For many decades, Wing Chun Kuen stayed around the Foshan and Guangzhou area and never spread much further. Today many people still don’t know this “short bridge narrow horse” boxing art. Decades ago in Guangdong Wing Chun Kuen was known as “Gwai Ga Kuen” (”Returning Home Boxing”). This meant Wing Chun Kuen was not like the “long bridge big horse” boxing arts which look good in demonstrations. Wing Chun Kuen is not good looking in demonstration but then, that is not where Wing Chun Kuen’s value lies.

20 years ago, Wing Chun Kuen had not spread far and its circle remained very small. Not many people had learned the art and those with good quality did not easily teach others. Thus, only a few were successful with it. Since then, however, the Wing Chun Kuen of founder Mr. Yip Man has been spread in Hong Kong and around the world. Now, many people know of Wing Chun Kuen. Besides the branch of Mr. Yip Man, there is another system with different methods and techniques.

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The Wing Chun system began with Ng Mui Si Tai who taught it to Yim Wing-Chun. Yim taught her husband, Leung Bok-Tao. In Foshan, Leung took a student named Wong Wah-Bo who was a member of the Red Junk Opera. Another Red Junk student, Painted Face Kam, taught Wing Chun Kuen to Fok Bo-Chuen and Fung Siu-Ching. They passed the art on to Yuen Kay-San. Yuen’s nickname was Yuen Lo Jia (Yuen The Fifth) because, in his family, he was the 5th brother and in Guangdonhua, Jia signifies the 5th. Yuen Kay-San taught the art to a student named Sum who in turn taught Leung Dai-Chiu.

Leung Dai-Chiu now teaches in Kowloon and where he also runs a medical clinic and treats many specialized conditions such as falling and hitting, wind damp, and the loss of feeling children experience in their limbs. While teaching Wing Chun Boxing, Pole, and Knife, he also does a good job at medicine.

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Wing Chun began with a Buddhist nun named Ng Mui, a Bak Hok Kuen (White Crane Boxing) practitioner who taught Miu Sun. Miu Sun took the good qualities and left out the weaknesses, and combined what he learned with his own invented style and then passed it along to Yim Yee. Yim Yee took all that he learned and passed them along to his daughter, Yim Wing-Chun. Yim Wing-Chun passed them along to her husband, Leung Bok-Lao. When Wing-Chun later passed away, Leung Bok-Lao commemorated her by naming the martial art Wing Chun Kuen (Praise Spring Boxing).

Leung Bok-Lao went to Guangzhou and taught Guangdonese opera performers of the Red Junk. “Tall Man” Chung, “Painted Face” Kam, Leung Yee-Tai, and Wong Wah-Bo were his four students.
Later, “Painted Face” Kam, in the city of Guangzhou passed along Wing Chun to Fung Siu-Ching. When Fung Siu-Ching was very old, he was honorably invited to Foshan by Yuen Kay-San and others to teach Wing Chun martial art skills.

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My style of Wing Chun is an internal system which came from the north. During the revolutions against the Manchurians, a monk, nicknamed Dai Dong Fung (Great East Wind), while trying to escape arrest, came to the south. In the area of Qingyuan, Guangdong, he was made a guest by bothers named Tse Gok-Leung & Tse Gok-Jeung. Of the two brothers, one was a literary mandarin while the other was a military mandarin. Even though they were working for the Manchurians, but since they were of the Han tribe, and seeing how their kinsmen were being mistreated, they had a hope that one day the Manchurians would be over thrown by the Hans. After a period of time, when the monk observed that these two brothers were decent people and not corrupted mandarins, and that they also treated him with honor and respect, he taught them Wing Chun. He also disclosed that all disciples of Wing Chun are revolutionists. Since this had been discovered by the Manchurian Court, so in order to hide identity, they broke down the two characters “Wing Chun” into a secret three lined poem. That is: “Wing Yin Chi Ji” (Always speak with determination), “Mo Mong Hong Juk” (Don’t forget the Han Nation), “Dai Day Wu Chun” (Spring will be back again).

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The true origins of Wing Chun are not very clear. It is said Yip Man altered the Wing Chun he originally learnt before passing it on to the world. What did it look like before? The author gives us a possible answer.

1989 was the year I returned to Mauritius (an island west of the Indian Ocean) to visit my parents and relatives. I was prepared for a relaxing and lazy holiday lounging on the golden beach of this tropical island paradise and unexpectedly all of this went out of the window. One afternoon when I visited my father’s shop, I noticed an advert in the Chinese newspaper that a certain person was recruiting students for a Wing Chun class. This came as a total surprise that Wing Chun had even infiltrated this remote part of the world. When my father read out the name of the instructor (Leung Tong Sing), I immediately realized that I had met him previously. A few years ago, as a Wu Shu instructor who recently came from China, not knowing then that he also knew the Wing Chun also. The only thing I knew about him was through my father-in-law who is a committee member of a Cantonese speaking organization which sponsored Mr. Leung from Fatshan, China, to teach Chinese Wu Shu on the island. Mr. Leung, a Wu Shu champion in the Fatshan area of the Guangzhou province of China, came highly recommended by the Chinese Wu Shu organization. A coincidence of passing interest, Port Louis, the capital of the island is twinned with Fatshan in China, the home of Wing Chun. When I first met him several years before, he was teaching Wu Shu which incorporated the monkey, drunkard and other styles. These were the jumping and flowery stuff which I was not very keen on.

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The following is presented in the interest of preserving and promoting the history and practice of Wing Chun Kung Fu. The information contained in this article was obtained from a recognized Master of the art and is in no way intended to offend anyone or to disparage any organization or in any way to demean the history and practice of Wing Chun as it is taught by the disciples of Yip Man. It is recommended that, before conclusions are drawn, both Part I and Part II should be carefully read and even reread because most answers are contained in the text.

WHO REALLY ORIGINATED and developed Wing Chun? Exactly which martial arts did its originator draw upon when formulating Wing Chun? Since it is supposed to have originated in the Shaolin Temple, did any internal arts influence its development?

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Ti Lung [Tommy Tam Fu-Wing], a martial art movie actor, is the student of Jiu Wan Sifu, a respected elder of Wing Chun. Ti Lung has been popular for a long time and, like all movie stars, his story has created a lot of gossip. But there are few articles about how he learned Kung Fu. Readers may know that both Bruce Lee and Ti Lung practiced the Wing Chun style. In fact, before he entered the movie business, Ti Lung was already a favored student of Jiu Wan. Although now a celebrity, he still respects Jiu Wan as a teacher and continues to practice and visit with him.

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The famous pole method of the Red Junks was the 6 ½ points. This, they say, is because Sim (Chan/Zen) Teacher Jee Shim came south and hid aboard the Red Junks and taught Leung Yee-Tai. After he learned, Leung Yee-Tai became the master teacher of the Red Junks and passed the technique to San Kam (New Kam). Later, when in Foshan, he taught the techniques to Mr. Leung Jan. The Red Junk students made the 6 ½ point pole very popular. It was the specialty of many in the Foshan Weng Chun (Always Spring) sect.

The 6 points are Tai (Raise), Lan (Bar), Dim (Point), Kit (Deflect), Gwot (Cut), and Wun (Circle) and the half point is Lao (Leak). In fact, these 6 ½ points become 28 points and many changes are possible from these. The 6 points are for attack and ½ point is for defense. Mathematically, 7 x 4 is 28. This is like when you write an article. It has a beginning, a continuation, a turn, and then a finish. They can become 10 000 words and still much more remains. This is why it’s a very good technique.

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Side Body Wing Chun, also known as Gulao Wing Chun, originates from Mr. Leung Jan. Mr. Jan’s ancestral home was Gulao village, Heshan county. It is said that when he was 73 years old, he retired to his native village. There, he accepted Wong Wah-Sum, Yik Ying, Leung Bak-Cheung, etc. as students. They say what he taught them was Side Body Wing Chun, not Straight Body Wing Chun. It had one set of hand techniques and a 3 1/2 point pole method. Leung Jan taught them until he died at age 76. Following his death, Mr. Jan’s Kwan Knife was placed in the Heshan Ancestral Hall and every year a memorial ceremony was held.

Wong Wah-Sum taught the skills to Koo Siu-Lung and Fung Lim. Pien San Wing Chun thus has two branches- the Fung Family and the Koo family.

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By canceling the millstone palms, Moneychanger Wah knew in his heart Shu was better but when he pushed down the elder son, Leung Bik, trouble came.

Chu Chong-Man was a Foshan native. His name was originally Chu Yee-Sheung and his older brother was Chu Yee-Han. When Chu Chong-Man was young his body was not healthy, so his father had him learn martial arts to promote his health. He liked martial arts a lot and followed several teachers to learn. He gained his greatest understanding in Wing Chun Kuen. When he was young, he followed Ngau Shu, known as San Dai (Big Mountain) Shu. Later, he followed Dong Jik and Wong Jeet-Sing. This article is based on a story Chu Chong-Man heard, and what he saw.

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