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The Shaolin Temple
Many monks in Taoist temples practiced physical meditation, as well as mental meditation, and developed the arts over 1,500 years. The most prestigious and longest lasting centre of martial arts was the Shaolin temple. More than two hundred and fifty years ago, during the reign of Yung-Cheng (1723-1736) of the Ching Dynasty, the Shaolin monastry was attacked and set on fire by the Manchu Government. Buddhist Nun Ng Mui was the only female in the Siu Lam Monastery and the eldest among the Five Elders and one of the few to escape the treachery.
Ng Mui
In hiding she concentrated on Zen Buddhism, and also martial arts, as her favourite pastime. Ng Mui never forgot the bitter experience she suffered from the fire and worried how she could defend further attacks. She excelled over them in skilful techniques, but one day her strength would fail to overcome the more powerful younger Siu Lam defectors. The only way to defeat them was to create a new fighting system that would overcome the existing Siu Lam techniques. But what? And how?
A New System
Her chance came one day, when she witnessed a fight between a fox and a large wild crane. The fox tried to run around and attack, but the crane turned all the time to face the fox. Each time the fox attacked the crane blocked with its wing and counter attacked with its beak. This became the inspiration for a new fighting system.
Yim Wing Chun
In a nearby village to Ng Mui, lived Yim Wing Chun a young teenager who worked in the market. She had attracted the attentions of the local bully who demanded her hand in marriage. Ng Mui liked Wing Chun and so decided to train her in her new system. After three years training Ng Mui told Wing Chun she was a competent fighter. She returned to challenge the bully, who was so sure of his physical power, accepted the challenge. He was helplessly knocked down by Wing Chun and would never dare to give her any more trouble.
Yip Man
Yim Wing Chun eventually got married and passed the art onto her husband who called it “Wing Chun Kuen” in honour of his wife. The last 150 years of Wing Chun development is well documented, the first public teaching of Wing Chun was by Grandmaster Yip Man in the 1930’s. Yip Man was an exceptional practitioner and is the father of almost all Wing Chun in the world today.
Leung Ting
His last and most accomplished student was Leung Ting whom he accepted as a “closed-door” student. Since the mantle of leadership passed to him over 30 years ago, Grandmaster Leung Ting has continued to innovate, experiment and conduct research. His experience, combined with his success as a trainer led Grandmaster Leung Ting to restructure and modernise the art - resulting in his trademarked method known as WingTsun. Today, Grandmaster Leung Ting’s WingTsun is taught in 63 countries of the world by highly-trained and certified instructors of the International Wing Tsun Association.
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