Palmstriker,
another great example of how one can get some odd ideas or draw some rather wrong conclusions, if one only watches some videos whithout knowing the actual background.
I have met both of the Sifus in the videos with them, the first one is Lam Sifu in Gwongjaau, the other one is Gu Siu Nou Sifu of Dong Bin Fong, Gulo Seui Heung, Hoksaan.
Lam Sifu is an expert in multiple martialarts, his main style being Hap Ga Kuen. The Wing Chun he learnt is from a gentleman who used to be a member of the Cantonese Opera. He learnt 8 âWing Chunâ forms, Sup Saam Jong Sau, Siu Lin Tau, Pong Kiu, Sae Hok Kuen, Ng Mui Sup Baat Jhang, etc. This is very interesting too, because it confirms certain things about Wing Chun and its orgin with, if one knows about the local history and culture, are much more plausible than what is usually believed and promoted in official histories.
What he shows in this video is not âSnake styleâ but some snippets of the various forms and then explaining some basics of his Wing Chun (he calls it Opera style Wing Chun, not âHard Gateâ or âHard Styleâ Wing Chun as what this series of videos was sold under. The publisher of the videos invented that name).
None of his forms are the same as what you called the Yiu Choi lineage âSan Sikâ form. I already explained what this particular form is and where it came from, but to be clear I shall repeat it here: The form you mention is called âChe Chin Kuenâ or âChong Kuenâ (later in HK some people called it the 108 Che Chin Kuen) - it is NOT from Yiu Choi, but was created by a student of Ng Chun So to teach Fok Chiu Sifu, who later became a student of Yiu Choi, to fire his interest for Wing Chun and keep practicing. Fok Chiu had no patience for the usual forms, he needed something with more action to keep him interested. He had a very close relationship with Yiu Choi and later his sons and grandsons, so the grandsons adopted this form (as well as other stuff). The other students of Yiu Choi do not have this, nor another fourth form. So it is not some special, lost form.
Gu Sifu is a practitioner of his familyâs âGu Ga Wing Chunâ, descending from Leung Jan (his ancestor was Leung Janâs neighbour in Leung Janâs hometown) - he has unfortunately become somewhat of a local tourist attraction and a lot of the things you see him show on TV shows and to groups of tourists visiting the âLeung Jan Gong Yuanâ is just for that - it is not his real Gung Fu. I had the fortune of meeting him and visiting him at his home on a no. of occasions before he became really public. He has really excellent old style Gung Fu, meaning some really nasty stuff.
It is not âRiverboat Wing Chunâ or such, nor was it intended to be used on a boat on a river - this segment was just made to feed the popular legend. In fact, Leung Jan taught some locals there because they were bullied by robbers on land on the way to the town to sell their stuff, enabling them to defend themselves and their goods.
But of course, only watching this kind of videos, not knowing the history of things, one might easily see certain stories or myths confirmed - and even worse connect dots and come up with âthe REALâ origin of Wing ChunâŚ
Thanks once again 5mman for clarification in some of the controversial publicized accounts regarding lineage and practices. Here is a link to one of the conservative researchers/authors out there currently active in Chinese MA studies who is well-read in the works of others, past and present. I wondered about the YKS sifu from Australia, and his claim to closed door secrecy from that Wingchun family historical line. And yes, the Leung family history seems to be key to some interesting developments from the outset of WingChun.