bruce lee the early years

7/29/2019 Bruce Lee the Early Years

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Bruce Lee's Hong Kong Years:A couple of "j uvenile delinquent s" named Bruce Lee and Haw kins Cheung roamed t he

streets of Hong Kong, picking f ights, having fun and refining their m artial arts

techniques.

By Hawkins Cheung, as told to Robert Chu

(First published in Inside Kung-Fu91/11)

Hawkins Cheung began his training in 1953 under the late grandmaster Yip Man. He attendedhigh school with the legendary Bruce Lee and during evenings, the two would diligently practicewing chun together. To gain combat experience, they would engage in challenge matches; whenthey didn't have opponents to fight, they fought each other. They were later separated whenBruce went to college in the U.S. and Hawkins attended college in Australia. Throughout the

years, the two kept in touch through letters and phone calls. Bruce would detail his martial artsdevelopment through their conversations and correspondence using Cheung as a sounding board.Hawkins Cheung is one of the few individuals who experienced the progression that Lee wentthrough in his martial art development from wing chun to Jun Fan to jeet kune do. The two were

reunited in Hong Kong in 1970, when Lee returned home to make movies. The two shared andexchanged fighting experiences and training methods. They remained in close contact untilBruce's death in 1973. Hawkins also is well schooled in other martial arts styles. He is particularlyskilled in the Wu style of tai chi but he is familiar with the Yang, Chen and Sun styles as well.Master Cheung has also gained experience in Japanese karate-do and currently holds a fourth-degree black belt. In 1978, Cheung immigrated to the U.S. to promote wing chun. He is currentlyhead instructor of the Hawkins Cheung Asian Martial Arts Academy in Los Angeles. He hasappeared in several issues of Inside Kung-Fu magazine, given numerous public demonstrations,and appeared on television. He has always been low key about his relationship with Bruce Lee.Now that his friend has died, he finds that many of Bruce's followers are distorting the realmeaning of his jeet kune do. In this four-part series on Bruce Lee and jeet kune do, Cheungexamines Bruce's development, from his early days in Hong Kong to his final days as a film star,

his creation of JKD, and the characteristics of the now-famous art.

Hong Kong in the l95Os was a depressed place. Post-WorldWar II Hong Kong had suffered from unemployment, a pooreconomy, over-crowding, homelessness, and people takingadvantage of each other. Gangs roamed the street, andjuvenile delinquents ran rampant.

I met Bruce in intermediate school; he had been expelledfrom the famous European LaSalle Intermediate School tothe Eurasian Francis Xavier Intermediate School which Iattended. I used to make fun of him and call him "Bad Boy"because he was expelled. That was the beginning of our

friendship. There was real political situation in 195Os HongKong. The British led the colony and would sometimes treatthe Chinese like dogs.

Bruce wasn't a big star then, he was just an ordinary guy.We started to learn wing chun to survive. When we weren'tfighting others, we fought each other. We would argueabout our wing chun training, and would argue about ourpersonal experience and knowledge. Everyone wanted to be


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top dog. We would purposely hold back information that we gathered. Everyone had to find hisown source, and not let the others know what we learned. We would purposely hide a trick thatwe would get from Yip Man, the Seniors, or friends from other styles. We weren't concerned

about how good the gung-fu looked, just whether it worked. Everyone wanted to know how toget the job done.

We were good buddies. We wouldn't openly share our knowledge, but we tried to steal eachother's card. Whenever we learned a new method or technique, we would add it to our repertoire.Bruce would use a new trick on me, the next time I would throw it back to him first. We alwaysasked ourselves where was the other's source?

Against outsiders we were allies, but with no one to fight against, we fought each other. To testand see Bruce's skill, I would purposely instigate or set up a fight. I would watch Bruce fight, andbe a bystander to see how well he did. He would do the same. If he won, we would laugh; but ifhe lost, he would lose face and work harder to find a better means of beating an opponent.

We would play tricks on our opponents to psyche them out, sometimes hiding our besttechniques. What someone would throw to us, we'd throw the technique right back to him.

Our competitive spirit was not only in martial arts, but extended in daily life. Everyone knew thatBruce was good at dancing the cha-cha. At school, I knew some Filipino friends who were prettygood too, so I would pick up steps to show up Bruce. The next time I saw Bruce, he had a bunchof new steps! I questioned my friend to see if he had taught Bruce those new steps, but hedenied any knowledge. I later found out that he went to my Filipino friend's dance instructor tolearn more steps! That was our character---to always look for a new source. I later went to thesame dance instructor and tried to persuade him not to teach Bruce.

William Cheung and Wong Shun Leung were Bruce's source ofinformation on wing chun. They were our seniors, but wecouldn't openly let them know what level we were at for fearthey wouldn't show us more. If a senior got into a street fight,

however, and lost, we could find out his standard. If wecouldn't figure out a problem, we would have to ask the oldman (Yip Man) from different angles. When we matured, webegan to share more openly.

I lived a couple of blocks from Bruce. Being from well-to-dofamilies, we would sometimes have our driver pick up oneanother if we wanted to hang out we would sometimes spenda weekend at each other's home. When we had final exams,we would study together.

We still kept up our old game. We would play tricks on an unsuspecting participant, one guy

playing "good guy," the other being the "bad guy." Onetime, we persuaded two youngerEuropean classmates to fight each other. They were a grade younger than us and were goodfriends. Bruce and I separated them, and to find out who was the better instructor, we eachpicked one and trained him to beat each other up.

Bruce's nickname at school was "Gorilla," because he was muscular and walked around with hisarms at his sides. Everyone feared him, but I was the only one who called him "Chicken legs."He'd get really mad and chase me all over the school yard. Our friendship was very close.


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Our school was the best in soccer, but Bruce and I never participated in any team sports. Oneday, there was an announcement that there was an inter-school boxing championship. The allEnglish Saint George Intermediate school held the championship. Our school didn't have a boxing

team. Someone in our school suggested that we get a boxing team together. We had areputation in the school as being the naughtiest, so someone suggested that Bruce and I getinvolved.

The night of the match, I went into the champ's dressing room. He was my friend's brother.Bruce was supposed to face him. I spoke to the champ and warned him that he was facing theGorilla now, who was an expert in gung-fu, not boxing, so he'd better watch out!

The champ was intimidated, because he heard that Bruce and I practiced gung-fu together.Bruce, on the other hand, was concerned that we never boxed before. At the beginning of thefight, Bruce attacked his opponent from the inside with a tan daand cut to his opponent's center.The champ was psychologically unbalanced, while Bruce continued to use tan da with a follow-upof straight punches to the champ's face, and blew him out. Bruce won the championship!

The next match was myself and another for the lightweight championship. I was disqualified for

usingpak da, which the judges considered against the rules.

In 1958, we graduated from high school. Bruce said that he was going to the U.S. upon hisfather's request. Bruce didn't want to go, but his father forced him. Bruce feared his father andhad to comply. I was deciding to attend college in Australia. I asked Bruce what he wanted tostudy. Bruce replied he was going to be a dentist. I cracked up and laughed in his face! "You, adentist?" I said, 'Your patients would lose all their teeth."

Bruce said that his father would support him and pay for his expenses in the U.S., but he wantedto be independent. To make money on the side, he said he would t each w ing chun. I

replied that he didn't have much to t each at that

t im e; w e had both only learned up to t he second

w ing chun form, chum kiu, and 40 movements on

the durmmy. We had a friend whom we called "UncleShiu" (Shiu Hon Sang), who taught northern styles ofgung-fu. Bruce thought it would be a good idea to learnsome of the more pretty, showy styles before he left.Bruce learned northern style for showmanship. In the late195Os, Bruce had already planned to hide his art. Manywere looking for the showmanship, not the killer. Brucewould give them what they wanted.

We went to Uncle Shin's gung-fu club at seven everymorning. We began to learn lam ad (a basic northem stylegung-fu set). I hated master Shin's dog, and his dog

hated me equally, ashe wouldbarkatme every time Ivisited. Finally, the early mornings and the loud dog mademe drop out. Bruce continued for two months more andlearned gung lik kuen(training power fist set), bung bokuen(a basic praying mantis set), andjeet kuen(quickfist), all northern style sets.

Prior to any Hong Kong resident leaving for a new country, you had to check with the policestation to make sure your record was clean. Bruce applied for this certificate, and found that our


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names were on a blacklist of known juvenile delinquents. He called me at home. "Hawkins, bigtrouble," Bruce exclaimed. "Our names are on a known gangster list. I'm going down to thepolice station to clear my name, and while I'm there, I'll clear yours, too.", I thanked him.

A few days later, a police investigator came to my house and questioned me about gang relations.Bruce's efforts to clear me actually got me more in trouble. My father had to pay off this

investigator to have my name wiped from the record, or else I wouldn't have been able to attendcollege in Australia. I hated Bruce for that!

The day he left, I escorted him to the dock. After many years of being as close as twins, wewould be apart for the first time. It would be many years before our paths would again cross.

After Bruce left Hong Kong, I went to Australia to attend college. We still stayed in touch bywriting to each other. He told me he was working part time at Ruby Chow's restaurant in Seattleand teaching a few students wing chun as well as some of Uncle Shiu's northern style kung-fuhigh kicks. He wrote that he loved wing chun very muchand he wanted to go back to Hong Kong to learn the rest

of the system.

He told me to carry on with wing chun and not to give up.Actually I didn't have the time to give up my wing chun. Iarrived in Sidney, Australia, in the late 195Os. Just 14years after World War II, Australia had suffered muchfrom the Japanese occupation. I found myself involved infights because at that time there was a great resentmentfor Japanese. They always confused the Chinese forJapanese. Sometimes, I had to fight against people twicemy size to stay alive. Many Southeast Asians alsoattended the university in Australia. At times, racialtension and cultural differences would result in violence.

Fights would start up without warning. I had trouble witha few Thai boxers.

They would call themselves "prize-fighters" --- they fought for prizes, I fought for my life. TheThai's were hard to fight because they seemed to have four hands. I wrote Bruce about thesefighting experiences. I learned how to apply my wing chun against multicultural martial arts.Bruce told me if had any problems in Australia to come to the United States and study. He wouldtake care of me.

I returned to Hong Kong in 1964. One day, as I was ready to drive my car out of my parkingspace in the street, I saw someone toward my left window. I couldn't see this person's face. Ithought that this person was locking for trouble, and I opened the car door ready to fight. I then

saw it was Bruce. I was so happy to see him, and just as I was about to say "Hello!" he said'"Hawkins, stand here, I have something to show you." Bruce steped back two steps andsuddenly charged in very quickly. I was surprised that his movement was so fast.

Another surprise was that Bruce's character hadn't hanged at all. He still wanted to be top dog.He still wanted to show off. If he liked you, he would always tell you what was on his mind.

If he didn't like you, he'd be very tricky to deal with. Bruce had that rare ability to draw yourattention somewhere else. Sometimes yon didn't know what he was thinking. I was often


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suspicious if Bruce was too nice; it meant he wanted something or was about to take advantageof you. This character made people like him, and at the same time, made it easy for me to trickhim.

I asked him how he developed the ability to close in that quickly. He said' "look, Hawkins, in theUnited States you don't have any good training partners to practice wing chun with. You can say

that my wing chun is better than any so called wing chun masters there. I can't go any further.But I have had a lot of challenge fights. My opponents are fast, so I have to be faster; they'restrong, so I have to he stronger than them. There's no other way, because in the U.S., I'm a'gung-fu' guy. Because my wing chun is limited and my structure can't hold up against largeropponents, I have to use no way as the way, no limitation as the limitation."

That was the first time I heard Bruce say that. There is a Chinese saying Called, "Bik fu tiucheung," meaning, "The cornered tiger has to jump over a wall." It is the equivalent of saying,"Having no way out" in English. I realized that Bruce felt frustration in his martial arts training.Although Bruce was becoming Westernized, he still felt pride that he was Chinese and he neverwanted to appear inferior when comparing Chinese gung-fu with other nations' martial arts.

Bruce continued: "I have to train very hard to beat my opponents. So I've come back to furthermy training in wing chun, and I hope to learn more of the dummy techniques from the old man(Yip Man). Hopefully, sifu will let me film him on 8mm so that I may show my students in theU.S."

Bruce said his acting career was beginning to take off. "By the way," he noted, "I just signed acontract with 20th Century Fox to do a 'Charlie Chan' movie (it later turned out to be the "GreenHornet" series). I'm on my way to see the old man now." I knew that when he wanted toaccomplish a task, I'd better not get in his way, so I left.

A few days later, Bruce gave a demonstration on a popular talk show on television. Bruce didn'tmention anything about wing chun, but referred to his art simply as "gung-fu." I realized thatsomething must have happened between Bruce and Yip Man. I knew Bruce's character, and

when he desired or wanted something accomplished, no one could stop him. if not, Bruce wouldgo out on his own to get the job done. Bruce would then come back and show you and try toembarrass you.

I found out that the "old man" refused hisrequest to be filmed doing the dummy set. Iknew that the "old man" was very Chinesetradition minded and that Bruce was very directand Western in his thinking. Bruce wanted tolearn everything overnight, but the 'old man" feltyou had to train to get it. later on, I found thatBruce formed his own method and called it 'jeet

kune do."

During 1966, a friend and I were involved inbringing japanese karate to Hong Kong. I foundmyself having to change when sparring with theJapanese karate instructors; their attacks were

very fast with emotionally charged quickness.They would attack and disappear as quickly asthey came. Their punches were so quick that


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when I attempted to pak sao, they would retract their punch and I couldn't connect. When I triedto step in, they would use a front kick. I found that defensively, I was fine, because they found itdifficult to land on me. But when it came to attacking, I was unable to score. I became frustrated

with this type of sport fighting. It differed from real fighting in that it emphasized skill, not justguts and endurance.

I remembered what Bruce had said about his "opponents being fast, but he had to be faster;opponents being strong, and he having to being stronger." Then I thought, these Japanesekarate instructors train years to develop their speed and power. If I were to train as Bruce did, Iwould have to spend two or three times as much time to beat them at their own game. But I alsohad a limitation of power because of my size. If I sped up my wing chun straight punch, I foundmyself unable to reach my opponent because I was used to the wing chun back horse stance.And if I utilized karate's front stance, I could reach my opponents, but in turn, I lost my wingchun structure. I found myself in a dilemma, as I would literally throw myself forward to reachmy opponent. This may have worked well against a one-punch kill stylist, but I often wonderedwhat would happen if I fought another gung-fu stylist or a street-fighter and they could take mybest punch. If I managed to land my best punch and the opponent kept coming, I wouldcertainly be in big trouble.

I wanted to keep my wing chun structure. I asked myself how could I hold back or stop a biggeropponent charging at me without that structure? The structure was also important to handlecombination-type fighters. I also asked myself what would happen when I get older and myspeed and power have decreased? It would mean that I would have nothing when I'm old.

I couldn't take my dilemma to my wing chun seniors. They didn't like the fact that I practicedkarate. They didn't understand that while I practiced karate, I could sharpen my skills against a

legal opponent. Karate's sparring allowed me to get legalfight experience. (In the old days, Chinese martial artistswould test out their skills in illegal fights termed "gong sao"-which literally meant "talking hands." Outsiders who

watched me thought that I was doing karate; the instructors

didn't realize I used wing chun to combat my karateopponents. later on, I found a way to adapt my wing chunto their way of fighting. Bruce would throw his power handout with his high speed and timing to intercept the

opponent's punch or kick. I thought, why don't I throw mywing chun structure forward with one hand interceptingwhile the other attacked at the same time? My time trainingin karate gave me a good chance to develop my newmethod. Every year, Japan sent new Japanese instructors toHong Kong to teach. I was always the first guy to fight withthe new Japanese instructors. They knew me in the schoolas the "Chinese boxer."

Thanks to Bruce's ideas' I learned how to handle my opponents. My way didn't mean other wingchun practitioners did the same; but I developed my way to satisfy myself and keep my belovedwing chun style. I was able to make the wing chun style alive and understand the wing chunconcept in combat.

Bruce's way of the intercepting fist (jeet kune do) is one of the principles of wing chun. Bruce'sstandard was limited; he made intercepting into his concept because of the circumstances he toldme of during his last Stay in Hong Kong. Before he died, he told me that "jeet kune" meant Pak


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sao in wing chun or intercepting an opponent's punch before it landed on you. I asked him if hemeant to create another style. Bruce firmly told me, "No! It is only the expression of the motion!You can say it is my expression of the pak sao in wing chun (note: Pak sao is one of the

fundamental movements from wing chun and depending upon circumstance, it may be offensiveor defensive in nature.) I didn't betray sifu, I didn't betray Chinese martial arts. I wanted to showothers the application way of jeet kune. I wanted to prove I could stop their fast attacks coming

at me."

I knew Bruce's character. I knew he wanted to prove what he said was right and that he wouldprove it to wing chun people as well as the world, that he was top dog. Bruce would alwayschange his way of fighting to improve himself to be the best. I never read his books or booksthat others wrote about him, but I would watch his application whenever I could in his real fightsor as an actor in his movies. I found his martial arts to have two versions: one in real life and onein his movies. In real life, Bruce's speed and power would scare his opponents and would prove

what he called "jeet kune." His movie version would show hisshowmanship with fancy movements to satisfy his fans. I didn'tsee his "jeet kune" action in his movies.

I believe those who knew Bruce Personally could tell his moveswere sharp, clear and to the point. People who didn't knowBruce in person were attracted by his action movies andphilosophy. I have been in the U.S. for 12 years now. I haveseen many of Bruce's students and grand students change alot of his way, even when they don't even understand what theoriginal meaning or essence of his "jeet kune do." Some haveeven gone on to teach jeet kune do as a style! Some of themclaim to be teaching jeet kune do and add their own personalstyle, calling it "JKD so-and-so."

To my memory, Bruce explained that jeet kune do was the

method of intercepting or cutting off an opponent's action. So jeet kune do was the method of

striking an opponent as the opponent attacked. The concept of intercepting or cutting is used inall systems of martial arts. if you don't want to get hit, you'd better cut offor block an attack without running from or skipping away. Each style orperson will demonstrate intercepting in a different manner. Bruce

demonstrated in his personal attitude because of his emotional anger andhunger for winning character. He simply wanted to be the best and wouldaccept nothing else. That is the trademark of Bruce's style or action inentry. Only Bruce could do that.

Bruce changed his methods for the job on hand, not for you or me Hebecame an expert in intercepting or cutting off an opponent's attack. Hehad to continually train to prove what he said about "jeet kune." if Brucecouldn't intercept, he would have to take back the name "jeet kune do."But he did prove it. He desired to keep the name "jeet kune do" while hewas alive. Since he is now dead, it is up to his students to continue givingBruce credit. The question is whether they can prove they can "jeet kune"for him and the public.

We don't care how Bruce's students change their way; we want to seesomeone as good or better than Bruce lee in action, not another style orway. if your results are different from what Bruce did you are not


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preserving jeet kune do. if you keep the name jeet kune do, then you should strive to become anexpert in intercepting. Don't down grade Bruce's memory with your own way. This is not hiscreation. Just as wing chun people have recognizable trademark in application, those who follow

Bruce's way should also have a recognizable concept: that of intercepting.

To understand Bruce and his martial art, you have to look at his mother art, wing chun. Wing

chun in the 1950s was a popular fighting system because of its reputation in challenge fights withother gung-fu Systems. Wing chun was noted for its simple, direct, economical movement andnon-classical style.

Many joined and wanted to learn how to fight. Because of the reputation of wing chun, Bruceand I joined. The thing about wing chun is once you start the first form, you feel frustrated. Wequestioned, "Why do we have to learn this? How can you fight like this?" Everyone wanted tolearn the siu nim tao quickly, so they could move onto the sticking hands exercise. The dan chisao (single sticking hand) exercise was no fun, so the younger students wanted to get throughthat even quicker. When you finally learned the double sticking hands exercise, we felt excitedand thought, "I can fight now! I know wing chun now!" We liked to copy the seniors. If you couldland a punch on your opponent, you felt very excited. "I can beat him now," was our firstthought. So everyone wanted to beat his partner first so he could be the top dog.

Everyone also tried to please the seniors so they would teach us more tricks to beat up the guyyou didn't like or competed with. So students grouped together and created competition withanother group. Each group thought it could beat the other. In my opinion, this is how wing chunpolitics began. Being 100-105 pounds, I had a hard time against opponents bigger than me.During this time I also tried to collect as many new tricks to beat my opponents. Once theopponent knew that trick, you had to find new tricks. When your opponent knew all your tricks,being a small guy, you were in trouble. The old saying of the, "Same game, same way, thebigger guy always wins" applies to every physical sport.

later, tricks became useless. I always got pushed out because of my limited power when it cameto advanced sticking hands practice. I was very frustrated because the opponents knew my tricks

and they were stronger than me. If I threw a punch, it was nothing to them; they could take theblow and throw a punch right back. I learned that sticking hands was very different from distancefighting. In distance fighting a lightweight could move faster than a heavyweight. My dilemmawas that I was learning wing chun, not a system that emphasized distance fighting.

Yip Man's hands

I always got pushed out when I practiced chi saowith my bigger seniors. Everyone who learnedwing chun always wanted to prove that they werebetter than the others. Most of the practitionersconcentrated on the offensive side of sticking

hands. They tried to learn how to first hit theOpponent. The practice became a sport fightinggame. Whoever was stronger would win. Egos ranwild and every one wanted to be the best. Thereis a wing chun saying, "Don't speak of who issenior or junior. The one who attains the skill first is the senior." It meant that, "We don't haveseniors," because we were better than the seniors. In wing chun we say we don't have any

seniors because we strove to become better than the seniors and even better than the founder.If you look at your art this way, you will certainly improve.


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During that period, I had a hard time. I thought of quitting a few times, until I finally went to theold man (grandmaster Yip Man). He always told me, "Relax! Relax! Don't get excited!" Butwhenever I practiced chi sao with someone, it was hard to relax, especially when I got hit. I

became angry when struck. I wanted to kill my opponent. The sticking hands game became afight, with both parties getting hurt. The question was who got hurt more. Because I was smaller,I was the one who usually hurt more.

When I saw Yip Man stick hands with others, he was very relaxed and talked to his partner.Sometimes he threw his partner out without having to hit him. When I stuck hands with Yip Man,I always felt my balance controlled by him when I attempted to strike. I was always off balance,with my toes or heels off the ground! I felt my hands rebound when I tried to strike him. Itappeared as if Yip Man used my force to hit me. His movement was so slight, it seemed he didn'tdo anything, not even extend his hand! When I was thrown back, it was very comfortable, notviolent, yet I still could not see his techniques. When I asked him how he did it, he simply said'"Like this!" as he demonstrated his extension of his hands, which was the same as practice. Isaw Yip Man do this to other students, even the seniors. He never landed a blow on his students,but he would put a student in an awkward position and make the fellow students laugh at thesight. He was the funniest old man. I never once saw Yip Man take a step backward during chisao.

I thought to myself, this old man was my size and weight, how could he control his students soeasily? So every time he played chi sao with a student, I kept watching his perfect wing chunbody structure. Whenever he took a step forward, his opponent was thrown back. No matter howbig the student was, Yip Man never exhibited a killing attitude. The students would swing hishands, and Yip Man would smile and merely control the movements.

I really felt hopeless, so I asked sifu what should I do to further myself. He told me, "Why do youalways want to be the same as the others? You know it won't work, why don't you change? Dothe form more, don't even play sticking hands for a while. Do the form slower." I was confused; Iwanted to learn wing chun to fight. I wanted new ways and new techniques. After all these years,

Yip Man's advice were these few words. I felt disappointed, yet I couldn't argue with him. I had

the choice to either drop out or do what he said. So I reviewed all the forms with him and hecorrected them during private lessons. I did stick hands with him slowly. He just coached me andguided my hands like a baby sitter. In this manner, I learned the softer, defensive side of wingchun.

Who could know Yip Man's high skill? Yip Man could neutralize his opponent's force or interrupthis opponent's motion so that it never landed. lf you take an analogy of a big car facing a smallcar, you can see that the driver of the small car doesn't have much of a chance. The small cardriver has to shut off the engine or interrupt the

shift to first gear of the big-car driver. obviously,the big car can just run over a small car anddestroy it. The question is how big is your car, andcompared with whom?

A larger opponent

When Yip Man faced a larger opponent, his skillwas so high that he would shut off his opponent'sengine or never let it start. When you're old, you

have to adapt this way to survive. With my smallsize, I had to learn this method. I had to be faster


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than my opponent's fist or elbow's extension. I had to see my opponent's telegraphic body moveor see his mind's intent. Whether in close-range or distance fighting. I have to interrupt myopponent's engine start or guide his intention elsewhere. Bruce didn't learn this high level of skill.

By Hong Kong standards, he was a big car.

Everyone in wing chun has his opinion or politics. The politics arise when each speaks of the

"best" method of entry or attack. The "best entry" or "best attack" is a product which a wingchun exponent chooses to buy. To a wing chun man, every attack is considered an "askinghand." My fist is a question posed to you. If someone attacks and you solve the problem before itis initiated, how much politics are involved? Politics come from partiality, which is why I say thatwhen wing chun is trained to a high level, there are no techniques. Who realized Yip Man's skill?All my training brothers respected Yip Man because he never hurt them, nor were they skillfulenough to hurt him. Yip Man's skill in the 1950s was the epitome of sensitivity; he couldimmediately read his opponent's intention.

Wing chun is a mental, rather than physical martial art. The system was founded by a lady, andas a result, the art requires mental strategy and physical skill and timing. Wing chun requires thatthe mental be ahead of the physical. It is a system to develop skill, not a style. I'm not the best,but I know where I stand in this art.

A good wing chun man should practice chi sao all the time. You can tell what sort of individualsyou are dealing with, his character, his advantages or disadvantages. You can look at a fighter'sbody and also determine if he is a boxer, kicker or wrestler through his muscle condition and bythe characteristics of his movement. A fighter's behavior also determines what sort of fighter youare facing. Of course, this is not 100 percent. When betting on a horse race, an experiencedgambler will try to gather all the information he can get on a horse. He will look at a horse andcheck his statistics to make an intelligent decision. You learn to minimize your risk. This is whatchi sao teaches you.

When you do chi sao, you should not attack first, but rather try to collect as much information asyou can on your opponent. Many wing chun practitioners want to attack first without gathering

information. Attacking first is to give your opponent information on yourself. Sun Tzu advised us,"Know yourself, know your opponent, in 100 battles, a 100 victories." The forms of wing chunare for you to know yourself; chi sao is the way to knowing others.

Bruce changes

Bruce changed his methods when he came to the U.S. Time and experience caused change, buthe had help from wing chun, which hinted which direction to go. Just like my training brotherswho express wing chun in their way, Bruce founded a method of teaching his version of wingchun in the U.S. Bruce used the offensive side of wing chun. Bruce said t hat he supposedlysaw t he "limitat ions of win g chun," but the tru th is that there is nothing w rong wit hw ing chun. Wing chun is not a style, but a system of preparati on for combat. Wing

chun gives you th e informat ion t o be one step ahead of your opponent . Wing chun isnot bett er than ot her Systems of mart ial arts, but it offers a practit ioner some uniqueadvantages. No matt er wh at style or system of m arti al arts, to defeat your opponent

you must land your t ools. I can f ight using wing chun t ools. But I express my ow n

Hawk ins Cheung style based on my experience. As a mart ial art ist, one must st and on

his own credit , not his master's.

When I teach wing chun tools to my students, I coach them to find which way best fits theircharacter. Some students are very emotional, yet I can't force them to relax. So I teach them the


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offensive way of wing chun. When the skill in offensive attacks becomes better and they feel theyare not improving and become frustrated, they automatically come to me. They ask how tohandle this guy or the others. To me, this means they really want to learn. I explain to them that

they should relax and pay attention to the defensive side of wing chun.

Once the feeling in their hands and body is automatic, I let them go on their own to find a higher

level. If the students continue asking questions, it means they haven't yet developed the feelingof that movement. They want my help and I do all that I can to help them.

Wing chun is very simple to learn. The system contains only three forms, a dummy set, the 61/2-point staff and the double knives set. It is also very easy to teach. The question is if youhave tested it out yourself. Can you use the skills in application? Have you forgotten how manyfights or whom you have fought before? Each style of martial arts are defensive, so you use whatis useful and reject what is useless for the particular stylist. You have to find what is useful foryour style of fighting. It may be useless to other stylists, but you have to change the order ofusing your wing chun tools according to circumstances.

In my wing chun concept, I like the opponent to start first. I will initiate my timing from my

opponent's start. To my experience, this movement is a trap. When you approach me indirectly,you must have a reason why. I have to first discover your intentions. I just wait calmly. My mindbecomes a"referee." To wait is better than changing. l listen to your own music or rhythm. I payno attention, and that means that my emotions are not involved in fighting. The big question iswhen to start. Of course, this takes time to develop.

You will see in the "Westerns," when there is a gunfight, no one dares to start first. In Japanesesamurai movies, during the sword fighting scenes, the opponents may wait for a long time. Ifyou can't wait, your mind has to find your opponent's rhythm and starting point. From here youhave to find your opponent's intentions with an "asking hand."

Wing chun started Bruce on his way. It was the wing chun concepts that he still retained to allowhim to customize his personal system of martial arts that he referred to as "Jun Fan." Wing chun

was the gun that Yip Man gave us; the frustrating part was that you had to learn how to aim andshoot. The problem was your target always moved, you couldn't get a fix on it. Wing chun is aproblem solving art. You can say that Bruce and I were given a problem from the "old man" tosolve. In fact, the "old man" didn't explain things unless he saw you work for it.

Wing Chun development

Every martial arts student has to solve the problem of applying the physical portion. All rnartialarts styles tend to he theoretical in application. Bruce may have abandoned some wing chuntools' but he didn't abandon wing chun development. He changed the art for himself, not for youor me. Bruce used the concept of intercepting and "modified the gun" for his own needs. I keptthe traditional gun and made it work for me. Yip Man posed the question, it was up to us to solve

the problems. Bruce and I sought for practical application combined with the conceptual. You cansay there was a parallel development between us through the years.

In my wing chun concept, I will say that Bruce had weaknesses. If I faced him, I would try toread his intentions. I would allow Bruce to start his broken rhythm, making his rhythm hisstarting point. At that time, his feet were off the ground I would rush in with a surprise attack.Rushing in is faster than Bruce's rhythm. With rushing in, I can break his mind's rhythm, or blankout his mind in a second. I can then follow up with consecutive strikes. I would give him back aproblem to solve. The question is whether your "rush-in" timing was quick enough.


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There were some tricks we played all the time when we were teenagers looking for a fight. Whenwe would find a "target, "we would just walk up and say, "Hey! I'm talking to you!" or we wouldgo up and touch or pull him. We would make our victim pay attention. If the guy was hot-

tempered, he would try to hit us or push our hand away. Once the guy started, we would initiateour timing from his move. If the guy got hurt, we would say, "What's the matter with you? I wasjust talking to you, and you tried to hit me first Mr. Chan (fictitious name we made upon the

spot)?" The target would say, "I'm not Mr. Chan!" To which we would reply, "We thought youwere Mr. Chan and are very sorry we made a mistake!" If our target didn't pay attention to us,we would curse his mother or sister. We tried to infuriate our unwilling adversary so we couldresume the fight. We were real bad guys!

The objective was to force the opponent's starting point - We would do or say anything to initiatethe fight. Bruce even carried this trick in his movie, Return of the Dragon. In the fight scene withChuck Norris, Bruce would speed up his footwork rhythm. Norris began to follow the samerhythm then Bruce would finish Norris in the end.

A flexible art

Many of Bruce's students refer to what he taught as a "modified version of wing chun" ButBruce's term, "modify is equivalent to wing chun's "feeling" or "sensitivity." Wing chun feeling isto allow modification, to change for the sake of survival. There is no such thing as modified wingchun; a good wing chun practitioner constantly modifies his art based on feeling. Wing chun is aflexible art that allows you to change based upon your feeling. When Bruce borrowed other tools,the way he displayed them made their essence different because Bruce couldn't discard thereflexes he developed from wing chun. The essence he displayed almost always had retained awing chun flavor. Bruce's followers today don't demonstrate the attributes Bruce displayed anddeveloped over the years.

Bruce used the wing chun methods of start timing, spring energy, sensitivity (through thepractice of chi sao) and ging (penetration power). Bruce couldn't teach the feeling of his art. Justlike Olympic sprinter Carl Lewis trying to teach someone how to get off the starting blocks faster,it was a matter of feeling, not mechanics or tools. Bruce's speed was a result of the wing chuntraining he practiced for so long. In wing chun, there is a quality that we refer to as "starttiming." It is the ability to start quickly and differs from someone who has fast hands or feet.Start timing is what made him fast. It is not an emotional type of speed. It was Bruce's use ofstart timing that made him so fast.

The secret to Bruce's speed and power was that he combined both physical and mental power.Bruce was an expert in mental intimidation. Bruce demonstrated his emotional anger and hungerfor wining character in every tool he delivered. When I asked him how he could get so fast, heexplained that he would use his emotional content to speed up his techniques. This was a bigdeparture from wing chun in that the wing chun mind is supposed to be centered and calm.

I remember when we practiced wing chun together as teenagers. Whenever Yip Man taught usnew techniques, we would test it out. If it didn't feel right, we would go back to sifu again, andask him to show us the technique. One of us would watch his hands, the other would watch hisbody mechanics. We would then exchange what we observed and put it together. We would goaround asking our seniors, too. Bruce and I did the same with them. One would watch thetechnique, the other the body mechanics. We would ask the seniors who was right or wrong, andhow we could correct the movements. We got used to watching the detail in a person's body

mechanics rather than technique. Good or bad techniques were based on good or bad bodymechanics or structure. This is the way Bruce and I stole other styles' techniques, analyzed them


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and even did it better than the person showing us. Anyone who knew Bruce knew that he hadthis ability. Bruce would steal others' techniques, yet because of his "gorilla" upper body and hisforearm strength (in wing chun, we call this long bridge arm power, meaning that the power is

issued from the forearm down instead of from the body), his punch would have two kinds ofpower: one from the long bridge force and the other from his body rotation power (body rotationpower is what boxers use the most). That is why whatever style or technique that Bruce would

steal, he could perform better than the original. His forearm power is what he developed fromwing chun through years of training. This is why I say that his followers don't have what he had.

Strong Arms

I recall when we would chi sao, Bruce's arms were very strong. He would just extend his armsand you could feel his power. But I knew his lower body part was weak, and I would pull his arm

while he extended, and would pull him off balance. He would have to stop his extension to savehis belance. I usually used this method to stop his continuous attacks. That was Bruce's weakpoint. In the wing chun system, whenever we want to attack, the legs have to step out beforeyou extend your arm or punch, so you won't lose your balance. If your arm gets interrupted byyour opponent's pressure or power, you can still continue your attack because you body

equalizes the pressure placed on you. You can still continue to extend your arm or punch whilebeing intercepted. This is how a good wing chun man can use the power twice in one motion,rather than having to reload the power. You reload by extending the punch.

Because of Bruce's poor body structure, he was easy to throw off balance. It was alsodisadvantageous for him if he came up against a larger opponent that would jam him whenBruce punched or extended his arm during sticking hands. Maybe this is what made him give upthe wing chun structure. No one could touch his hands while Bruce engaged in a long distancefight. His upper torso strength and body rotation method would create devastating power. It wassmart for him to use these attributes to his advantage. In the U.S. Bruce would not fight againstwing chun men, so no one knew his weak points!

Bruce's thin legs put all his energy in his upper torso. This gave him an advantage of quicklymoving his legs. It also made him a good dancer when we were younger. Bruce enhanced his legtechniques by learning two months of northern style kung-fu high kicks before he came to theU.S. Good kickers require the energy to be in the upper torso, so Bruce had natural advantageswhen it came to kicking fast and with timing. This was his advantage in kicking and hisdisadvantage in wing chun structure.

Wing chun at heart

Despite Bruce's advanced level in the martial arts, he was still a wing chun man. He expoundedthe use of the centerline principle, as well as simple, direct, non-telegraphic and economicalmotions. And although he may have borrowed tools from other martial arts systems, he used thetechniques to conform to the wing chun way. For example, when Bruce used the wing chun

straight punch, he started from the middle, with his elbows down. Although he may have used anorthern shaolin side kick, he still issued power with a stomp as a wing chin man. He wouldstomp into his opponent. His best techniques were his straight punch and side kick. His front andhook kick were fast, but they didn't have the killing power of his straight punch or side kick.Consequently, he used those tools the most to express his JKD.

When Bruce demonstrated his skill with the kali sticks, you can still see his upright wing chunstructure. As previously mentioned, Bruce had the skill to copy anyone's hand techniques quickerand better than anyone.


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When Bruce broke away from wing chun and his classical Jun Fan system, he pursued his ownnon-classical, personal style. Because Bruce studied wing chun so long, he made his tools into awing chun product, which is why I say his students don't have his tools and attributes. To wing

chun people, we feel that Bruce is not complete. Wing chun stresses ambidexterity, where as inBruce's art, it favors the lead hand.

Bruce's students are also approaching his art in the wrong manner. Jeet kune do was supposedto be non-classical, but now it has become classical. The practitioners fear to create and wouldrather obey the dictates of the style. Take the finger jab that Bruce taught. Bruce's studentsdon't have the practical application. if it hasn't been developed or used in application, it is useless.Wing chun backs up its practical application with its sticking hands exercise and uses the partneras a dummy. You have to test your application in practice. I feel that jeet kune do is steppingbackward, because of the lack of feel in fighting.

Wing chun's energy is on the legs more than the upper body. Because the wing chun hands areused to feel the opponent's hands and read his intentions, the hands must be soft. It isanalogous to a baseball catcher. You have to be soft to hold up and receive the incomingpressure. You must feel comfortable. The legs are used to throw the whole body forward, like ahammer striking a nail (a "nail" is your tool striking your opponent). This is what is called thewing chun structure power. If we use the analogy of a hammer and nail, the nail must bepositioned in the center of the hammer, other wise your nail will be broken or bent crooked whilethe hammer hits It. In wing chun, this means the hand is jammed or has no power transference.A good wing chun man first aligns the nail to the target, while the target waits to move. Thehammer then follows up. if you think of this, you will see that Bruce gave up the wing chunstructure, but wing chun trained his arms to issue power.

Bruce's advantages were in distance fighting, and he extended his advantage to a high level.When Bruce stated traditional martial arts are classical, it was because he was free from theclassical. He had a hard time before he mastered the martial arts.

Without wing chun, he wouldn't be able to find out his advantage or disadvantage. He didn't

have to create a style, he could express whatever he wanted. Bruce was like the fastestgunslinger, he could kill you in a second, or he could kill you in ten minutes. In the first nineminutes and 59 seconds, he could demonstrate as many fancy motions as he wanted, as long asno one knew his weak points. Sometimes in my classes' I demonstrate Bruce's teachings, too. It

is fun.

Point to the moon

Jeet kune do was Bruce's finger pointing to the moon. Jeet kune do was a goal for which toaspire. Even Bruce couldn't express jeet kune do all the time. The term "jeet kune do" wascreated too early. He regretted the term "JKD" in the end, as he couldn't express the interceptingfist every time. Jun Fan gung-fu was his wing chun. Any of his followers knew that when Bruce

taught chi sao (sticking hands, a wing chun sensitivity exercise), he would put his right footforward. I knew that he tried to cover up his chi sao weakness, which is why he placed his rightfoot in front. Bruce wouldn't tell you his weakness, he would tell you something else to cover uphis weakness. In distance fighting, Bruce did what we wing chun men do: we put our best sideforward. Bruce meant for his chi sao to be right side leading for long-distance fighting. It meansthat Bruce's chi sao is meaningless. He would expose his weakness on his left side, whereas hisdeadly weapon was his right side.


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Being friends, I knew his character. Bruce wanted to be the best, and it was his personality thatdrove him to be the best and come up with his own method. Bruce and I were convinced thatoffense was the best defense. With my fighting experience and background, I could check and

compare his standard. From knowing Bruce and training with him every day for years, I couldjust about read his mind. In the early 1960s, he was a young, ambitious Chinese gung-fu guy inAmerica against the Japanese- or Korean-trained martial artists. Because of racial tension and

being the only Chinese gung-fu guy around, he kept his beloved wing chun gung-fu and washungry to learn more. He changed the wing chun fighting stance to look a bit more like thekarate cat stance to deliver a front kick on am his opponent as part of a counterattack. Thepurpose of his changing the stance and structure was to handle the one-punch kill attitude. Brucewanted to prove that gung-fu guys could fight, too. Because of Bruce's limited knowledge of wingchun, he was forced to use other tools. He created his own classical system called Jun Fan. Forhis students to attain his level, they have to become free from Jun Fan. Bruce realized jeet kunedo when he was finally free from Jun Fan and wing chun rules. He changed to fit into U.S.martial arts, not Asian martial arts. If we use the analogy that wing chun is a car, if you learn todrive in Hong Kong or in the U.S., the rules are different. You have to change and modify yourexperience to fit your environment. Bruce drove the wing chun car in the U.S. to suit theAmerican way. His Jun Fan is a product of wing chun for America. Jun Fan is not jeet kune do,and Bruce's followers have the classical Bruce Lee martial art Jun Fan, not jeet kune do. Jeet

kune do is a goal for which to aspire. If any of Bruce's followers intercept in every move, thenthey are expressing jeet kune do. Jeet kune do was Bruce's gift to the world's martial artists. Jeet

kune do is just one of the concepts of wing chun. He experimented, did research anddevelopment for American martial arts. Just as Wong Shun Leung's fighting experience is gearedtoward fighting against gung-fu guys, we all had to develop our own product. We all had tobecome free from wing chun to master it. If Wong were in the U.S., he too would have to change.Wing chun is frustrating to its practitioners because the system tells you to create your ownproduct. There are no fighting forms in wing chun. The kata or forms of other styles are aproduct. How many products can one produce with wing chun? A product is partial. Each wingchun practitioner has to make his own product with his two hands, sticking, changing andcoordinating. To create a new product, you go back to the center. Your mind must be centeredto absorb a new product.

Although Bruce and his personal art are gone, Bruce managed to pass on his knowledge to thewhole world, not just his followers. He never passed on his tools, but he passed on the concept.The tools were like a boat designed to cross a river; once you get to the other side, don't carrythe boat. Maybe there can be another "Bruce Lee" someday if they can follow the example he setin training, research and application. Bruce wanted the world to know that you should find outwhat fits.

Bruce's sudden death left behind a classical mess. We can't deny the impact that Bruce had.Eighteen years since Bruce's passing, and hundreds of martial artists are still trying to copyBruce's movements, punches and kicks. Some learn wing chun simply because wing chun was hismother system. There are now many jeet kune do instructors teaching "his methods." Eighteenyears and many are teaching jeet kune do, but many still don't know what jeet kune do is, Many

of these so called instructors make their art mimic Bruce's movements. Some instructors havenothing to do with Bruce, but try to relate their teachings to him.

Some of Bruce's first-generation students came to study from me when I first immigrated here.When I told Bruce of my intent to immigrate to the U.S. before his death, Bruce thought it wouldbe great to have me help out his students, but whether they came to learn or not was anotherthing.


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Different wayWhen I touched their hands, I found that Bruce didn't teach them the way he developed bodypower from wing chun. So, I tried to teach them the fundamentals of how to develop Bruce'spower. There are no secrets. First, you have to connect your body as one unit. Then you should

develop it with a partner who tries to interrupt your unit by pulling, pushing and other types ofphysical interruptions. If you can manage physical interruption without disrupting your body unit,

then you can talk about separating your unit into individual parts. If you don't like physicalinterruptions (i.e., punches, kicks, etc.), then you may move your unit away before the punch orkick arrives. If you can do this, you can then move on to attacking techniques. You can also

speak of unit attack with the body or either individual parts (arms or legs). For Bruce, everypunch or kick had unit or body power behind it. This ability is something that you either have ordon't have.

The reader may ask, what is the difference between unit body power and individual power?

When you punch at your partner during practice, your technique is usually delivered with yourindividual (arm) power. When you punch to destroy your opponent, the technique is deliveredwith body connection power. Techniques to impress your friends are delivered with speed andtiming; techniques to destroy your opponent are delivered with speed, timing and body

connection. Again, using my analogy of a hammer and nail, you have your choice. You can throwa nail and injure your opponent, or hammer the nail forward to kill him. When Bruce threw hispunches and kicks, he used his body as a hammer.

When Bruce's first-generation students came to me, I tried to teach them how to develop thisunit power. Unfortunately, they did not believe me. Because I did not immediately teach themwing chun techniques, they felt I was keeping the knowledge to myself. Since then, I have keptmy mouth shut. Whenever people talk about Bruce, I just walk away. These students wantedwing chun techniques and feeling. To me, the wing chun techniques are of secondary importance.Techniques can be learned from any wing chun teacher. However, without body connection andphysical development, the techniques become useless.

Trained to fight

Back in the 195Os, Yip Man trained us to fight, not be technicians. Because we were so young,we didn't understand the concepts or theories. As he taught us, Yip Man said, "Don't believe me,as I may be tricking you. Go out and have a fight. Test it out." In other words, Yip Man taught usthe distance applications of wing chun. First he told us to go out and find practitioners of otherstyles and test our wing chun on them. If we lost, we knew on what we should work. We wouldgo out and test our techniques again. We thought to ourselves, "Got to make that techniquework! No excuses!" We learned by getting hit. When you are in a real fight, you find out whattechniques are good for you. Just because your technique may work for one person doesn'tguarantee it will work for you. When you test your techniques on someone you don't know, youexperience a different feeling than when training with your friends. If you discover through yourown experience, it's much better than relying on anothers experience. In this way, you won't be

in his trap.

For this reason, physical and strong tool development are more important than the techniques.The way you apply techniques comes from your courage or confidence. You gain courage andconfidence through your experience. For application, you have to ask yourself, "How muchexperience do I have? How many ways can I use this technique?" There is an old Chinese sayingthat in real fighting, you must have three points: courage, strength, technique. Technique comeslast, unless you have superior timing to deliver techniques. These qualities are of personal


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development; they have nothing to do with styles. Through your fighting experience, you cancheck your system's concepts and theories.

As I ref lect, I think that if Yip Man f irst taught us the concepts or theories, we w ould

follow them based on their requi rement s and rules. We wouldn't need to test them out,simply because the wing chun system already had generations of testing. We would try to make

the art as perfect as Yim Wing Chun displayed. Perhaps Bruce and I would have become perfecttechnicians.

We wanted to find out what is important and not important when we fought outsiders. This iswhy we fought a lot when we were young. Only through application can you prove if the theoriesare valid. Techniques without timing are dead techniques. Display timing without power and theresults are equally disastrous. Nowadays, many wing chun people have the same techniques, buthow many wing chun people have gone through Bruce's and my development?

Make the art alive

Some of Bruce's followers say that wing chun people don't have what Bruce had. To me, Bruce's

followers don't have what Bruce had. What they teach is Bruce's techniques, like his classical JunFan gung- fu, which is similar to wing chun. Only the body structure differs. These two classicalarts were fixed by their founders. The individual that learns them needs to make the art alive.Both wing chun and Jun Fan's goals are the same: simple, direct and economical movement tointercept. Wing chun utilizes the centerline as the fastest line of entry. Jun Fan allows their

followers to choose whatever line they want to make their movements simple, direct andeconomical to intercept. Bruce's followers need Bruce's superior timing to catch up with wingchun's centerline concept of intercepting.

Later, Bruce found that his Jun Fan was not direct to the goal of intercepting, so he advanced

and improved his way of intercepting and created his jeet kune do. Bruce found that wing chunactually went further in' terms of intercepting the opponent's mind. Because Bruce never

completed his Tao of Jeet Kune Do, many sections in it are not consistent with what wediscussed in Hong Kong. Bruce's five ways of attack and five ranges of fighting are attempts tosystematize his teachings, but they fail. Were he alive today, he would have explained his JKD indetail. Jeet kune do translated into English means the "way of the intercepting fist." Brucerealized that wing chun was straight to the point for intercepting and embodied the essence ofjeet kune do. It was the nucleus of his personal art. Wing chun utilizes one method to close in tothe attacker. With wing chun, one way handles all: you rush in to close the gap, intercept theopponent's attack and finish him. In intercepting, there are no ranges. In wing chun and jeetkune do, there is only one range and goal: to intercept and finish off the opponent.

Bruce had no intention to create a style or system. He just wanted to prove to his sifu, Yip Man,that he could find another route to get the job done. Bruce's work matches a wing chun saying,"Don't speak of seniors or juniors. The one that attains first is senior." We in wing chun have no

seniors; we strive to become better than seniors or even the founder.

During Bruce's last stay in Hong Kong, Bruce and Yip Man met at a dinner party. Bruce asked YipMan, "Do you still treat me as your student?" Yip Man replied, "Do you still treat me as yoursifu?" They both laughed. When Yip Man died, everyone thought that Bruce wouldn't pay his lastrespects to his master. But he did show up, like one of us, to pay his final respects to his sifu.

Each martial arts style or system goes into battle believing it has all the answers. Any classicalstyle deals with the imparting of fixed knowledge that becomes alive when it is mastered. It is up


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to the disciple to use that knowledge to develop and carry that knowledge to the point of freeexpression. Bruce did that. Every martial art master created something new and alive. Hisfollowers, later changed the system, intentionally or unintentionally, and made it deviate from the

founder's original intention. What was passed on from then was a dead system.

With wing chun, you still have the tools and concepts intact. Some individual in each generation

that applies the tools and concepts will make wing chun alive. No one can say he has the"original wing chun," as it has undergone generations of refinement, but if you apply the toolsand concepts and can use it in combat, then you are using "live wing chun." In applying wingchun, you have to change to keep up with your opponent's change; your target is always moving.Wing chun is a system that has no particular style. We wait for the opponent's style or way toshow, and then we start from there to create our own style. You don't waste time. You just reactnaturally to your opponent's action. When Bruce said, "Your technique is my technique," it is anexample of his high understanding of wing chun.

There are now many so-called jeet kune do instructors teaching "jeet kune do-this" and "jeetkune do-that." Everyone claims he is Bruce reincarnated. To me, all these claims are outdated,because Bruce had regretted naming jeet kune do. Jeet kune do was not designed for publicconsumption. Bruce said, "Jeet kune do doesn't mean adding more, it means to minimize. Inother words, to hack away from the non-essentials. It is not a daily increase, but a dailydecrease." Some jeet kune do people are flow adding more ways, telling the public that this isBruce's way.

This is against Bruce's way.

Jeet kune do is an advanced-level martial art: the question is whether beginners in martial artscan learn it without a proper foundation. Are they ready for it? You do a "daily decrease" onlyafter you've studied and sorted out your background and what you have collected and have donethe research to know what fits you.

When I teach wing chun, I don't teach the Hawkins Cheung style. Each student has to customize

the art based on his character, size, strengths, etc., and refine his personal style of wing chun.Bruce chose the simple, direct and economical way to express his style. What Bruce meant byjeet kune do is that it is not a style, but rather a process of refinement. It can't be packaged.This is why he regretted naming 'jeet kune do." Those teaching "jeet kune do" and saying thatthis is the "original Bruce Lee art," are turning a non classical art into a classical art. This is notwhat he meant by jeet kune do.

Real jeet kune do

Real jeet kune do was not at all like what he presented on the screen. What he displayed on thescreen was his showmanship. People were awed by his ability and skill, but it wasn't his real art.Jeet kune do was Bruce's personal art. Now Bruce's followers can be grouped in one of four

categories: Those who teach the screen version; those who teach the "Bruce lee classical;" thosewho teach the search and development to create their own jeet kune do; and those who teachtheir own art and label it "JKD so and so." The goal of jeet kune do is to add your own personalstyle to your martial art and decrease the extraneous. One day when you've sorted out your ownmartial arts, you'll understand what Bruce meant by jeet kune do. If you are still in the process ofcollecting and developing. you haven't yet attained jeet kune do. You have to find what fits withyour background, not Bruce's. That is jeet kune do. Ask yourself--- What is your goal?


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Bruce left behind the means to test your martial art. I know Bruce's wing chun background andknow what Bruce decreased for himself. But I don't know the background of Bruce's followers, soI ask: What are they decreasing? Have they tested out what they have? Why do you have to add

more? What is the problem? Bruce changed for his own reasons. Myself? Rather than changing, Isolved the problem of making my wing chun alive. Now some of Bruce's followers are addingmore and more to their art. They are losing the way.

You fight with your hands and feet, not your memory. When your mind becomes boggled withtoo many fighting systems, you find it difficult to know which to discard and which to keep. Inactual fighting, you win or lose in a few seconds, not like a gung-fu movie where the actors fightfor a half-hour. In those few seconds, you make up in your mind which style you will use. Everystyle is good, if you have trained for it. Every style can be useful, but you have to train todevelop its usefulness in combat. Bruce was fond of saying, "Take what is useful, reject what isuseless." What you kept in your system is what is best. If you have too many styles, in realfighting, you can hardly decide which one to use under mental pressure. How can you finish thefight in a second if you haven't decided which method to use?

Bruce's trap

Many are caught in Bruce's trap; even Bruce was caught in his own trap. Bruce decided to namehis art jeet kune do based on his personal ideas without testing it in combat. Whatever is createdby man can be destroyed. Before Bruce made jeet kune do, he fought a lot. After he created jeetkune do, he said this is the way to fight, but without testing it in combat, how do we know theart is alive? Bruce's jeet kune do concepts are simplicity, directness, and economy of motion.Bruce stressed "non-classical" motion, which is your way of expressing the tools that you deliver.But some of Bruce's followers are going in the opposite direction. They are collecting more tools,more ways to display their martial arts.

When Bruce Stated, "Take what is useful, reject was is useless," he meant that you must alreadyhave the tools. The tools were whatever you have learned from your classical style or way. Youhave to put those tools into testing and finding out what is useful. if you are still increasing orgathering tools, it means that you're not ready to reject the useless. You're not up to jeet kunedo yet. You must ask yourself if you are increasing for the goal of intercepting, for Showmanship,or some other personal goal. "Reject what is useless" is for the fighter to throw away unessentialmovements or change with whatever circumstances in which to survive. At this stage a person isbeginning to do jeet kune do to personalize the art for his needs.

Every martial art system has its useful parts, otherwise it would become extinct. Bruce's followersare taking what is useful from this style, another style and so on, and becoming collectors of"useful styles." But all the while, they have no time to test out those "useful styles" incompetition or combat. Meanwhile, there are still other "useful styles" out there which theyhaven't learned. Where is jeet kune do's home? Jeet kune do doesn't have any specialtytechniques that make it a unique martial art. Boxers box, wrestlers grapple, wing chun people in-

fight and stick and trap, but where is jeet kune do's home or specialty? Jeet kune do means theway of the intercepting fist, but how do Bruce's followers attain that?

Any expert in his system or style has spent years continuously training the basic movements todiscover the most effective movement. Every expert has to find a way to make his movementssimple, direct and economical. if you have a lot of fundamental movements, you have to test outeach movement to discover how to refine them and make them simple, direct and economical.

This process will take years and years to refine.


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When Bruce formed jeet kune do, he stated in a magazine article that "99 percent of orientalself-defense is baloney!" It really shocked me that Bruce was so blatant. It seemed that hemeant to challenge the whole world! if he said that in Hong Kong, martial artists would line up at

his front door to challenge him. He was in the U.S. at that time. The wing chun clan in HongKong just smiled and sat back to watch the show, because we knew the gun wasn't pointed at us.We knew that Bruce was trying to stir up trouble!

In our youth, during the 1950s, we did the same to other gung-fu systems. That was how wingchun's name spread. Now Bruce was doing the same in the U.S., but with his personal credit andname. if he won the challenges, he gained fame. if he lost, it was his personal style that suffered,not wing chun. The question was, who dared to test out Bruce to see his bottom card? That wasthe same game we played from the old days.

When the "Green Hornet" and "Longstreet" series played on TV, people liked the charactersBruce played. His fans loved the series, martial artists loved it, and gung-fu guys loved it. Itstarred a Chinese gung-fu guy, so maybe people forgot what he said. He made it. Later on, whenhis movies premiered, the characters he played spoke out for all martial artists. Bruce made hisopponents become his friends when he became a hero. The challenges were over, and he wonthe world over to his side.

The real enemy

Bruce's real enemy was his mind. When he became successful, his fans wanted more. He

continued to work out very hard, but no longer had people challenging him. Before he died, Isaw Bruce on TV. He looked exhausted, he lost weight and was ill-tempered. He wasn't the BruceI knew before. Bruce had strayed too far from the center. We always said, "When you play thegame, it's very exciting. But when you're controlled by the game, you have no way out. It'sterrible, you have to pay for it."

In wing chun, the term "centerline" not only refers to the line in fighting, it also refers to your

mind, the things you do, the problems you solve, the way that you live your life. If you stray toofar to the right or left, it takes some time to return to the center. The center has no opinion.

To Confucius, the centered mind sees clearly. In life, your yin and yang must be balanced for youto be in the center. Bruce's followers should know that his main theme or center of his art isintercepting.

Whenever anyone says he teaches Bruce's art, he is making it a classical art. This was againstthe jeet kune do founder's rules. Remember the essence of Bruce's jeet kune do is embodied inthe three qualities of simplicity, directness and economy of motion in entering the target. Brucesaid it was a daily decrease, not a daily increase. His followers are not supposed to mimic theway he moved, but use their fighting knowledge to represent the three qualities. If any martialartist expresses these three qualities, he is doing jeet kune do. Bruce's followers do not own jeet

kune do. If you can express the three qualities and intercept in combat, you can say you aredoing jeet kune do.

Bruce didn't leave tools behind to support the concept of jeet kune do. Bruce was a wing chunman. His research was to prove the wing chun concept of the centerline, which is the fastest lineof entry. Bruce's speed and timing were an expression of that concept. Again, I say Bruce'sfollowers lack his physical ability because they fall short in his mother art, wing chun.


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Wing chun was born out of frustration to find the quickest, most efficient way to fight. Thefounder of wing chun must have found no way out. Wing chun is designed as a combat system.For this reason, the system emphasizes confidence, timing, intercepting, capturing the centerline,

shocking the opponent, setting up for consecutive strikes, and trapping. Jeet kune do was bornout of Bruce's frustration. That frustration made him search, experiment and develop into thelegend that he is today.

Conclusion

In writing this series, I hoped to have proved that Bruce's jeet kune do is research anddevelopment. Some of Bruce's followers are teaching JKD incorrectly. Jeet kune do is the art ofusing simple, direct, economical motions to intercept in one beat. Jeet kune do is not a style orsystem, and does not feature unique tools; it is a means to check your current system to refine it

further and monitor your progress. JKD custom-tailors your martial arts with your own "non-classical" movement.

Bruce left behind a martial arts system or systems, but they are not jeet kune do. Many call theirart jeet kune do, but are teaching their personal interpretation which may or may not have

anything to do with Bruce's jeet kune do. Finally, jeet kune do was a means for Bruce to checkand prove the wing chun concept of the centerline. He finally proved to Yip Man that he couldachieve this without staying in the classical system.

My intention here is to help Bruce's followers and clarify jeet kune do, not destroy or downgrade

them. In this way, we can preserve Bruce's ideas and memory for all time. I don't want to causepolitical problems. I just want people to evaluate their efforts in promoting jeet kune do.

I was Bruce's close friend and training partner. I came here in 1978 to promote wing chun. Ihave been pretty low key about my relationship with him. The public always knew we were close

friends, but I never discussed much about his martial arts. The goal of these articles was also toclarify the connection between wing chun and Bruce's jeet kune do. If I have frustrated any of

Bruce's followers, it is because I want them to question themselves and analyze their efforts. Jeetkune do was born out of Bruce's frustration, but I don't think many of Bruce's followers sufferedthat same frustration. It was that suffering and frustration that made Bruce aspire to greaterheights. Too many of Bruce's followers have deviated from Bruce's original intention.

These articles were written with the hope of helping my dear lifelong friend cleanup the mess heleft behind. May we all let Bruce Lee rest in peace.

bruce lee the early years

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