Wing Chun... a brief history
by Sifu John Bates and Steve leah
During the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) China was ruled by the Manchurians, a non Chinese people from the north. Anti Qing revolutionaries set to overthrow the government were hunted by the Manchurian armies. The revolutionaries also known as the Heaven & Earth Society found a safe house at the Shaolin Temple in the Hunan province. The Shaolin Temple was legendary for its radical thought and development of fighting skills. Seeing the monastery as a threat to the Manchurian dominance the armies moved against the Temple and burnt it to the ground. Five Kung Fu elders made good their escape. These were Jee Shim, Bak Mei, Mui Hin, Fung Dao Duk and Ng Mui. The last, Ng Mui, found refuge in the White Crane Temple on the slopes of the Daling Mountains between the borders of Sichuan and Hunan province.
At the White Crane Temple Ng Mui refined her knowledge of the fighting styles of the Shaolin Temple into a highly efficient, direct and yet unnamed style. Ng Mui passed her knowledge onto a local girl named Yim Wing Chun who lived with her father and sold bean curd at the local market. Yim Wing Chun was known for her beauty and was taunted by a local bully who pressed himself upon her to marry. Using the skills passed to her by Ng Mui she defeated the bully who the fled in disgrace from the area. Yim later married a salt merchant named Leung Bok Chao.
Leung Bok Chao was also skilled in Kung Fu and trained with his wife Yim Wing Chun. Leung later named the new style in honor of his wife. Leung passed the Wing Chun system to Leung Lan Kwai who was a member of the Red Junk Opera Company.
The Red Junk Opera Company was populated by many anti Qing revolutionaries. The organization moved readily from village to village performing each day whilst secretly working to bring down the Manchu overlords and restore the Ming Dynasty. Many of the performers were trained in various styles of Kung Fu. Leung Lan Kwai passed the Wing Chun knowledge to Won Wah Bo and Leung Yee Tai who were also of the Opera troupe. Leung Yee Tai was a pole man on the boats whose job it was to stop the boat running aground. Leung Yee was befriended by the cook who was in fact Abbot Jee Shim from the Shaolin Monastery in hiding. Jee Shim taught Leung Yee Tai to use the pole as a weapon and thus the 6 point pole form was incorporated into the Wing Chun system.
Some legends state that a vagrant (the Abbot in Hiding) demanded passage on the boats of the Red opera company. When Leung Yee Tai refused the vagrant placed one foot on the boat and one foot on the river bank. Try as he might Leung Yee Tai could not move the boat with his pole. After this the identity of the abbot was revealed and thus welcomed onto the boat to become part of the company.
Wong Wah Bo and Leung Yee Tai having refined the style further passed the Wing Chun techniques to Dr Leung Jan. Dr Leung Jan was a respected herbalist in the province of Foshan. He was also reputedly deadly in challenge fights and quickly earned respect for his Kung Fu skills. Dr Leung trained above his herbal shop and taught his two sons, Leung Chun, Leung Bik and another student called Cha Wa Shun. Cha Wa Shun was said to be of strong build and also deadly in challenge matches.
Cha Wa Shun taught several disciples his last disciple was Yip Man. Yip Man proved to be amongst the best quickly proving himself highly skilled in Wing Chun. Cha Wa Shun passed away a short time later and Yip Man continued to study under a more senior student Ng Jung So. Around the year 1910 Yip Man Went to Hong Kong to pursue academic studies at St Stephens College. Yip Man returned to mainland China after serving in the army and became a policeman.
In those days it was not uncommon for Kung Fu masters to keep their skills to themselves. But the Japanese had occupied China during the second world war and times grew more difficult. Yip Man taught six pupils Wing Chun in the secrecy of a disused warehouse, as the practicing of Martial Arts was banned by the alien Japanese forces. Of the six students were Lun Gai and Kwok Fu. Around 1949, after world war two, the new communist party seized power in China and Yip Man lost his wealth and property. In preference of being arrested he moved to Hong Kong where he took refuge at the Restaurant Workers Association in Kowloon. Here Yip Man taught the Wing Chun system to many restaurant workers and formed an association that went on to teach thousands of students the art of Wing Chun.
Sifu Derek Frearson with Master Lun Kai
Lun Kai and the other members of the early Yip Man Class lost contact and after many years working in other areas, Lun Kai returned to Foshan. Electrician by trade Lun Gai soon found work at a pump factory. His Kung Fu brother Kwok Fu knew Lun Kais profession and would always ask other electricians if they knew of him in hope of making contact. Then in the year of 1958 Kwok Fu was informed that Lun Gai could be found at a distant pump factory. Kwok Fu wrote a letter to the factory who in turn passed the letter to Lun Kai and after many years apart the two friends were reunited. Together they began to practice, research and teach Wing Chun as they continue to do today...
Today, May 2004, Lun Kai still lives and teaches Wing Chun in the province of Foshan in China to many students. Sifu Derek Frearson is one of his more senior students and European Representative for his style of Wing Chun. With over 25 years of studying and teaching Wing Chun, Sifu Derek Frearson, found the methods taught by Master Lun Kai more deep and illuminating to the understanding the art of Wing Chun. After a number of visits to China to train with Master Lun Kai, Sifu Derek Frearson became a loyal student to Lun Kai and adopted this style of Wing Chun within the International TaiJiQuan and Shaolin WuShu Association (ITSWA) of which Sifu Frearson is Founder and President.