The Tao of Wing Chun

The History and Principles of China’s Most Explosive Martial Art

By: Danny Xuan, John Little

Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan

Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's Summary

Wing Chun is the most popular form of Chinese kung fu in the world today, with more than four million practitioners. This guide will fascinate and educate anyone interested in the martial arts, from beginner to master.

The art as it is presently understood has been handed down from teacher to student for more than 300 years. Until now, no one has ever stepped back and taken a critical look at why this art's techniques are presented and performed the way they are. This book, by Wing Chun master Danny Xuan and martial-arts authority John Little, is the first to decipher these techniques that until now have been encrypted within this art.

Xuan and Little reveal how Wing Chun was designed holistically, based on the laws of physics, human nature, and biomechanics. It was also designed with economy, efficiency, and productivity in mind.

Unlike other martial arts, Wing Chun doesn't focus on making a person larger, more rugged, acrobatic, or animal-like; rather, it focuses on making optimal use of one's own bodily structure and power potential by applying the sciences of biomechanics and physics. Thus, it is possible for males and females of all ages and sizes to excel in this art.

©2015 Danny Xuan and John Little (P)2021 Tantor

Can’t we move past this.

I couldn’t get through it, just another “everyone else does it wrong book”. We need to mature and grow past this judgement. Insecurity and a closed, clinging mind, is a bad look for our art.

Pure and simple.

The purest viewpoint on Wing Chun that I've read, as the author answers the question why. Why did Wing Chun come to be? Why is it one of the most natural forms of kung fu and self-defense? Why do so many people fail to grasp the principles of energy and efficiency?

Not terrible but not really very informative

This book is very wordy (as all books are in a sense) but a little empty. There is lots of information about physics that, frankly, I didn't need to read. There is not enough information about how to actually get better at Wing Chun. Yes, there are a few nuggets and indeed I have learned something from the book. I still feel that other books cover Wing Chun better. Wing Tsun Kuen, for example. John Little seems to be at it again; just like all the Bruce Lee books published in the 90's COMPILED by John Little in which Little cashes in on the work of Bruce Lee, here he cashes in on Wing Chun (now popular and especially after the Yip Man movies) and yet offers little of substance in return. I'd get another one if I were you.

In depth

Both authors are very well informed and at least one of them seems to teach his own class. They discuss the Wing Chun martial art from a historical viewpoint, medical and sports.
The guess that Wing Chun stems from one of the matriarchal groups in China is interesting.
I like how they discuss the origins and meaning of the words like chi and Centreline.
I will have to reread the book to grasp more of what was discussed.

Confusing!!

Confusing all the way throughout the book!

I definitely wouldn’t recommend this to anyone else.