Part 2
Biu Gee five gears explained; based on the concentrated operation of body weight and speed of movement, can cumulate power from the entire body onto an attack point. Its power generation can be described as five gears, similar to the acceleration gears of a vehicle.
These Biu Gee five gears include:
- Moving-body-weight Power, which is the strongest;
- Rotational Power from rotations around the center of the body as the axis;
- Propelling and Drawing Powers of the shoulder (Elbow Force);
- Rotational Power from rotations around the shoulder joint as the axis; and
- Power from the movement of the forearm.
The fast, consecutive Kneeing Elbow strike movements in Biu Gee trains exactly how to use power from the third and fourth gears – the skills in using power from the first and second gears have already been acquired in Chum Kiu practice, ready to kick-start the operation of the third and fourth gears for Darting Fingers training. The Elbow Strikes are a major part of training in Biu Gee. It is equivalent to practicing how to use the shoulder joint as the axial point to initiate powerful movements of the upper arm. The Elbow movements are performed 6 times by each arm in total, signifying its importance in the form-set.
The principle of acceleration is itself easy to understand. What is hard to grasp is the way of converging all kinds of momentum generated in the different parts of the body onto the attack point, which entails a proper structure as well as advanced skills. The structure should have already been built gradually in Siu Nim Tao and Chu Kiu training; Biu Gee practice is solely for grasping the method of converging the power created by the moving body weight onto the attack point. This is indeed hard to attain without the foundation of the stable structure acquired from the first 2 forms.
There is no kicking form in Darting Fingers, but only Circling Leg movements which aims to foster the techniques and the dynamic application of force in legs. Darting Fingers does not only emphasize forms – it aims at making the limbs very dynamic, acquiring the skills of utilizing speed, and accumulating all power from the body onto one point. In summary of the mechanics of Biu Gee, it can largely be represented by the gear system in vehicles.
Nevertheless, in vehicle gear operation, when changing from the first gear to the second to the third and so on, the solid power of the first gear will disappear accordingly; whereas in Darting Fingers, all of the five gears co-exist and can operate simultaneously.
Before practicing Biu Gee, one should first understand its structure and the purposes of its application. Take the Elbow movements as an example: by the operation of Nim Tao, power can be accumulated onto the tip of the elbow, as well as any position along the forearm.
Although it appears to be the same Elbow movement, the positions for power cumulation can vary according to one’s intention. Another example is Slashing Hand with Pivoting used for attack: without changing its appearance but altering the intention, the movement can deliver a dragging effect in contrast to the original attack result.
Form-sets of Wing Chun are not confined to the usage of pre-set movements. One can base on his own comprehension of Wing Form-sets to apply them in Sticking Hands – the actions and moves resulted in Sticking Hands are the actual manifestations of offence and defense hand-forms of Wing Chun.
When practicing every hand-form, one can either follow the trainer’s instructions, or ponder by himself on the actual usage of the hand-form. Either way, use Intention to cumulate all power from the body onto the point of contact, and then complete the action at the highest speed. Of course, the foundation stemming from the operation of Nim Tao and structure acquired in Siu Nim Tao and Chu Kiu is mandatory; otherwise it is extremely difficult to reach a higher level.
In the course of Wing Chun training, Biu Gee denotes the stage of technique actualization by oneself. Imagine that for a skillful sport, if its techniques can only exist in the same mode passed down by ancestors and follow the demonstrations of trainers – such learning is like copying and molding – it will finally fade out as all learning is just a slavery to mere forms; degeneration across generations will become inevitable.
As such when the Biu Gee stage is being reached, one is free to cast his own preferences to which more pondering, more reasoning, more discussion and more practice are directed. Only by doing so can the Wing Chun art be manifested and advanced to a new level.
It is worth a further mention that before one has established a good foundation in Wing Chun – attaining a deep comprehension of its theory and structure – one should not boast of one’s small intellect to critically urge for changes, as if the Wing Chun techniques would have been improved by one’s creation (the changes) that represents one’s higher achievement. It is the opposite in reality: the changes will only deform rather than better what has been learned.
