What is Wing Chun

What is Wing Chun
Wing Chun is a type of Chinese martial art that dates back about 400 years. It is classified as a type of Kung Fu, which is a Cantonese term used to describe a skill aquired over a long period of time. This may refer to cooking, drawin, playing a musical intrument etc. So in China someone who has worked hard and has aquired a sufficient level of skill in something is said to have good Kung Fu. The term as understood in the west is almost always used to describe Chinese martial arts, which the correct term for this would actually be either Wu Shu (martial art) or Chuan Fa (fist skills).
Wing Chun translates as Everlasting/Beautiful Springtime. This denotes a thinking mans martial art and as we know Spring is a time of growth and development and so the name suggests that with Wing Chun we are always growing and developing, never stagnant and resting on our laurels. It was started by Ng Moi, a female Shaolin Nun who survived the destruction of the temple. When she fled she took refuge in a town in Canton province where she met a man called Yim Yee who had a daughter called Yim Wing Chun. Ng Moi had developed her Shaolin to a new level, no longer confined by the temple she was free to chip away at her system until she came to the roots of it and then built it back up, with none of the previous set routines and dead techniques in it. She worked from the fact that as a woman she was not physically strong and so had to use her structure and the opponents own force to defeat them. So she taught it to Yim Wing Chun, whos husband, Leung Bok Chau, named it after her when she died.
Through the generations it got passed on to a man named Leung Jan, who was a famous herbal doctor in the town of Faatsan (Foshan). He took the art to a new level and broke it down into three levels characterised by three set patterns known as Siu Lim Tao (way of little idea), Chum Kiu (searching for the bridge) and Biu Jee (thrusting fingers); and a set on the wooden dummy (Mook Yan Jong Fat), a training device simulating an opponent. He bacame very famous for his skill in challenge matches and passed his art on to his 2 sons, Leung Chun & Leung Bik and a disciple named Chan Wah Shun.
Chan Wah Shun was a very big man who was physically strong and his art reflected that. Not being educated he explained things in the common mans simplistic language. His most famous student was a young rich kid by the name of Yip Man.
Yip Man moved to Hong Kong to attend college there and 1 day saw a policeman beating up an old lady, he helped the lady and one of his friends knew an old man who was interested in seeing what Yip Man could do. So Yip Man went ot see the old man who looked at his Kung Fu and said it was crap. Yip Man was so angry he tried to defeat the old man and couldnt. He later found out the old man was none other than Leung Bik, son of his Sigung (teachers teacher), Leung Jan. So Leung Bik was much smaller and more educated than Chan Wah Shun and taught him a more advanced and refined version of the art.
Yip Man later moved back to Faatsan for many years until the Communists took over China and persectued the people.Yip Man fled like many others to Hong Kong as it was owned by the British at least their lives were safe. At first he didnt want to teach, but then necessity caused him to do it to make a living. Many of his students were parts of gangs and went out and tested their skills on the streets against all kinds of opponents. One of his students was Li Jun Fan who moved to America and became the movie star Bruce Lee.
When Yip Man died many people tried and still try to cash in on his legacy, using the fact they were trained by him to make money. Also Yip Man taught every student differently due to build, education, character etc so Wing Chun is now so diverse that everyone argues over who has the true Wing Chun.
I personally believe that what is more important is the experiences that each master through the generations has added to the core philosophies compiled by Ng Moi. So what we practice now will look different to how it was done before, and everyone will practice differently as they have different experiences governing their art.