Customer Reviews

Wing Chun Bil Jee: The Deadly Art of Thrusting Fingers

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Grand Master cheung,Bruce Lees' si hing ( older brother) has written a martial arts masterpiece!Bil Jee the third and most advanced form in Wing Chun and considered by many knowledgable martial artist to be a form of Dim Mak(death touch.)The format of the book was excellent,and the martial arts content was straitfoward and technically superior.I have been a martial practitioner for twenty-six years and know Yip Man the late grandmaster would be proud of his protege.

Wing Chun Bil Jee: The Deadly Art of Thrusting Fingers

A good book as an introduction to Bil Jee form of Wing Chun,
But the form in this book doesn't look like the complete form when compared with Bil Jee form depicted by GM William Cheung in his videos (The dvds of GM William Cheung for Bil Jee)
The form in this book lacks several important sets which are shown in the vidoes published later by GM William Cheung himself.

Short reason why you shouldn't buy this: It's not Wing Chun, it's not Biu (bil) Jee. The author is a fake who made this stuff up himself based on his "extensive" 3 years of training as a teenager.

Longer reason why you shouldn't buy this:

In Wing Chun, there's 6 main phases to the curriculum. Each phase has a form and associated principles and techniques. The 6 phases and basic idea of each are:

1. Siu Lim Tao - basic centerline theory, relaxation, basic hand-techniques.

2. Chum Kiu - footwork, and relative positioning.

3. Biu Jee - "emergency techniques" for when you lose control of the centerline, and generating maximum power.

4. Wooden Dummy - a synthesis of the other 3 forms. Further refining spatial awareness & positioning.

5. Long Pole - applying WC principle with long weapons.

6. Bart Cham Do ("butterfly swords") - edged weapons. Introduces new footwork.

The author of this book took WC for about 3 years as a teenager. His Siu Lim Tao is ok, but if you compare all his other stuff to any of Ip Man's other students (or Ip Man himself) it's totally different. The forms are different, and more importantly the information contained in the forms are totally different.

Cheung says it's because Ip Man taught him and him alone a "secret" version of Wing Chun, because he was SPECIAL. Of course, all of Ip's other students say he's lying, and they issued a formal statement denouncing Cheung as fraudulent and his system as bogus.

On the subject of "Biu Jee":

There's a move in Biu Jee called "biu sau", or "biu jee" (meaning thrusting hand, or thrusting fingers, respectively). This move has NOTHING to do with stabbing "pressure points" with your fingertips. When you're new to Wing Chun & you happen to see advanced students performing this form, you'd probably think they're doing an eye-gouge or something because thats what it looks like...but you'd be wrong. Again, Biu Jee is all about getting yourself out of trouble. The biu sau is used for wedging the bad guy's arms out of the way so you can get back on target, and it's a move used for "bridging". The Biu Jee form also incorporates a wrist-strengthening/flexibility exercise in the same move.

Now, there are finger-strikes in Wing Chun. There's also open-hand strikes, but to say that Biu Jee is for striking pressure points is like saying that pok sau ("slapping hand block") is for slapping pressure points. It's just stupid, and is exactly the sort of thing you'd expect a teenage noob to think.

The fact is, in Wing Chun, there are no "disabling pressure points", Biu Jee has nothing to do with "the deadly art of pokey fingers", and William Cheung is just like Ashida Kim or Frank Dux - a guy with some basic training and ridiculous stories who sells himself as some sort os special "Chosen One".

If you want a good book on advanced Wing Chun, check out Wayne Belonpha's Wing Chun Compendium". If you want magic pokey-finger death-strikes....well....good luck with that.

Wing Chun Bil Jee is an excellent book by Australian based master William Cheung.

Wing Chun is one of the most internal hard external Chinese arts. Most of it's crane style based techniques are intended for use with Chi, from the deep rooting first form Sil Lum Tao, to the moving energy root of Chum Kil. The Bil Jee form only makes sense when it is interpreted as attacking the chi meridians. Therefore, it truly is an advanced form, that is only fully appreciated when one has a strong knowledge of Chinese chi theory.

This book does not go into any discussion of chi or meridians, it merely presents the techniques, including some combinations that are not in the form. A must own for any Wing Chun practitioner.

I am primarily a Jun Fan / Jeet Kune Do practicioner, but am interested in learning more of Wing Chun so I have also been studying original Wing Chun, and William Cheung's books were recommended to me as references for the forms, and they are excellent for that purpose.

If you are studying Wing Chun, Cheungs books are good references. Even better, though, is to videotape someone with good form performing the forms, once from the front and once from the side and practice with those.

Although the reviewer "Jonathus" is correct that most fights are short and won with good basics, the rest of his comments would indicate that he does not have enough of an understanding of Wing Chun to "get" some of the photo sequences in the book. His statement that "one does not attack by pointing his fingers at an opponent and hopping on one leg towards his target" is correct, but if he understood what is depicted in that particular photo sequence or had been taught the movement, he would realize that that is not what is happening. The movement is an entry meant to draw a reaction to gain an attachment from which to trap and attack or open a line of attack.

Although this book demonstrates the advanced form of WIng Chun, it is still useful for the student who hasn't attained the skill to learn the form. Cheung shows proper execution of bil jee, and shows some other wing chun strikes and blocks. Briefly discusses wing chun combat theory, and some other principles. Good showing of the form, though don't expect to be able to execute the form exactly without a qualified instructor. Cheung then goes on to show some entry techniques that I've never seen and I question their effectiveness. Ends with a chapter on bil jee applications. Cheung includes a letter to him from Lee Jun Fan, for some reason, maybe for a sales booster, but the letter is irrelevant to the books purpose. I also don't know why he chose to write about the advanced form of wing chun first, and then go onto to write books covering more of the basics, it seems backwards, but hey I'm not Grandmaster Cheung.

Wing Chun Bil Jee shows the form of Bil Jee and the application of the moves. Before you are shown the form (in lots of photos) it shows different techniques of Wing Chun. Nice book for the Wing Chun practioner.

Grand Master cheung,Bruce Lees' si hing ( older brother) has written a martial arts masterpiece!Bil Jee the third and most advanced form in Wing Chun and considered by many knowledgable martial artist to be a form of Dim Mak(death touch.)The format of the book was excellent,and the martial arts content was straitfoward and technically superior.I have been a martial practitioner for twenty-six years and know Yip Man the late grandmaster would be proud of his protege.

The author, William Cheung, is often criticized for his own personal deviations from the traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu system. This book is no exception.

I have a feeling that this book came before Cheung's sudden involvement in chi & meridian therapy, as it fails to shamelessly promote in the same way as his more recent writings.

Though I was looking for a book on Wing Chun's third form, Bil Jee, I was greatly disappointed. His explanations constantly repeat and contradict each other and even go against the core Wing Chun principles (see the Bil Jee form photos for examples).

This book is either evidence that Cheung has become too sidetracked in his own patchy modifications or that Cheung never knew traditional Wing Chun in the first place.

One star for making a cheap bookend.

This book is possibly the greatest book ever written about people poking each other with their fingers.