Is it? I have enough trouble trying to get the form right, let alone actually use it in a combat/sparring situation. Admittedly I’ve been trying to learn it from a video & being shown once, but man is it difficult!!! I think learning the whole system of Muay Thai was easier than learning the blasted Bong Sao!
How do you use it? Which blows is it effective against? Does it lead into other defences i.e. not a stand alone block/deflection?
And why (in his ads in magazines) does William Cheung do it so differently to everyone else? His looks totally different in the way he hasn’t got his palm rotated. Is this Bong Sao or something different?
Help would be much appreciated. I’m somewhat at a loss…
Bong Sao
Ill tell you what I know about it. One of my teachers said it takes untill black belt (our school uses the color belt system) to get Bong sao (Wing block) just right and even then some people have trouble with it. I find bong sao to be very effective and versatile as it is great for counter-attacks. Bong sao is suppose to protect your upper and lower level body, we never use it to block our face.
Thats my two cents
Oopsd
Sorry I didnt answer your question because I dont know what the hardest block is. But bong sao might be one of the hardest, but keep at it, its a great block.
Try leading the bong sau more with your elbow and forearm. Never bong above your shoulder. Also you have to pivot while applying the bong sau. Oh, and bong sau should never stay, it should move into lop sau, tan sau, wu sau, etc.
another thing to remember is never to do the bong sau like a karate block or tae kwondo block.
But personally, i don’t really care for the bong sau
hope this helps 
Originally posted by Jeff Liboiron
another thing to remember is never to do the bong sau like a karate block or tae kwondo block.
How do you mean?
well, i don’t know if you’ve studied karate, but i did for a few months when i was 12.
well, in karate, when practicing a block to the face, you lift your arm mainly by the shoulder in an upwards motion instead of leading with the forearm, wrist, or elbow. And also, this block is above the forehead.
I’ve seen people do the bong sau like a karate face block, only lower, they do that lifting motion, instead of leading with their forearm and elbow.
Do i make sense? if not, i’m sorry
perfect sense
are you being sarcastic?
What do you think about the other things i mentioned in that post? just wondering
Try leading the bong sau more with your elbow and forearm.
Eeek!!!
Never bong above your shoulder
Why not?
…i believe what you ment to say is “I cant bong above my shoulder without getitng cramps and feeling like my arm is about to colapse…and then i’ll get hit!!!”
Also you have to pivot while applying the bong sau
I disagree with this, i believe you only need to pivot if the force to too great, but alot of the time it is not necessary.
Oh, and bong sau should never stay..
Agreed. Because bong sau is a movement not a position.
S.Teebas
Is Bong Sao the hardest thing to learn properly in Wing Chun?
I would say it was quite easy for me.
The footwork and using your body is the hardest for me.
What do you lead with when doing bong sau Teebas?
Originally posted by S.Teebas
i believe you only need to pivot if the force to too great, but alot of the time it is not necessary.
Because bong sau is a movement not a position.
I think you’re missing something.
Jeff
I was not being sarcastic.
I generally agree with what you stated. However, not only should the bong sau never stay, but any other movement as well. I believe that that expression or idiom, came about due to the common weakness experienced with a bong sau. And is one of those “fillers” I referred to in a previous post, that people use to justify their weak bong sau. Of course, you could say ANY weak position should be transitional.
But you also have to consider what the bong sau is used for as well. It’s not necessarily evasive.
Re: Jeff
Originally posted by whippinghand
I
I generally agree with what you stated. However, not only should the bong sau never stay, but any other movement as well.
Thanks WC, I never thought of it that way
One thing I find funny is that I only use the bong-sau during chi-sao, never during fighting!
Some questions: Is the bong-sau a product of chis-sao? Is it relly any good in a real fight? 
Bong Sau “is” hard to learn
I believe bong sau is the hardest of the three main movements to learn (bong, fook, tan).
But as stated by someone earlier, all are movements, not fixed positions. I’ve seen bong sau performed as quite a stiff, jutting movement, but the way I’ve been taught differs.
The arm meets the attacking arm with a corkscrewing action and collapses on pressure. The more pressure used against you the more you collapse. For this to work you must be relaxed, which would be hard if you were trying to meet the attack using a karate-style action (ie. forcing the blow away with strength alone).
I’ve been taught that as with most defensive moves in WC, bong sau is “not” a block, but a deflection. Turning aids the bong and redirects an opponents energy. Without turning the body, the bong still works, but this is down to the angle of arm, which is achieved by having the correct elbow height in relation to the position of your wrist. Turning the body further redirecting an attackers energy, and collapsing the bong make your next movement (ie. a strike) much easier.
All in all, putting all these elements together in one smooth, relaxed motion dependent on energy, timing and alignment, make bong sau “challenging” to learn
Hard to master but a great technique - I’ve not seen a similar motion in any other martial art - uniquely WC as far as I know!!!
bong sau
in a real fight i’ve found it does wonders against incoming elbows after contact has been established - of course this requires you to bong above your shoulder:) but thats fine the way i was taught, and it works fine with proper structure
not only does it save your pretty face, but it will uproot your opponent while opening up half his body
ive found the different “wing” arms become extremely more useful the closer-in you are fighting
also, after having the bong sau/lop sau drill ingrained in me after doing it for hours… i bong instinctively when my arm gets pulled; which is a life-saver
i do agree that i have the most trouble figuring out the proper structure of the bong sau - and the proper timing; tan and fook seem much easier (relatively speaking of course)
peace
travis
Nichiren- if someone learns the bong sao well you betchum it
will be used- it is one of the three seeds of wing chun. Without developing the bong sao properly there goes one third of wing chun motions and you miss a vital connection to the other 2/3.
Chi sao is not fighting but it is a important bridge- without it you fall into the moat as far learning and using wing chun.
Bits of wing chun can be of use - but learning wing chun takes a real effort and good/knowledgeable teaching.
I use bong sau as a passive movement but a friend of mine who trains under someone else uses it as an active movement.
Ive seen boxing matches where boxers use bong sau naturally although they are never taught it. It seems take care of the same punches that a shoulder roll would cope with but at a slightly longer distance. Has anyone else seen this or am I imagining it?
Re Giant Midget post: No you are not imagining it. Bong sao will come out in different natural ways…but wing chun has figured out the proper structure for developing the bong sao motion.
Others have bits and pieces of insights into the motion. Wing chun way is
doing it without muscling, using the ball joint of the shoulder but not the tensing of deltoids, dependence and initiation of the elbow, not just lifting but an arc… and lots of other details in
the development path. Once the motion is developed in a coordinated way with the rest of the body- the wonders of bong sao wont cease. All kinds of applications emerge from learning the bong sao well.