Never Withdraw?

This is one that you will hear quite often:

In Wing Chun, we never retreat. We always go forward, and if we can’t, we step sideways to take advantage of the incoming attack. But under no circumstances should you ever go backwards or retreat.

Every time I hear someone say that, I wonder how much of the system they have actually trained. Have they ever worked against someone not in their own lineage? Have they ever fought someone in a completely different martial art?

I wonder this because even though many practitioners say it, their own system is showing them the exact opposite. Case in point, Hau-bo.

From the very beginning, a practitioner is shown how to set up their stance in order to assume the Yee-chi-kim-yeung-ma position. From here, they are taught to Huen-bo, or Forward Circling-step. This is our first step in footwork on getting from point A to point B. You cannot fight by being a stationary target, right? There has to be some lower body action.

With Huen-bo, we continue to Juen-ma, or Frontal-stance/Lead-leg stance. Now you have a choice: to return to Yee-chi-kim-yeung-ma, you either have to Huen-bo with the other leg, or you return the lead-leg back to its starting point. If you choose the latter, it is not just a sublime action; instead, it is Hau-bo.

Hau-bo, or Backward Circling-step/Withdrawing-step, is vital to efficient footwork. You need competent footwork in all directions – forward, sideways, and moving backwards. Without it, what do you do when you encounter a skillful fighter that is driving in on you and you cannot side-step?

Yes, tactics state that we engage with a number of responses, but when it becomes purely force vs force, what then?

If your attacker is more powerful and you cannot go forward (because he is driving fully into you), you naturally want to give way to that force and side-step. When you work with exceptional fighters of other methods, though, you will find that this is not as easy as you think (or as easy as your Si-Fu is telling you).

It is not an easy thing to merely side-step a skilled fighter. He/she is prepared for any angle in relation to your reaction, and in most cases, you are getting set up for a follow up attack. Driving you sideways is exactly what they want because before you know it, you are getting dropped with a shin to the side of your knee.

Tactically, when force is driving you backwards and you cannot move sideways, simply “go with the flow” and Hau-bo in order to remain in fist-fighting range. Many will forget that Wing Chun being primarily a fist-fighting method means that the majority of our tactics work to either move us into that range or respond for reacquiring that range should we be driven to a different range.

Hau-bo is simply another option to keep us in fist-fighting range, so yes, it is vital to competent footwork. Those stating that they never step backwards probably do not train the wooden dummy then, either, because Hau-bo is how you move from a lead-leg position at the side back to the front. Some might still say no, but then how do they get back to the front?

Competent footwork requires step training in all directions, and learning to withdraw is included. Hau-bo simply re-positions us according to force, and without that, your body and footwork is severely limited.