True origin of Wing Chun is a matter of research and
debate for decades. At first everyone believed in Yip Man’s “history”. Mythical
characters were considered as real people who participated in important events
which led to the creation of Wing Chun. In time most of the story was proven
false. Even a superficial research of historical sources proves that Five
Elders never existed and foundation for their stories came from triad folklore.
Southern Shaolin, mythical place of research and development of Kung Fu also
never existed, there are not physical, written nor oral sources what so ever
that can even remotely suggest such a place ever existed. While there are still
people who believe in a stories of Five Elders and Southern Shaolin, majority
of people today know the true facts.
Over the years many people invested a lot of time and
energy in search for the origin of the art. What is important to say is that
none of these people is a professional historian or archaeologists. They didn’t
have enough knowledge nor enough founding to conduct the real scientific
research. Furthermore, they all got caught up in lineage pride and their
researches, if they can even be called that, were aimed to prove particular
lineage or style superiority in historical sense over all others. In absence of
real evidence, a lot of “researches” fabricated stories, sources, facts …Even
those who approached Wing Chun history research from seemingly neutral angle
had a problem of the style’s pride. Instead to collect available facts from all
sources, validate and sort them out and then see what will be the result,
“researchers” still dwell in a small , limited area of thinking and viewing the
art’s history which was established by Yip Man.
People like to believe their art is special, exclusive,
with some special or higher historical purpose. When stories about Five Elders,
Yim Wing Chun, her husband and Southern Shaolin were proven false, connection
to mythical ancestors , places and events , with a lot of prestige and pride ,
was lost.
In order to restore style’s prestige, “researches” turned
to real, verifiable and important historical events and people involved in
those events. There were numerous attempts to connect creation of the art to
various to Taiping uprising, one of the most significant events in Chinese
history and probably the bloodiest one. There were also numerous tries to
connect people involved in these events to the creation of the art or to give
the art a significant place in Taiping uprising.
Besides Taiping rebellion there were numerous tries to
push styles history further back in the past and a search for verifiable
historical characters who could even remotely have any connection to Wing Chun.
Everything is turning around Taiping rebellion, Red Boat
opera troupe, secret societies and special purpose of the art. “Face” of the
art must be saved by any means necessary! Instead to let evidence to trace the
path of research, researchers already have the final answers and the whole
process is about connecting these answers with available evidence one way or
another.
Without serious, independent history research conducted
by professionals with enough founding and resources and peer review the results
we will never know who actually created Wing Chun and we will never know exact
time of the art’s creation. Even the full scale historical and archaeological
research cannot guaranty any substantial results. On the other hand we can be pretty sure how
was the art created and why. On disappointment of majority of Wing Chun
practitioners, the origin of the art is much more mundane than anyone wants to
believe.
In absence of historical sources we have to turn to the
art its self, to technical analysis and what may the purpose of creating the
art with all the features that Wing Chun has.
Biomechanical efficiency, often referred as “Qi” or
“Internal” power is not something characteristic only for Kung Fu. Actually,
this kind of efficiency is used in Kung Fu only for the last 150 years. On the
other hand, in all manual labor that require long hours of working, like
different chores on the farm, working in fields, mining, boat riding ect , a
kind of biomechanical efficiency was developed to maximize effect of the work
with minimum of the strength used. People developed different kind of
“internal” power for different kind of jobs out of the pure necessity. Working
in the field all day require a lot of energy and power , if the worker relies
only on raw power of the local muscle
group he would be exhausted after very short time. This kind of biomechanical
efficiency eventually found its way into Kung Fu practice so we have a whole
bunch of “internal” styles today.
Wing Chun stance with feet pointed inward, abducted
knees, specific position of the spine and weight projected on the balls of the
feet was probably invented by people who spent most of their time on the boats.
This stance allows far superior balance on the unstable and constantly changing
surface of the boat over any other stance. The main feature of this stance is
that, being relaxed, enables constant fine repositioning of the center of the
gravity and maintains balance. Whatever job a person has on the boat this
stance is best solution for it. To navigate boats in a shallow waters of Pearl
river delta, people used long poles. Using a long pole to push and navigate the
boat is a whole day job which requires a great deal of strength, endurance and
skill. To cope with a problem of long term physical engagement people again
used Wing Chun stance and body structure to generate power and still keep their
bodies relaxed and able to work long hours. Instead of quick exhaustion caused
by using raw muscle power, boat riders came with a solution which allowed them
to be active for a long period of time and conserve energy and protect the body
from damage that comes from heavy physical engagement. The way they generated
power to push the boats, same way they generated power to fight of river
pirates and other intruders.
Long pole is not
only a tool for riding a boat but also a perfect weapon to keep intruders from
coming even close to the boats. This is most probable scenario how Wing Chun
stance, body structure and power generation came to existence.
Red Boat Opera Trope spent most of their time (more than
95%) on the boats. It is only natural that all the crew adopted stance and body
posture to make their life on the boat easy and to be able to finish daily
chores. While most people do not have clear picture what Red Boat Opera trope
looked like or have rather romantic view, in reality, the trope was made from
very different kinds of people. Among opera staff, actors, musicians, prop
master, lived cooks, prostitutes, professional gamblers, pickpockets, “snake
oil” sellers, spies…it was a perfect place for their operations.
Model of the "red boat"
Being most of the time on the boats, the boats were the
place where most of fights occurred. Unsatisfied customers, cheated and robbed
people, law enforcement, gang members, bounty hunters and many others came to
boats and fought with the crew members. Boats were always overcrowded and full
of opera props, sailing equipment, food and other supplies and there was little
free space on or below the deck. There was only so much space for narrow
passages in order to enable most necessary traffic for maintain the boats and life
of the crew. Naturally, people on the boats developed the system of fighting
suited for the condition they lived in. If
Wing Chun is put in a condition of fighting in a small, limited narrow spaces
and passages
than the style’s techniques and theories get perfect
sense. Since possessing a weapon was forbidden yet necessar , having a hidden
weapon was a solution to this problem. Two short wide blades were perfect for
fighting on the boats. Wide blades were strong enough to withstand the blow of
much stronger weapon but for perfect length to control the space on the boats.
Twin knives could be used with a full range of techniques while usage of other,
longer weapons , usual for that time like sabres, swords, spears and others
were extremely limited. In this condition chi sao training get perfect sense,
in a narrow space where it is impossible to move or movements were extremely
limited , fighter trained to fight in a very short range and to control
opponents movements who is unable to maneuver is in great advantage.
Actual boats from Guadong in 1880
It is commonly believed that Wing Chun empty hand
techniques came from Fujian White Crane and unknown Snake style and weapons ,
long pole and twin knives were added later. In reality almost all modern Kung
Fu styles were derivate from some older weapon fighting system and Wing Chun is
not exception. No art was made in the vacuum and there was a lot of exchange
between different fighting systems at time.
White Crane or predecessor of White Crane was the most
influential art in 1800’s and it highly possible that there was some influence on
Wing Chun. On the other hand, all southern Kung Fu styles share certain
similarities and it is possible that Wing Chun was influenced from multiple
sources. People on the Red Boats came from different places and had different
martial experience and they all contributed in Wing Chun creation. On the other
hand , Wing Chun is highly specialized art for fighting in certain conditions
and most of Wing Chun hand techniques highly resembles, or to be accurate , are
exact copies of Twin Knives techniques.
This is especially visible in Wooden Dummy form and Biu Jee form.
Wing Chun came to existence out of the necessity of the
situation and was adapted to fit the requirements of that situation. It is a
highly specialized art for fighting in closed quarter conditions on Red Boats.
It is more probably invented by petty criminals , boat riders and additional
opera stuff than some significant historical figure or opera actors who
definitely didn’t have time to waste on inventing new martial style. Actors of
course adopted the art for personal self defense and probably gave some
contribution to its technical foundation but they were not main creators of the
art. Wing Chun didn’t came to existence at some particular moment but was
refining and growing for several generations until it got its shape
recognizable today.
