Martial
Art: Wing Chun (short for Wing Chun Kuen)
Translation: "Beautiful Springtime"
Country of Origin: China
Created: 17th Century
Wing Chun is actually a
style of Wushu and so technically it should not really appear in this list.
However because it is one of the most popular styles of Wushu we have given
it a page of its own. Wing Chun is the only style of Wushu to have been created
by a woman and this is probably why it appears to contain elements of both
"hard" and "soft" styles of this art. (see Wushu). It
is a Southern Chinese style discipline but many of the "hard" style
blocks and strikes have been substituted by flowing "soft" style
techniques designed to use an opponents force against themselves. A Buddhist
Nun named Ng Mui skilled in a Wushu style called mui fa chuan (plum flower
fist) was one of the 5 people to escape the destruction of the Shaolin Monastery
that occurred during the Ching Dynasty (1662-1722). Whilst in hiding she befriended
a young 15 year old girl named Yim Wing Chun (Beautiful Springtime) whose
was receiving unwanted attention from the local bully. (Some legends say it
was a Warlord or a Bandit) Ng Mui took the girl into the mountains for 6 months
and taught her a new adaptation of her martial art. Because they were women
they discarded techniques requiring great strength and concentrated on speed
and the concept of yielding with an opponents superior force. Yim Wing Chun
returned to her village and gave the local bully-boy a sound thrashing and
was never bothered by him again. Ng Mui made her new pupil promise to keep
on training in the new style and before leaving named it Wing Chun in her
honour. This style was popularised by Bruce Lee. Can be spelled Wing Shun,
Wing Tsun or Ving Tsun!