Wing Chun, history of the art's name

We all know legend about beautiful girl whose name became a name of the art –Yim Wing Chun. The legend puts creation of the art at the second half of 17^th century. Interesting thing is , many people actually believe in the legend and think name Wing Chun and the art its self was created by a nun in the 17^th century.

Today , we know that Wing Chun was created among Red Boat opera company in the 19^th century . Exact time cannot be determined , there are several theories how , when , by who and from what source the first version of Wing Chun was created but that is a topic for another article .

Interesting thing is , the art its self existed for quite some time before it became known under today’s name , Wing Chun . So when the actual name emerged and what is the meaning of the name ?

During the ‘Red Boat’s “ period , before Taiping rebellion , an opera actor , who played female roles , Yik Kam , was practicing the art contained in one long form . The name of the form and the art was Siu Lim Tao ,小練頭. We have no evidence that name Wing Chun was used publically before the beginning of 20^th century. There are no evidence of any kind , written, oral , archeological , that can find name Wing Chun used publically or among secret societies before crush of Taiping rebellion.

In 1855, Yik Kam followed Lee Man Mau in GhuangXi and helped him in establishing a Tai Shing Kingdom, and there is still no mention of Wing Chun, and Yik Kam in GhuangXi was still practicing one long “Siu Lim Tao” set.

The name “wing chun” was used first time after the crush of Taiping rebellion when the art was reformed and divided into 3 empty hand forms . Name Wing Chun was derived from the original kuen kuit verses of the first version of 3 forms art , still preserved in its original form in Snake Crane Wing Chun . 'Wing' means Singing.   'Chun' mean spring , the beginning of a year. It means a new beginning , new (reformed) art and new secret society with new operative objectives , to find and kill traitors of Taiping rebellion. Name Wing Chun was not used before 1855, and was not used publically before very end of 19^th and beginning of 20^th century .

Snake Crane Wing Chun delegation , in October 2015 went to Foshan and meet Tang Kwong Man from Foshan Wu Shu history museum. There was great exchange of knowledge and information at that time and some interesting facts were discovered. Furthermore, the early history of SCWC was confirmed . Mr.Tang has discovered one long ‘Siu Lim Tao “ 108 moves set in 中國湛江 Zhanjiang, China. All the techniques in the set are named “Snake” and “Crane” moves. A great deal of that form as well as the names are identical with SCWC movements in the forms . According to Snake Crane Wing Chun, which was confirmed by Foshan WuShu museum findings ,the term "Wing Chun詠春" is derived from the Snake Crane Wing Chun Mun Kuen Kuit couplet "永行忠義堪歌詠 言出九鼎志更春" (Loyalty should always be borne in worthy of singing,A promise cannot be broken with goal like spring) .and was coming from the form "Snake Crane Fist 蛇鶴拳" "「蛇鶴能制逆宗童」Snake Crane Fist can subdue the traitors. In the photo of SCWC ancestor from 19^th century, probably the oldest photo of some WCK ancestor that exist today, we have listed those verses ,on the top of the frame and on both sides which tell us how important these verses are .

Today , most of Wing Chun styles from Foshan have similar 3 empty hand forms and their origin can be traced to the Red Boats and Taiping rebellion .In the turbulent times of 19^th and 20^th century , real history of the art for the most styles was lost and they all replaced it with a legend written by Yip Man. Today , when some old styles are starting to teach publically , they also bring a significant artifacts and documents about early history of the style .We all hope that further investigations will shed more light on the earliest period of Wing Chun


Author :  Wayne Yung
Editor : Vladimir Zlatic

True spirit of brotherhood

Sifu Ridha Liba , SCWC representative for France and Sifu Tomas Kluh , SCWC representative for Germany , get together and practice on regular basis . These two masters give a great example to their students and spread true spirit of brotherhood and cooperation making all people involved in SCWC to feel they truly belong to the family , traditional SCWC family .

New memebers of SCWC family , we are growing in numbers every day

On  January 23 three new disciples conducted a Discipleship Ceremony to enter the Kung Fu Family " Snake Crane Wing Chun Mun" of Master Wayne Yung from Hong Kong

Didier GIORGIS , Alexandre MAUREL & Dr Christophe CORALLO

Sifu Wayne Yung witnessed the ceremony via Skype from Hong Kong and also Sifu Thomas Klûh and Sifu Jôrg Bethscheider from Germany