Description

Wing Chun is arguably the most famous single style within the Shaolin system. It was made known to the west by Bruce Lee and James Lee in the late 1960s in what was the single most influential introduction of Chinese Kung Fu outside China (one might equate Bruce Lee's bringing of kung fu to American television in 1964 with the arrival of the Beatles in America two years earlier). Despite Lee's rapid evolution of a personal style away from traditional Wing Chun, his association with that style was a major factor in its continued success over the years. More recently, the style has received new publicity following the death of long time grandmaster Yip Man as at least three of his senior disciples have waged an acrimonious conflict over who would inherit the supreme mantle for the style.

Despite the ongoing politics of the "upper echelons" of the style, Wing Chun remains an efficient, popular form of martial art. Novices mistake the small amount of material of the style (three unarmed kuen, or forms) for ineffectiveness, but seasoned martial artists appreciate the streamlined and highly simplified combat material offered. There are three major origin stories connected to this style, the most famous of which will be added to this web site at a later time. All three agree that the style was developed by (or with the input of) Shaolin "nun" Ng Mui, a senior kung-fu practitioner who was interested in combining the best techniques from the broad array of traditional Shaolin kung fu into a simple, master style. Within Wing Chun techniques will be seen numerous elements from Snake, White Crane, Dragon, and Tiger (the former two mainly as offensive techniques, the latter two defensive). Eventually, the style was taught to a young woman named Wing Chun (translated as Beautiful Springtime), for whom Ng Mui named the art.

The three forms of Wing Chun begin with Sil Lum Tao (or Siu Nim Dao). The name means "little imagination", and refers to the need for the practitioner to use his or her imagination in the practice and application of techniques. Most moves are repeated three times, the primary attack is a sun fist (thumb facing upward on impact), and a variety of arm parries/blocks employed. There is no footwork. This form is well-illustrated in a variety of books (see the books section), though each technique has several applications, most of which remain unpublished.

The second form is Chum Kil (or Chum Kiu), meaning " bridge-seeking". Chum Kil adds a few new moves to a skeleton of techniques from Sil Lum Tao, but adds more sticky-hands and bridge techniques. Bridge techniques are extended arm moves that intercept and redirect incoming attacks without using the brute power required in blocking. These techniques take advantage of the physics of swinging objects, in that there is very little force generated by an object the closer one moves towards the point of origin (e.g., it is much easier to stop a kick by intercepting it above the knee than below) of the attack. Additionally, this form introduces the three basic kicks, all aimed at the knees or lower, of Wing Chun.

The last form is called Bil Jee (or Biu Gee), "thrusting fingers". This is a primarily offensive form, using finger thrusts/spear hands in a variety of ways. There is more footwork, including a sweep, low kicks, and stance shifts. There are several versions of this form being taught, with each instructor claiming that his is THE authentic version. In reality, Wing Chun has evolved under the many different practitioners since its inception in the 1770s, and each version is "authentic" in its own way.

History

About two hundred years ago, there lived in China a beautiful young woman whose name was Yim Wing Chun. Her name suited her admirably, since it meant "Beautiful Springtime." She was the daughter of a food merchant, who sold beancurd from a marketstand. She was betrothed to the man she loved, Leong Bok Chao. Her father, however, could not resist boasting of her beauty and gentle character. One day, news of this beautiful maiden came to the ears of an infamous warlord of the Yunan province. He journeyed to her town, and upon seeing her, was immediately struck with a consuming desire to possess her, and, as often the way with rogues, decided to get his way by force. He ordered Wing Chun's father to his camp and told him that unless the maiden was given to him in marriage, he would kill them both.

The father, his heart full of fear and confusion, and horrified at the warlord's cruel tactics, left the warlord's encampment to return home to tell his lovely daughter of her fate. There seemed to be no alternative, since the rogue was well known for his brutal atrocities and powerful gang of bandits.

Calling young Wing Chun to him, the father told her of the warlord's ultimatum.

"Your name will be honored in our family and you will be esteemed as a revered ancestor", he said, struggling for words to make the idea more palatable. "Who knows, you may be able to soften the warlord's heart and maintain yourself with pride as his wife, if not with the love I know you have for Leong Bok Chao.

The maiden was at first simply shocked speechless at the demand, but soon her mind tired of imagining impossible plans for escape. She settled into a dulled acquiescence. However, Date, or the Tao, or Kimset, or whatever Force rules the moments of chance encounters in our lives, intervened. While working at the foodstand, she met a Shaolin nun, Ng Mui. The nun asked the young woman what was troubling her and soon Wing Chun found herself unburdening herself to the nun.

Ng Mui was a Shaolin nun, who had lived for many years in the great southern temple of Fukien. Some years earlier, this refuge of the contemplative life had been destroyed during a rebellion against the Manchu dynasty. Ng Mui was one of the few that had escaped the holocaust. She was an adept of the Shaolin fighting arts of dragon and crane. These arts had been developed to allow the priests and nuns to protect themselves from wild animals and wilder men, who would seek to destroy the peaceful way of the Shaolin order.

When Ng Mui heard of the dilemma that Wing Chun found herself in, the nun sat quietly in meditation, thinking of a way which, in accord with Shaolin principles, would cause the least pain and hurt to all. How could bloodshed be avoided? How was the young woman to avoid becoming a sacrifice to the lustful appetites of the warlord?

"Where is your betrothed?" Ng Mui asked at last, opening her eyes.

"He is on a journey to the south, to Fukien, and has been delayed by the civil disturbances which caused the burning of your temple", Wing Chun answered, as she said with bowed head and overburdened heart. "There is no way to reach him in time, and even if I could, I would not save myself by his death at the warlord's hands. Yet I fear that he will attempt to rescue me when he hears and will die and perhaps cause my father to die, in an attempt to rescue me."

"There is perhaps a way to avoid this death and destruction", the nun said quietly. "It will demand great courage on your part. If we can delay the wedding to the warlord for a while, I can teach you how to defeat him in single unarmed combat. First, would you be willing to face him in battle?", she asked?

"Better that I should die than others for my sake. Besides, it would be worth it just to try something."

"It is well. Now we must devise a stratagem to delay the warlord's demands for a year and then pique his pride by announcing that you have sworn not to marry any man who cannot defeat you in combat. Being a boastful braggart, he will not want to appear to fear you and will agree to the duel. Your father must tell the warlord that that you have agreed to his demands but ask a delay while a letter is sent to Leong Bok Chao, formally breaking your existing betrothal. Since the country is in such turmoil, a year is not an unreasonable length of time," the nun explained. "He will also believe that preparations for such a grand ceremony will be lengthy."

All went exactly as the nun predicted. The warlord granted the delay of a year, certain of possessing Wing Chun at the end of that time.

Wing Chun and Ng Mui left town for the nun's training place at Pah Noh temple. Ng Mui drilled the young woman daily for a year on the Shaolin techniques of unarmed combat, concentrating on those which were most direct, effective, and useful to women. She taught her how to neutralize any incoming blows without extending herself off balance beyond her reach. She showed her how to redirect the opponent's force so that the harder someone tried to hit her, the more devastating would be the return blow.

The year passed and the two women returned to town. Now the second phase of the plan went into operation, as the father went to the warlord and told him that his daughter had studied kung fu since childhood and would feel humiliated to marry someone not her equal in hand to hand combat.

The warlord agreed to the duel with much laughter and lewd comment.

"A spirited woman is more interesting to tame", he snickered.

On the day of the duel, the hopeful bridegroom, magnificently dressed in silks, stepped into the village square, ready to inflict public humiliation on his bride-to-be. Wing Chun stepped forward, clad in sober black tunic and trousers. The warlord, shouting to his entourage, aggressively charged Wing Chun, intending to knock her unconscious with his fists. She evaded his attack and returned his force against him, knocking him down. Getting up, he charged her again. The harder he attacked, the harder he fell when she hit him. Finally, bruised and bloodied, the warlord dragged himself away from the young woman who had barely moved from her initial stance. Humiliated and defeated, he was borne away by his gang.

The victorious young woman left the town with Ng Mui for Kwon How Temple in Kwantung Province, where she awaited the arrival of her beloved Leong Bok Chao. There they celebrated their long-delayed marriage, with Ng Mui's blessings. In later years, Wing Chun taught her husband what she had learned, and he in turn taught others this gentle art of life, now named Wing Chun in honor of the courageous young woman who first used it in her desperate gamble for happiness.

NOTE: The above story is a recreation of the story of the initial development of the Wing Chun style. Now famous as one of the most effective, practical styles of the Shaolin, it was originally developed with no time or energy to waste on flourishes. The dialogue obviously was recreated with the help of a little imagination, but all times, places, and names are as accurate as Shaolin oral history can be.

Wing Chun Martial Approach

There are two concepts that are essential to Wing Chun: centerline and simplicity.

The centerline is guarded meticulously with hands on center and elbows down and in. Movement is small and extremely efficient, utilizing subtle shifts of the body to deflect, evade and counterstrike all in one motion. At its most advanced level, contact with the opponent is maintained at all times to constantly check arms and legs, trap, and utilize the opponent’s movement to guide and even to increase power. Once the first blow is struck, the Wing Chun practitioner will march an opponent back with a constant barrage of swift, low kicks to disrupt the stance, and a flurry of cycle punches that serve as both offense and defense, batting everything off center and continuing in for the strike.

Because of its simplicity, Wing Chun can be used effectively by beginning practitioners; also because of its simplicity, at its most advanced, Wing Chun is a devastatingly efficient style.

The stance in Wing Chun is either a high horse with weight evenly distributed, or a T-stance with weight 85% on the back leg. There are advantages to either stance. Because of the high stance, it is very important to maintain focus on keeping the center of gravity as low as possible. At more advanced levels this is done by "rooting." It is crucial to never lean backward in this stance, even the slightest amount, to prevent being uprooted. Once balance is lost, it is difficult to regain the offensive.

When moving out of either stance, maintain a lowered center of gravity and slide over the ground with each step. Never transfer weight to the stepping leg until that leg is where you want it to be; a leg off the ground is easily swept.

Kicks in Wing Chun are characteristically low and swift. At advanced levels they are used as much to check advancing legs and kicks as they are to kick themselves. When checking, be sure to turn the foot out to the side to gain greater surface area for contact. Remember that a careless opponent can be taken off balance by checking advancing steps.

The legs are often overlooked in Wing Chun. This is a great mistake that limits the effectiveness of the style. Do not fall into this trap.

Rotation, along with gate punching, is crucial to taking Wing Chun to the advanced level. Mastery of proper rotation allows for complete efficiency, in movement and power. Rotation allows for subtle shifts in body position that aid in deflecting attacks and generating power over short distances. But be careful: over-rotation leaves one in a very vulnerable position, and although one might think more rotation would generate more power, the opposite is in fact true. Also, be careful to avoid generating rotation through rotation of the torso on the hips. Rotation should begin at the feet, which in turn rotate the legs and the hips. The torso should move with the hips, like a gun turret.

Part of being efficient is parrying instead of blocking. Linear attacks are more easily guided across the opponent’s centerline than forced outward. When facing circular technique and not able to parry, employ rotation or other body movement (usually in and to the opposite side of the attack), to position yourself inside of the point of power on the incoming technique. There is less power on a punch as you get closer to the shoulder. In this case the block you are forced to use is more an extra assurance than an actual block.

Another important point to remember when parrying is to meet and intercept the attacking arm as far out as possible. This way, when you deflect the attack off centerline, it will travel further off to the side by the time it reaches the distance of its intended target (you). Also, be wary of applying too much lateral motion to your parries. You don’t want to follow the attack off centerline; you want to force it off centerline and remain there. The best way to do that is to attack the centerline with outward motion. Because your arms come from the side of your body, and thus off centerline, the motion of moving to centerline itself is enough lateral motion. The "pop" from your parries should come largely from forward motion. This way if you glance off your parrying arm will end up in the face of your opponent, not off to the side somewhere where it does little good. Remember, strive for efficiency.

In gate theory, the body is divided into gates, or sections, that added together cover the body from head to toe and shoulder to shoulder. This is the area that must be protected from attack. In addition, another dimension is added with the outer gate, so that every section of the front of the body has an inner and outer gate associated with it. This is to distinguish whether it is the outer or inner hand that will defend against an attack to each gate. Certain attacks are better defended against with the outer gate than the inner, and vice versa. Dividing the body in this way, the practitioner can classify each technique according to the gate that it defends against.

The concept of trapping is very important in Wing Chun, the idea being to take the opponents limbs out of action. There are two main ways this can be done. The most common form of trapping is to get one of the opponent’s arms under the other and to press in or down, thus allowing you to occupy both of the attacker’s hands with one of yours. The benefits of this are obvious. A simple form of this type of trapping is crossing the opponent up by parrying one arm toward the center and pressing inward. This opens up the side of the opponent as well as putting one arm in the way of the other.

Another type of trapping, less commonly utilized but no less important, is pinning the opponent’s elbow to their body. A good cycle puncher will keep one arm pinned to an opponent’s body by checking it on the return stroke after each punch, and all this while marching the opponent backwards.

Gate punching is the ultimate in efficiency, as a gate punch effectively parries or blocks an incoming attack on its way to its target. To effectively execute an outer gate punch, one must utilize the method of parrying described above. In this way, a parry can be continued on into a strike without a change in motion. Slap parries require a change in direction to continue on towards an opponent, and therefore cannot be used for gate punching. In this gate punch, it is the motion of bringing the arm from slightly off center onto center that facilitates the parry. The forearm effectively bats anything off of centerline, and then carries the hand in for the strike.

The inside gate punch is much more difficult to execute, and involves forcing the opponent’s arm of centerline in the direction against all of the opponent’s strength. This leaves your arm inside of his, and effectively amounts to a block. As always, the parry is preferable to the block, so keep this in mind.

As stated above, cycle punching is more than just hitting an opponent with rolling blows. Cycle punching actually involves every other major concept in Wing Chun, including parrying, gate punching, rotation and often trapping. Therefore the motion of the arms in cycle punching is critical! To begin, the punch must not, as is often though, begin on centerline at your own chest. It is the motion of going to centerline that affords the parrying motion, and allows the continuation on into a gate punch. Rotation must also be added to cycle punches to provide power. However, this rotation should be minimal. Also, a punch is not finished after it reaches or does not reach its target. It is not useless until it re-chambers for another strike. A returning punch can be used to drop down and parry any incoming strikes to the lower gates, and can also serve to keep an opponent’s arm pinned to their side by dropping down in its cycle and hitting the elbow of the checked arm.

Another important concept to cycle punching is the concept of circularity. Whatever the circle may be, whether it is in downward motion to bat attacks downward, or vice versa, at least a slight circle should be kept in all motion at all time. Linearity requires stopping and re-starting of motion, something that takes far to long when we are striving for efficiency.

Want to learn more? 

Shaolin.com's  instructional CD-ROM covering Wing Chun has the full Sil Lum Tao form with basic to advanced applications.