Before I get to the article itself I would like to point out that the facts surrounding the history of Wing Chun are scarce and most of them have not been proven in any way. There are inconsistencies that the avid reader will immediately see. The truth will probably never be revealed. The following text is just information I’ve gathered from different sources. Mostly what I’ve read and what I’ve been told by my teachers. This article concerns itself with the Yip Man lineage in mind, so please take this information with a grain of salt.

The Legend

The year was 1644. On the 6th of June Ming general Wu Sangui helped the invading Manchu army and managed to capture Beijing, China. This marked the beginning of the last imperial dynasty of China – the Qing Dynasty. The occupation force was rather small and they were quick to introduce a series of repressive measures against the Han population. Weapons of any kind were forbidden for the Hans and all revolutionary activity was heavily pursued by the Qing.

The Shaolin Temple – a Buddhist and martial arts institution was regarded highly by the Manchus. Unaware to their knowledge however, the temple was a center for revolutionary activity. Ming sympathisers wore the robes and shaved their heads like Shaolin monks but they were training for war against the Qing.

Shaolin martial arts during the time were based on animal movements. These styles required many years of diligent and hard work to master. The Shaolin grandmasters soon realized that these styles were not suitable for the training of a large fighting force. A new Kung Fu system started to emerge, one based on simplicity and human biomechanics. The goal was simple – turn an average man into a skilled fighter in 3 years rather than 20. Weapons were outlawed for the common folk so it was decided that the only weapons in the system would be the butterfly swords, because it was easy to conceal them in knee-length boots. The system was called Wing Chun, named after the Springtime (Wing Chun) training hall in the temple.

The Manchus heard of what took place behind the walls of the temple. They surrounded it while a traitorous monk set the temple ablaze. The monks unfortunately despite fighting bravely were heavily outnumbered, and were slaughtered. Only five managed to escape. The Five Elders as they were called later were Jee Sin, Bak Mei, Fung Dou Dak, Miu Hin and Ng Mui. All of them agreed that if the Shaolin teachings were to survive they need to go their separate ways.

Ng Mui fled to the White Crane temple which was located in the Daliang mountains between Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. Ng Mui occasionally traveled to a nearby village for provisions where she met a young girl named Yim Wing Chun who worked at her father’s store. Yim Yee and his daughter Yim Wing Chun had fled the city of Foshan because they were prosecuted by the Manchus.

One day Ng Mui entered the shop and found the young girl crying. Wing Chun was a beautiful young woman, and had attracted the unwanted attention of a brutal gang leader, who had sworn to take her as his wife. Ng Mui wanted to deal with the gang leader herself but that might’ve attracted the attention of the Manchus from which she was still running away. After some thought she decided to teach the girl martial arts so she can defend herself. Wing Chun told the gangster that she would fight him in one year and that if he could defeat her, she’ll marry him. The gangster who was proficient in Eagle Claw Kung Fu took the challenge. Immediately after that encounter Ng Mui took Wing Chun to the temple with her. Ng Mui knew she had very little time on her hands to teach the girl. She focused only the most essential, direct and effective techniques and methods. These principles could guide Wing Chun in her fight with the gangster who was bigger, stronger and more experienced than her. The 108 dummies of the Shaolin temple were long gone, so Ng Mui devised a single dummy on which all of the 108 dummy movements could be performed. Yim Wing Chun trained tirelessly and when the time of the fight came, she was ready to face the gangster. He was badly beaten by the girl, left and was never heard of again.

Shortly thereafter, a salt (or silk) merchant from Shangxi named Leung Bok Chao visited the area. Leung Bok Chao had been a student of Kung Fu at the Honan Shaolin Temple trained in the style of Choy gar. He stayed at an inn next to Yim Yee’s shop, and witnessed Wing Chun practising her Kung Fu beside the tofu grinders. He fell in love with this beautiful and skilful young woman, and soon, with Yim Yee’s approval, they were married.

In the end Ng Mui left the White Crane Temple and resumed her travels. Before leaving, she made Wing Chun promise to adhere to the Kung Fu traditions, to continue to develop her Kung Fu after her marriage, and to help continue the struggle against the Manchus to restore the Ming dynasty.

Wing Chun and Leung Bok Chao moved back to Shangxi, but soon moved on to northern Guangdong to escape constant fighting between bandits and soldiers. Then they moved to Siu Hing, where they would eventually encounter members of the Red Junk Opera Company.

Meanwhile, Ng Mui’s fellow grandmaster at the temple, Jee Sin, was also travelling the country. Among other styles, he was a master of the dragon pole. He sought suitable students to train in his continuing quest to assist the overthrow of the Manchus and the restoration of the Ming dynasty. Like Ng Mui, he was hunted by the Manchus and, to evade detection, he disguised himself as a dishevelled beggar. It was in Guangdong that he heard of the Red Junk Opera Company, and its prized performer, Wong Wa Bo.

The Red Junk Opera members were trained in the performing and martial arts from an early age, and Jee Sin reasoned that, with such backgrounds, they could quickly be trained to become formidable fighters. Jee Sin went to see a Red Junk performance, watching Wong Wa Bo very closely. He was impressed with Wong Wa Bo’s considerable skills and enormous strength, but noticed a few technical faults which he felt he could correct.

As the performers were packing up to travel on to a performance in Guangzhou, Jee Sin approached them and asked for passage. The poler of the ship, seeing only a filthy tramp in rags, informed him that the Red Junks were not passenger ships, and that the only way that Jee Sin would get to Guangzhou was by walking. The opera staff continued their packing, ignoring Jee Sin, and then boarded the boat, preparing to shove off. The poler saw Jee Sin take up a stance, one foot on the shore and one on the boat. The poler decided that the foolish beggar was overdue for a surprise bath, and began to push with his pole as hard as he could.

Try as he might, he could not move the boat. He summoned the others, who also thrust poles into the river bed, but the boat remained unmoved. Finally, in desperation, the poler summoned Wong Wa Bo, the best poler of all, still sleeping after an unusually long performance the previous evening. Even he was unable to make a difference.

The disguised Jee Sin began to laugh, and with his foot, began to rock the boat, threatening to flood it. Wong Wa Bo realised that the man in rags before him was no beggar, but a man of exceptional power and skill. He respectfully invited Jee Sin aboard and begged to be taught the master’s skills. Jee Sin taught the Red Junk Opera members his Kung Fu, which they called Weng Chun Kuen (“Everlasting Spring Boxing”) to disguise its Shaolin origins. Wong Wa Bo became his prized student, one of very few to learn Jee Sin’s six-and-a-half-strike pole technique.

Meanwhile, Leung Bok Chao sought a worthy student to whom to pass on the Wing Chun system. He had heard about his nephew Wong Wa Bo’s reputation as a performer and martial artist, and went to a Red Junk performance to see for himself. Leung Bok Chao and Wong Wa Bo got together after the show, and it was agreed that, if Leung could beat Wong in a friendly match, the Wing Chun butterfly swords against staff, that Wong would become Leung’s student and be taught the art of Wing Chun.

The match was fought on the stage of the Red Junk, Wong with a twelve foot Dragon Pole against Leung’s pair of eighteen inch butterfly swords. Wong figured he had the advantage, and invited Leung to attack first. Wong found it very difficult to defend against the swift, tight techniques of the swords, and was forced to the edge of the stage. In desperation, Wong used the most deadly techniques of the pole, blocking Leung’s double slash at his head with an upward bon kwun, then jabbing low at Leung’s leg. Despite the almost simultaneous block and attack, Wong’s strike missed, and he felt the cold steel of Leung’s butterfly blade against his wrist. He had no choice but to drop his pole and concede defeat, begging Leung to teach him the superior techniques of Wing Chun.

Leung knew from the fight he had chosen well. Wong mastered the art of Wing Chun, and integrated its principles into the technique of the six-and-a-half strike Dragon Pole, thus making that weapon part of the Wing Chun system.

Next in the lineage was Leung Lan Kwai, a herbalist by profession, who introduced the Iron Palm training into the system. Leung Lan Kwai passed his knowledge to Leung Yee-Tai, who then passed it on to Leung Jan, a famous herbal doctor in Foshan.

Other Theories

The legend described above is the one most commonly told. At the end we meet Leung Jan who was born between 1816–1826 (by different accounts). During his time we find the first third-party accounts concerning Wing Chun. Anything before that cannot be proven because of the lack of any evidence. However there are a couple of theories that clash with the legend on a couple of levels.

A theory suggest that the core of the Wing Chun system was devised by Yim Wing Chun’s husband Leung Bok Chao. As mentioned above he was a student of the Choy gar style of Kung Fu. There are technical similarities between the two styles, but there is no definitive proof supporting this claim (well except the stances, and the short centered hand techniques 🙂 ) His student Leung Lan Kwai is an even more interesting figure. He’s mentioned mainly in Yip Man’s lineage story. It is said that he in fact perfected the system and taught it to the Red Boat Opera Troupe. Even if that’s the case there’s not much information about him.

One of the other theories suggest that Wing Chun was in fact created by the Red Opera Boat Troupe. The troupe itself consisted of anti-Qinq revolutionaries which traveled the country disguising their identities as Chinese opera performers. This provided a cover for martial arts training; however, the flashy moves of opera style martial arts were not suited to the activities of espionage and assassination, which required specialized skills. Wing Chun techniques are very tight in their execution, this combined with the need to quickly deal with the target and potential bodyguards made Wing Chun very deadly in close range. This theory is certainly viable because of the technical aspects of Wing Chun, such as its emphasis on close-range combat and its many strikes to the throat and diaphragm.

It is said that Leung Jan learned from Leung Yee-Tai who was a poler on the boat (in this version Jee Sin taught him the dragon pole style, not Wong Wa Bo) and Wong Wa Bo who was master of Wing Chun. Both of them are described as being the “female” and male leads of the opera troupe.

Weapons

Another interesting question is the choice of weapons in the Wing Chun system. They have a story of their own that can help us with some facts. The dragon pole (Luk Dim Boon Kwan) is said to be taught to Leung Yee-Tai or Wong Wa Bo (depending on the story), by the legendary Shaolin abbot Jee Sin. However there is one major hole in that theory. As of today there is no definitive proof of the existence of the Southern Shaolin Temple from which the Five Elders escaped. Secondly the years in which the supposed destruction of the temple occurred vary greatly (1647, 1674 or 1732). Even if the temple existed and we take the closest year to the Red Boat Opera troupe (1732) Jee Sin couldn’t be alive to teach Leung Yee-Tai or Wong Wa Bo the dragon pole. By various accounts the Red Boat Opera Troupe started to exist in the very late 1700’s. While it could be said that the Five Elders were in fact real people at some point. This frame of time in Chinese history is full of embellishment and it’s not possible to separate fact from fiction. There’s just not enough data and evidence.

Another story can give us some slight insight on what actually happened. Leung Yee-Tai was indeed the poler of the boat, but he wasn’t taught by the legendary Jee Sin. Instead the boat’s cook who was master of Hung Gar trained him. This would explain why the stance in the dragon pole form is actually the horse stance (Mabu), not “the goat clamping” stance (Yee Gee Kim Yeung Ma). In any case it is clear that the Dragon Pole was introduced to the system in some later stage of its development since there are some major technical differences between the pole and the core of the Wing Chun system. The butterfly swords are also introduced at later stage, just like the dragon pole. There is no evidence showing the swords even existed as a weapon before the early 1800’s. This debunks the theory that the swords were chosen by the monks as described in the legend. For more information on the Hudiedao please check the article concerning the butterfly swords at the resources section.

Leung Jan and sons

Leung Jan is the farthest 100% proven Wing Chun practitioner. His life is also not very well documented. It is known he was a traditional herbal doctor in Foshan and that he became famous for his fighting skills earning his nickname “Mr. Jan from Foshan”. As we already saw the stories of how he learned Wing Chun vary, but it’s a fact that during his time the first third-party accounts of Wing Chun appeared. The main problem surrounding him is not that of his Wing Chun, but the number of his sons. The most often told story is that he had 2 sons – Leung Chun and Leung Bik. Leung Chun was the oldest, but Leung Bik had a natural talent for martial arts and was better. It is said that he also trained a third student Chan Wah Shun. Again the stories vary greatly going to extremes such as that Leung Jan scared for his sons inheritance taught Chan Wah Shun incorrect Wing Chun.

Yip Man

Whether the stories about Leung Jan are true or not we may never know. However his student Chan Wah Shun was Yip Man’s teacher. Yip Man started training under him when he was 13. Chan Wah Shun was 70 years old at that time and Yip Man was his last student. Three years later Chan Wah Shun passed away and at age of 16 Yip Man moved to Hong Kong where he met Leung Bik and became his student. After that he returned to Foshan and become police officer, but didn’t accept any students. He moved again to Hong Kong in 1949 and stayed there to the rest of his life. Opening school and becoming the first ever master of Wing Chun teaching the art openly. His most notable students were people like Wong Shun Leung, Ho Kam Ming, Bruce Lee and many others. His legacy lives to this day. Wing Chun is the most practiced Southern Kung Fu style in the world with branches in more than 64 countries and millions of practitioners.

Of course the story of every person after Leung Jan is worthy of entire books. Maybe in the future I’ll write more about given individuals who contributed to the Wing Chun system.

Discussions are welcome in the reddit thread!

Resources (except obviously what I’ve been told by my teachers.):

A Social and Visual History of the Hudiedao (Butterfly Sword) in the Southern Chinese Martial Arts

The History and Philosophy of Wing Chun Kung Fu – by Sifu Rick Spain (could be found as PDF on the web)

Wikipedia