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Thread: Wing Chun historical documents?

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  1. #1

    Wing Chun historical documents?

    I am starting to do a bit of research on the verifiable history of Wing Chun. The oldest historical documents I have been able to find are training manuals from the 1950s. I realize Wing Chun is older than that! But I am interested in seeing what historical documents exist for the history of Wing Chun. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am aware of, and have seen, training manuals for Crane Boxing that date from the 1800s and manuals for "Short Arm Boxing" from the 1700s.

    take care,
    Brian

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    You are opening up a can of worms!
    Don't you frequent the WC forum?
    Those guys are crazy !!
    LOL !
    Psalms 144:1
    Praise be my Lord my Rock,
    He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !

  3. #3
    No fooling---but we historians go where angels fear to tread. Anyway it could not be any worse than the abuse Stan Henning got from the "hard core tai chi-ers" when he came out and said historians should stop parroting that horse**** about Taoist sages inventing taiji. He used to routinely get called out to "push hands death matches".

    yours in "truth in history",
    Brian

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by brianlkennedy View Post
    No fooling---but we historians go where angels fear to tread. Anyway it could not be any worse than the abuse Stan Henning got from the "hard core tai chi-ers" when he came out and said historians should stop parroting that horse**** about Taoist sages inventing taiji. He used to routinely get called out to "push hands death matches".

    yours in "truth in history",
    Brian
    "push hands death match" !!!
    ROTFLMAO !!!
    Priceless, I have to use it !
    Psalms 144:1
    Praise be my Lord my Rock,
    He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by brianlkennedy View Post
    No fooling---but we historians go where angels fear to tread. Anyway it could not be any worse than the abuse Stan Henning got from the "hard core tai chi-ers" when he came out and said historians should stop parroting that horse**** about Taoist sages inventing taiji. He used to routinely get called out to "push hands death matches".

    yours in "truth in history",
    Brian
    Hey. Watch what you say there historian. Around here we call them "chi sau death matches".

    LOL.

  6. #6
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    And apparently I have trained in "the ring of death"!!

    Good luck with the research. You might like to start here: http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/...ad.php?t=53075
    Ti Fei
    詠春國術

  7. #7
    Good Morning Lone Tiger,
    Thanks much for the link to that thread. I appreciate that and I took a scan through it this morning.....but alas....there is not one mention of any historical document there. What it is, is a bunch of links to modern day websites in Chinese yacking about this and that but without any historical documents (or any other proof as far as that goes).

    I actually kind of think that maybe the solid historical evidence for Wing Chun's history may not go much beyond the late 1940s or early 1950s. I said that initially as a joke but we shall see. And again when I say that I am not implying that Wing Chun only came into existence then, but our solid (or even semi-solid) records do not go earlier than that.

    What got me started on all this was a discussion I had with Stan Henning about the origins of various "Southern Shaolin" schools and how there had been all the horse**** about "Secret Societies", "Black Flags", "Red Junks" and all the rest. The Southern Shaolin systems really do have colorful (albeit fictional) "histories".

    Let me be quick to add, I am not disrespecting South Shaolin systems, I started hung gar in 1976 and have always admired all the Southern Shaolin systems.

    take care,
    Brian

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by brianlkennedy View Post
    I am starting to do a bit of research on the verifiable history of Wing Chun. The oldest historical documents I have been able to find are training manuals from the 1950s. I realize Wing Chun is older than that! But I am interested in seeing what historical documents exist for the history of Wing Chun. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am aware of, and have seen, training manuals for Crane Boxing that date from the 1800s and manuals for "Short Arm Boxing" from the 1700s.

    take care,
    Brian
    Lineage and tradition are so important to Chinese and by extension to TCMAists that you will encounter so much truth mixed with flat out lying to lend credibility to lineages, it just isn't worth the trouble. I just teach the YIM WING CHUN legend (as taught to me), along with some family specific legends, and leave it at that. Moreover, I tell my students that this story could be the gospel truth or it could be as true as a Paul Bunyan tail.
    Last edited by HumbleWCGuy; 08-06-2010 at 06:46 AM.

  9. #9
    Thanks much for the various leads and insights. I appreciate people taking the time to respond. And if anyone runs across anything please let me know.

    take care,
    Brian

  10. #10
    I would suggest contacting Dr Leung Ting. He has done a lot of research into the history and if anyone has found any historical documents, it would probably be him. He also seems to doubt the official history of Ng Mui and Yim Wing Chun and all that stuff.

  11. #11

  12. #12
    I wanted to say "thanks" to folks who helped me out on this thread. Looks like the oldest Wing Chun historical materials only date from about the 1950s or so. That kind of matches up with the idea that Wing Chun really only broke off of Crane Boxing in the late 1940s.

    In any event thanks much.

    take care,
    Brian

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