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 17th 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 17th century.
Today , we know that Wing Chun was created
among Red Boat opera company in the 19th 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 20th 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 19th and beginning of 20th 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 19th 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 19th and 20th 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
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