Regarded as the Wing Chun Wong (King of Wing Chun), the great Dr. Leung Jan gained fame for his numerous fights and for his teaching ability. This article will discuss the concept and approach Dr. Leung Jan used to develop his final, personal synthesis of the Wing Chun art.

Dr. Leung Jan learned the Wing Chun art from Hung Suen members Wong Wah Bo and Leung Yee Tai. For many years he taught the original art he learned out of his pharmacy, most commonly referred to as Jan San Tong, on Fai Jee Street in Futshan. Much later in his life, when he reached the age of 70, he retired and moved back to his native Gu Lo in Hoksan County.

In Gu Lo, Dr. Leung Jan soon encountered a farmer named Wong Wah Sam. The Wong family was not large in Gu Lo, nor especially liked. In part, this was because, from time to time, Wong Wah Sam’s cows escaped and caused havoc in the village. This upset the other locals and caused him to have many fights.

When Dr. Leung Jan encountered him, Wong Wah Sam was training in his yard banging his arms against a tree. Dr. Leung Jan approached him and asked why he was training so hard. Wong Wah Sam explained his problem. Dr. Leung Jan replied that his training was not very useful. Wong Wah Sam demanded to know who he was to say such a thing. When Dr. Leung Jan said his name, Wong Wah Sam recognized it instantly and asked Dr. Leung Jan to teach him. Dr. Leung Jan told him he would think about it and to come see him in a few weeks time.

Dr. Leung Jan new that, due to his already advanced age, if he took any more students, he would need a simple yet effective way to teach them. He decided on San Sik (Separate Forms), but not simply an extract from his existing art. Rich in both fighting and teaching experience, he decided to pass on a refined, personal synthesis of his Wing Chun knowledge. First, he distilled some of the core motions from his existing sets and then organized his own fighting combinations. He also changed some of the actions to the terminology so that the students would have a descriptive relationship to their practice.

What Dr. Leung Jan ended up with was not odd or against his previous learning. San Sik training was always part of the Wing Chun art. Dr. Leung Jan simply understood its advantages and honed them, through his experience, into his own approach with its own principles/actions. A benefit, and goal, of this practice was that the movements were designed to be repeated over and over so that they would eventually become a natural expression of the practitioner body.

The Pin Sun system consisted of thirty-six “core” San Sik, divided into twelve sections of fighting methods (with additional extensions, Jong Sao (Dummy Hands), Som Dim Boon Gwun (Three-and-a-half Point Pole), and Yee Jee Yum Yeung Dit Ming Dao (Parallel Yin Yang Life-Taking Knives)). Each of the twelve sets contained either three actions or had three cycles, which are similar to the actions of Dr. Leung Jan’s original art. These movements and combinations were very simple and direct, were both straight and circular, were primarily in keeping with the Pin Sun (Side Body) method, and were some of the skills he utilized to win over three hundred fights during his career. More than that, however, while a specific progression was laid out (to be discussed in a future article), they could be combined and explored in such a way the students would have a lifetime’s worth of training.

Why was the system refined so much? Through experience, Dr. Leung Jan determined that not many different movements were used to win real fights yet it was also the right amount to prepare the disciples for any aspect in a real fight situation. Why did he choose thirty-six? Thirty-six, or three times twelve, was a lucky number in Chinese culture.

With his system in development, Dr. Leung Jan took Wong Wah Sam as his first disciple. Eventually he accepted Yik Ying, Leung Bak Chung, and Yim Sei as his last pupils. Of the four Wong Wah Sam’s was the most well known and his teaching found a home in the Fung family of Gu Lo who have been privately preserving the art for many years.

Of the Fung family, Fung Chun (Feng Jen) learned from Wong Wah Sam when Wong Sifu was 76 years of age and was his last disciple. He trained with Wong Wah Sam for many years and became highly skilled. Fung Chun currently resides in Gu Lo village where he is regarded as the senior living grand student of Dr. Leung Jan and is the head of the Fung family.

Fung Chun taught many people over the years. One of his top pupils was Fung Chu (Feng Qi), also regarded as one of the top fighters in the Fung family. For many years he tested his skills in challenge matches and was also a combat teacher to the police force. He taught in Hong Kong and one of his pupils was a young and talented man named Henry Mui who trained from the age of seventeen until he left Hong Kong for the United States at the age of twenty-four.

After seven years of training, Henry Mui relocated to the United States and eventually settled in Boston, MA. In Boston, Mui Sifu taught a handful of public students during the late 1970’s and a good number of private disciples. Over the years he has always kept a low profile but recently, with the help of his disciples, he’s opened a semi private Kung Fu club in Medford, MA which is devoted to the preservation of the Pin Sun Wing Chun art of the great Dr. Leung Jan from his time spent in Gu Lo village.