Wing Chun

Wing Chun – Instructions for Techniques, Forms, etc.

Wing Chun is a Chinese martial arts focused on strikes, grappling and weapons training. This popular martial arts has become even more well-known due to the success of the Ip Man movie series (where Donnie Yen played a Wing Chun Grandmaster).

Main Elements of Wing Chun – Videos & instructions

History of Wing Chun

Wing Chun is unique in that it is thought as the first martial art created by a woman. According to Wan Kam Leung Practical Wing Chun, “Ng Mui, the Shaolin nun who developed the system, realized that most of the techniques in Shaolin Kung Fu were ineffective for a small woman to use against a larger, stronger man. She also realized that a woman could not match a man’s stamina in a long fight. With this in mind, Ng Mui developed a system of self defense that enabled a smaller, weaker person such as herself to defeat a bigger, stronger person”.

Description of Wing Chun

Wing Chun’s specialty is close combat. It uses simultaneous attack and defense with footwork that drives in towards the body of the opponent. Force and strength are dealt with through positioning, structure, and timing rather than with more brute force.

Practitioners train sensitivity by closing their eyes during drills and Chi Sao in order to become less reliant on multiple sensory input, such as vision. While a practitioner will not close their eyes in an actual conflict, being able to feel changes of energy and motion in the limbs of an attacker allows for a more instinctual response.

References

  1. Wan Kam Leung Practical Wing Chun, http://newyorkwingchun.com/, Added – 5/29/13
  2. Ip Man, Wing Chun Kung Fu, http://www.ip-man.co.uk/, Added – 6/02/13
  3. Samuel Kwok Wing Chun Association, http://www.kwokwingchun.com – Added 6/02/13