Wing Chun

66.Wing Chun

Nominating Unit: Heshan Municipality, City of Jiangmen

The common legend has it that Wing Chun was first created by a Buddhist nun, Ng Mui, in the late Ming Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, a young woman, Yim Wing Chun, of Fujian origin, took sanctuary in Daliang Mountain in Sichuan. Yim Wing Chun, asked the Buddhist nun, Ng Mui, who was one of the Shaolin Sect survivors, to teach her boxing.Thereafter, Yim Wing Chun married Leung Bac-Chou and taught him the style. The story has it that Yim Wing Chun created a martial arts system on her own by imitating varied movements of snakes and cranes, and then her husband, Leung Bac-Chou, made adaptions based on her creation. Whether or not Leung Bac-Chou had had a connection with Wing Chun in any manner, Wing Chun was named after his wife. The couple went to Nanxiong and Gaoyao in Guangdong Province to set up training schools. Leung Jan, from the village of Gu Lao of He Shan, learned Wing Chun kung fu from Yim Wing Chun and acquired the essence of Wing Chun. By combining many boxing techniques, Leung Jan created the Pian Shen Wing Chun system, which is now practiced mainly in the regions of Gu Lao, Sha Pin, Long Kou, Tao Yuan, Ya Yao, and so on.

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Wing Chun advocates the full use of hard and soft power, exercising counter-attack in the same motion to intercept the opponent and to nullify an attack through correct focus of energy. Based on the features of Wing Chun as above, Leung Jan transformed the frontal-attack of Wing Chun into sideattack, emphasizing rapid and agile deflection in order to nullify the attack from the opponent, thus keeping him at bay and then knocking him down. In addition, he simplified the broad array of Wing Chun boxing forms into 12 practical ones: Da Lim Tao, Siu Lim Tao, Lim Tao, Biu Tze, and so on.

Pian Shen Wing Chun system puts premium on the cooperation of every part and joint of the body, and harmony of the heart and the body, thus enabling the leg, feet, shoulder, elbow, fist, and finger to defend and attack simultaneously. The footwork features Er Zi Qian Yan horse stance where the hands and legs strike out, while in the meantime, it allows the practitioner to move freely forwards and backwards. It mainly contains short-range combat techniques by which the practitioner strikes out in bombardment without losing gravity. As the opponent is hit promptly within close-up distance, the strike is rather covert and abrupt; making the opponent fail to effectively defend himself. The two hands, one Yin and another Yang, go in the form of Taichi when engaging in hand-to-hand combat.

Pian Shen Wing Chun system is an effective combat art that combines the characteristics of Taichi by switching smoothly and harmoniously between the ways of yin and yang--between hard and soft. Pian Shen Wing Chun not only allows the practitioner to defend himself, but to strengthen the body, thus making it one of the most popular martial arts in the world. However, it should be noted that the Pian Shen Wing Chun Wushu system was passed down from masters to disciples, or within a family. There are no detailed documentations and boxing scripts about Pian Shen Wing Chun, so it has been subject to omission, deflection, and on the verge of being lost forever. In addition, the prevalence of Pian Shen Wing Chun is somewhat restricted by international prejudices. Therefore, the concerned department must direct the facilitation of Pian Shen Wing Chun in the right direction by employing a rapid and sustainable development.