Wing Chun Fut Kung Fu: The Meaning Of Belts

In my Wing Chun Fut school, our belts have meaning. From lowest to highest rank, the belts are white, yellow, green, blue, red, and black. My master wanted to stress the practical application of fighting a large of development, so the higher the belt test, the more fighting is involved in the scoring of the belt test. I am a yellow belt. Up to this point, there has not been any fighting on my test, but for my next test there will be. Fighting consists of 30 second rounds. Each hit I take is a point off. So to pass the test, it doesn't matter how many times you hit your opponent, just don't get hit. In case you're wondering, you are not allowed to run away from your opponent either.

Master Lee has devised standards for each belt level. White belt is just the beginning stage where you learn how to block basic attacks. Yellow belt means you should be able to block all hands. What that means is that a yellow belt should be able to block all punch attacks from an opponent. Green belt means that they should be able to block all punch and kick attacks from an opponent. A student at blue belt will wait until they get their opponent off balance before they strike. Red belt means the student will beat their opponent with one move. That means that the red belt student will not commit to an attack until that attack is sure and inflicts serious damage. A black belt student should be able to call their shot, meaning they can tell the opponent ahead of time what they will attack and the opponent will not be able to defend it.

These standards set the foundation of how we fight at our school. There are so many techniques and philosophies to learn, that it can be overwhelming. It's good to know that we have standards to help us stay focused.