Wing Chun History

The Wing Chun Myth and the Origin of Martial Art Eddie Yuen

Chinese Martial Arts, Wushu, has had a long history. It has been mystified through the ages because of a lack of records in the orthodox history books, because of embellishment in chivalric fiction and Martial Arts romances and because some schools of Martial arts misleadingly attributed their foundation to some characters in the fictional literature, as a hype-up ploy. Even to this day, there is still a dazzling array of schools and factions, whose real origin is closely guarded and camouflaged.

That also applies to the school of Wing Chun. Almost every Wing Chun practitioner knows a few legends, which gave rise to many different names attached to Wing Chun, such as Snake-and-crane Wing Chun and Ape-and-Crane Wing Chun. The most ignorant of the 'inventer' prefixed the term Wing Chun with their own family names, in total denial of the true origin.

In Hong Kong, most practitioners subscribe to the following story: In the Qing dynasty, the imperial court burnt down Shaolin Temple (in Futian County, Fujian Province) and pursued its monks and secular disciples, in an attempt to annihilate them all. One of the secular disciples, Yan Si (Yim Sei), escaped with his daughter Yong Chun (Wing Chun) and they eked out a poor existence as tofu (beancurd) sellers. But a local tyrant tried to force Wing Chun to marry him. Wing Chun asked to be given a reprieve of three months before she would marry him. At that time, Grandmaster Madame Wu Mei (Ng Mui) happened to be passing by, so she taught Wing Chun her fighting skills. Three months later, Wing Chun beat that tyrant, so she named this school of Martial Arts after herself. (One cannot but think that if someone could become so good at Martial Arts after a mere three months, that bully must have been in invalid.) Another legend has it that after Wing Chun had mastered Ng Mui's fighting skills, she witnessed a battle between a snake and a crane in the mountain, which inspired this school of Martial Arts. No, it was not between a snake and a crane, some say, it was between a fox and a crane. Or maybe a crane and a monkey? (As we have neither wings nor fangs or talons, how can we possibly simulate their movements?)

In 1987, my grandmaster Wong Shun Leung gave a lecture in the Basement in London. He pointed out then that the above story had been made up by a disciple of Grandmaster Yip Man, who was a journalist. The purpose was to raise the notability of Wing Chun, as when it was first taught in Hong Kong, it was not very well know. (In fact, Ng Mui is a fictional character from a novel.)

The most prevalent legend in the U.K. about Wing Chun goes like this: Once upon a time, a very powerful disciple of Shaolin Temple became a traitor, but nobody in the temple could beat him, so several senior monks worked together and created this style to overpower him. What happened to him in the end goes without saying. (It makes one wonder how such a story has convinced so many people.)

According to another legend, the handful of monks who escaped from Shaolin Temple when it was burnt down realized that time was not on their side if they were to pass each and every skill in the Shaolin combat repertoire down to posterity, so they joined hands to create Wing Chun Kuen. And this style, therefore, is the cr?me de la cr?me of Shaolin Wushu. (If that is the case, why are so many people still practicing other styles of Shaolin Wushu? Are all of them bogus?)

In February 1998, I went to Foshan to search for the true root of Wing Chun, I bought three sets of  'Yong Chun Quan' (Wing Chun Kuen), written by Mr. Han GuangJiu, at the local Martial Arts society. In the chapter on the origin of Wing Chun Kuen, Mr Han wrote: 'Legend has it that the founder of Wing Chun was the Abbess of Yijian Nunnery, herself the 22nd-generation disciple of Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, and the pedigree of Wing Chun's evolution also begins with the Abbess of Yijian Nunnery.' But who was this Abbess of Yijian Nunnery? Mr. Han did not explore the background of this person, as he made it clear that this was in the legend. I am not in a position to discuss this version, but do believe that we should find out more about this Abbess of Yijian Nunnery before we come to any conclusion. I remember that years ago, Mr. Zhu SongMin, who has now passed away, used to teach in Hong Kong a Wushu style named Yong Chun Quan. This style originated from the Yong Chun Hall of Shaolin Temple, hence the name. (Shaolin Temple's heyday lasted from AD581 <ETH> 907, during which it had more than 5,000 halls and chambers.) Mr Zhu's Yong Chun Quan included three routines, Wooden Dummy, Six-and-a-Half-Movement Cudgel, Sticky Hand and so on. It is very similar to Wing Chun. Are Yong Chun and Wing Chun from the same origin? If so, Wing Chun must have always been a style within the repertoire of Shaolin Temple's fighting skills and any other legends would have little credibility.

In my personal opinion, Wushu was actually part of the day-to-day life of our ancient ancestors. (The human history probably began 1 million years ago, judging by the tooth fossils from the ape-men discovered in Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province, in 1965.) For the sake of survival, hunting or war with other tribes, they fought bare-handed and, later, with some weapons. The movements used were accumulated and optimised into a form of Martial Arts.

China has a recorded history of more than 4,000 years (starting from 21st century BC), but Shaolin Temple has only been around for just over 1,500 years (since AD 495), so we can safely say that Wushu was not invented by Shaolin Temple. The biggest credit that Shaolin Temple deserves is the effort to distil the experience of earlier martial artists into complete and systematic routines and to classify them into categories, clearing away impurities and retaining the pure. As a result, people with different constitutions and temperaments can all find something suitable for themselves, making it easier to disseminate Wushu.

The glory of Chinese Martial Arts today is a result of our predecessors' unremitting endeavor to improve and perfect this art. This process is set to continue generation after generation. Another few decades down the line, Wushu will take on a fresher look, won't