Herbert Maier - Bai Sao: Wing Chun's Taproot

20 years in the making!!!

Herbert N. Maier, Ph.D has been the sole American student of GrandMaster Wang Kiu for over 20 years. Wang's teaching and influence led Maier to graduate school, where he established a new research field and research method in Tactical (Martial Arts) Cognition.

The YumCha series will be his interpretations of Wing Chun theory as learned from GrandMaster Wang Kiu. Wang Kiu taught Bai Sao to Maier the way Yip Man used it in Hong Kong. One of Yip Man's Original 4 Core Students, Wang was the first one taught the Wooden Man, by means of the partner version. He participated in the famous challenge matches and wrote the newspaper accounts.

"Before Wing Chun is a fighting art, it is a thinking art."
"We must solve his puzzle before he solves ours." Herbert Maier

"I always say that Wing Chun is not a style, it is a Theory — a Theory of martial art."
"It is entirely fair! I have two hands, you have two hands. One hand is inside, one hand is outside. But where else will you find so many options?" Wang Kiu

Excerpt from Introduction to The YumCha Series:

The tradition of drinking tea together before and/or after class gives a time for sharing tales, but also for group contemplation of theory and problem solving. It is most valuable if it resembles a military de-briefing or a post-game analysis.

The intention of this series is to argue that Wing Chun is a true system expressed as a theory - that it has internal integrity, consistency and completeness, that it possesses a logic with dimensions and algorithms. This is demonstrated in each volume by stepping through an aspect of the system at a minute level.

There are many books and videos on Wing Chun's forms, or on its fighting aspects. Other aspects are less frequently explored. That is rather like using gold only for currency and jewelry. But electronics and dentistry also find gold very useful. In bread, CO2 is the product of yeast, alcohol the byproduct. In brewing, just the opposite—CO2 is the byproduct, and alcohol is the product. The jeweler and the dentist, the baker and the brewer want different things.

"If you only use your sword, it gets dull. You must take time out to sharpen and polish it as well." Wang Kiu

A Divergent View:

The YumCha Series of books is so named to differentiate it from books on actual training, or applications such as combat or self-defense. Its purpose is to stimulate thinking that can lead to breadth as well as quality of application: maybe some un-thought-of options.

Excerpt from Introduction on The Title:

What's in a name?

"BaiSao" means "Demonstration Hand". GrandMaster Wang Kiu refers to Bai Sao as an "exercise". He says that Yip Man used it to show people briefly and succinctly what gives Wing Chun its character. This means that it is performed in a light and friendly manner, and intended to illustrate a discussion or explanation. The very fact that GrandMaster Yip Man used it this way indicates that it is a concise abstract of what makes Wing Chun special. This makes it important.

Taproot?

The name of Wing Chun's first form is often translated as "The Seed" or "Little Idea", or "Small Beginnings". The first thing a seed does, before sending up a sprout, is to send down a taproot. Since that taproot is hidden, we tend to forget it while looking forward to the growth of the sapling, then enjoying the shade and fruit of the mature tree. But it is this taproot which supports the tree when rain softens the soil and storm winds blow.

Perhaps the most important single quote to any student is this one:

"You must surpass me. If the student does not surpass the teacher, then the art begins to die." Wang Kiu