authors would like to thank Mark V. Wiley for recognizing and believing in the potential of this work. Eddie Chong, sifu of Pan Nam Wing Chun, for sharing his knowledge, and John Murphy and Garrett Gee, sifu of Hung Suen Wing Chun, for contributing their chapter. Also, many thanks to Jane Hallander for her photographs of Pao Fa Lien Wing Chun, Reiner Klimke and Andreas Hoffman sifu for their notes on Jee Shim Wing Chun (Chi Sim Ving Tsun), Ilya Olshanetsky and Andrej Moskwitin for their notes on Vietnamese Wing Chun (Vinh Xuan), and Y. C. Yeung for his kind help on several of the branches of Wing Chun. The work would have been considerably lessened without their generous contributions. Thanks as well to the Internet Wing Chun Mailing List, created and maintained by Marty Goldberg and Robert Gillespie, an outstanding forum for exchange among Wing Chun practitioners (information on the WCML can be obtained by sending e-mail to [email protected] with the message body reading: info wingchun).
Robert Chu would like to thank Hawkins Cheung, Kwan Jong-Yuen, William Cheung, Koo Sang, Augustine Fong, Eddie Chong, Eric Kwai, Jeung Ma-Chut, Gary Lam, Johnny Wong, Allan Fong, Henry Moy and the Moy Yat Wing Chun family for sharing their Wing Chun. Special thanks to his students and good friends who have taught him as much as he taught them, James Ng, Stephen Eng, Anant Tinaphong, all his New York students, and all his Los Angeles students, especially, Stephen Wenger, Patrick Lee, Dimitris Horiatis, Robert Ting, David Young, and Peter Kwong who have supported him over the years. Also special thanks to Robert S. Weinberg Sensei for starting him on the path to martial arts and his brothers, Charles, Johnson and Douglas Chu, who kept him inspired. Also special thanks to his two partners and sworn brothers, Rene Ritchie for sharing with him his Yuen Kay-San Wing Chun kuen, and to Ng Yew-Mun, who shared his Nanyang Wing Chun kuen on his brief visit. It was their urging that led him to the completion of this project despite his dislike for rewrites. He couldn’t ask for two better partners. Most of all, special thanks to his beautiful wife, Pauline, for putting up with mistress Wing Chun for all these years.
Y. Wu would like to thank and express his appreciation for the years of friendship and knowledge from Victor Leow of the Intelligent Combative Arts Network Australasia, his sworn senior kung-fu brother, mentor, and above all teacher (and author of Virtual, Intelligent, Kinaesthetically Oriented Geometric Articulations (VIKOGA): Authenticated Mindwill Wing Chun Gungfu). Thanks also go to big brother Robert Chu for generously sharing his knowledge of Wing Chun kuen; brother Rene Ritchie for his Yuen Kay San Wing Chun kuen and vast knowledge of the history of Wing Chun kuen; sifu Hawkins Cheung for his entertaining and highly knowledgeable views on the application of Yip Man Wing Chun kuen and the Wing Chun baat jaam do, and Gary Lam for his insights into the late Wong Shun Leungs methods. Special thanks to Yap Boh Lim, S. Y. Liu, Leong Lin Heng, Beh Lau Seng and Hui See Lim, all great teachers from various martial arts traditions who have contributed to his knowledge. In addition, thanks to his student Long Tian Ching for his photography and Alan Ang who started him on the Internet and keeper of the Nanyang Wing Chun Website at http://sunflower.singnet.com.sg/-angalan. Last but not least, many thanks to his wonderful one in a million wife Alice for her tolerance, understanding and love.
Rene Ritchie would like to thank his teacher, Ngo Lui-Kay (Ao Leiqi) for sharing with him grandmaster Sum Nungs teachings of Yuen Kay-San’s art and for his continual support, encouragement, and assistance with this project and others. In addition, thanks to his classmates Antony Casella, Georgia Dow, David Johnson, Deon Weir, and Wilson Woo for all their assistance. Also, thanks to Yuen Jo-Tong, Y. C. Yeung, Dan Lam, Bud Shapard, and Michael Engle of the Yuen Kay-San style and to Jim Roselando and the many other Wing Chun enthusiasts he has had a chance to converse with over the years.
Thanks also to Kenny Fung for his help with Chinese language and culture. Lastly, special thanks to his co-authors and big martial brothers Robert Chu and Y. Wu for sharing with him their knowledge and widening his understanding of the many branches of the art.
INTRODUCTION
前言
When Bruce Lee first exploded on television and into the movies, he captured the imagination and hearts of people all over the world. With the fame of Bruce Lee, the conditions in Hong Kong, and the hard work and effort of many of his classmates, the Wing Chun of his teacher, Yip Man, became one of the most well-known and popular Chinese martial arts in the world. Although this gave Wing Chun international recognition, it also led to a lot of misconceptions. Due to a lack of authentic information, many mistakenly came to assume that the renowned Yip Man was the sole inheritor of the style and that his Wing Chun was the lone version of the art.
In fact, there are several different and distinct systems of Wing Chun. Unfortunately, over the years most of these systems have remained unseen or unreported to all but a few. From where then do these misconceptions come?
Over time, Wing Chun’s history has become a mishmash of factual accounts and fictionalized stories. Early secrecy and modern marketing did much to create and fuel the confusion. Legendary figures like Ng Mui and Yim Wing-Chun are believed to be the sole founders of the art and a single lineage through Leung Bok-Chao, Leung Lan-Kwai, Wong Wah-Bo, and Leung Yee-Tai to Leung Jan has become accepted as the only branch.
The doors of Wing Chun, however, were never this closed, nor the line this limited. Over the generations, many highly skilled masters of the past have learned the art, contributed enormously to its development, and passed along their knowledge. Yet, masters such as Cheung “Tan Sao” Ng and many of the Red Junk actors like Dai Fa Min Kam, Gao Lo Chung, Hung Gan Biu and their descendants have disappeared entirely from all but a very few records.
As Wing Chun’s origins and development have remained relatively unknown, so has its true breadth. Inside the Bamboo Curtain of the People’s Republic of China, however, many branches including the Yuen Kay-San, Gu Lao, Pao Fa Lien, Jee Shim, Pan Nam, Hung Suen, Pien San, and even the early Foshan students of Yip Man survived the rise of communism and the Cultural Revolution. While the Yip Man style was brought to Hong Kong around 1950, the Yuen Kay-San, Pao Fa Lien, Pien San, and Jee Shim styles followed soon thereafter. Beyond China, Wing Chun spread into Southeast Asia over half a century ago and today many unique versions of the art can be found in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and surrounding areas.
Thus, it has been very difficult to find real information on the Wing Chun family of styles, especially in the western world.
Complete Wing Chun, presents, for the first time, seldom seen information on over a dozen branches of the Wing Chun art. It is hoped that this volume will serve as a helpful resource for the interested newcomer and as a valuable reference for the long-time enthusiast.
NOTES ON GENEALOGY
Wing Chun kuen, while a relatively young style by Chinese martial arts standards, is one which has grown much since the mid-1900s, and one which has, unfortunately, been plagued by more then its share of controversy. Thus, the history of Wing Chun’s founding (who created the style) and development (who passed the art along to whom) presented in this book is not, and cannot, be exact.
Over the generations, due to errors, omissions, mix-ups, padding, filling, and modification, many different genealogies have come to exist for the same style or individual. In addition, since some practitioners had more then one teacher, and some also studied with grand-teachers, senior classmates, friends, and so on, the lines and stories are sometimes quite muddled, with different branches recording different aspects.
For the purposes of this book and out of respect for the various branches, the following chapters present the history of the different arts as their masters orally transmit them. While some of these accounts may appear similar and in some cases repetitive, it is necessary in order to properly present the history and traditions of each branch.
It is not our goal to promote one style over another and while we do present our own thoughts in the conclusion, we encourage the readers
