It has been a few days now since Part 1 was posted, and there have been some good thoughts addressed in your comments. I agree with all of them in one respect or another, so let me offer my take on things.
“Standing your ground” means having the structure and skills to drive directly into the opponent and handle what comes your way while remaining protective and safe. Since we always want to be on the offensive (which forces the opponent to be defensive), we stay on the attack in order to end the fight as quickly as possible.
One of the key elements of this, however, is also knowing when we should give way and take a different approach.
If you understand the basic structure of Wing Chun, then “standing your ground” makes a lot of sense. The problem is when we begin relying on our own force, our own physical strength, in order to make things happen. That is a grave trap for many, since it is not uncommon to meet up with someone that is just plain stronger than we are.
For example, if your attacker has roughly the same skill set as you do but is also stronger, then standing your ground will greatly decrease your odds of success. It becomes a force-vs-force situation, and in those types of situations, the stronger of the two forces has a better chance of winning.
In this example, we would then side-step in order to attack the least defended areas of the opponent.
So now the issue of “standing your ground” has taken on a tactical nature as well as a physical nature.
See? Isn’t this fun?
From my own experiences, I prefer to work the basic concepts of driving or wedging directly into the opponent and forcing him to deal with that rather than side-stepping without a real reason. In that, however, I also remain as pliable as possible so that if my own force is being overcome, I can change angles via side-stepping and go for the least protected areas.
There is a fine line between knowing how much strength you are encountering and when to give ground, and understanding that fine line is learned in Chi-sau training. While the basic tenets of Wing Chun’s tactical nature are easily learned, the route to put it into action is only accessible via Chi-sau.
Some might disagree with me, but I also do not see any harm in using your own strength to sway the course. If you have a powerful build and can engage an opponent with pure physical power, then this is a positive attribute. The real key to that, however, is still knowing when too much is too much, and when that occurs, Chi-sau will tell you this. Relying on your strength is wrong, but using your strength is not.
In the end, “standing your ground” means having a solid structure, as well as the tactical nature of taking the fight to the opponent. Simultaneously, it also means being relaxed and pliable enough to feel what is going on and to give way to a superior force (which is what we term as “borrowing” the attacker’s force).
The trick now is learning where those fine lines exist and to capitalize on them.
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