Researching the Roots of Wing Chun Kuen. (This is a section from 'TheEnquiring Handout' the regular Man Sau Gwoon Newsletter

[Awatea Piripi Edwin]

Researching the roots of Wing Chun Kuen
This is a new section of the ‘Enquiring Hand-out’. Over the past 20 or so years I have not only been fascinated with the practical applications and theories of Wing Chun Kuen but have also had a deep interest in the history and origins of this combative discipline. In this section I intend to share with you some of the stories, histories, legends and theories surrounding origins of Wing Chun Kuen and related systems and styles.
Firstly the legends and histories; It has long been known that many chinese martial arts were kept secret and hidden from the general public. These shrouds of secrecy were a means of keeping ones skills away from potential opponents, therefore allowing the practitioner to have the object of surprise on his/her side when pitted against someone from outside of his/her own system or style.
Until recently most western martial artists believed that all Wing Chun Kuen came from the same source, the late grandmaster Yip Man (Ip Man) and his students from Hong Kong. Few knew of Yip Man’s earlier students in his (Mainland Chinese) home city, Fatshan (Foshan), let alone the many other branches of the system that descended from many other masters on the Mainland. Each of these other branches has their own legends and histories. Some similar to those passed down by Yip Man and his students and others vastly different in stories, legends and even training methods and applications. Each issue of this newsletter I will look at different branches and their histories via legends and stories.
Yip Man Wing Chun Kuen
I will share with you here the story as passed down by Grandmaster Yip Man himself. This legend/history has been spread by most of Yip’s students in one form or another with bits added or deleted over the past 50 or 60 years.

History of Wing Chun (By Yip Man)

The founder of the Wing Chun style, Yim Wing-Chun was a native of Guangdong in China. She was an intelligent and athletic young girl, upstanding and forthright. Her mother died soon after her betrothal to Leung Bok-Cho, a salt merchant of Fujian. Her father, Yim Yee, was wrongfully accused of a crime and, rather than risk jail, they slipped away and finally settled down at the foot of Daliang Mountain near the border between Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. There they earned a living by running a shop that sold bean curd.

During the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1662-1722) fighting skills became very strong in the Shaolin Monastery of Songshan, in Henan Province. This aroused the fear of the Manchurian government, which sent troops to attack the Monastery. Although they were unsuccessful, a man named Chan Man-Wai, a recently appointed civil servant seeking favor with the government, suggested a plan. He plotted with Shaolin monk named Ma Ning-Yee and others who were persuaded to betray their companions by setting fire to the monastery while soldiers attacked it from the outside. Shaolin was burned down, and the monks and disciples scattered. Ng Mui, Jee Shim, Bak Mei, Fung Do-Dak and Miu Hin escaped and went their separate ways.

Ng Mui took refuge in the White Crane Temple on Daliangshan. It was there she met Yim Yee and his daughter Wing-Chun from whom she often bought bean curd on her way home from the market. At fifteen, with her hair bound up in the custom of those days to show she was of an age to marry, Wing-Chun's beauty attracted the attention of a local bully. He tried to force Wing-Chun to marry him, and his continuous threats became a source of worry to her and her father. Ng Mui learned of this and took pity on Wing-Chun. She agreed to teach Wing-Chun fighting techniques so she could protect herself. Wing Chun followed Ng Mui into the mountains, and began to learn fighting skills. She trained night and day, until she mastered the techniques. Then she challenged the bully to a fight and beat him.

Ng Mui later traveled around the country, but before she left she told Wing-Chun to strictly honor the martial arts traditions, to develop her fighting skills after her marriage, and to help the people working to overthrow the Manchu government and restore the Ming Dynasty.

After her marriage Wing-Chun taught martial arts to her husband Leung Bok-Lao. He in turn passed these techniques on to Leung Lan-Kwai. Leung Lan-Kwai then passed them on to Wong Wah-Bo. Wong Wah-Bo was a member of an opera troupe on board a Red Junk. Wong worked on the Red Junk with Leung Yee-Tai. It so happened, that Jee Shim, who fled from Shaolin, had disguised himself as a cook and was then working on the Red Junk. Jee Shim taught the Six-and-a-Half-Point Pole techniques to Leung Yee-Tai. Wong Wah-Bo was close to Leung Yee Tei and they shared what they knew about martial arts. Together they shared and improved their techniques, and thus the Six-and-a-Half-Point Pole was incorporated into the Wing Chun style. Leung Yee-Tai passed his knowledge on to Leung Jan, a well known doctor in Foshan. Leung Jan grasped the innermost secrets of Wing Chun, attaining the highest level of proficiency. Many masters came to challenge him, but all were defeated. Leung Jan became very famous. Later he passed his knowledge on to Chan Wah-Shan who took me and my sihing, such as Ng Siu-Lo, Ng Jung-So, Chan Yu-Min and Lui Yiu-Chai, as his students many decades ago.

It can thus be said that the Wing Chun system was passed on to us in a direct line of succession from its origin. I write this history of the Wing Chun system in respectful memory of my forerunners. I am eternally grateful to them for passing to me the skills I now possess. When drinking of the water, a man should always think of the source; it is this shared feeling that keeps our brothers together.

Is this not the way to promote martial arts, and to project the image of our country?


Grandmaster Yip Man was the master teacher of Wing Chun Kuen who first publicly introduced the Wing Chun Kuen Kung Fu to Hong Kong. He had many students during the time he taught in Hong Kong including Leung Sheung, Lok Yiu, Tsui Seung Tin, Wong Shun Leung and his celebrity student Lee Jun Fan, best known in the west as Bruce Lee. Another of Yip Mans students, Tsoi Siu Kwong was the first to teach Wing Chun Kuen publicly in Australia. Better known there as Greg Tsoi (Choi) he began teaching in Sydney in the 1960’s. An early student of Tsoi’s was New Zealander Kevin Earle, founder of Shiao Loong Kwoon and Earles Academy Ving Chun Kuen in New Zealand. Master Kevin Earle was the first to teach Wing Chun Kuen (Ving Chun Kuen) in New Zealand commencing in the very early 1970’s. He has trained many people over the years; his first student, Master Beau Bouzaid, teaches in Sydney, Australia. I began my studies under Master Kevin in the mid 1980’s and founded my own schools, Man Sau Gwoon, in 1995 in Dunedin. Therefore my principle system and method of Wing Chun Kuen is what was taught to me in Earles Academy by Master Kevin Earle. Additionally I have been able to train with many other Wing Chun Kuen masters and teachers over the years and have incorporated these experiences in to the Man Sau Gwoon methodology.