By John Crescione

Wing Chun Kung Fu by James Y. Lee, ghost wrote by Bruce Lee. First published in 1972,223 pages with photos. Lovingly called the "green book" by old timers, this book and Leung Ting's "big yellow book" on Wing Tsun are considered by many to be "the" books on Wing Chun. The first mainstream book on a then little known art shows many theories, concepts and techniques. It was this book that introduced words like centerline, sticking and simultaneous attack and defense into the U.S. martial art consciousness. It is interesting to note; nowadays EVERYBODY talks about centerline, sticking and simultaneous attack and defense in other systems. And few, if any give credit to Wing Chun, or come out and say they added it into their style. "Oh, we've always had it, it was just too high level and nobody ever gets to that level and we just don't talk about it."

I have been reading and collecting magazines and books since I became involved with martial arts since the 70"s, and NOBODY in the karate/kung fu world talked or used these terms-even in a bastardized form until the mid 80's,long after Bruce was gone and the Concepts JKD camp started to come into vogue. Now everybody "has them" and they all like to criticize Wing Chun as not having this or that! We know it just ain't so!

The book starts with a discussion on the yin/yang principle as it applies to fighting and life. There is a brief history of Wing Chun, followed by various stances with photos of Yee Jee Kim Yeung Mah(even thought J.Y.Lee seems to use a more knees out position in his photo), front stance and side horse position. He briefly covers centerline theory, gate theory, economy of movement theory, immovable elbow and dui ying/facing theory-all with photos of applications.

The next section is on footwork patterns, advancing, retreating and sidestepping. He looks like he uses a 60/40-70/30 horse for those of you who are into that nit picky stuff!

A major part of the book is dedicated to the Siu Lim Tao form done in a front and side view. (Trivia-if you look at the photos of J.Y.Lee doing the form from the side, you will see him fighting a smile halfway through the form. Bruce was on the sidelines trying to crack him up as the photos were being taken). From a purist point of view, the form is very loose; almost sloppy-but we are not talking about a pure Wing Chun man either!

Next, a small discussion on both Inner and Outergate punching, followed by kicking from an attacking and defending perspective and advocates the front thrust kick and downward side kick. Then a philosophical coverage on Lin Siu Die Dar, and segueways into chi sao and how single hand compares to the paper/rock/ scissors game. There is a hand drawn section on Phon Sao-trapping hands that was probably drawn by Bruce. It is also Bruce's hand in the fook sao position in the single hand Chi Sao photo. This section is heavy into grabbing/countergrabbing and loping and many JKD schools use these as exact techniques and not just Wing Chun trapping theories/examples. Lee (or Bruce) even warns the reader that these techniques are dangerous against a real Wing Chun man, especially if you are self taught! (Maybe they foresaw the future-or maybe a lot of the JKD guys just looked at the pictures!)

The final third of the book covers parrying/defending theory and then goes into attacking and defending the gates. It is here you start to see tan dar, pak dar and bong/lop dar. Here you will also see many of Bruce's 5 ways of attack being applied through out this section. The book closes with a section on Cantonese martial arts and Wing Chun terms and some training tips on the dummy, paper punching and strengthening the bridge arm.

I got this book when it was $4.95