The southern Chinese Martial Art of Wing Chun Kuen, is predominantly known as a striking style. What isn’t widely known is that it contains many different hand striking methods within its arsenal. Wing Chun utilizes three methods of striking with the hand. There is the fist, the palm and the fingers. My si-fu, Augustine Fong once told me, the development of the fist takes one year, the palm takes five years, while the fingers take ten years. This article will examine the many different striking methods of the Wing Chun Kuen.

There are eight basic punches within the lineage of Augustine Fong, of Tucson, Arizona. These eight punches can all be found within Wing Chun’s three hand forms. The fists may be drilled within single-person techniques or done in an exercise conveniently called “eight punches exercise”. They may also be practiced in two person drills or within Chi Sau (sticky hand) practice. Chi Sau is to be used as a laboratory for developing all of your punching methods, not to mention all of aspects of the art. When I say “basic” punches, I mean to say there are eight punches but with many different methods of applying them. Any hand technique may be utilized as a strike, which may be applied in a variety of ways. With this in mind, there is a limitless amount of hand striking methods hidden within the Wing Chun style; it is up to you to discover them.

As a beginner, you will first begin to practice “Chair Kuen” or pulling punch. This punch should be practiced in the air, which will teach you to relax the arm and fist between motions. It is very important that you hold no tension in the arm or shoulder; you must learn to develop the ability to fully release energy. Do not hold the shoulder back; let it come forward, but not too much. This practice will help to stretch the muscles and tendons as well as develop flexibility in the joints. It is also important not to hyper extend the elbow, just push it forward. As you progress, you will learn many different ways in which to practice this exercise in order to refine your skills, such as timing, footwork, body-unity and controlling you motions. This exercise will develop relaxation, endurance, timing, structure and release of power, while developing rooting power in your stance.

Shortly after you start to become proficient in air punching, you will be introduced to the wall bag, a canvas sack filled with mung beans or pellets of some sort, mounted on the wall. The wall bag is not for pounding on, but should be for focusing and distancing yourself. Start this exercise by standing in “Yee Gee Kim Yeung Ma”, Wing Chun’s basic training stance, and begin lightly tapping the bag with the straight punch and eventually, the other punches. Later, you may practice this exercise with mobile stances. Wall bag training should not be done as nearly as much as air punching, because it can lead to the habit of over using your muscles, which may develop stiffness in your techniques. This exercise will develop a strong fist, solid punch, timing, structure, distancing, body-unity and most importantly, mental focus.

Eight Fists

The most used and recognized Wing Chun punch is the pulling vertical punch “chair kuen”. It is said that all other punches are a variation based on this simple yet very important punch. The proper structure is by holding the fist vertical, the whole fist should make contact with the intended target, with the bottom three knuckles emphasized. By holding the fist in a vertical position, the muscles in the arm are kept in their most relaxed and natural position. This position also considers the skeletal structure of the arm. Basically, the skeletal alignment is very strong structurally while the muscles are being kept relaxed, allowing for fast punches with the explosive release of energy into the opponent. The punch explodes forward like a bullet. The elbow is forced inward and down by keeping the fist vertical, this position promotes trapping, a method used in conjunction with the attacking hand. The elbow should work like a piston pushing and pulling the fist to its proper placement, along the elbow line. The rear elbow’s position also helps to defend against mid level body attacks. Even though this punch travels in a straight line, it contains drilling movement, without this the punch is dead, not to mention there a greater possibility of damaging the elbow. This punch is considered an uprooting technique because of the rising path it travels. It starts at the height of the sternum and drills upward until the motion completes at shoulder height, thus, uprooting the opponent if properly placed. When the fist is in the rear position, do not bend the wrist, keep it in the same position as it would be when extended.

Drilling punch “joung-lo kuen” is a mid level punch that travels down the centerline and stops with the elbow about a fist away from the practitioners own body with palm facing upward. This punch drills forward and makes contact with the entire fist, while focusing on the front two knuckles because of the angle of the fist. This punch has forward energy with a slight upward drill; it may also be used similar to a boxer’s uppercut. Don’t extend this punch; keep it close to the body and bring your body to the target.

Low punch “chaap kuen” is a straight punch focused at a low-level area. The entire fist makes contact while the focus is on the first two knuckles. The angle of the fist is almost horizontal. A low vertical punch would make contact with the index finger first, putting the wrist in a vulnerable position. While practicing this punch, it should be aimed forward, not to the floor. Again, like all the punches, there must be drilling motion within this punch.

Inside whipping punch “ngoi faan kuen” is a straight punch that starts with a small circle which travels to a straight line. This punch travels on the centerline and is used to move around something in its path with a circular movement. The elbow must not float outward from the side of the body otherwise this punch would become a back-fist, which is not a Wing Chun punch. The elbow must be behind the fist to power it forward. The entire fist will make contact with the lower three knuckles emphasized. A whipping type of energy should be used with is punch.

Outside whipping punch ” hoi faan kuen” is very similar to the inside whipping punch except that it circles to the outside of the centerline and proceeds back to the centerline. This punch also uses a whipping motion and is used to move around something that is blocking its intended target. Keep the circles very small for both the inside and outside whipping punches otherwise you will open yourself up for an attack. Again, the entire fist makes contact with the lower three knuckles emphasized.

Inside diagonal punch “ngoi doi gok kuen” appears similar to a boxers hook except that the whole body turns, drilling the punch into the center, ending with the fist on the centerline. This fist can be used when a straight line cannot. The fist is at the height of the sternum when practicing in the air, while the angle of the fist is in between being horizontal and vertical (palm facing yourself). The elbow is out slightly, while sunk. The entire fist makes contact with this punch.

Outside diagonal punch “hoi doi gok kuen” travels from the opposite shoulder and heads in a straight line to the centerline. This punch cuts inward to find or create an opening in an opponent’s structure. This fist can be used when you do not have the centerline. Quite often, outside facing footwork is used with this punch. The entire fist makes contact with the lower three knuckles emphasized.

Hammer fist “chour kuen” makes contact with the bottom side of the fist. In order to structurally support the fist, the thumb must be placed on top of the index finger rather than on the side. This fist may be applied in any angle needed, high or low. Any type of chopping motion may be replaced with the hammer fist.

There is a Wing Chun maxim, which states “strike when you should, do not strike when you shouldn’t”. This sounds very simple, yet it has a lot of different meanings. For example, don’t close the gap with a series of punches, only punch when you have the proper distance to make contact. Use you stance to move your structure to the correct distance before you strike. Even then, you shouldn’t punch unless you have the proper line to do so, otherwise, you are just hoping to get in a cheap shot. Don’t expect to close the gap and land three well placed, consecutive strikes, your kidding yourself if you think you can. Hold your attacks back until you have all the elements to land the perfect punch. One well placed properly timed punch may be the only one you have to throw. Be patient and punch once the time is right to do so. You can also look at this maxim as, only strike when you have no other way out, otherwise, walk away from a possible conflict; avoid a physical confrontation is you have the chance.

The Wing Chun practitioner should be aware of the saying “the shortest distance between two points is a straight line” however; a straight line may be obstructed. In this case, the puncher would have to create a line in which to attack, by using a number of methods according to their opponents or their own structure. Therefore the Wing Chun fighter may be able to use circular lines in preference to the usual straight-line attack. Circular and straight lines go together, just as Yin and Yang go together. Nothing in Wing Chun is done purely straight, just as nothing is purely circular.

The first form in Wing Chun “Siu Lim Tao” teaches your arms to work together, independent of the body. With proper timing, structure and relaxation, you can gain a lot of power just through your arm motions alone. But using just the arms to strike is a sign of lower level understanding, although you should also be able to disconnect your arm movements not only from one another, but also from the body. This skill is very useful when one hand or the entire body is trapped; the free hand may work on its own to save the situation. As you progress in your Wing Chun studies, you should learn to strike using your entire body for maximum power. In order to incorporate the whole body in punching, you must be aware of distancing, lines of attack and defense, body unity, timing, structure as well as mobile stances.

Another factor to consider when using the fist is can the fist structurally endure its own power upon impact with the target? There are many small bones within the hand and wrist, which may be damaged or broken without conditioning and proper alignment of the fist. It is said, use the fist on soft targets, while the palm takes care of hard ones. Yin and Yang balance, hard takes care of soft and vice versa. Wall bag training helps with the structure of the fist as well as some toughening of the skin, muscles, tendons and bones. The practitioner may also practice iron palm training for strengthening the hands. Conditioning the hands the Wing Chun way is to do it lightly over a long period of time, you don’t want to damage your hands by pushing yourself to hard. This type of training should also been done with “Dit Dat Jow” an alcohol based lineament filled with a number of Chinese herbs with properties for prevention of damaging blood vessels, muscle, tendons and bone.

There are many other aspects to cover when discussing the fist, such as triangles, different powers, inside verses outside, lines, etc. This brief article should give you a general idea on Wing Chun’s fist methods. For the practitioner, with time and patience as well as proper instruction, your punching ability will develop the Wing Chun way.

Patrick Gordon is a Wing Chun teacher in Ottawa, Ont, Canada. His si-fu is Wing Chun Master, Augustine Fong of Tucson, Arizona. Mr. Gordon may be contacted by email: p(dot)gordon(at)cyberus(dot)ca You may also visit his web site at www.cyberus.ca/~p.gordon/WingChunOttawa.htm