Challenge in a Hong Kong Park
By
Sifu Alan Hubbard
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In December 1991, Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong and his wife were taking a
trip to China via Hong Kong. They stayed in a hotel on the Yau Ma Tei
district across the street from the Temple Street shopping area on
Nathan Road of Kowloon. The next morning, Grandmaster Wong and a friend
and kung fu cousin, Mr. Calvin Chan, student of his Si-Suk Wong Ying
Sam called Grandmaster to practice kung fu with him in the small park of
the Temple across street from their hotel. They got together at 9 AM and
went through the forms that they learned from Wong Ying Sam, Grandmaster
Wong’s teacher’s kung fu brother. At the other side of the park, there
were several guys practicing some kind of kung fu and tai chi too. By
the time Grandmaster Wong and Mr. Chan were practicing the Tiger vs.
Leopard two man fighting hand form, some people gathered and were
watching them in the small park and applauding them for their
performance.
One guy came up and talked to Grandmaster Wong while they were taking a
break. He introduced himself to them and told them he was an instructor
of a southern style of kung fu (not appropriate to mention the style
here). The style that he taught is a short hand system. He commented to
them that their forms were very nice and beautiful to watch. However,
the hands are too long with too many swinging movements. He said when it
comes to a real fight it’s not practical. Grandmaster’s friend Calvin
Chan said to him in an angry way, “what do you mean it is not practical,
our system is the most popular and has the most people practicing in
Hong Kong now?” The man replied, “Yes, Choy Li Fut is very popular in
Hong Kong because lots of instructors are teaching this system here. Our
system was not allowed to be taught to the public before, but now it is
almost the second most popular kung fu in Hong Kong.” He wanted to prove
his techniques are effective. He asked Calvin to spar with him. Calvin
had no choice; he didn’t want to look bad in front of Grandmaster and
the spectators in the park.
The southern style kung fu instructor was standing in a high stance with
his hands protecting his chest in the centerline. Calvin tried to punch
him with the straight cheong ngan chui like a jab to his face. The man
stepped into the side and controlling his hand he tried to punch back
with a straight punch. Calvin moved backward and used a kwa (back fist)
to hit and block away the attacking hand. After sparring for a couple of
minutes, Grandmaster saw the match was not very good for his friend,
because Calvin only was in the system for a couple of years. He didn’t
have enough fighting experience. Grandmaster Wong broke the fighting
match and told them to take a break.
The kung fu instructor did better in the match earlier with Calvin
because he was more aggressive. He turned around and asked Grandmaster
to spar with him. Grandmaster couldn’t look bad in front of his friend,
so he accepted his challenge. Grandmaster’s right hand was in guard and
his left hand was on his right shoulder to protect his face. The other
instructor was still in the same stance like before with the centerline
guarding position. Grandmaster got close to the guys right hand and
touched him to feel his jing. The instructor attacked with his left hand
slapping to move Grandmaster’s right hand as
he punched with his right fist to the nose. Grandmaster used a nop-sau
to hook his punch downward slightly. The instructor followed with a left
punch toward the face. Grandmaster used his left hand to make a short
poon-kiu to press his left fist down and simultaneously he struck a sow-chui
like a roundhouse swinging fist to counter attack him. Grandmaster
didn’t hit him with his fist to his head; he used his forearm near the
wrist area and pressed the left side of his neck down with ging or jing
like lighting speed. The kung fu instructor fell down on the ground
several meters away. Grandmaster was still holding his form with the
sow-chui position and his other hand guarding his head. All the
spectators were cheering and clapping for him. The instructor got up and
thanked Grandmaster for not hitting him with his swinging sow-chui
otherwise he could have been hurt very badly.
Eventually, this instructor became a friend of Grandmaster Wong, since
he is known in Hong Kong now; it’s not nice to mention his name in the
public. Each time when Grandmaster was in Hong Kong, he contacted him,
most of the time this new friend took Grandmaster out for dim sum lunch
or coffee to show his appreciation for his lesson well learned. Calvin
Chan went back to his school and told his Sifu Wong Ying Sam what had
happened of the challenge. Now Calvin is living in California and
working in the Silicone Valley for a hi-tech corporation as an engineer.
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