Who is Master Wong?

Master Wong is a martial artist who hails from Ipswich, United Kingdom. He is best known for his popular Youtube videos where he mostly demonstrates a mixture of Wing Chun, Tai Chi, and other traditional martial arts. Perhaps what’s most noticeable about Master Wong is his vibrant and sometimes loud personality. Love him or hate him, you won’t forget him in a hurry. Because of this, some people criticize him, whilst others say it’s entertaining. Here’s more information on Master Wong.

What martial art does Master Wong use?

According to Master Wong himself, he is a Wing Chun, Tai Chi, and Jeet Kune Do master. Other than Tai Chi, the other martial arts are heavily influenced or popularized by Bruce Lee. It is Lee who Master Wong claims as his biggest influence. In other words, his style is massively inspired by Bruce Lee. Here’s a quick look at what these three martial arts involve:

• Wing Chun: This is about close ranged striking and ‘trapping’ the opponents arms, meaning you counter their strikes with blocks and then hit back with success.
• Jeet Kune Do: This was made by Bruce Lee and was influenced by Wing Chun. It is similar to Wing Chun but has a bigger emphasis on street fighting, meaning some of its moves are considered dangerous and dirty.
• Tai Chi: This is kind of similar to Aikido as it uses the opponent’s momentum to throw and strike them. These days, many people believe that Tai Chi is nonense.

Glancing across the Youtube channel of Master Wong, these are the three main martial arts that he teaches. These are primarily striking based martial arts that don’t involve much grappling. It should also be noted that these arts are also very up close with little distance or range involved.

Does Master Wong use Tai Chi?

As mentioned earlier, Master Wong does use Tai Chi. This is where his reputation takes a bit of a hit amongst martial artists. Whilst Wing Chun and Jeet Kune Do are held in higher esteem, Tai Chi is seen by many as a bit of a laughing stock. This is because its techniques offer very little in terms of real life application.

Often, they are seen as overly reliant on a compliant partner who sells moves and makes them look more effective than they actually are. In this sense, it has a lot of similarities with Aikido which has a similar amount of criticisms. Nonetheless, this is still one of Master Wong’s most commonly taught martial arts.

Is Master Wong real?

Although Master Wong has a loud persona and has a lot of high energy, it’s fair to say that he’s actually a serious martial artist. Whilst some of his demonstrations may be flamboyant, his teachings are meant to be real. Whether done on purpose for marketing reasons, or if it’s just his natural personality, the result is that Master Wong’s image definitely helped him grow. As a result, various people talk about him online and he has a bit of a following.

He literally has millions of Youtube subscribers and even more have watched his videos. If you think his teachings are bogus or ineffective, that’s on you. However, the point remains that he’s trying to teach legitimate stuff, at least in his mind.

Who is Master Wong’s teacher?

Little is known about Master Wong’s teacher which is the cause for skepticism in the martial arts community. Often, people will be more than proud to talk about their roots and lineage. Having said this it’s difficult to find much on Master Wong. That isn’t to say he’s a fraud, but there’s just not much out there about his origins.

At the same time, to call yourself a ‘master’ is usually quite a big deal. Often titles of master aren’t just handed out in martial arts and can take decades or a lifetime to achieve. With this said, whilst Master Wong clearly has some technical ability in his moves, the title of master is often met with controversy and it denotes mastery and incredible knowledge.

Do Master Wong’s teachings actually work for self defense?

Over the years, a lot of criticisms have been put to Master Wong, claiming that his techniques simply aren’t realistic. Most people believe this is the case for Tai Chi which has been debunked for the most part. But what about his Wing Chun and Jeet Kune Do stuff? In our opinion, this can be hit or miss. Some of the stuff featured here is certainly solid in terms of self defense and offers a good framework of defense. However, some of it is not so good. It would also be nice to see some of his techniques seen in sparring. In martial arts, sparring is a good way to pressure test your skills and is commonly used in Wing Chun too.

It’s the same story in terms of a co-operating partner who responds in a certain way but reality can often be different. Further, Master Wong is pretty conditioned, strong and explosive. This is great for fighting but may not be as effective for a regular person. On that note, whilst his stuff may be unrealistic at times, his conditioning and athleticism exercises are good at least.

Conclusion

Master Wong is one of many internet personalities who used his personality to gain a reputation. There’s nothing wrong with this, but at the same time there are also more effective forms of self defense out there. Firstly, some of his techniques are suspect, and secondly even if what he did teach was legit, his style also bypasses a lot of grappling stuff which is commonly used in fighting.

Overall, it’s fun to watch Master Wong and he’s certainly a character. However, if you want to learn self defense then there’s better out there to learn from. Further, you shouldn’t just try and lazily learn self defense online. If you’re serious about learning how to fight then get down to your local gym and learn in person. This is much more effective as you’ll feel the moves which makes learning easier.

If you’d like to learn more about Master Wong from his own perspective, his book is available here.