History of Wing Chun
Encyclopedia
The history of Wing Chun
, has historically been passed from teacher to student verbally
rather than through documentation, making it difficult to confirm or clarify the differing accounts of Wing Chun's creation. Some have sought to apply the methods of higher criticism to the oral histories of Wing Chun and other Chinese martial arts. Others have attempted to discern the origins of Wing Chun by determining the specific purpose of its techniques.
Wing Chun starts to appear in independent third-party documentation during the era of the Wing Chun master Leung Jan
, making the subsequent history of Wing Chun and its divergence into branches more amenable to documentary verification.
branch of Wing Chun dates its creation to the reign of the Emperor Kangxi (1662–1722). After escaping the destruction of the Fujian
Shaolin Monastery by Qing forces, the Abbess Ng Mui
fled to the distant Daliang mountains (大涼山) on the border between Yunnan
and Sichuan
. One day, she came upon a fight between a snake and a crane (or other animal).
She took the lessons she 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 (嚴二). Yim Yee had a daughter named Yim Wing-Chun
(嚴詠春) whom a local warlord was trying to force into marriage. Ng Mui taught her new fighting style to Wing-Chun, who used it to fend off the warlord once and for all. Wing-Chun eventually married a man she loved, Leung Bok-Chao (梁博儔), 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.
Shaolin Temple who avoids persecution by fleeing with his daughter to Guangxi
. Wing-Chun learned the Fujian
Shaolin arts from her father and, from their raw material, created a new style after being inspired by a fight between a snake and a crane. She eventually married Leung Bok-Chao (梁博儔)—a Shaolin disciple just like Wing-Chun's father—and taught her fighting style to her new husband. The young couple began teaching Wing Chun's fighting style to others after moving to Guangdong Province
in 1815, settling in the city of Zhaoqing
.
Numerous variations on this story abound.
(often anti-Qing), or the Hakka people
of southern China
.
Almost all extant lineages of Wing Chun, with the exception of the Pao Fa Lien (刨花蓮) branch, claim descendance from the members of the mid-19th century cohort of the Red Boat Opera Company (紅船戲班).
Another legend has it that Wing Chun's lover, Leung Bok-Chao(who was a student of Choy gar
) did in fact help to shape the style of Wing Chun.
If so, then this is probably why the stances, and the short centred hand techniques have similarities in Choy gar
and Wing Chun.
used the Red Boat Opera Company as a cover to disguise themselves as a troupe of travelling entertainers. Their identities as Chinese opera
performers provided a cover for martial arts training; however, the flashy moves of opera style martial arts were not suited to the activities of espionage and assassination
, which required specialized skills. Even though assassinations themselves would be carried out using poison
or knives
, their targets were usually protected by bodyguards who, on discovery of an intruder, would seize the person, call for help, and disable the person to be held for interrogation. Therefore, according to this hypothesis, Wing Chun was designed to deal with an opponent who seized rather than struck and to silence that opponent immediately. This would explain certain technical aspects of Wing Chun, such as its emphasis on close-range combat and its many strikes to the throat and diaphragm.
(永春) (literally, "Eternal Spring") in Fujian Province
, China. In Mandarin, the pronunciation of the martial art and the pronunciation of the town are identical: Yǒngchūn. In Cantonese, the pronunciations are virtually the same: wing2 cheun1 (martial art) vs wing5 cheun1 (municipality). The name of the town is written with the character yǒng/wing "永" meaning "always", whereas the lineages of Wing Chun that descend from Yip Man
, Yiu Kai, Yuen Kay-San, the Cho family, Tam Yeung, Fung Sang, Yeung Fook, and Leung Kwok-Keung write the name of their martial art using the character yǒng/wing "詠" meaning "sing." However, the lineages of Wing Chun that descend from Pan Nam, Nguyễn Tế-Công, Way Yan, the Wang family of Saiquan, and Pao Fa Lien use the yǒng/wing "永" character, making the name of their martial art identical with the name of the town.
Several other Chinese martial arts come from Yongchun and the surrounding area, most notably the Fujianese style of White Crane, one branch of which is even called Wing Chun Bak Hok Kuen (永春白鶴拳), or Wing Chun White Crane boxing. Li Wenmao (李文茂), a historically verifiable opera performer and leader in the 1854–1855 Red Turban Rebellion in Foshan
, is said to have been a Wing Chun White Crane practitioner.
There is a story that White Crane was created by Ng Mui after she was inspired by a fight between a snake
and a crane
, as in the Yip Man oral history of Wing Chun. Another White Crane legend states that the art was created by a young woman who combined her observation of cranes with the martial arts she learned from her father—in some versions a refugee from the destruction of the Fujian Shaolin Temple—and later taught her art to her husband, as in the Yiu Kai oral history of Wing Chun. Most stories name this young woman as Fong Chut-Neung (方七娘), to use the Cantonese pronunciation, but other stories name her Fong Wing-Chun (方詠春) and the Shaolin disciple she marries as Hung Hei-Gun (洪熙官), to whom she teaches her Crane style which he combines with his Tiger style to create the famous Hung Family
Tiger Crane style.
Oral history aside, the technical similarities of Wing Chun and Fujian White Crane suggest that the two are related. As Yip Man's student Leung Ting put it, "Wing Tsun System is derived from the Fukien System of kung-fu, which is related to the Hakka System
. Their common features are that during fights, pugilists of these systems prefer short steps and close fighting, with their arms placed close to the chest, their elbows lowered and kept close to the flanks to offer it protection. Another characteristic of these two systems of kung-fu is, unlike those of Kwangtung Province and Northern China, their boxing forms are rather simple".
Leung Jan
(梁贊) is as far back as the lineages that descend from him—Yip Man, Yiu Kai, Pan Nam, Tam Yeung, Fung Sing—can reliably verify their genealogy. He was a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine
in the city of Foshan
in the 19th century. Leung Jan is said to have learned from Wong Wah-Bo (黃華寶) and Leung Yee-Tai
(梁二娣), respectively the male and "female" martial leads of the Red Boat Opera Company, each of whom is said to have been an expert on different aspects of Wing Chun. According to legends from the Yip Man lineage, Leung Yee-Tai was a poler, that is, he used a pole to steer the Red Boat away from rocks and shoals, and was therefore chosen by the legendary Shaolin master Jee Shim himself to learn the six-and-a-half point pole. Leung Jan's students included his sons Leung Chun (梁春) and Leung Bik (梁壁) as well as "Wooden Man" Wah (木人華) and Chan Wah-Shun
(陳華順) nicknamed "Moneychanger Wah" (找錢華), from whom the Yip Man, Yiu Kai, and Pan Nam lineages descend.
However, the Leung Jan lineage is not the only branch of the art. According to the traditions of the Cho family, Wong Wah-Bo and Leung Yee-Tai had as many as 11 peers in Wing Chun among their colleagues at the Red Boat Opera Company. For example, "Dai Fa Min" Kam (大花面錦), who played the role of the martial painted face, is the ancestor of the Way Yan lineage. The Yuen Kay-San and Pan Nam branches descend from both Wong Wah-Bo and "Dai Fa Min" Kam. Gao Lo Chung ("Tall" Chung) and "Hung Gun" Biu (紅巾彪), also of the Red Boat Opera Company, both passed the art on to relatives, respectively, his son-in-law Yin Lee-Chung and the Wang (王) family. Outside the Red Boat Opera Company, a monk who had taken the name "Dai Dong Fung" (大東風) is named as its ancestor by the Pao Fa Lien (刨花蓮) lineage of Wing Chun.
In this cohort of the Red Boat Opera Company, the role of the virtuous "female" was played by Yik Kam (翼金), better known as "Ching-Deng" Kam because of the role he played. Cho Shun (曹順), who played the "Little Martial" (小武) role, was a student of Yik Kam. By passing the art on to his son Cho Dak-Sang (曹德生), Cho Shun established the Wing Chun lineage of the Cho family of Panyu village.
was the first Wing Chun master to teach the art openly in "Hong Kong" on a school fee basis. His students and their students therefore make up the majority of the practitioners of Wing Chun today (see his article for the outline of a family tree). Yip Man died in 1972. However, there is also a story that Yip Man gave money to Chan Wah Shun so that he could learn from him. Officially making Chan Wah Shun the first to teach the art openly on a school fee basis. However, Chan Wa Shun was military/ security based who was employed by Yip Man's father.
Bruce Lee came to America to teach the non-Asian Americans. Bruce Lee was a student of Wing Chun.
Recently two movies were made about Yip Man starring Donnie Yen.
Though he never started a school himself, Yuen Kay-San's lineage of Wing Chun was continued by his student Sum Nung and the subsequent generations of students that descend from him.
Donnie Yen has also caused trememdous impact in the martial arts world through his various films. Yen is widely credited by many as the person responsible in popularizing the traditional martial arts style known as Wing Chun
. Donnie Yen played the role of Wing Chun Grandmaster in the 2008 movie, Ip Man
, which was a huge box office success, re-defining the genre of action films. This has led to a tremendous increase in amounts of people taking up Wing Chun, causing hundreds of new Wing Chun schools to be opened up in Mainland China
and other notable parts of Asia
. Ip Chun
, the eldest son of Ip Man even mentioned that he is grateful to Donnie Yen for making his family art popular and allowing his father's legacy to be remembered.
Wing Chun
Wing Chun , also romanised as Ving Tsun or Wing Tsun, ; ; is a concept-based Chinese martial art and form of self-defense utilizing both striking and grappling while specializing in close-range combat.The alternative characters 永春 "eternal spring" are also...
, has historically been passed from teacher to student verbally
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
rather than through documentation, making it difficult to confirm or clarify the differing accounts of Wing Chun's creation. Some have sought to apply the methods of higher criticism to the oral histories of Wing Chun and other Chinese martial arts. Others have attempted to discern the origins of Wing Chun by determining the specific purpose of its techniques.
Wing Chun starts to appear in independent third-party documentation during the era of the Wing Chun master Leung Jan
Leung Jan
Leung Jan was a Wing Chun practitioner. Leung was a Chinese herbal doctor in Foshan. His name became well-known due to his wins in competitive bouts. He was called Mr...
, making the subsequent history of Wing Chun and its divergence into branches more amenable to documentary verification.
Yip Man Wing Chun
The oral history of the Yip ManYip Man
Yip Man , also spelled as Ip Man, and also known as Yip Kai-Man, was a Chinese martial artist. He had several students who later became martial arts teachers in their own right, including Bruce Lee.-Early life:...
branch of Wing Chun dates its creation to the reign of the Emperor Kangxi (1662–1722). After escaping the destruction of the Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
Shaolin Monastery by Qing forces, the Abbess Ng Mui
Ng Mui
Ng Mui is said to have been one of the legendary Five Elders — survivors of the destruction of the Shaolin Temple by the Qing Dynasty....
fled to the distant Daliang mountains (大涼山) on the border between Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
and Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
. One day, she came upon a fight between a snake and a crane (or other animal).
She took the lessons she learned from observing the fight between the two animals and combined them with her own knowledge of Shaolin kung fu
Shaolin kung fu
Shaolin Kung Fu refers to a collection of Chinese martial arts that claim affiliation with the Shaolin Monastery.Of the multitude styles of kung fu and wushu, only some are actually related to Shaolin...
to create a new style. Ng Mui often bought her bean curd at the tofu shop of Yim Yee (嚴二). Yim Yee had a daughter named Yim Wing-Chun
Yim Wing-chun
Yim Wing-chun is a Chinese legendary character, often cited in Wing Chun legends as the first master of the martial art bearing her name. Wing-chun, though a person's name in Chinese language, literally means "spring chant" or "forever spring", or may be substituted with the character for "eternal...
(嚴詠春) whom a local warlord was trying to force into marriage. Ng Mui taught her new fighting style to Wing-Chun, who used it to fend off the warlord once and for all. Wing-Chun eventually married a man she loved, Leung Bok-Chao (梁博儔), 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.
Yiu Kai Wing Chun
The oral history of the Yiu Kai lineage dates the creation of Wing Chun roughly a century later, to the early 19th century, and names Wing-Chun's father as Yim Sei (嚴四), a disciple at the FujianFujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
Shaolin Temple who avoids persecution by fleeing with his daughter to Guangxi
Guangxi
Guangxi, formerly romanized Kwangsi, is a province of southern China along its border with Vietnam. In 1958, it became the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, a region with special privileges created specifically for the Zhuang people.Guangxi's location, in...
. Wing-Chun learned the Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
Shaolin arts from her father and, from their raw material, created a new style after being inspired by a fight between a snake and a crane. She eventually married Leung Bok-Chao (梁博儔)—a Shaolin disciple just like Wing-Chun's father—and taught her fighting style to her new husband. The young couple began teaching Wing Chun's fighting style to others after moving to Guangdong Province
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
in 1815, settling in the city of Zhaoqing
Zhaoqing
Zhaoqing is a prefecture-level city of Guangdong province in southern China.-Geography:Zhaoqing is located 110 km northwest of Guangzhou, in the west Pearl River Delta. It lies on the north shores of the Xijiang River, which is flows from west to east, and opposite of Gaoyao...
.
Numerous variations on this story abound.
Theories
Other origins for Wing Chun have been suggested, typically involving connections to the Triads, revolutionary groupsRevolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.-Definition:...
(often anti-Qing), or the Hakka people
Hakka people
The Hakka , sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China....
of southern China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
Almost all extant lineages of Wing Chun, with the exception of the Pao Fa Lien (刨花蓮) branch, claim descendance from the members of the mid-19th century cohort of the Red Boat Opera Company (紅船戲班).
Another legend has it that Wing Chun's lover, Leung Bok-Chao(who was a student of Choy gar
Choy gar
Choy Gar is a Chinese martial art deriving its name from Choy Gau Lee and is one of the five main family styles of Kung Fu in Southern China...
) did in fact help to shape the style of Wing Chun.
If so, then this is probably why the stances, and the short centred hand techniques have similarities in Choy gar
Choy gar
Choy Gar is a Chinese martial art deriving its name from Choy Gau Lee and is one of the five main family styles of Kung Fu in Southern China...
and Wing Chun.
Espionage and assassination
According to one theory, opponents of the Qing DynastyQing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
used the Red Boat Opera Company as a cover to disguise themselves as a troupe of travelling entertainers. Their identities as Chinese opera
Chinese opera
Chinese opera is a popular form of drama and musical theatre in China with roots going back as far as the third century CE...
performers provided a cover for martial arts training; however, the flashy moves of opera style martial arts were not suited to the activities of espionage and assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
, which required specialized skills. Even though assassinations themselves would be carried out using poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
or knives
Knife
A knife is a cutting tool with an exposed cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools...
, their targets were usually protected by bodyguards who, on discovery of an intruder, would seize the person, call for help, and disable the person to be held for interrogation. Therefore, according to this hypothesis, Wing Chun was designed to deal with an opponent who seized rather than struck and to silence that opponent immediately. This would explain certain technical aspects of Wing Chun, such as its emphasis on close-range combat and its many strikes to the throat and diaphragm.
Wing Chun City
Also of note is the existence of a city called YongchunYongchun
Yongchun may refer to:* Yongchun County, county of Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, China* Wing Chun, or Yongchun in pinyin, Chinese martial art that specializes in close-range combat...
(永春) (literally, "Eternal Spring") in Fujian Province
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
, China. In Mandarin, the pronunciation of the martial art and the pronunciation of the town are identical: Yǒngchūn. In Cantonese, the pronunciations are virtually the same: wing2 cheun1 (martial art) vs wing5 cheun1 (municipality). The name of the town is written with the character yǒng/wing "永" meaning "always", whereas the lineages of Wing Chun that descend from Yip Man
Yip Man
Yip Man , also spelled as Ip Man, and also known as Yip Kai-Man, was a Chinese martial artist. He had several students who later became martial arts teachers in their own right, including Bruce Lee.-Early life:...
, Yiu Kai, Yuen Kay-San, the Cho family, Tam Yeung, Fung Sang, Yeung Fook, and Leung Kwok-Keung write the name of their martial art using the character yǒng/wing "詠" meaning "sing." However, the lineages of Wing Chun that descend from Pan Nam, Nguyễn Tế-Công, Way Yan, the Wang family of Saiquan, and Pao Fa Lien use the yǒng/wing "永" character, making the name of their martial art identical with the name of the town.
Several other Chinese martial arts come from Yongchun and the surrounding area, most notably the Fujianese style of White Crane, one branch of which is even called Wing Chun Bak Hok Kuen (永春白鶴拳), or Wing Chun White Crane boxing. Li Wenmao (李文茂), a historically verifiable opera performer and leader in the 1854–1855 Red Turban Rebellion in Foshan
Foshan
Foshan is a city in central Guangdong province in southern China. The prefectural area under the city's jurisdiction over an area of about 3,840 km² and a population of 5.4 million of which 1.1 million reside in the city proper ....
, is said to have been a Wing Chun White Crane practitioner.
There is a story that White Crane was created by Ng Mui after she was inspired by a fight between a snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
and a crane
Crane (bird)
Cranes are a family, Gruidae, of large, long-legged and long-necked birds in the order Gruiformes. There are fifteen species of crane in four genera. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back...
, as in the Yip Man oral history of Wing Chun. Another White Crane legend states that the art was created by a young woman who combined her observation of cranes with the martial arts she learned from her father—in some versions a refugee from the destruction of the Fujian Shaolin Temple—and later taught her art to her husband, as in the Yiu Kai oral history of Wing Chun. Most stories name this young woman as Fong Chut-Neung (方七娘), to use the Cantonese pronunciation, but other stories name her Fong Wing-Chun (方詠春) and the Shaolin disciple she marries as Hung Hei-Gun (洪熙官), to whom she teaches her Crane style which he combines with his Tiger style to create the famous Hung Family
Hung Gar
Hung Ga 洪家, Hung Kuen 洪拳, or Hung Ga Kuen 洪家拳 is a southern Chinese martial art associated with the Chinese folk hero Wong Fei Hung, who was a master of Hung Ga....
Tiger Crane style.
Oral history aside, the technical similarities of Wing Chun and Fujian White Crane suggest that the two are related. As Yip Man's student Leung Ting put it, "Wing Tsun System is derived from the Fukien System of kung-fu, which is related to the Hakka System
Hakka Kuen
Hakka Kuen is a general term describing a variety of Chinese martial arts originating from the Hakka community of Southern China and is considered to be an important style within Southern Chinese Martial Arts....
. Their common features are that during fights, pugilists of these systems prefer short steps and close fighting, with their arms placed close to the chest, their elbows lowered and kept close to the flanks to offer it protection. Another characteristic of these two systems of kung-fu is, unlike those of Kwangtung Province and Northern China, their boxing forms are rather simple".
The origins of Wing Chun's branches
Leung Jan
Leung Jan was a Wing Chun practitioner. Leung was a Chinese herbal doctor in Foshan. His name became well-known due to his wins in competitive bouts. He was called Mr...
(梁贊) is as far back as the lineages that descend from him—Yip Man, Yiu Kai, Pan Nam, Tam Yeung, Fung Sing—can reliably verify their genealogy. He was a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to a broad range of medicine practices sharing common theoretical concepts which have been developed in China and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage , exercise , and dietary therapy...
in the city of Foshan
Foshan
Foshan is a city in central Guangdong province in southern China. The prefectural area under the city's jurisdiction over an area of about 3,840 km² and a population of 5.4 million of which 1.1 million reside in the city proper ....
in the 19th century. Leung Jan is said to have learned from Wong Wah-Bo (黃華寶) and Leung Yee-Tai
Leung Yee-tai
Leung Yee-tai was a Wing Chun master.He was a strong boatman who steered riverboat by pushing a long pole against the river bottom.A Shaolin monk Chi Sin saw that he was a natural successor to the Shaolin pole fighting skill called six and a half point long pole.He taught Wong Wah-bo his pole...
(梁二娣), respectively the male and "female" martial leads of the Red Boat Opera Company, each of whom is said to have been an expert on different aspects of Wing Chun. According to legends from the Yip Man lineage, Leung Yee-Tai was a poler, that is, he used a pole to steer the Red Boat away from rocks and shoals, and was therefore chosen by the legendary Shaolin master Jee Shim himself to learn the six-and-a-half point pole. Leung Jan's students included his sons Leung Chun (梁春) and Leung Bik (梁壁) as well as "Wooden Man" Wah (木人華) and Chan Wah-Shun
Chan Wah-shun
Chan Wah-shun , nicknamed 'Money Changer Wah' , was a student of the wing chun grandmaster Leung Jan . He is best known today for being the martial arts teacher of Yip Man, himself best known for being the teacher of Bruce Lee....
(陳華順) nicknamed "Moneychanger Wah" (找錢華), from whom the Yip Man, Yiu Kai, and Pan Nam lineages descend.
However, the Leung Jan lineage is not the only branch of the art. According to the traditions of the Cho family, Wong Wah-Bo and Leung Yee-Tai had as many as 11 peers in Wing Chun among their colleagues at the Red Boat Opera Company. For example, "Dai Fa Min" Kam (大花面錦), who played the role of the martial painted face, is the ancestor of the Way Yan lineage. The Yuen Kay-San and Pan Nam branches descend from both Wong Wah-Bo and "Dai Fa Min" Kam. Gao Lo Chung ("Tall" Chung) and "Hung Gun" Biu (紅巾彪), also of the Red Boat Opera Company, both passed the art on to relatives, respectively, his son-in-law Yin Lee-Chung and the Wang (王) family. Outside the Red Boat Opera Company, a monk who had taken the name "Dai Dong Fung" (大東風) is named as its ancestor by the Pao Fa Lien (刨花蓮) lineage of Wing Chun.
In this cohort of the Red Boat Opera Company, the role of the virtuous "female" was played by Yik Kam (翼金), better known as "Ching-Deng" Kam because of the role he played. Cho Shun (曹順), who played the "Little Martial" (小武) role, was a student of Yik Kam. By passing the art on to his son Cho Dak-Sang (曹德生), Cho Shun established the Wing Chun lineage of the Cho family of Panyu village.
Recent history
Yip ManYip Man
Yip Man , also spelled as Ip Man, and also known as Yip Kai-Man, was a Chinese martial artist. He had several students who later became martial arts teachers in their own right, including Bruce Lee.-Early life:...
was the first Wing Chun master to teach the art openly in "Hong Kong" on a school fee basis. His students and their students therefore make up the majority of the practitioners of Wing Chun today (see his article for the outline of a family tree). Yip Man died in 1972. However, there is also a story that Yip Man gave money to Chan Wah Shun so that he could learn from him. Officially making Chan Wah Shun the first to teach the art openly on a school fee basis. However, Chan Wa Shun was military/ security based who was employed by Yip Man's father.
Bruce Lee came to America to teach the non-Asian Americans. Bruce Lee was a student of Wing Chun.
Recently two movies were made about Yip Man starring Donnie Yen.
Though he never started a school himself, Yuen Kay-San's lineage of Wing Chun was continued by his student Sum Nung and the subsequent generations of students that descend from him.
Donnie Yen has also caused trememdous impact in the martial arts world through his various films. Yen is widely credited by many as the person responsible in popularizing the traditional martial arts style known as Wing Chun
Wing Chun
Wing Chun , also romanised as Ving Tsun or Wing Tsun, ; ; is a concept-based Chinese martial art and form of self-defense utilizing both striking and grappling while specializing in close-range combat.The alternative characters 永春 "eternal spring" are also...
. Donnie Yen played the role of Wing Chun Grandmaster in the 2008 movie, Ip Man
Ip Man (film)
Ip Man is a 2008 Hong Kong semi biographical martial arts film very loosely based on the life of Ip Man, a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun and master of Bruce Lee. The film focuses on events in Ip's life that supposedly took place in the city of Foshan during the Second Sino-Japanese War...
, which was a huge box office success, re-defining the genre of action films. This has led to a tremendous increase in amounts of people taking up Wing Chun, causing hundreds of new Wing Chun schools to be opened up in Mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
and other notable parts of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. Ip Chun
Ip Chun
Ip Chun , also spelled as Yip Chun or Yip Jun, is a Chinese Wing Chun martial artist. He is the oldest son of Yip Man .-Biography:Ip began studying Wing Chun with his father when he was seven years old...
, the eldest son of Ip Man even mentioned that he is grateful to Donnie Yen for making his family art popular and allowing his father's legacy to be remembered.