Wing Chun Kung Fu
the most popular martial art in the world!
What is Wing Chun Kung Fu?
Wing Chun Kung Fu or Wing Chun Kuen (fist) is a relatively young southern Chinese martial art that was introduced to the world from in the 1950’s by Ip Man (Yip Man) after he had moved to Hong Kong from Foshan.
Where did Wing Chun originate?
There is no recorded history of Wing Chun Kung Fu as a Martial Art prior to Master Leung Jan (1826—1901). The oral history passed down via Master Yip Man (Ip Man) dates its creation to the reign of the Kangxi Emperor (1662–1722) in the Qing dynasty. The Abbess Ng Mui after escaping the destruction of the Fujian Shaolin Monastery by Qing forces, fled to the distant Daliang mountains on the border between Yunnan and Sichuan. The legend is that one day, she came upon a fight between a snake (or other animal) and a crane .
Ng Mui learned from observing the fight between the two animals and combined them with her own knowledge of Shaolin kung fu to create a new style. Ng Mui often bought her bean curd at the tofu shop of Yim Yee who had a daughter named Yim Wing Chun whom a local warlord was trying to force into marriage. Ng Mui taught her new fighting style to Yim Wing Chun, who used it to fend off the warlord once and for all. Yim Wing Chun eventually married a man she loved, Leung Bok-Chao , to whom she taught the fighting techniques that Ng Mui had passed on to her. Husband and wife in turn passed the new style on to others.
What style of Wing Chun do we teach?
Ip Man style as taught by Great Grandmaster Chu Shong Tin, the late Jim Fung and other senior students of Chu Shong Tin. You will learn a mix of external (physical) and internal (mental) methods of Wing Chun kung fu aiming to develop internal power regardless of size, fitness or strength as well as increasing your speed and reflexes
What sets Wing Chun apart from other Martial Arts?
Wing Chun is not a technique based system but rather a system based on a set of principles such as simplicity, directness, economy of movement, practicality and the minimum use of muscular force. Therefore, you have an endless variety of techniques you can use, so long as they conform to correct principles.
It is not based on muscular strength but rather body structure, relaxation, sensitivity. The genius of Ng Mui, the founder of Wing Chun, was to discover the strength in the body’s structure, to stop using muscular force and to let the body “listen” through softness.
Wing Chun is a simple system. It comprises three empty hand forms or sets, a wooden dummy form and two weapons forms – the Butterfly Swords and the Long Pole or Dragon Pole. The forms all build upon the foundation of the first form Sui Nim Tao (small thought form) to increase the amount of force one can generate and teach movement skills.
Sui Nim Tao form may look simple yet it has such depth that even after 20 yrs training I like many of my wing chun colleagues still devote much of our time in training this form.
How long does it take to learn Wing Chun?
T o have a level of proficiency in using the movements of Sui Nim Tao form as well as basic kicking skills may take 12 – 24 months, it all depends on your dedication to training and your ability to learn and understand the basic principles of Wing Chun and other theory.
To master Wing Chun? Who can tell? Wing Chun has many traditional sayings (Kuen Kuit) to help us learn the art one of which is: “There is no difference in who started to study first; the one who achieves accomplishment is first.” Meaning that we will master wing chun in our own time. Be patient, practice often. Another saying regarding Sui Nim Tao form: “Practice once a day, more will cause no harm.”
Imagine being able to perform the perfect golf swing, or the perfect tennis stroke, the perfect kick of a football. A technique that is Absolutely effortless, extremely powerful. This is the ultimate aim of Wing Chun training to be able to use all techniques effortlessly with maximum power.
