The Eternal Spring – 3 Main Principles of Wing Chun Kung-Fu
Wing Chun Kung-Fu is a style of Chinese martial arts which literally means “Eternal Spring”. In Chinese character symbols it is sometimes replaced with the symbols for Eternal Springtime. Wing Chun’s history is somewhat interesting as many associate it’s origin to a woman named Yim Wing Chun. Yim means beautiful and Wing Chun means spring time so her name literally means ‘beautiful spring time.’
The legend relates that Yim Wing Chun was forced into a marriage with a local warlord, and after she rebuffs the offer, she is challenged by the warlord to a martial arts fight. The challenge- if she can defeat him he will rescind his proposal. She consults a Buddhist named nun- Ng Mui from a Shaolin Sect who had survived the destruction of the Southern Shaolin temple at the time when the Qing dynasty had overtaken most associate temples. She then asks him to teach her boxing. She finally wins the match and later marries Leung Bac-Chou and teaches him her style of boxing which he names after her.
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This story still remains a legend but the practicality and efficiency of Wing Chun is undisputed. It is a form of martial arts that is focused on achieving results and thus, defeating the enemy. It’s focus is on the center line of the opponent’s body and fast and subsequent punches along that line are placed to disrupt the enemy.
There are 3 key features that distinguish it from other forms of martial arts in its practicality:
1. Balance and Structure: A good body structure is need to stay firm and rooted on the ground. This helps to strike better and firmer punches, and also helps to deflect the opponent’s strikes. All attacks or counter-attacks are initiated from this firmly rooted base.
2. Close Range: Wing Chun’s close range is one the most important aspects of this technique. It believes in staying close to the enemy and using “entry techniques” by getting past the enemy’s kicks and punches.
3. Protection and Strength: The elbow is always held low, and the arms and hands close to protect the mid-section of the body. The punches are made in a close range deriving strength from the whole body instead of just the swinging fist, and so have a greater impact.
Besides these three main principles it also focuses on close range power kicks and trapping techniques to achieve its goals.
One of the most distinguishing aspects of Wing Chun is perhaps it’s wooden dummy. This is a thick wooden post with three arms and a leg mounted on a slightly springy frame representing a human opponent that is stationary. It is used to derive full body power and strength while refining the understanding of angles, footwork and positions. It also helps to make the practitioner’s blows and punches stronger as they are practiced on hard wood compared to soft body muscle tissue.
Fatima F. is a freelance writer and editor. Her articles revolve around many different topics including research articles on martial arts, fitness, healthy cooking, natural medicine, herbs and more! To read more from her, please feel free to browse through her articles on ArticleBase on different topics.
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Wing Chun Kung Fu
To someone who doesn’t study martial arts, Wing Chun Kung Fu looks (and sounds) like a bit of a cop-out. Wing Chun Kung Fu is mostly defence, for a start, which raises the question: if two proponents of Wing Chun Kung Fu meet, will they fight? Presumably not. Also, Wing Chun Kung Fu lacks the spectacular kicks of disciplines like karate or Thai boxing, both of which have been popularised through the glut of martial arts flicks pounded out of low-rent American movie studios in the late 1980s and early ‘90s. In comparison to these whirlwind styles, Wing Chun Kung Fu seems positively pedestrian.
It isn’t.
An idea of what Wing Chun Kung Fu is really like: it’s the discipline that contains the propensity for Bruce Lee’s famous “one inch punch”. The one inch punch, for those who’ve never seen a Bruce Lee film, is a disabling blow with a travelling distance of a single inch. The Dragon himself, who frequently demonstrated the breaking power of the one-inch punch on impossibly hard-looking pieces of wood, described Wing Chun Kung Fu as like fighting with a wrecking ball. Not bad kudos from the master of all silver-screen martial arts practitioners.
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So what is Wing Chun Kung Fu? Wing Chun Kung Fu was developed by a Buddhist nun according to principles similar to those used in Aikido (a fully defensive technique): in Wing Chun Kung Fuyou use your assailant’s energy against themselves, translating attacking power on the part of your opponent into defensive force. As a result, Wing Chun Kung Fu allows its practitioner to conserve energy – either for striking retaliatory blows (like “wrecking balls”) or fleeing the attack.
Another way of saying the above: Wing Chun Kung Fu is smart. What’s the point in wasting energy that could be used in effective strikes? Wing Chun Kung Fu teaches its student to adopt stances that allow the maximum range of movement with the minimum of effort; to use blocking techniques that appear soft but really reverse attacking energy back against the attacker; and to hit, when hitting is necessary, with limp limbs – only tensing for the strike at the last moment. Like a wrecking ball on a rope. A strike in Wing Chun Kung Fu is much quicker than a normal strike because a relaxed limb moves through the air faster than a tense one: allowing all the conserved energy to be translated in that last stiffened second before the blow connects. This is the same reason why Wing Chun Kung Fu lacks the spectacular head-high kicks of karate or Thai: high kicking is pointless and energy-wasting.
The Wing Chun Kung Fu student will kick below the knee, where a leg is a more efficient striking tool: above the waist, she’ll use her arms. The energy she’s saved in not tensing her whole body in a vulnerable high-kick position, she’ll deliver behind the ear, arm tensed at the last possible moment, like an axe to the base of a tree.
Doesn’t sound quite so silly, does it. Wing Chun Kung Fu was invented by a woman, after all, which means it ought to be a lot less showy and a lot more effective than man-style fighting. It doesn’t disappoint.
Wing Chun Kung Fu: the art of hidden power. An overview of the basics of the martial arts discipline, once described by Bruce Lee as “like a wrecking ball”. For more information please visit http://www.crouchingtiger.co.uk/section.php?xSec=8&xPage=1.
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