Springtide Scrolls

To westerners (which ironically includes myself as an American born Chinese person, though luckily I speak the language and understand most of the customs), learning kung fu can be difficult enough without listening to words in Chinese or mottos of wisdom. While Leung Ting WingTsun is the most progressive and modern system there is, we WingTsun students/instructors still keep some traditions that may confuse anyone without background knowledge of the Asian culture, mindset, and what learning kung fu means in that context. To that end, I will try to explain things in layman's terms such that we can move forward with our progressive system (which has changed in the ten years I've been training it), and yet pay homage to the culture and historical context from which it was derived. I will sometimes use examples from the Studio WingTsun school and the IWTA at large to demonstrate. All these terms also appear in 'Wing Tsun Kuen' by Sikung.

Because everything in a kung fu structure derives from family, you must understand that, is that in traditional Chinese culture, family members are referred to by a set of terms that extends beyond the western usage of mom, dad, or gramps. These types of associations, where you would never really refer to your father by his first name (unless you are estranged from him for some reason), also exist in Chinese (and indeed many other Asian cultures) for siblings. For example, your eldest brother is called exactly that, namely 'big brother.' If you had three sisters, your eldest sister would be 'big sister,' the second eldest would be 'second sister' and so on and so forth. However, in Chinese, there is a different set of words used when the siblings are younger. There are different sets of terms used for cousins, depending on if the cousin is on the paternal or maternal side of the family, and depending on how close you are to these cousins, oftimes they are simply referred to as siblings. It is confusing for anyone who has not grown up with such perspectives and familiarity with those terms.

When you learn kung fu, you join a kung fu family. With some modification, the family structure that Chinese people are used to simply morphs into the kung fu one. In a sense, when you start learning kung fu, you are born into that Chinese family. There is a different set of terms used, but in the end they are ALL just relational terms. That is why it is somewhat silly to have things such as an official 'Sifu' title. Perhaps to those ignorant of Chinese culture it may make some sense, but to the Chinese people this is a slightly strange conceit. It is just as silly in Japanese to have an official 'Sensei' title, as all this means is 'teacher,' NO MATTER the subject area. You can have a Sifu in literature for all that it matters, it does NOT just refer to a kung fu instructor. A teacher is by definition a Sifu.

Let us start from the top then. When you join a kung fu family, you have a 'Sifu.' Traditionally, in the patriarchical Chinese view of the world, only men learned kung fu. This will become important a bit later. 'Sifu' is a title that, depending on the Chinese characters used, means either 'someone respected for having mastered something,' or 'teacher father.' In kung fu sometimes these two different writings are used interchangeably. For our purposes here, it makes no difference. The easiest way to think of 'Sifu' is as your kung fu father. Make note of this, because depending on who this is, everyone else's relational titles are defined as well! Your perspective depends on whose 'Todai,' or student, you are.

As you are the new todai, you will have older brothers, many of them, numerous ones in some instances. These are all addressed as 'Sihing,' which means nothing more than elder kung fu brother. The eldest kung fu brother is typically addressed as 'Dai-Sihing,' which means eldest kung fu brother. Many times the second and third most senior kung fu brothers are addressed as 'Yee-Sihing' and 'Saam-Sihing,' or second eldest kung fu brother and third eldest kung fu brother respectively. While technically you could have 'Sub-yut-Sihing,' or eleventh eldest kung fu brother, as a matter of practice, usually after the third eldest the numbering system is simply not bothered with for the sake of brevity.

Please note that your seniority in the kung fu family has nothing to do with your rank. As long as you are a part of the family, your seniority is determined by WHEN you joined. This is why Sifu Elmond Leung is senior to everyone in North America, even though he is not technically ranked as highly as, say, Sifu Carson Lau. What does this mean practically in learning WingTsun? While I will never be hardcore about it, everyone should refer to their seniors as 'sihing.' Of course in practice, if two students are close in rank and are comfortable with it, they may choose not to use it, and this slight lapse of tradition will cause no world ending event. Sifu Dan Hsiao and I started to learn WingTsun two weeks apart from each other, so we have never bothered to use any relational terms between us. However, in class this custom should be observed whenever possible.

When someone new joins after you, they are referred to as your 'Si-dai,' or younger kung fu brother. There is typically no numbering system used, as they are simply junior. The elder kung fu brothers typically simply refer to their si-dai by name. This is why I address my sihing, Marcus Clever, as 'Sihing,' while he always just addresses me by name. In the west, some people choose to ignore these relational customs outside of class, which I find acceptable given the times; as a matter of practice, in Chinese culture they should always be used. In fact during my time in Hong Kong, even when meeting students in random subway stations, these relational titles are used. To the Chinese, they are not just for use in class, as the relations implied by the titles are permanent.

Nowadays there are of course women learning WingTsun, so the term 'Si-jie' is the equivalent of 'Sihing' for females, while the term 'Si-mui' is the female equivalent of 'Si-dai.' All of the aforementioned usage notes can apply. For instance, Ivy Yeung is my si-jie, while she is Marcus' si-mui, as she joined the WingTsun family in between the times that we did. Therefore, I am her si-dai, and Marcus is her sihing. As you can see everything is relational, so as long as you keep your perspective centered on yourself, your relationships with other WingTsun people become clear.

Your Sifu has a Sifu, and this person is referred to as 'Sikung.' For me, my Sikung is Grandmaster Leung Ting. Please note that 'Sikung' does NOT equate to Grandmaster. Sikung only means kung fu grandfather. If you are referring to anyone beyond the 'grand' generation, such as for me the late Great Grandmaster Yip Man, the term 'Sijo' is used. Roughly translated, you may think of this term as meaning your kung fu ancestor. For most of the students in Studio WingTsun classes, Grandmaster Leung Ting is actually your kung fu great grandfather, so the term 'Sijo' is used. As a matter of practice, typically if two people have a common frame of reference, names are not needed. Therefore, I do not refer to Grandmaster Leung Ting as 'Sikung Leung Ting,' as this is redundant. I simply call him Sikung. This applies to all relational terms as well. Names are used only when there is a possibility of confusion. For example, if you refer to something your sihing taught you, and there are three of them in the room, then the usage of the name might be called for. However if you refer to something your Sifu taught you, the name is not necessary so long as everyone around you knows who your Sifu is.

I'd like to point out here that Chinese people think of names in reverse from western conventions. The relational terms follow the same logic. For example, let us imagine you have a sihing named Joe Smith. You might be tempted to say that 'Sihing Joe taught me X and Y.' However, this should actually be 'Smith Sihing taught me X and Y.' While this reversal of naming conventions is present, again, I will not be hardcore about it, as it is a societal and cultural difference.

So far we have only discoursed on one line of decent, from Sijo to Sikung, from Sifu to Todai, and possibly from Todai to To-suen (kung fu grandson). However, your Sifu is not an only child! What if he has his own set of kung fu brothers and sisters? Then you have many kung fu cousins and uncles...

First, let us tackle the brothers of your Sifu. As I mentioned before, since kung fu was traditionally male dominated, there are no kung fu aunts. However, you have kung fu uncles now, and any women in this classification (Ivy) are also referred to by the male relational titles. Your Sifu's elder kung fu brother is to you, your 'Sibak.' Any of his younger kung fu brothers are referred to as 'Sisok.' Put succinctly, these are your elder and younger kung fu uncles (and aunts masquerading as uncles). Here I will also note that it is only possible in Chinese to have a 'Dai' in front of term capable of having multiples. This character means 'big' or in our case 'most senior.' Thus, for all of my todai, Dan Hsiao is your Sibak, while Marcus Clever is your Dai-sibak (having started learning WingTsun in 1987). There is no such term such as a Dai-sifu, unless you want to imply that your Sifu is gaining weight, or that you have two fathers.....

To make things easier, all of your kung fu cousins are referred to with the sibling relational terms referred to above. While this simplifies things somewhat, the IWTA has three Grandmasters of the same student generation! Sikung, his own Si-dai, Sifu Cheng Chuen Fun, and his other Si-dai (his actual younger brother), Sifu Leung Koon, all have students as well! While again the sibling relational terms are used for their students, there are terms equivalent to kung fu grand-uncle as well. For me, as my Sikung is Grandmaster Leung Ting, the most senior of the three, Sifu Cheng Chuen Fun and Sifu Leung Koon are referred to as Sisok Kung. However, if you are a student of Sifu Carson Lau's, Grandmaster Leung Ting must be referred to as Sibak Kung, as Sifu Carson Lau's Sifu is Sifu Cheng Chuen Fun. For everyone in Studio WingTsun who is either my Todai or of that student generation, things are yet more confusing. Save for Sifu Carson Lau, who has asked that we all simply call him 'Sifu Lau' for brevity (and he can ask, being a 7th Level Practician), everyone else is more complicated. My Todai or people of that student generation must remember to refer to Sifu Elmond Leung as 'Sibak Kung,' as he is senior to your Sikung. For any of my Todai or students of that generation, please remember to refer to Sifu Cheng Chuen Fun and Sifu Leung Koon as 'Sisok Jo,' or kung fu great grand-uncle.

If you are confused, please do not be dismayed. Just follow your fellow students' cues, and be polite, and you'll make it through. But remember, one day you might be explaining this to your own To-suen in place of their Sibak!

Best Wishes,

Sifu