picture depicts Yim Wing Chun

Wing Chun was developed by a female Buddhist nun at the Shaolin Temple named Ng Mui.  Ng Mui was one of the few survivors to escape the sacking of the Shaolin Temple by the Ching troops.  Mui fled to a temple in Tai Leung Shan, where she continued to train in her style of kung fu called mui fa chaun (plum flower fist).  She met a girl named Yim Wing Chun, who was crying one time because one of the local gangsters wanted her for a concubine.  Feeling sorry for the girl, Mui told Chun to tell the local gangster that in six months she would give herself freely to the gangster.  For six months, Mui taught Chun mui fa chaun.  When the six months came and the gangster returned to get his concubine, Chun told the gangster that he would have to prove himself to her in a fight if he really wanted her.  If he won, he could have her.  Feeling this would be an easy victory, he agreed.    Within seconds of the fight, he was on the ground with a broken nose and arm, plus three broken ribs.  Chun continued to train and refine her skills.  She felt that mui fa chaun was a little too complex and placed too much reliance on power techniques and strong horse stances, more benefiting a man than a woman.  She eventually evolved a system of fighting that she named after herself, Wing Chun, which means beautiful springtime.

Wing Chun is known for its training device called the mook jong (wooden dummy).  Wooden dummy training constitutes the final stage of instructions.  Some 108 traditional hand techniques can be practiced on the seven sections of the wooden dummy.  The wooden dummy training plays an important part in the development of wing chun hand techniques and also helps to toughen up and harden the limbs.

Wing Chun has been made really popular thanks to people like Yip Man, Bruce Lee, and William Cheung.