Using The “Clock”
When Hawkins Cheung teaches, he rarely ever uses Wing Chun terminology. It never really occurred to me why he didn’t do it until one day he explained himself. He wanted us to find our own “tan sau”, “fook sau” etc…he would say that if i labeled this position and give it a name, you’ll become a slave to it. He would often tell us that you have to “feel” your own tan, bong, fook etc..that way it’s yours now. He’d tell us that later on, you can always put back the name of the movement, but the most important part is getting the sensitivity of the movement.
this video is my way of explaining his view which have also become my view on “naming” a fixed position.
43 Responses to “Using The “Clock””
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Never thought of the umbrella like that before…wonder if it could be used as a weapon like that too.. hehe. BTW, is it possible that you show a bit of JKD? (I’ve always wondered about it).
Great video! : D.
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The Jun Fan JKD material will fall under the “Ring Fighting” category. I’ve been so busy working on this site, i haven’t been able to do much filming, but I will of course cover more of that in the near future. thanks for your support!
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alex Reply:
September 19th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
Jin, why does the JKD only fall under “ring fighting”? Don’t you think it is also effective on the street?
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Jin Reply:
September 20th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
no, that’s not it, it’s just an easy way to separate it from the classic wing chun method. and JKD is primarily “distance fighting” so it fits in the “ring fighting” category”.
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alex Reply:
September 20th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Okay, I see what you mean, and I do agree that JKD is primarily “distance fighting” but there is plenty of close up stuff in it as well, much of it borrowed from Wing Chun, although a good portion of the Wing Chun stuff in it has been modified so much that it isn’t really Wing Chun anymore.
The Machine Gun Punch (as my old Wing Chun sifu liked to call it) is still there, the trapping is still there, but there is other close range stuff that is also NOT Wing Chun based. For example if someone throws a punch at you, you can lop sao and machine gun punch him, obviously, but if you were to slip inside, and shovel hook his solar plexus, that would be an equally effective close range tactic, would it not?
Jin Reply:
September 20th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
you’re kinda getting off the subject, but whatever you want to call it, it is not classical wing chun, which is why i placed it in a different category that fit it better.
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This video is probably the best presentation of what Bruce Lee said in Enter the Dragon: “When the opponent expands, I contract; when he contracts, I expand. And when there is an opportunity, I do not hit; it hits all by itself.” What a well-hidden concept that’s so simple it’s hard to see! I will definitely incorporate this into my practice as soon as possible.
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Jin Reply:
September 16th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
ahh..great Bruce Lee quote, and now that you mention it, it does kinda fit. =D
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Nice presentation. In short, I hope your viewer will understand
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Nice presentation. I hope that other viewers understand that you’re presenting awareness of the whole motion from Taan to Bong in a Chi Sao roll.
Keep up the good work.
Lou.
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Jin Reply:
September 16th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
some people with get it, some won’t, and some will get it later on. but at least it’s here for everyone to always reference back to in the future.
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The way I learned this was through something I read from Chu Shong Tin. The concept of the circle, you “draw” the circle from Tan to Bong. Later on in a video in a 1hr seminar video I obtained on Siu Nim Tao, he explained aspects about the elbow and how you use your joints to move your hand/arm and not your muscles.
Anyways, question for you Jin, will you be covering any internal aspects of Wing Chun? I’m intrigued because so far the only group that kind of emphasizes (that I know of) it is Jim Fung’s association in Australia and he learned from Chu Shong Tin.
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domtempriall Reply:
September 17th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Kenneth Chung and Ben Der in San Jose, CA also practices and teaches a “softer” style of Wing Chun.
Yip Man->Leung Sheung->Ken
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isn’t that what i’ve been doing? -_o
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LOL Jin I’m sorry, yeah I looked through the videos again, I must’ve forgotten because I’ve stopped training for almost a week or two now. I have an idea of starting a group but it’s very difficult b/c I don’t know many people and there’s no way to get to the WC (WT actually)
Would you recommend going to, say, a Karate class or a Tae Kwon Do class just to be able to spar w/ people and using Wing Chun then?
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Jin Reply:
September 17th, 2009 at 11:14 am
it’s always good to touch hands with different types of people and styles. so go for it and have fun!
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thank you again sifu jin:)
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Jin Reply:
September 17th, 2009 at 11:14 am
no problemo, peace!
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do you use a new hd camera jin? seems more clearer to me.
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Jin Reply:
September 17th, 2009 at 11:16 am
no, that was another reason i switched to Vimeo, the quality is much better, once i get some extra cash, i’ll buy an HD camera, i hear that Vimeo HD is amazing. can’t wait!
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great video as always it is well explained!
I´m not that advanced so I don´t practise this drill in my group yet, but I have a question.
Is one of the 2 the aggressor and the other one focuses on the movement or do both try to “attack”?
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Jin Reply:
September 17th, 2009 at 11:17 am
good question, you should do both, have one attack and one defend, and then later both attack and defend. have fun!
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M.C. Reply:
September 19th, 2009 at 11:06 am
ok thanks!
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Now that’s some video quality!!
Keep it up Jin!
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Jin Reply:
September 17th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
thanks!
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Your examples are very well done for a better understanding in body articulation. Keep them coming Force of One.
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Most videos do not go into the depth of the art as you do in your demos, and its very hard to find a Wing Chung practioner in Mississippi. Thanks again “Force of One”.
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Jin Reply:
September 17th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
thanks for the kind words, peace!
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Hi Jin,
Truly resourceful and unique analogy, you are obviously committed to thinking outside of the box.
a fundamental point you make about the clock, as i have learnt that not listening carefully when rotating from 6′o’ clock to 12′o’clock will surely leave you vulnerable to mid gate attack.
Thanks Jin, this was a great start to my day, it is 9am here in London!
Saj
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Jin Reply:
September 18th, 2009 at 2:37 am
have a great day! =D
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Hey Jin, thanks for this vid.The clock analogy most definately helps me understand how to properly train when doing chi sau, and also clarifies the importance of me finding my own positions in the sense of them feeling natural to me, I’m certain this will be a great help in bettering all my positions not only my bong sau.
Keep up the great work!
Jon
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Jin Reply:
September 19th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
glad it’s helped you on your journey, peace!
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excellent vid as always
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Jin Reply:
September 20th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
thanks, bro!
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hey man.. I got to congratulate you again.. but as a constructive critic, you should (now that you have your own web page) offer a little more cuality on your videos just by using a camera stand.. or a tri-stand camera, is because of the shaking you know… is not that serious but is a little anoying. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with people around the world interested in wing chun
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Jin Reply:
September 23rd, 2009 at 9:55 pm
yea, good idea, now that the quality level is much higher, you notice alot of the camera movements. i’ll go out and buy a tri stand. hey, bro, question for you, is the video “choppy” at all when you watch it?
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not really no…its fine on wide scree option!
and i like to see the cameraman bounces cause everything has to move !
peace bro
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hey you guys out there go into http://www.hawkingschueng.com and down load the articles on MY YEARS WITH BRUCE LEE . its a 4 part and you will get a better perspective on what bruce and hawkings were doing at the time and JKD present day !
Sifu Phil Romero
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Jin Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
great article, good advice, thanks Phil!
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Very polished and great explanation.
If the idea of the umbrella was yours I should also say that u have good immagination.
Jc
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Jin Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
thanks JC, it just so happened that it rained a few days earlier and i had my umbrella in the car, so i figured i’d use it for the lesson. =D
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So we should practice Bong to Tan and Tan to Bong slowly? Or can we practice it fast? Because in my class they say that there’s no power between Tan and Bong. [I think they might be wrong.]
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Jin Reply:
February 27th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
don’t think of bong and tan as two movements, think of the entire movement as a “circle”, a circle has no beginning and no end and has equal power at all sides.
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