Your attack must connect, but in practice stop an inch away

A common mistake made by kungfu practitioners in sparring is that their attacks do not reach. Reaching an opponent, or having contact, in your attack is important. In friendly sparring, we stop about an inch or two before the target. But at the initial stage of their practice, Grandmaster Wong asks the course participants to leave a wider gap between their strikes and their targets so as to be safe. In at more advanced stages, they can stop an inch or two away. There must also be an element of threat in the attack.