Wing Chun and Chinese Martial Arts

By Eddie Yuen

Introduction

Over my years of teaching martial arts, many of my students and associates have questioned me on the history of Wing Chun as well as other aspects of Chinese martial arts. After some lengthy and in-depth research, I have discovered information that I believe is interesting that I would like to share.

A Brief History Of Wing Chun And Its Current Divisions

Wing Chun is one of the many martial arts developed in southern China. Though popular in this part of China it is not well known in the north. Despite this, Wing Chun is well known in the rest of the world, and there are several main streams that have branched from the original style.

Hang Tan Wing Chun is the original style of Wing Chun. It has been succeeded by Chan Wah Sung, which was the style practised by Master Yip Man and is arguably the most established and accepted style in the world.

Opera Wing Chun is a style practised by Wong Wah Po who taught the Chinese opera actors. This is a style currently practised in South East Asia as well as in China.

Hok Saan Gu Lo Wing Chun is a style that was taught by Leung Tsan in his retirement when he settled back in his hometown. This style does not have any standard forms, only individual techniques.

Another style, commonly known as Snake Style Wing Chun, was founded by Leung Yee Tye. It was founded in Yum Chou where he lived in his retirement. During this time he also trained Law Maan Kung in this style. Later successors included Lau Chee Kwong and Ho Huan Biao who practised and promoted this style in Fat Shan. This style is very common in Fat Shan. A characteristic of this style is that the traditional wooden dummy has been replaced by a wall-mounded box fitted with flexible plastic sticks.

In February 2000, I returned to Fat Shan to visit Shi Fu Lau. During our conversation, I asked him about the name of their style. He explained that the name Snake Wing Chun was not a name that they use themselves but a name given by other people. Indeed they have never called their style Snake and he had no idea why people made up this name for their style. However, after watching them practice their Chee Sau (Sticking Hands), I understood the reasoning behind this given name. Before and after their Chee Sau sections, they always perform "Thrusting Hands" motions and these motions are very similar to striking action of a snake (the number of strikes dependant on the distance between the two opponents).

A further Wing Chun stream in Fat Shan was founded by Shi Fu Pam Nan. He learned from Jiu Giu, and Lai Yip Chie (Jiu's martial arts brother). His style is very different from the others. Apart from the traditional forms, they also practice other fist and palm techniques. They use pole, knife and spear as weapons and also practice other weapon forms apart from the Six and Half Pole form and the Pak Chum Dao. Additionally they study Chinese chiropractics and the attack of nerve points. Other famous contemporary practitioners of this style are Shi Fu Pam Siu Chun, Shi Fu Han Gwong Gau, Gum Gar Hong etc.

The branches of Wing Chun mentioned above are well recognised by the martial world. Undoubtedly, there are many fictional styles of Wing Chun mentioned in other articles that use novel characters and animals as background stories, however, I think is better to avoid confusion by exploring them.

The Exact Meaning Of "Shi Fu"

The title "Shi Fu" has been used in Chinese culture since ancient imperial times. It was originally a general title used to describe senior government officials. Currently people good at arts or handicraft are also called "Shi Fu", since a martial art is also a kind of art, many people believe that if they are good at what they do, they can also adopt the title "Shi Fu".

Traditionally, there are three basic characteristics or behaviours for people to become a martial arts "Shi Fu":

Firstly, they must have excellent techniques and posses an in depth knowledge of the style they practice, including its history and meaning.

Secondly, they must know basic Chinese chiropractic practice, first aid and herbal treatments. Hence, in the early days, many martial art Shi Fu would run a chiropractic clinic as well as teach martial arts.

Last, but not least, is the most important quality; that of martial ethics. Many students will treat their Shi Fu as an role-model and will sub-consciously imitate him. His behaviour will both directly and indirectly influence his students. If a Shi Fu just teaches brutal fighting techniques without teaching morality, and encourages aggressiveness, his students will not benefit from the essence of the traditional martial arts, instead, they may cause trouble to society. In the martial arts community, they are referred to as "Martial Bull", with attendant disgrace.

In essence, it is very rare to find a genuine "Shi Fu" today.

Commercial and Amateur Schools

It is difficult judge the quality of a martial art school by just determining whether it is professional or amateur; or even by looking at its web site.

Some web sites contain a lot of information about the clubs, instructors and their heritage. Often this information is only presented to serve marketing purposes. There is nothing wrong with being a commercial school, indeed for some instructors this income represents their livelihood. So, from a business perspective, it is understandable that some schools invest more effort in promoting their clubs and instructors than the art itself.

Nowadays, communication technologies enable us to find all kinds of information just by surfing the internet. Almost anyone with access to a computer can find a variety of martial art schools through different web sites. Indeed, it is very difficult to determine the quality of a school by just reading the materials on a computer or by paying an initial visit.

In reality, my experience suggests that it requires a lot of time, energy and financial support to do the research required to establish the truth behind any claims and stories in an established martial art (like Wing Chun).

In my opinion, the most important criteria of a good martial art school can be summarised by the following criteria:

Honesty and openness to fellow students.

Degree of dedication to the arts and teaching.

True knowledge of the art.

Continuous research.

Absence of arrogance.

Absence of hierarchy.

Furthermore I believe that a good martial art school should allow its students to research and further explore the art rather than having a rigid and hierarchical training scheme.

Chinese Martial Art and Shaolin

Many people believe Chinese martial arts are originated from Shaolin temple. There is a myth about a holy monk called Tak Moor from India who introduced martial arts to the Shaolin temple. If this legend is true, does it mean Chinese people do not have their own martial arts?

I believe that every nation and race must have their own martial culture and with that culture could cultivate many styles of martial arts. Whether they are popular or not is another matter. The development of Chinese martial arts is no exception, it began at about 2600 B.C., by the time of 770 B.C. it was well accepted by the general public. By the beginning of 1618 A.D., Chinese martial arts were spreading from China to Japan.

In 527 A.D. Tak Moor travelled from the South East of India to China by sea. He arrived in the Guang Chou province, in the southern part of China, to start his missionary work. However, the emperor Leung Wu Di did not appreciated the Buddhist philosophy so Tak Moor then went north to the Shaolin monastery to start another stream of Buddhism called Sim Chong. At that time he also began to teach people some physical and mental exercises to improve their general health and their ways of life. He started the introduction of Yi Jing Jin; Xi Shúi Jin and the Eighteen movements of the Lan Hon Shou. These are motions and exercises to keep the body and mind healthy. They also have a significant influence in the development of Chi Kung (Qi Gong) and Nè Gong (Internal Energy), however, they are not related to traditional Chinese martial arts.

Tak Moor only stayed in the Shaolin temple for a short period of time and there is no recorded reason why he left. In 557 A.D. he passed away and was buried in a dome near a place called Lung Moon where is a countryside 25km south of Luk Yang of Ho Nan province. In fact, the dome in Shaolin temple does not have Tak Moor's body laid in it, it is only for memorial purposes.

In my opinion, Tak Moor did not created the Shaolin martial arts. The claim that he sat in front of a stonewall for nine years leaving his shadow on the wall is fictitious. I have visited the famous stonewall and have taken a good look at the legendary Tak Moor shadow. It is only a small dent with a surface area smaller than the size of a child. I believe the Tak Moor shadow is just a story created for tourists. Any reasonable person will agree that it is almost impossible to leave a person's shadow on a wall by sitting in front of it for long time.

What is Shaolin?

The name Shaolin is derived from its geographical location in the region of Shao Suc (Shao Shi) mountains.

The term Shaolin, when used by people, actually means Shaolin monastery. There are a total of eleven Shaolin monasteries in China, most of which practice martial arts.

Generally speaking the most well-known Shaolin monastery is in Shong Shian (15km North-West from the Dunn Fung twon of the He Nan province). The name Shaolin can be understood from this geography. Shong Shian has twenty mountains. Its geography is divided into two regions. The east side is generally known as Tai Shi, while the west side is called Shao Shi. Each mountain also has its own name. The first Shaolin monastery was build inside the woodland at the bottom of the north Wu Ru mountain which is a part of the Shao Shi region. Hence the monastery was named Shaolin – indicating it is located in a woodland of Shao Shi region. The famous Shaolin monastery in Shong Shian is known as Bei (North) Shaolin.

Architecturally speaking the original monastery was constructed so that each building has seven levels. During the during the Tsui (Sui) and Tong (Tang) dynasties the Shaolin enjoyed its most successful period. At that time the monastery consisted of more than five thousand buildings covering a large area, housing more than one thousand monks.

Why do people think martial arts originated in Shaolin? After all morally it appears questionable for religious people to practice lethal fighting techniques. For many people this is simply puzzling.

The answer is that the monks organised the monastery into separate departments for, for example; finance, facilities, maintenance, catering, public relations, etc. They also had a security division. Specifically the monks who worked in security specialised in martial arts in order to protect the monastery from robbery and invasion.

It was recorded that many martial monks from Shaolin joined the army of the Tong (Tang) Dynasty during 597 to 649 AD, and won many battles for the emperor. The emperor rewarded the monks by giving the monastery a lot of lands and property.

The Shaolin establishment rented this land to local farmers to fund the monastery. In addition to protecting the monastery, the martial monks travelled long distances to collect rent from the farmers. This meant spending the majority of their time outside with large amounts of money, hence, good martial skills were vital to enable them to protect themselves and their belongings.

This is a brief history of the Shong Shian Shaolin. There is another Shaolin monastery, known as Nan (South) Shaolin, built on the Jiou Lian mountain in the Pu Tian region of the Fu Jian province. Most of the Chinese martial art styles were developed from these two monasteries.

The Origin of Chinese Martial Arts

Many people believe Chinese martial arts are derived from the Five Animals Dance. This begs the question: Is it true that Chinese martial arts are derived from copying animals' movement and inspired by watching fights between animals?

The five animals in the Five Animal Dance are: Tiger, Game, Monkey, Bear and Crane. According to legend people believe the dance came from a medical doctor called Hua Tuo (190 AD to 265 AD) from the Three Kingdoms period (220 A.D. to 280 A.D.). Historically speaking, Wah Tau (Hua Tuo) is a famous ancient medical doctor and a surgeon who only practised medicine and surgical techniques but not martial arts. Additionally having studied a documentary on this dance the movements appear to be far more related to gymnastics than to martial arts.

Nevertheless, Shaolin martial arts does contain a style called Five Animal Fists: Dragon; Tiger, Leopard, Snake and Crane. It is the first form for learning how to exercise the internal energy. Internal energy involves concentration, power, body structure, breathing, and mind control. Obviously, they are very important and can help in developing a sound foundation for the practice of any martial art.

In general, Chinese martial arts or Kung Fu has two characteristics: One aspect concentrates on performing and fighting; another aspect specialises in martial training and fighting techniques. In terms of the performance aspect, some movements and techniques may be from imitating animal gesture and behaviours. Hence, their styles or forms will be named from the animals or insects e.g. Crane, Leopard, Monkey, Mantis etc. Also, some of the Chinese martial artists are very intellectual and imaginative, quite often when they created a style or form, they choose some mythical or powerful names e.g. Dragon or Tiger etc.

Nevertheless, I believe that the structure and strength of human beings are completely different from animals and insects, consequently, we fight differently from animals and so it is not convincing to claim that Chinese martial arts are derived from animal movements.

Wing Chun is not aimed for performance. The system is designed from studying the movements and co-ordination of the human body in fighting, hence, it is not very entertaining in demonstration. In fact, I prefer to watch the Monkey style in demonstration than Wing Chun.

Biography of Eddie Yuen

Eddie Yuen is an amateur martial artist whose experience is summarised as follows:

Wing Chun

1995 - to date Studied Wing Chun from Si Fu Nino Bernado (The Basement). Nino is a student of Master Wong Shun Leung.

1998 - 2001 Visited Fu Shan (Chin Wu) Martial Art Association three times in order to conduct research into Wing Chun.

1997 Founded of Oxford Wing Chun

1968 - 1970 Studied Wing Chun in London from Paul Lam who is a student of Master Leung Sheung.

Tai Chi

1995 Studied Chi Kung and the Beijing Official Tai Chi 42 Movements from Professor Mao Shek On

1995 Taught Tai Chi in the Oxford Chinese Community Centre

1990 Studied Tai Chi Internal Energy from Dan Docherty

1986 -1995 Studied Tai Chi with David Baker under the guidance of Dan Docherty

1976 Studied Tai Chi (Wu Style) in Hong Kong from Mr Mar Tin Yat who is a student of Cheung Wing Kwong.

Tae Kwon Do

1966-1968 Studied Tae Kwon Do in Oxford from Tae Hee Lee (1962 Korea Champion). Master Lee is a student of General Choi

Hung Gar Kuen

1961-1965 Studied Hung Gar Kuen in Hong Kong from Master Chan Hon Chung who is a grand student of Wong Fai Hung.