Okay here it is. An extensive thread, vaguely regularly updated, on the "Fist Tips" of Wing Chun gung fu
Check back for updates!

(Disclaimer: I'm no expert. I can also only speak from the perspective of the #LeungSheung lineage #WingChun I've been taught.)

#梁相系詠春
#詠春
(copy of my thread on Twitter)

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不[bat1]放[fong3]生[saang1] – Do not set the opponent free (Literally "Not Release Alive").
What does this mean?
When engaging an opponent, it's not play time. You don't disengage until they're no longer a threat. A common mistake many make.

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練[lin6]拳[kyun4]不[bat1]練[lin6]功[gung1], 到[dou3]老[lou5]一[jat1]場[coeng4]空[hung1] – If you train for
beauty but not train hard, when you are old all your skills will be worthless (Lit. Practice fist not practice hard,
attain old age one performance empty)
Let's expound on this one a bit.
There's a lot of flashy Kung Fu out there,especially today, but is any of it effective in real combat?
Flips and tricks look cool, but when you get older and you're not as limber, what do you have left?
Conversely, if you train efficiently, you're still gonna be solid enough into old age.
How do I know this?
My Sifu is 80 years old and he can still whoop my ass. Why? Because instead of focusing on flashy tricks, he's trained every day for over 60 years on being able to fight efficiently. Position, structure, not strength.

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名師 , 明師
(ming4 si1, ming4 si1)
There are two kinds of teachers in Gung Fu.
The Famous Teacher, and the Understanding Teacher.
One has his ego on display and demands to be called great and greater things.
The other humbly passes on the art.

An alternative interpretation:
A famous or well known teacher may have many students but can not always give each the individual attention they need.
The Understanding Teacher has depth of the art and is selective of their disciples, in order to ensure a deep knowledge transfer

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腰馬合一
(jiu1 maa5 hap6 jat1)

Waist and Stance, combine as one

Always coordinate the upper and lower
body when moving or striking. This is where Wing Chun draws power generation from; the coordination of the whole body as a single unit.

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髈手不停留, 停留便遭殃
(bong2 sau2 bat1 ting4 lau4, ting4 lau4 bin6 zou1 joeng1)
Bong Sau never stays, stopping invites disaster

Bong Sau is a transitional movement used to redirect incoming force, transitioning to something else in response. Leave it up, you're in trouble.

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來留去送， 甩手直衝
(loi4 lau4 heoi3 sung3, lat1 sau2 zik6 cung1)
One of my personal favorites.
Welcome the opponent in, Escort them upon exit; rush in when the center is open.
This demonstrates the Wing Chun mindset in combat. If an opponent closes in? Welcome them. No need to rush backwards, we're not afraid to get hit if we control the center.
When they retreat? Follow. A retreating opponent is vulnerable.
If their hands aren't obstructing center?
Eat them alive.

A lot of the bad Wing Chun we've seen online forgets this maxim entirely. (for a truly astonishing example, revisit the fight Xu Xiaodong had with the "Wing Chun" guy who had no horse and swung wildly instead of trying to control center at all.)

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寧低莫高
ning4 dai1 mok6 gou1
"We keep our hands low instead of high" (Literally "rather be low not high")
Wait what? Don't all martial arts teach you to guard your head?
Wing Chun emphasizes a relatively low guard for a few reasons.
Let's get into it!
First of all, keeping forearms horizontal with the elbow down and one fist distance from the body provides an optimal guard against some seriously nasty targets: your solar plexus and liver aren't anything to fuck with. You get hit there? You drop. Conversely your skull is HARD
It takes skill to knock someone out by hitting them in the skull, and honestly your hands are likely to fracture while doing so. However, using this "low" guard optimally guards your own targets while allowing you to strike your opponent's.
It also leaves your hands in a position where they can equally adjust up or down as events require.
But that low hit... Ow. You see some people finally talking more about those low strikes outside line of sight, inline arms (no elbow telegraphing), it's a bastard to guard against.
By the time you see it and can react you're already getting hit.
But there's one more thing people forget.
Now, this is just conjecture on my part from here,but Wing Chun really seems optimally designed not just as an open handed system but as a twin knife system akin to kali etc.
I mean we already have the 八斬刀 (8 cut knife) which extends the open handed techniques to blades about the length of your forearm. And holy shit is it nasty.
Again, this part is all conjecture by me, but if you consider Wing Chun from the knives perspective it makes sense.
(yes, there are Wing Chun lineages that either target higher by default or keep their hands extremely high by default. It should be remembered that when I discuss Wing Chun, I am doing so as a practitioner of the Leung Sheung lineage Wing Chun I've been taught. Others may differ)

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去如棉着如鐵
heoi3 jyu4 min4 zoek3 jyu4 tit3
"Feels like Cotton, Hits like Iron"
(Literally "depart like cotton, contact like iron")

This exemplifies the type of force extended during an exchange with a Wing Chun practitioner
Until they hit you, the hands should barely register.
If you try to jerk their arm out of the way with a grab, it should feel dead.
If you try to sweep a leg, there should be no weight and the horse should be unaffected.
But once the fist, palm, or kick connect, it should feel like a truck just hit you.
(Taiji has a similar saying.)

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Here's something to avoid:
同[tung4]門[mun4]雙[soeng1]輕[hing1]
"Same School, both disrespect"

When two students in the same school
allow their egos to get the better of them (“my hands are better than yours!”), they disrespect the school and the art.
Don't do this.

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不[bat1]貪[taam1]打[daa2], 不[bat1]怕[paa3]打[daa2]
"Not greedy to hit, not afraid of hit"

Don't be greedy and lean in. You'll get hit in the face.
Don't be afraid of getting hit and lean back. Your structure is compromised. Easy to uproot.

Alternately : 不[bat1]貪[taam1]不[bat1]畏[wai3]
"Not greedy, not afraid"

Both mean the same thing.
Maintain a properly structured horse and body.

This was a favored saying of 梁相師太公 (Leung Sheung Sitaigung; my Sifu's Sifu's Sifu)

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Also let's just go into some terminology real quick
What's a Sifu?
What are all these terms for people?

師[si1]傅[fu6] – A Teacher of Gung Fu. Use this term to refer to other teachers as an honorific title.
If I visit say Bob Ross Kung Fu I would greet "Ross Sifu".

師[si1]父[fu6] – Lit. “Skill Father”. Your teacher. Sometimes this is reserved only for disciples. If you train in English, guess what, they're both pronounced the same way so don't worry about it.

師[si1]公[gung1] – Lit. “Skill Grandfather”. Your Sifu's Sifu. Self-explanatory really.

師[si1]太[taai3]公[gung1] – Lit. “Great Skill Grandfather” - Your Sifu's Sifu's Sifu. Again pretty self-explanatory.

Let's round it out with some limb names:
頸[geng2] - Neck
膊[bok3] – Shoulder
踭[zaang1] – Elbow
腕[wun2] - Wrist
手[sau2] – Hand
掌[zoeng2] – Palm
拳[kyun4] - Fist
腰[jiu1] – Waist
腳[goek3] – Leg

Now here's somethin fun
You can also call the wrist 手頸 (hand neck)

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功夫係苦功，苦盡甘來

gung1 fu1 hai6 fu2 gung1, fu2 zeon6 gam1 loi4

Gung Fu is Bitter Work, but after the bitterness comes sweetness.

Train hard, and the fruits of your labor will be all the more sweet for the effort.

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鏢[biu1]指[zi2]不[bat1]出[ceot1]門[mun4] – Biu Ji does not go outside the door

In the old days, there were indoor students (內門) and outdoor students (外門). Only the indoor students learned the fullness of the art.
Don't share the secrets.

But there's another meaning.

鏢指 is our offensive hand. While 小念頭 contains the basics and the stance, and 尋橋 / 沉橋 introduces shifting movement and defensive hands, 鏢指 contains the offensive movements and advanced footwork.
Back then, 鏢指 was considered dangerous. You don't use it unless you gotta.

Even today we see most lineages keeping their 鏢指 a secret. Very rarely will you find public performances or videos of this set.
This is also why so many 鏢指 variants look so different, even more so than the other forms. People still won't take it outside the gate.

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Oooh boy this thread is getting so long Twitter won't show it without expanding anymore.
Anyway!
Tonight in class we discussed 重踭力 (cung5 zaang1 lik6), Heavy Elbow Energy.
What is 重踭力?
When we sink the elbow, connect it to your horse, and walk it forward, when you're in your horse properly, the weight under your elbow will feel like your entire stance. Rooted. Heavy. The elbow becomes immovable by the opponent. Literally Heavy Elbow Energy.

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玻璃頭
豆腐肚
鐵橋手
bo1 lei1 tau4
dau6 fu6 tou5
tit3 kiu4 sau2

The head is brittle like glass
The body is as soft as tofu
The hand's bridge is like iron

(lit. Glass head, tofu stomach, iron hand bridge)

We don't want to get hit but if we must clash, the arms do the work.

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That's it so far. I'll add more here rather than adding to the old Twitter thread most likely.

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