Duncan Leung was introduced to Wing Chun Kung Fu by his childhood friend, famed screen star Bruce Lee. At the age of 13, after the ritual of 'three kneels, nine kowtows' in the traditional Sifu worship ceremony, he became the formal disciple of sixth-generation Wing Chun master Yip Man.

Looks at southern Chinese martial arts traditions and how they have become important to local identity and narratives of resistance. This book explores the social history of southern Chinese martial arts and their contemporary importance to local identity and narratives of resistance. Hong Kong’s Bruce Lee ushered the Chinese martial arts onto an international stage in the 1970s. Lee’s teacher, Ip Man, master of Wing Chun Kung Fu, has recently emerged as a highly visible symbol of southern Chinese identity and pride. Benjamin N. Judkins and Jon Nielson examine the emergence of Wing Chun to reveal how this body of social practices developed and why individuals continue to turn to the martial arts as they navigate the challenges of a rapidly evolving environment. After surveying the development of hand combat traditions in Guangdong Province from roughly the start of the nineteenth century until 1949, the authors turn to Wing Chun, noting its development, the changing social attitudes towards this practice over time, and its ultimate emergence as a global art form. Benjamin N. Judkins holds a doctoral degree in political science from Columbia University. Jon Nielson is chief instructor at Wing Chun Hall in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Wing Chun is the most popular form of Chinese Kung Fu in the world today, with over four million practitioners. The art as it is presently understood has been handed down from teacher to student for more than three hundred years. Until now, no one has ever stepped back and taken a critical look at why this art’s techniques are presented and performed the way they are. This book, by Wing Chun master Danny Xuan and martial-arts authority John Little, is the first to decipher these techniques that until now have been encrypted within this art. Xuan and Little reveal how Wing Chun was designed holistically, based on the laws of physics, human nature, and biomechanics. It was also designed with economy, efficiency, and productivity in mind. Unlike other martial arts, Wing Chun doesn’t focus on making a person larger, more rugged, acrobatic or animal-like; rather, it focuses on making optimal use of one’s own bodily structure and power potential by applying the sciences of biomechanics and physics. Thus, it is possible for males and females of all ages and sizes to excel in this art. The Tao of Wing Chun provides a readable, authoritative means of cultivating personal protection skills, enhanced flexibility, improved coordination, greater stamina, and physical and mental fitness while simultaneously cultivating humility, focus, determination, self-confidence, character, camaraderie, and deep inner strength. Foremost, this book offers the reader the means by which to apply Wing Chun principles in daily life. Enhanced by forty-eight full-color illustrations, The Tao of Wing Chun will fascinate, educate, and entertain a wide range of readers—from beginner to master.

Introducing a new scientific approach to Wing Chun kung-fu, this book gives a clear and detailed exposition of once closely guarded techniques. Rejecting the secretive approach that characterizes much of martial arts writing, the author draws upon biomechanical theory to explain logically and scientifically how the techniques of Wing Chun kung-fu work. After an explanation of the theory behind the various Wing Chun moves, the reader is led step-by-step through each of the forms. Chi gerk and chi sao, the Wing Chun sticky-hand and sticky-leg techniques, are explained and liberally accompanied by 183 photographs detailing the important moves. An additional section devoted to weight and power training for the martial artist makes this book invaluable, not just for those interested in Wing Chun kung-fu, but for practitioners of any martial art.

In this book, the keys to the Ip Man Wing Chun Kung Fu system are explained. The three hand sets are shown in detail, along with the application of the key movements. One of the keys to Wing Chun is laying a proper foundation. The first form Siu Lim Tao (Little Idea) is the development of that foundation. While the first form teaches the correct structure of the attacks and defensive movements, it is in Chum Kiu that the student learns to "seek the bridge" and use both hands simultaneously, such as one hand defending while the other attacks. The third form, Biu Gee (Thrusting Fingers), also known as the (First Aid) form, teaches the keys to recovery from the loss of a superior position in fighting. Biu Gee training is one of the keys to learning to focus energy into a strike. Also covered is the Chi Sao (Sticking Hands) training of Wing Chun, as well as the key principles that have made Ip Man Wing Chun one of the most famous Kung Fu systems in the world.

The phrase “martial arts studies” is increasingly circulating as a term to describe a new field of interest. But many academic fields including history, philosophy, anthropology, and Area studies already engage with martial arts in their own particular way. Therefore, is there really such a thing as a unique field of martial arts studies? Martial Arts Studies is the first book to engage directly with these questions. It assesses the multiplicity and heterogeneity of possible approaches to martial arts studies, exploring orientations and limitations of existing approaches. It makes a case for constructing the field of martial arts studies in terms of key coordinates from post-structuralism, cultural studies, media studies, and post-colonialism. By using these anti-disciplinary approaches to disrupt the approaches of other disciplines, Martial Arts Studies proposes a field that both emerges out of and differs from its many disciplinary locations.

From the Caldecott Medal-winning author/illustrator of "Mirette on the Highwire" comes this dramatic, multi-layered story of two legendary women warriors, Wu Mei, the "beautiful warrior", and her most famous pupil, Mingyi. Full color.