Branches of Wing Chun

There are at least eight distinct lineages of the martial art Wing Chun. These are mostly little-known outside of China, and each has its own history of origin. In the West, Wing Chun's history has become a mix of fact and fiction due to the impacts of early secrecy and modern marketing. Additionally, there are competing genealogies within the same branch or about the same individual teacher.

The different branches of the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun can be thought of as describing both the differing traditions and interpretations of Wing Chun and the teacher-student relationships which perpetuate them.

Ip Man

History

This lineage has a legend in which the nun Ng Mui saw a fight between a crane and a snake. She incorporated their fighting styles into her Shaolin Kung Fu to develop an unnamed style. She taught this to one of her students Yim Wing-chun; she taught her husband Leung Bok-chao, who named the style Wing Chun Kuen (Wing Chun boxing) in his wife's honor and who passed it to Leung Lan-kwai of the Red Boat Opera Company (although other versions of this legend state that he was a scholar and herbalist), who passed it on to Wong Wa-bo and Leung Yee-tai, both of the Red Boat Opera, and who both taught the herbalist Leung Jan.

Leung Jan passed it on to his two sons Leung Chun and Leung Bik plus other students who included Chan Wah-Shun, who taught his own students including Yip Man.

In another legend, Yip Man was attending school in Hong Kong during the 1910s, where he was invited by a friend to challenge a highly skilled old man.