http://www.martial-art.com/
Wai Po Tang?? He mixed his traditional WC with Muay Thai. sorta. his teacher never wants to speak to him again, his name is Simon Lau.
Have anyone heard of these gentlemen and their schools of Wing Chun?
~K~
“maybe not in combat… but think of the chicks man, the chicks!”
http://www.martial-art.com/videos/inspbywc.ram
~K~
“maybe not in combat… but think of the chicks man, the chicks!”
Do you speak of direct kowledge?
Hello Kristoffer,
Do you have direct knowledge of the claims you make or are you simply parrotting the words of others? I ask because you mention Simon Lau and make reference to his desire to speak to Wai Po Tang. How do you know this, did one of them tell you?
Wai Po Tang, unless I am mistaken, did the video “Inspired by Wing Chun”. Although I have not seen the video myself I have heard several good reviews of it from others, whom I respect.
May I ask what the purpose of your post is? If you want to find out information about either of these gentlmen I am sure there is a more polite way of inquiring. Look over your post again and see if you can see where it may be taken in the wrong context.
Peace,
Dave
Wai Po Tang
I bought the video ‘Inspired by Wing Chun’ several years ago when it was first released, and quite enjoyed it, in my limited opinion it is a blend of Muay Thais and WC, although I would have hated to have trained in the barn with all that dust. Didn’t know he was of a similar lineage to Simon Lau and don’t know of any dispute between them.
“And the crowd called out for more”
The clip didn’t seem half bad
I didn’t see anything bad in what they were doing. A mix of Wing Chun and Muay Thai training. And training for real contact with the pads. Not bad all things considered.
If he has indeed crosstrained with a good MT teacher then he has a great way of knowing how to deal with MT techniques!
Gary Lam in LA (www.garylamwingchun.com) a Wong Shun Leung line teacher has background in both WSL WC and Muay Thai. If you are going to worry about kicks, it is MT kicks to worry about.
Add in dealing with wrestling takedowns, (single/double leg/etc.) and he is a well rounded guy.
Wai-po Tang has trained and competed in Thailand with MT boxers and his curriculum includes low Thai style kicks and a flexible approach to learning fighting through sparring, and also some grappling basics. Tang, along with many other students, left Lau’s organization in the 80’s due to some dissatisfaction, and Tang was accepted as successor to Yui Kei, the son of Yui Choi (Daai Lik Choi/Big Strength Choi), a student of Chan Wa Shun.
our stance…
…does not lend itself to round kicks. to round kick, we must unsettle our foundation, shifting our weight around, changing our footing. i don’t know everything about MT, but i do touch hands with an MT guy every so often and the kicks most used are round kicks and knees to the body. I have a lot of respect for muay thai, but its not WC, nor is wing chun MT.
am i mistaken in thinking this defeats much of what we do in wing chun?
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chi kwai
No, it doesn’t defeat the WC, it compliments it. WC doesn’t have to rely only on the center line punch, which is an impression you sometimes get reading on this board. In addition to the punch, there’s already the body turning punch, the kicks including the waang geuk with hip twist, elbows, saat sau chops etc. The centerline punch will always be the most important, but in a real fight or even in a sparring setting, the continously changing angles and distances give ample opportunity to attack with an MT style round house. It’s simply a good kick to have, plus it’s good to practice blocking and countering it.
Sihing73, Dave,
I cant see the reson for you or anybody to get offended by my post. This was never my intention, all i wanted to know is, IF they are “good”, reputated or bogus or whatever.
No, neither one of them told me this smart ass 
But Simon Lau has mentioned this in intervies with a swedish MA magazine.
What is your oppinion? Do you think WaiPo Tang is good? Do u think he ruins the art of WC? I myself really dont care, im just interested in looking in to his school someday just for fun.
~K~
“maybe not in combat… but think of the chicks man, the chicks!”
Clarification
Hello Kristoffer,
In reply to your post I would like to revisit your original posting:
You posted the following;
Wai Po Tang?? He mixed his traditional WC with Muay Thai. sorta. his teacher never wants to speak to him again, his name is Simon Lau*
In looking at the above I see several potential problems. First you state that he mixed his WC with Muay Thai, sorta. This would be fine if you KNEW that for a fact. Also what do you mean by “sorta”. I mean either he mixed it or he did not. However the biggest problem is stating that “his teacher never wants to speak to him again, his name is Simon Lau”. Again, how do you know this to be true? Are you even sure that Simon Lau trained Wai Po Tang? If so, for what length of time? Statements can always be taken out of context and what may have been said with good intentions can be twisted into something else.
When I went to the website I did not see any reference to Simon Lau nor to Muay Thai. What I did see is a version or branch of Wing Chun which claims to trace its lineage back to Ng Chung Sow trhough Yul Kil to Wai Po Tang. So I guess my question would be where you are getting your information regarding Simon Lau and any feelings he has regarding this person as well as what information supports your statement of the mixing of Mauy Thai and Wing Chun.
It would seem that Northstar has some more detailed information regarding Wai Po Tang and he could probably better respond to these inquiries.
As to the remainder of your question I would refer you back to my original post. Having neither met the man nor viewed his video I can not really give an opinion on his ability. Other than the fact that others have given me good reports after seeing his video I can offer nothing more.
My purpose in posting was to simply point out that the way it was worderd could have some negative effect. If I wanted to find out the same information I would have worded things a little differently. But hey, that’s just me
Example:
Has anyone heard of Wai Po Tang? I have heard that he does a blend of Wing Chun and of Muay Thai and also that he trained under Simon Lau but broke with him. I would appreciate any information anyone could provide as well as any opinions as to his level of skill.******
Just a thought
I am not trying to be condensending I just want to avoid any unneccessary conflicts.
Peace,
Dave
Northstar
Then you bring up another point alltogether. When you mix muay thai with wing chun, it is no longer wing chun, nor is it kung fu at that point. WC is a complete system. If you don’t know how to respond to certain events, then perhaps you should ask your sifu.
–
chi kwai
Chi Kwai
I think in the modern world the arts people need to worry about are people with background in the following areas:
Boxing,
Muay Thai and Submission Grappling/Wrestling
These days these three are combined and practiced as MMA. Wing Chun has had an abysmal record against Muay Thai and in competition in NHB events. So far, asking one’s WC Sifu doesn’t seem to work that well. 
Crosstraining in those styles to REALLY understand their strenghts and weaknesses is a good thing in my opinion. If you don’t know how to properly do the Muay Thai kicks how will you know how to deal with them? Same thing goes for grappling in terms of takedowns.
It would therefore seem that Tang’s students could very rightfully ask THEIR sifu how to deal with a Muay Thai kick and they would get a pretty good answer from that perspective.
It isn’t clear from his website that he has “mixed” or “fused” Wing Chun and Muay Thai.
I agree with Planet WC on this. Many WC people think they’re sitting on a “scientific” way to win, just as long as you stick the holy principles. Principles and “science” are excellent, but they are never more than tools.
regardless.
you speak as though everyone on the street is a muay thai boxer, or that everyone should be concerned with going against one in a ring. it may be that i am a purist, but i feel very strongly against mixing styles, especially non kung fu with kung fu. It simply doesn’t make sense diluting one art with another, when you can spend all your time devoted to one art and get that much better and know that much more about it. One might say: “Super Dojitsu Chun Fu just can’t work against Muay Kwan Jutsuoeira.” I say learn how to make it work. Wing chun is a complete art, there is a response to everything. Because you don’t know it, doesn’t mean you should fill in the gaps with something else.
I strongly believe that the level of the practitioners involved are what cause “abysmal” outcomes in MT v. WC matches. I said it before, I spar with a Muay Thai boxer on occasion, and while I did poorly at first, but I adapted as well as learned new techniques over time. I can’t tell you how effective bok jarn was once I learned its application, when before I had simply tried to step out of the way.
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chi kwai
chopsuey wing chun
Ah, I’m glad that you can see light at the end of the tunnel, Chi Kwai.
One good punch is better than 100 lousy ones. The same applies to the skill of wing chun. Many, many poor wing chun students, that has only skimmed the surface of wing chun, incorporate bits and pieces from other styles to try to fill-in the gaps in their weak wing chun. They claim that wing chun isn’t complete, when in reality it’s only their skills and knowledge that is so.
The trouble is, they haven’t train long and hard enough for the style to work, so instead of being more diligent in their training, they take the lazy approach.
It’ s what I call chop-suey gungfu – a bit of this, a bit of that. Jack-ass of all trades, master of none.
michael yan choi
But isn’t that the mentality of everyone now days?
I know that here in the states, 99 percent of the people want to get their 35th degree black belt in Super Jujustu Chun Fu Keunpo in a year of training, and are willing to pay for it, as if having that title will make them more of a fighter.
Wing chun has a basic concept of a straight line is shorter than an arc, therefor allowing it to reach the target first. It doesn’t mean that learning WC will be the same way. Sure, learning is linear, but its not a broken line or necessarily straight. To get from point A to point Z you have to traverse points B through Y…
I have been studying wing chun for about three years. I think I have reached letter G. 
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chi kwai
[This message was edited by chi kwai on 08-25-01 at 06:44 AM.]
Sihing73
YAAAWN
Would you mind giving me your thoughts regarding a blend of Muay Thai and WC? or are u to ‘offended’ right now?
~K~
“maybe not in combat… but think of the chicks man, the chicks!”
chi kwai
Our stance does lend itself to roundhouses. Our stance lends itself to a myriad of kicks.
Michael Yan Choi, I don’t think I could have worded it better, myself. (Well, actually, I probably would have used fewer words.) Very good points.
However, between “complete martial arts”, or “high-level martial arts”, how to counter this against that, would not even be a question, because the principles incorporated are the same, but the approaches vary slightly.
The problem lies in exactly what Michael Yan Choi & Chi Kwai wrote.
[This message was edited by Whipping Hand on 08-26-01 at 10:36 AM.]
Kristoffer
Don’t you need to add a bit more soya sauce to your wasabi?