The History of Wing Chun

As far as we know the Wing Chun system originated from the Shaolin Temple in China. It dates back 400 years, possibly more. As the history is told, the temple was burned and only four survivors were left. One of these was the nun Ng Mui who taught the young girl, Yip Wing Chun. She then passed it down to her husband. This is one story that describes the early days of Wing Chun.

However, according to Wong Shun Leung, the art could not have been developed as the story tells it: for one nun to develop a superior system like Wing Chun on her own would be impossible. The subsequent events are equally unlikely, when the girl (Yip Wing Chun), learned the system in three months and defeated a soldier who wanted to marry her.

We have strong evidence that the above story is simply a nice fairy tale. Going back to the Shaolin Temple, we find that a hall of Wing Chun already existed there. This means that Wing Chun was practised before the temple's destruction and has been developed over the years by Leung Tsan, Chan Wah Shun, Yip Man, etc. ... until today.

Another well known practitioner of Wing Chun, who popularized the art in the 70s, was Bruce Lee (who developed the martial arts system Jeet Kune Do). He was taught in the school of Yip Man under the guidance of the late Wong Shun Leung, who subsequently also taught Nino Bernardo. This is one family lineage under Yip Man, and of course there are many others.

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