From Hong Kong to Germany: The path to HKWTA Germany
- Patrik Seyschab
- Dec 11, 2025
- 4 min read
The Hong Kong Wing Tsun Association (HKWTA), our home in international Wing Chun. I came into contact with the association founded by Sifu Chris Collins for the first time in 2014. In the following I would like to briefly describe this path.
Hong Kong 2014: Starting out in the metropolis
In fact, it doesn't feel like my first point of contact was with the HKWTA in 2014. Rather, it was direct contact with Sifu Chris Collins himself, without any association or larger structures. At the time, I was doing an internship in Hong Kong (HK), living for a year in the metropolis of millions, which, like New York, never really sleeps. The ´Wan Chai´ district on Hong Kong Island was my home during this time. I quickly got to my work in ´Central´ by subway or the famous tram from the British colonial era.
At that time, I had already been learning Wing Tsun in Germany for three years. I knew that HK was often referred to as the capital of Wing Chun and that the martial art had been spread throughout the city by Yip Man. Beyond that, I didn't know much. Once in Hong Kong, I looked around for possible schools. I researched online and, surprisingly often, happened to walk past schools in my daily life, which I then made a note of. These were training experiences that had a big impact on me. The teachers were all nice and accommodating. In general, from personal experience, I can describe the Wing Chun scene in Hong Kong as open and helpful.
In total, I visited around ten schools in Hong Kong in 2014. One of them was Sifu Chris' school in ´Sheung Wan´, a district on Hong Kong Island that Time Out magazine considers one of the coolest districts in the world. (Surely also because of Sifu Chris' school. Unfortunately, Time Out forgot to mention it in the article. An oversight, I'm sure.)
I stayed there because it felt right. It's difficult for me to express it any other way. The atmosphere was relaxed. Music played during private lessons. Chris never put on airs. You could almost forget that he was the ´master.´ ´Almost´ because, regardless of the atmosphere, there was never any doubt about his abilities. That was clear to me from the very first minute. At the time, I didn't know that Sifu Chris had studied directly under Sifu Cheng Chuen Fun and Sifu Leung Ting. But I wouldn't have cared. I was looking for skill, not lineage.
Why I stayed with Sifu Chris: atmosphere, coaching, skill
Of course, I had also met very capable masters at other schools. But what stuck in my mind about Chris was that after every single private lesson, I knew for sure that I was better than before. Improvements and coaching in real time. Not through words, but through the feeling in my arms. Structured lessons. Not what I wanted to learn, but what I needed to learn. In that sense, I wasn't even looking for skill in a teacher at the time, but for a teacher who could pass that skill on. But I only realized that years later.
After my year in Hong Kong was over, I returned to Germany. I was happy to have a teacher and to be close to the source. I remember Chris telling me honestly before I left that it would be difficult for me to continue my Wing Tsun journey. Difficult without a suitable school, without Si-Hings, without coaching on site. At that time, there were no branches of the HKWTA in Germany. Chris is known among those who know him for doing little advertising. At the time, he only had his website for HK, and that was it.
Wing Tsun family: friendship in action
The HKWTA was a loose association of schools that followed Sifu Chris. Not through directives and rules, but out of conviction. The next offshoots, from my view, were Amsterdam and Prague. When I heard that Sifu Chris had been invited to Europe by these schools to give seminars, I didn't hesitate and got on the train and bus. An exciting time, traveling from seminar to seminar across Europe. Only deciding where I would spend the night once I arrived. Not knowing how to get to the next town in the middle of Czechia.
During this time, I found something. A Wing Tsun family. People who have been with me for a decade now. Friendships and a place to sleep in most European countries. In the years that followed, until 2020, these were my short vacations. Somewhere in Europe on the floor of an HKWTA school. Often without Sifu Chris being in Europe. The solidarity he exemplified endured even without his presence. I can honestly say that with the help of Wing Tsun, I got to know and understand my own continent better.
Back to Hong Kong – and the creation of HKWTA Germany
At the same time, I was fortunate enough to be able to continue visiting Sifu Chris in Hong Kong once a year. Now specifically for training. Not as a resident, but as a guest in the metropolis. Over the years, I have experienced five different gyms run by Sifu Chris. Nothing unusual for Hong Kong. Fortunately, however, they have always remained in Sheung Wan. (I'm sure Time Out just forgot to mention that.)
With this mixture of impressions and efforts, I managed to defy Chris's parting words in 2014. A decade later, HKWTA-Germany was founded, and I was able to invite Sifu Chris to Germany for the first time myself. Not because of directives and rules, but out of conviction.
Comments