Po Pai Jeung
抱牌掌
Literally: shield-holding palms
Also known as: Bao Pao Jeung
Wing Chun two-palm strike that winds around the opponent's arm, with its own section in the wooden dummy exercise.
Quick Facts
Katas containing this technique
About
Po Pai Jeung (抱牌掌), also Bao Pao Jeung, is a two-palm strike in Wing Chun. One Wing Chun glossary translates it as hands holding a shield or palms breaking through a row, and describes it as two palms moving along a single line and winding around the opponent's arm. It can be performed vertically, horizontally or diagonally. The technique is used to wind into an empty angle and push the opponent away. It is tied to the wooden dummy exercise (Muk Yan Jong), where it has its own section: the hands first roll around the dummy's wooden arms, followed by the Po Pai Jeung strike to its trunk, performed from several angles with stepping in a circle around the dummy. The same glossary links it to the rolling hands of Kwan Sau, so it is not a separate, independent movement. According to traditional legend, the wooden dummy exercise arose from merging 108 separate dummies from the Shaolin temple into one, an act attributed to the nun Ng Mui; the modern wall-mounted version of the dummy was designed in Hong Kong by Ip Man. A similar-sounding but different term, Po Pai Sao (破排手), written with different characters, is also recorded.