Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong Interview
Fighting Stars Magazine
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Doc Fai Wong's instructor, Great Grandmaster Hu Yuen-Chou, shown here
defying his age in an incredible display of skill, strength and agility
while performing an advanced Choy Li Fut spear set.
Fighting Stars:
Well I am glad to hear that you are bringing it back within
your system.
I understand that you are also very skilled in the healing arts as well. Did
you receive much of your training in Chinese Dit Da medicine?
Doc-Fai Wong:
Yes, I learned from several Dit Da masters. The first was Lau
Bun. I learned from him by being his assistant and carrying his case when he
made house calls. Later I learned from a couple of private Dit Da
practitioners in Hong Kong. My final teacher was grandmaster Hu Yuen Chou.
He was a famous healer known in both Hong Kong and China. His father was one
of the top four Dit Da practitioners in Guangdong province. He lived in
Guangzhou and he learned his father’s healing. After the communists took
over China he moved to Hong Kong. He was a medical doctor, but because the
British took over Hong Kong he could not practice as a western medical
doctor, so he practiced his Chinese medicine and his Dit Da.
Fighting Stars:
Do you feel that Dit Da or healing techniques are an
essential part of martial arts training?
Doc-Fai Wong:
In the old days I believe it was necessary. But nowadays I
don’t think it is absolutely necessary. In the old days the martial arts
school was like the local clinic for martial arts injuries. But nowadays in
China there are hospitals and clinics that are well equipped to handle
injuries and emergencies. Sure if you want to learn I believe it can be very
helpful, but it is not necessary. Because you can not be Boon Tung Soy. Do
you know what is Boon Tung Soy?
Fighting Stars:
No.
Doc-Fai Wong:
The translation would be like a half bucket of water. Do you
understand.
Fighting Stars:
Do you mean like half full or half empty?
Doc-Fai Wong:
No, it really means you are half-assed. In Chinese it is a
half bucket of water, but half-assed is the closest American translation I
can think of. In other words if you aren’t that great and just know a little
bit then you can’t give the best treatment.
Fighting Stars:
Can you give us some examples of how you treat martial arts
injuries using Dit Da?
Doc-Fai Wong:
Actually, I use Tui Na, which is a high level of Chinese
massage. And I also use acupuncture for Dit Da. I have found that I can give
successful treatments using acupuncture. Sometimes the results can be much
faster.
Fighting Stars:
Have you incorporated your Qi Gung (Chi Kung) practice into
your Dit Da and acupuncture treatments?
Doc-Fai Wong:
Yes, I do use Qi with acupuncture. I feel that it can give the
patient a much better treatment in this way.
Fighting Stars:
What kinds of results have you seen in your practice with
use of Qi Gung and acupuncture?
Doc-Fai Wong:
Well with Qi Gung you can develop your energy for martial arts
and you can also use it for healing. When I treat?y mind is calm and
relaxed and I can feel the patient and when I transmit my Qi to the needle
the patient will feel a strong sensation.
Fighting Stars:
So you feel you are able to give a higher level of
acupuncture treatment because of your background in Qi Gung?
Doc-Fai Wong:
Yes, After I had my Qi opened up by Master Peng Si Yu’s wife
my Qi Gung skill and acupuncture level both became very different.
Fighting Stars:
Could you please describe for us that experience of having
your Qi opened up by Peng Si Yu’s wife (madame Ou Min Yang).
Doc-Fai Wong:
In professor Yu’s teaching method the goal is to get the
pupil’s Qi to open up. The breathing point is three acupuncture inches under
the navel. And most of the people practice to bring the Qi to that point
three inches below the navel called the Dan Tian. But, they can not get
their Qi below that. So after you are standing and working on the Qi Gung
and practicing for many days, maybe you can get the Qi to open, but with the
help from a teacher you will know for sure that your Qi is open at that
moment. So after I had been working for a couple of years with professor Yu
and his wife, and after he passed away Madame Yu saw that I was at the level
where I was ready to open up and so she opened it up for me.
Fighting Stars:
So is that a necessary part to have a qualified teacher that
can open up the Qi for you?
Doc-Fai Wong:
Well otherwise you can train for many years day after day and
not know if your Qi is open or how to do it.
Fighting Stars:
Did you feel that your Qi Gung training elevated your Kung
Fu to a much higher level then?
Doc-Fai Wong:
With professor Yu his I Chuan was more geared to the healing
aspect rather than to the martial arts aspect. So with my teacher Hu Yuen
Chou I learned the push hands and greater details about the fighting
aspects. When I asked him questions he would explain things in such detail
that I was able to understand things in different ways that later on I could
make more sense of the Qi Gung and what was happening.
Fighting Stars:
Now in the I Chuan empty force technique are you trying to
channel your energy to a small point or do you use a more broader
application to a larger target?
Doc-Fai Wong:
O.K. this is something you really need to work on for quite a
while before you are going to pick it up. For example, if I wanted to direct
my Qi to a student then the student would basically have a reaction that
would be like in bouncing out. So, in making your opponent bounce out, for
example, it is like a ball bouncing off of a wall.
So the other reaction is like if you throw mud onto a wall and the mud will
stick to the wall. For example; if I project some Qi into somebody that
person may not bounce out or bounce away, but instead he could feel very
sick. He could vomit or get headaches or get dizzy or some reaction like
that.