Wing Chun
Wing Chun can trace its origins back 250 years ago when the turbulent Ching dynasty ruled with an iron fist, outlawing the use of all weapons. Such repressions forced the Hons to begin training a revolutionary army in secret. They based their training facility at The Shil Lim Temple where they taught their army the art of Kung Fu – a classic style that takes 15 to 20 years to master.
The training time was too long for the Hons. They needed fighters now. So, five grandmasters of the Kung Fu style met at the temple to develop a new fighting system with a shorter training time. They took the best from all the Kung Fu styles and created a new system that trained combative soldiers in one third the original time. Unfortunately, before this system could be taught, the Shil Lim Temple was raided and four of the Grandmasters killed.
Only grandmaster Ng Mui – a nun by profession – survived the raid. She taught this new Kung Fu system to a young orphan girl named Wing Chun (which means "hope for the future"). Wing Chun went on to teach this art to her husband. And as the years passed, the style took on its identity as Wing Chun. Only a select few were every taught this combative style.
One of the few people to ever study this style was Yip Man. Born in 1898 in the town of Fatshan in Namhoi County (the Kwangtung Province of Southern China), Yip Man was accepted as a student at the early age of 9. Throughout the years he perfected the art of Wing Chun and today his teachings are the foundation of this Kung Fu system as we know it today.
The bare-boned effectiveness of his fighting techniques attracted many eager students such as William Cheung.
In 1951, William Cheuk Hing Cheung (age 10) started his training in Wing Chun Kung Fu under Grandmaster Yip Man. As one of Grandmaster Yip Man’s live-in students, Cheung became an expert in Meridians, Pressure Points, and Meditation.
When Grandmaster Yip Man died, William Cheung became the sole inheritor of the Traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu system.
Grandmaster William Cheung is known not only as “One of the Deadliest Men in the World”, but as the person responsible for introducing Bruce Lee to Wing Chun Kung Fu.
In 1954, William Cheung introduced Bruce Lee to Grandmaster Yip Man and Wing Chun. He became Lee’s personal trainer in the system. In later years Bruce Lee used the Wing Chun techniques to create his own martial arts style Jeet Kun Do.
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