What is Wing Tsun?
Wing Tsun is self defense in its most uncompromising form.
Wing Tsun skills build on the present potential of the student. Muscle power and conditioning are not prerequisites to Wing Tsun training. With Wing Tsun you learn how to minimize your weaknesses and utilize your strengths to the fullest.
Natural, instinctive movements and responses are an integral part of the Wing Tsun training. If you have to think about your movements, you have already lost half the battle.
At the center of Wing Tsun training stands a unique and variable technique that must be learned through concentrated practice and conscious, purposeful engagement with a partner.
Fluent motions and sudden explosive speed flow together in a systematic, coordinated, and spontaneous sequence of movement, merging body and mind into a new powerful unit.
The systematic study of Wing Tsun heightens physical and mental flexibility and improves the awareness of self and environment. The basic training process is complemented with specific techniques for relaxation and concentration, as well as with special breathing techniques for "refueling" the body.
Wing Tsun improves the practitioner's existing strengths and sharpens his or her powers of perception. Once known, one's capabilities can be confidently put to use. The person who learns Wing Tsun learns to know him or herself. Wing Tsun never attacks - it is aggressive only in defense.
Wing Tsun is a method for inner growth and a Way to a carefree, relaxed, and healthy life.
The History of Wing Tsun
The founder of the WIng Tsun Kung Fu System, Miss Yim WIng Tsun was a native of Canton China. As a young girl, she was intelligent and athletic, outstanding and manly. She was betrothed to Leung Bok Chau, a salt merchant of Fukien. Soon after that, her mother died. Her Father, Yim Yee, was wrongfully accused of a crime, and nearly went to jail. So the family moved far away, and finally settled down at the foot of Tai Leung Mountain at the Yunnan- Szechuan border. There, they earned a living. All this happened during the reign of Emperor K'anghsi (1662-1722).
At the time, kung fu was becoming very strong in Siu Lam Monastery (Shaolin Monastery) of Mt. Sung, Honan. This aroused the fear of the Manchu government, which sent troops to attack the Monastery. They were unsuccessful. A man called Chan Man Wai was the FIrst Placed Graduate of the Civil Service Examination that year. He was seeking .favor with the government, and suggested a plan. He plotted with Siu Lam monk Ma Ning Yee and others. They set fire to the Monastery while soldiers attacked it from the outside. Siu Lam was burnt down, and the monks scattered. Buddhist Abbess Ng Mui, Abbot Chi Shin, Abbot Pak Mei, Master Fung To Tak and Master Miu Hin ascaped and fled their separate ways.
Ng Mui took refuge in White Crane Temple on Mt. Tai Leung (also known as Mt. Chai Har). There, she came to know Yim Yee and his daughter Yim Wing Tsun. She bought bean curd at their store. They became friends.
Wing Tsun was a young woman then, and her beauty attracted the attention of a local bully. He tried to force Wing Tsun to marry him. She and her father were very worried. Ng Mui learned of this and took pity on Wing Tsun. She agreed to teach Wing Tsun fighting techniques so that she could protect herself. Then she would be able to solve the problem with the bully and marry Leung Bok Chau, her betrothed husband.
So Wing Tsun followed Ng Mui into the mountains, and started to learn kung fu. She trained night and day, and mastered the techniques. Then she challenged the local bully to a fight and beat him. Ng Mui set off to travel around the country, but before she left, she told Wing Tsun to strictly honor the kung fu traditions, to develop her kung fu and after her marriage, and to help the people working to overthrow the Manchu government and restore the Ming Dynasty. This is how Wing Tsun kung fu was handed down by Abbess Ng Mui. After the marriage, Wing Tsun taught her Kung fu to her husband Leung Bok Chau, and he passed his kung fu techniques on to Leung Lan Kwai. Leung Lan Kwai passed it on to Wong Wah Bo. Wong Wah Bo was a member of an opera troupe on board a junk, known to the Chinese as the Red Junk. Wong worked on the Red Junk with Leung Yee Tei. It is happened that Abbott Chi Shin, who fled from Siu Lam, had disguised himself as a cook and was now working on the Red Junk. Chi Shin taught the Six-and-a-half Point Long Pole Techniques to Leung Yee Tei. Wong Wah Bo was close to Leung Yee Tei, and they shared what they knew about kung fu. Together, they correlated and improved their techinques, and thus the Six-and-a-half Point Long Pole Techniques were incorporated into Wing Tsun kung fu.
Leung Yee Tei passed the kung fu on to Leung Jan, a well known herbal doctor in Fat Shan. Leung Jan grasped the inner-most secrets of Wing Tsun, and attained the highest level of proficiency. Many kung fu masters came to challenge him, but all were defeated. Leung Jan became very famous. Later, he passed his kung fu on to Chan Wah Shan, who took me as his student many decades ago. I studied kung fu alongside my kung fu brothers such as Ng Siu Lo, Ng Chung So, Chan Yu Min and Lui Yu Jai. WIng Tsun was thus passed down to us, and we are eternally grateful to our kung fu ancestors and teachers.
