Customer Reviews

How to Develop Chi Power (Chinese Arts Series: 450)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This book is not for someone wanting general information and basic chi kung exercises. This book details the flow of chi in doing the first form of Wing Chun, the Sil Lum Tao form. Briefly describes chi meridians, five element theory, and some other chinese medical ideas. Good section on breathing and self massage of some important acupoints on the arms that stimulate the organs through their respective channels. Shows proper Wing Chun blocks and strikes, showing transitional movements and direction of energy. Demonstates complete Sil Lum Tao form, showing chi direction. Ends with a chapter on chi sao techniques and applications. A great book for those interested in Wing Chun, has the best description of the Sil Lum Tao I've seen, compared to about 5 other books. If you want a chi kung book, don't buy this, get Way of Energy by Lam, or his other book, Chi Kung.

The main problem with the book is that the title is misleading. If you are thinking about purchasing this book to learn about chi or how to develop it then this book only deserves a one star, and you will be better off finding another book. However, if you are looking for a book that goes in to detail on the Sil Lum Tao form and diagrams how your internal energy should flow, then this book is for you.

Despite it's misleading title this is a good book to own, especially if you are studying Wing Chun.

The main problem with the book is that the title is misleading. If you are thinking about purchasing this book to learn about chi or how to develop this then this book only deserves a one star, and you will be better off finding another book. However, if you are looking for a book that goes in to detail on the Sil Lum Tao form and diagrams how your internal energy should flow, then this book is for you.

Despite it's misleading title this is a good book to own, especially if you are studying Wing Chun.

William Cheung's books are not as much instruction manuals, as they are student notebooks, to be used to help remember detailed instruction. "How To Build Chi Power" is indeed a misleading title, as there are only a few chi exercises, and the bulk of the book is taken up with the form Sil Lum Tao.
What you get: The direction in which Chi is supposed to flow when performing Sil Lum Tao.
What you don't get: How to start feeling chi. How to build chi up to substantial levels, where you can actually feel it flow or use it to power your movements. Why or how during some of Sil Lum Tao movements, chi/energy flows contrary to the physical movement itself.
In short, useful if you're an intermediate to advanced Wing Chun student, useless for finding out about Chi if you're not. Personally, I like the simplicity of the Sil Lum Tao form for building up chi, but I've tapped very different sources to come this far - mainly teachings about Tai Chi.

i am wing chun stundent. and this book is perfect for anybody who wants to learn the shil lum tao form. in wing chun we use such forms, to develop qi, aswell as to practice are techniques. this form is a great qigong excersice. i recomend it to all martial arts practitioners

Master Cheung has written about Chi development using special breathing and pressure point techniques, as well as Wing Chun Kuen forms. However, he sticks to point of Chi development, which is good, and explains the whole process very well. The thing I really liked was that the pictures showed which way the Chi(internal strength) was flowing during execution of each technique, and this was a real help in learning how I was improving. A must for the beginner in Wing Chun Kungfu, and for the martial artist wanting an easy way to develop his Chi

Want to develop "chi power"?

Here's how the author, William Cheung did it, and you can do it to.

1. Take a Wing Chun class from a credible instructor for about 3 years.

2. Don't show up to class all that often.

3. Learn about 1/3 of the system

4. Move thousands of miles away from your instructors to a place where Wing Chun isn't taught.

5. Since you only learned 1/3 of the system, just make up a bunch of stuff yourself.

6. Tell people that your mostly-made-up "art" is different than actual Wing Chun not because you made it up, but because it's a SECRET system that a great master only taught to you...in SECRET.

7. Now start selling lessons, books, and videos.

Congratulations, you've just mastered "Chi Power"!

The author attempts to combine the Wing Chun basics with elements of traditional Chinese medicine, and accupressure. While in itself these are not that far removed, the book's title is developing chi power, which is not what the book is about.

Basically, the author talks about the body's meridians, the acupoints through which the meridian channels flow, and the 5 elemnt theory of Chinese medicine. He then demonstrates some basic accupressure, and the Sil Lim Tao.

I still gave the book 3 stars, because it manages to combine 3 topics in a more or less useful/creative manner. However, this should not be classified as a book on Qi Gong, Chinese medicine, or accupressure, as you do not get sufficient information about either one.

This is the first book in the series written by Grandmaster William Cheung. It clearly demonstrates the beggining techniques of this great art. The pictures in the book are easy to understand and more importantly easy to follow. If you want to learn the art of Wing Chun this is the single best place to start!

'Where's the chi?' is what I constantly ask myself as I flick through the pages of another one of Cheung's hundred books.

Though there are many photographs of fancy hand positions to look at, Cheung fails to answer the title of his book sufficiently at all.

Wing Chun is an internal system in which Chi comes from within. Chi certainly does not come from copying hundreds of Cheung's hand movements.

It's a picture book of hand movements. Don't expect to know anything more about chi after reading this book.