Po pai jeung or more often referred to simply as po pai, is often a misunderstood technique in wing chun. I am not speaking merely of mechanics but also of use. Po pai essentially has three uses: an indication of striking, a push, a strike. Each of these is important both to training and to actual fighting.

Firstly po pai can be thought of as an indication of the availability of strikes. If I can bypass your defence by angling to the outer gate, dominating the inner gate, or trapping, and I can touch you with po pai it means that I am able to strike you however I so choose. Now in training without sparring gear we don’t want to strike our training partners. If you break them then no one wants to play with you, so in training we tend to use po pai as a push. Pushing can be very useful both in sparring and in actual combative application. In both instances a push can serve to off balance, or even down your opponent thereby creating an opening for you to charge in and strike. In combative application it is important to keep in mind that we will be on, in, and around a variety of surfaces pushing your opponent into a wall or over onto the ground may give you positional advantage while pushing them from a height like a set of stairs may injure them. Pushing them into corners or other surfaces which jut out, or even on to hard ground may also injure your adversary.

The last and simplest aspect of po pai is used as a strike. Po pai is simply a combination of a jeung and dai jeung (palm and low palm) and can be a very effective strike. The top hand can target the face from the front and the jaw from the side. The bottom hand can target the diaphragm from the front and the liver or spleen from the side.

TECHNIQUE

One favourite technique of mine for using po pai as a push in actual application is to step firmly on the opponent’s foot (step not stomp) to secure it and push with po pai. This increases the chance of downing your opponent as they cannot move their foot. Even if they do not go down they will likely be in an awkward position and if they do go down there is a possibility they will wrench their foot or ankle. Four key points for using this technique:

1. Do not step directly on their foot using the whole of yours. Step on the front half of their foot using the front half of yours. Do not use the arch or the heel. If you step down on their whole foot and their foot moves either by their pulling it or being unbalanced by your push you can lose your balance. You simply want to rest some weight on their toes to stop the foot moving. Keep your weight and balance on your heel.

2. As with any use of po pai, make sure your hands are directed to their centre of mass. If you take a picture of them from where you’re standing and cut their torso down the middle from head to hips, that’s where you want your wrists. If you have them off of this line some of the force will slip out the side as your opponent will twist a little like a rolling log on the water.

3. If you’re on the outside the bottom arm must block their elbow. Your opponent’s ability to regain center is their closest elbow. Your lower arm and touching their body, must be in contact with your opponents upper arm. This will stop them being able to turn and regain center.

NOTE: this technique works more easily while you both are wearing shoes

As with any wing chun techinque keep the basics in mind; body square, opponent on your centerline, elbows down, power from the legs. If you wish to train this technique make sure your partner is being compliant. Go slowly as this has the ability to cause serious damage to the foot and ankle.

Po pai is not an easy technique, especially as a push when you’re in tsui ma and thus using one leg to push your opponent. It is far easier from yee gee kim hearing ma. The key to the power for po pai from tsui ma lies in chum kiu but that’s another subject. Let me just say that if you try to use po pai from the arms and without the power of the leg it will be fruitless.

Get updates on Facebook, twitter, google+, and follow on YouTube for our upcoming videos!