Augustine Fong – Wing Chun Sparring Part 7

Augustine Fong was born on Macao, an island off the coast of southern China. He has had a specific interest in Chinese martial arts since his boyhood. He was lucky enough to begin training in a traditional gung fu technique in 1960. Ho Kam Ming, an esteemed Wing Chun master, was his instructor. Master Ho, a top pupil of the late grand master Yip Man, had brought the form to the Macao area at the time. Without hesitation, Augustine Fong became one of his first students. Master Ho’s school had developed significantly by 1964. The school had earned a high reputation, so much so that a well-known gung-fu school in Hong Kong decided to issue a formal challenge. Back then, challenges were taken extremely seriously. In this situation, the difficult school had also established an amazing name and reputation. It was thought that they had competed and won over a hundred battles in this fashion, defeating a number of elite schools in Hong Kong as a consequence. Master Ho opted to contest the bout after accepting the written challenge. Master Ho’s best student and fiercest fighter was Fong. The challenger came on the given day, accompanied by his instructor and 10 other students. The challenger’s sifu was designated as the referee as a courtesy. The contest would be three rounds long, with the only regulation being that you could not leave the combat area. Fong overpowered his opponent throughout the battle. He got quite aggressive in the second round, forcing the challenger into a mok jeong (wooden dummy). Fong maintained his lead in the third and final round, pursuing and striking his opponent against a wall. Reeling against the wall, the challenger was knocked unconscious by a well-timed blow. His sifu and si dai scooped him up and carried him away without saying anything. Fong’s triumph had restored Master Ho’s school’s prestige. Because of the event, Fong became well-known across Hong Kong and Macao. He is still recognized as Wing Chun’s “Gum-Pai Da-Sau” or “Golden Ribbon Boxer” in Macao. Following this occurrence, many new students opted to enroll after hearing about the school’s reputation. Fong was invited to assist master Ho in teaching in order to aid with the growing number of students. This was a tremendous distinction for the young Fong. But instead of telling his family, he opted to keep the wonderful news to himself. His mother was a pretty severe woman at the time. Her feelings towards the arts were mixed. She believed that gung fu ability would only lead to disaster. So, rather than disturbing his mother, Fong had opted from the start to keep his talent a secret. And boy, did he ever! His mother had no idea he was practicing Wing Chun for thirteen years! During this time, sifu Fong began his studies with Chinese herbalist sifu Wong Bing Gong. Sifu Wong was a well-known healer who had received his craft from a monk. During WWII, he used his skills to heal a large number of patients. Sifu Wong taught Fong how to utilize “Dit Da” massage to cure bruises, strains, and sprains as well as broken bones. Sifu Wong also taught him how to prepare plants and their medicinal treatments, which was invaluable information for a martial artist. Augustine Fong relocated to Kowloon, Hong Kong, in 1967 owing to civil unrest in Macao. Master Ho, his instructor, founded a Wing Chun school there, where Fong practiced and taught for two years. Then, in 1969, sifu Fong went to America, following in his father’s footsteps. Sifu Fong quickly began teaching and promoting the Wing Chun style after moving to Nogales, Arizona, and subsequently settling in Tucson. He accepted a job teaching self-defense for the city of Tucson. The curriculum was so successful that he founded his own school in 1973, spurred on by his pupils and friends. This was the southwestern United States’ first public Wing Chun school! With over 37 years of expertise in the discipline, Master Fong is regarded as one of the world’s most skilled Wing Chun masters by the Ho KamMing Wing Chun Association in Hong Kong. In addition to the two basic Wing Chun weapons, the Lok Dim Bun Quan (six and a half point long staff) and the Bat Jaam Do (butterfly knives), he is skilled in a broad range of other martial arts weapons and excels in the southern Lion Dance. Master Fong learnt the latter from Master Chan Gin Man of Hong Kong’s Hung Sing Choi Lee Fut Kuen. People have travelled from all across the United States and Mexico to study with Master Fong because of his knowledge. Master Fong supported Master Ho’s journey to the United States in 1989 to promote the art of Wing Chun. During this tour, a Wing Chun Seminar was held at the headquarters of the Fong Wing Chun Gung-Fu Federation. Master Fong was designated top judge of the United States Wing Chun committee in 1990. In this role, he was in charge of developing the regulations for the Wing Chun Sticky Hands event hosted by the United States National Chinese Martial Arts Competitions. Master Fong has done martial arts demonstrations, performed lion dances around Arizona and Sonara, Mexico, and arranged extremely successful martial arts shows in Arizona to promote the Wing Chun method. He has been on various local television and radio shows, as well as in pieces published in the magazines “Black Belt” and “Inside Kung-Fu,” as well as several local newspapers. He had also given several lectures around the country. Master Fong has published eight volumes of publications covering the whole Wing Chun Gung-Fu system. He has created 8 volumes of video cassettes for the Wing Chun System with the assistance of The Panther Production Company. The Martial Art Society has named Tucson’s Fong’s Wing Chun Gung-Fu Academy one of the best Wing Chun Gung-Fu Schools after many years of hard effort. Master Fong presently runs his own federation with headquarters in Tucson, Arizona, where he built his own Wing Chun Academy and the headquarters for “Fong’s Wing Chun Gung-Fu Federation.” This organization is still dedicated to the precise fundamentals of the whole Wing Chun Gung-Fu system, and it presently has connected schools throughout the United States and Canada. Sparring in Wing Chun includes a variety of combat techniques such as Sticky Legs, Closing the Gap, Taking Centerline, Freestyle Sparring, and more. (Approximately 58 minutes)