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Contents:
Our founder - Grandmaster Ting Kwok Kwai
The origin of Wing Chun
Animal forms
The story of Wing Chun
Our founder - Grandmaster Ting Kwok Wai
Grandmaster Ting Kwok Wai, learnt well the knowledge and skills of Wing Chun,
and used to train regularly with his Si-Sok Bruce Lee, and even appeared in
two of Bruce's films.
However with the ever growing Knowledge that Hong Kong; was once again to become
part of China, Grandmaster Ting Kwok Wai took his family and left , settling
here in Northern Ireland, where he has been teaching Wing Chun for well over
twenty years.
From humble beginnings at the back of his take-away, Grandmaster Ting started
teaching the local people, so that they too could come to understand the culture
and art of Wing Chun. From here the formation of the `Northern Ireland
Wing Chun Kung Fu Association or in short the N.I.W.C.K.F.A, was made.
Grandmaster Ting
always believes in keeping the students interest, to this end he introduced
the Nunchukas form to the art. Although not a traditional Wing Chun
weapon, it is both useful and practical, and indeed popular with the
students.
The origin of Wing Chun
Pinpointing the
exact age of Wing Chun is virtually impossible as records of that era
are few and far between. From what is known it is reckoned that Wing
Chun is approximately 270 years old.
Animal
forms
There are three
animal forms used in the art of Wing Chun:
(1) The Tiger
(2) The Crane
(3) The Snake
The
story Of Wing Chun
Ng
Mui
During the reign of Emperor K'anghsi of the Chin Dynasty (1662-1722) Kung Fu
became very strong in the Shaolin Siu Lam monastery of Mt. Sung, in Honan Province.
This aroused fear in the Manchu government, a non-chinese people from Manchuria
in the north, who ruled China at that time. Troops were sent to attack the
monastery but failed. Chan Man Wai, a newly appointed civil servant, sought
favor with the Manchu government and thus hatched a plan to bring about the
destruction of the temple. He plotted with Ma Ning Yee, a Siu Lim monk, and
persuaded others to help betray the Siu Lim monks, by setting fire to the temple
from the inside, as the Manchurian troops attacked the outside. The Siu Lim
Monastery was burnt down, the monks and disciples scattered. Buddhist Abbess
Ng Mui, Abbot Chi Sinn, Abbot Pak Mei, Master Fung To Tak and Master Miu Hin
were some who escaped and went their separate ways.
Yin
Wing Chun
Yim Wing Chun was a native of Kangtung Province, of Canton in China. She was
an intelligent and athletic young girl, upstanding and beautiful. Her mother
died soon after her betrothal to a salt merchant from Fukien, called Leung
Bok Chau. Yirn Lee her father, was wrongly accused of a crime, and, rather
than risk going to jail, they fled, finally settling down at the foot of Tai
Leung Mountain, between the Yunnan And Szechuan provinces. Here they earned
a living running a shop selling bean curd.
At the tender
age of fifteen, with her hair bound up in the custom of those days
to show she was of age to rnarry, Wing Chuns beauty soon attracted
the attention of a local bully, who tried to force Wing Chun to rnarry
him. Ng Mui learned of this plight and took pity on young Wing Chun,
and agreed to teach the girl the sacred techniques, to protect herself.
Wing Chun followed Ng Mui into the mountains and began to learn Kung
Fu, She trained day and night until she mastered the techniques. Then,
she challenged the bully to a fight and beat him.
Wong
Wah Bo / Leung Yee Tei
After her marriage Wing Chun taught the Kung Fu she had learned from Ng Mui
to her Husband, Leung Bok Chau, who named the system, "WING CHUN KUEN",
in reverence to his wife. He in turn passed to the system to a herbalist, called
Leung Lan Kwai. Leung Lan Kwai took on a student, Wong Wah Bo, who was a member
of a floating opera troupe, known throughout China as the Red Junk. Also working
on this junk was was Abbot Chi Shin, who had disguised himself as a cook. Chi
Shin also had a student on the junk called Leung Yee Tei, to whom he taught
the techniques of the Six-and one-half-point long pole. Leung Yee Tei and Wong
Wah Bo were very close friends, and regularly trained together. They shared
their knowledge and techniques, improved and refined their skills, and thus
the six-and-one-half-point long pole became incorporated into Wing Chun Kung
Fu.
Leung
Jan
Leung Yei Tei, passed his skills onto a well known herbal doctor, in Fat Shan,
Leung Jan. Leung Jan grasped the innerrmost secrets of Wing Chun, and attained
the highest level of proficiency and skill. Many Kung Fu Masters came to challenge
him, but all were defeated. Soon, Leung Jan became very famous. He passed his
skills and knowledge onto his two sons, Leung Bik and Leung Cheun, both of
whom were taught daily, he also took on one student, called Chan Wah Shun.
Chan
Wah Shun
Chan Wall Shun taught only sixteen disciples over thirty six years, including
Ng Siu Lo,Ng Chung So,Chan Yu Min,and Lui Yu Jai. His last student, began training
in 1901, at the tender age of seven,this was of course, Great Great Grandmaster
Yip Man, Before Chan Wah Shun died, he asked his senior student, Ng Chung to
continue teaching the young Yip Man.
Great
Great Grandmaster Yip Man
Yip Man, continued his training until he was fifteen, when he went to Hung
Kong, to pursue his academic studies at the St. Stephen's College. It was whilst
here he met and subsequently began training with Leung Bik, the eldest son
of Great Great Great Great Grandmaster, Leung Jan. During the war Yip Man served
in the army and afterwards returned to China to take up the post of "Captain
of the local police patrols of Namhoi", however in 1949 when mainland
China fell into the hands of communists, Yip Man fled his home to settle in
Hong Kong.
In May 1950 Yip
Man began teaching Wing Chun full time at the Restaurant Workers Union
hall, and from that small initial class Great Great Grandmaster Yip
Man is reputed to have taught many students over twenty three years
of teaching including his own two sons, and our own Great Grandmaster
Tsui Sheung Tin. Also in this class, was the legendary Bruce Lee.
Great
Grandmaster Tsui Sheung Tin
Great Grandmaster Tsui Sheung Tin, was Great Great Grandmaster Yip Man's second
student and has taught many students himself, including our own Grandmaster
Ting Kwok Wai. His performance and teaching of the first form is so perfect,
it has earned film the title of "Siu Lim Tau" king, throughout the
whole of China. He still teaches in Hong Kong.
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