C'est la Chine · UK | Foreign Kung Fu fan better understands Wing Chun moves through studying Chinese characters

Kung Fu movies have always been an important window for foreigners to know and understand Chinese Kung Fu. Gabor Spenger, a Hungarian living in the UK, is a big fan of Chinese Kung Fu movies. "When I was seven or eight years old, whenever I watched a Kung Fu movie, I would immediately do push-ups in my bedroom, imitating the Kung Fu moves in the movie," he says.

In the blink of an eye, Gabor has been teaching Wing Tsun for ten years. Gabor's understanding of Wing Tsun has changed over the years. As Wing Tsun comes from China, Gabor in the course of teaching realized that learning the Chinese language is very helpful in understanding the terminology of the movements in Wing Tsun. For example, the Chinese characters for Character Two Goat Riding Stance are actually a perfect illustration of how to perform this movement. "The Chinese character two has one short line over a long line, so when you do this movement, you can imagine that you are putting your toes onto the short line and your heels onto the long line." The goat riding is like when you are riding a goat, you have to obviously squeeze it together with knees. Interpretation of Chinese characters not only makes it easier to understand the key points of the movements, but also helps students to understand the ingenious way of thinking of the Chinese people.

In order to better pass on the cultural connotations of Wing Tsun, Gabor has also learnt Cantonese and follows the tradition of trying to teach Wing Tsun in Cantonese.

When it comes to Grandmaster Ip Man, Gabor shows great respect for him. In his Wing Tsun classroom, there is a portrait of Grandmaster Ip Man hanging on the wall, and before each lesson, he would lead his students to give a salute to Ip Man with hands folded in front. He said that although Wing Tsun was established 350 years ago, it was generally only passed down to males and to family members due to the restriction of the tradition of the times, so very few people were able to learn this martial art. It was not until the emergence of Ip Man, who not only nurtured the Kung Fu superstar Bruce Lee, but also promoted Wing Tsun and spread it both at home and abroad.