gates because of the
limitation of one's size. (Perhaps we can imagine it to be more like a
mobile post.) Wing Chun creates imaginary gates around it. This is an
important aspect of pugilism that most styles do not touch upon. Knowing
one's gates creates a strong and efficient defense. Not knowing them
make you fall for feints thus weakening your defense. Wing Chun
creates a set of compact gates that is mobile and economical. From the
frontal view (see the upper right figure), the gates surround the body
closely along the sides. With the shoulders acting as the borderline,
the head is farther inside the gates. There is no need to extend the
borderline, as blocking within it is sufficient to protect the
headquarters and the castle. The shoulders, side of the arms, thighs
and legs are protected by large muscles, so strike to them are of little
effect. In fact, they are used to divert strikes. The Wing Chun guard
stance places the arms and hands (pawns and weapons) in the centerline
(see figure at the end of this section). Attacks from the sides are
easily parried with little effort and movement. In contrast, other
styles travel far distances to block the same line of attack. Wing
Chun creates two sets of gates/flank in front of the castle, as shown in
the lower right figure. (Gates are for defenses and flanks for attack).
All the soldiers and weapons (elbows, forearms wrists and hands) are
aligned to the centerline to create a closed gate. When the castle is
attacked, the forefront soldiers come to the defense. If they are
penetrated, the back flank comes to the defense and drives the enemy
back while the fore flank withdraws to the back to protect the castle.
Under heavy attacks, the post withdraws to another position (stepping
back or sideways), but maintaining the soldiers' positions in front of
the gates. The defensive system uses the pawns, the corporals and
sergeants (hands and forearms; feet and legs) as the first feelers of
the battle situation. They report the situation to the lieutenants and
captains (elbow and forearms; knee and thighs), who in turn send the
message to the Generals (the brain) via the colonels and majors (the
nervous system). The Generals then strategized defensive and counter
moves, sending commands to the soldiers to act on. The
offensive system works in the reverse, but along the same chain of
command. It begins with the Generals (the brain), who plan and command
the moves. The order is sent to the colonels and majors (nervous
system) who in turn instruct the captains and lieutenants (the arms,
elbows, thighs and knees) to send the sergeants and corporals to lead
the privates into a charge. The pawns (the hands and feet), under no
circumstances, act on their own or lead the commanders. All decisions
and power comes from the back to the front. Finally, Wing Chun draws
a set of lateral gates (see all figures). The upper gate ranges from
the top of the head to the base of the neck. The middle gate ranges
from the collarbone to the solar plexus (or where your elbow hangs). The
lower gate is from the solar plexus to the groin (or where your knuckles
hang). The base gate is from the groin area to the ground. From the
Wing Chun guard stance, the arms move easily from the upper gate to the
middle or the lower gate. The two arms alternate, always protecting the
upper and middle gates. Attacks to the lower gate are fended off using
the arms or legs. Attacks to the base gate are parried off exclusively
with the legs. Penetrating an opponent's gates are handled
similarly. Strikes to the head and the mid-section are done with hands.
The lower sections are struck using the feet. Wing Chun does not
believe in high kicks to the head. Just as you would not go down to do
a head-bump on your opponent's foot; there is no sense in bringing your
feet from the ground to the opponent's head. The travel distance is far
too long and flamboyant. It is much more economical to strike straight
at a level where the distance is the shortest. A head-bump is only good
towards another head. A kick is most effective executed below the
waist.  The argument coming from the school of high
kicks is that the scope is wider when one is able to kick high. It is
true provided you can train your kicks to be fast, strong and balanced.
This is a high goal to achieve. The other matter to consider is the
practicality of it. Under confined space, high kicks are not executable
or cumbersome. There is also a warm up time before the leg and back
muscles can operate that kind of stretch. Given that most fights happen
impulsively, it is unlikely that one can loosen up enough to execute
those kicks.
To go to other classroom lectures click the (white text) links located
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Copyright © Daniel Y. Xuan
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