Wing Chun (short for Wing Chun Kuen)
Translation: "Beautiful Springtime"
Country of Origin: China
Created: 17th Century

Wing Chun is actually a style of Wushu and so technically it should not really appear in this list. However because it is one of the most popular styles of Wushu we have given it a page of its own. Wing Chun is the only style of Wushu to have been created by a woman and this is probably why it appears to contain elements of both "hard" and "soft" styles of this art. (see Wushu). It is a Southern Chinese style discipline but many of the "hard" style blocks and strikes have been substituted by flowing "soft" style techniques designed to use an opponents force against themselves. A Buddhist Nun named Ng Mui skilled in a Wushu style called mui fa chuan (plum flower fist) was one of the 5 people to escape the destruction of the Shaolin Monastery that occurred during the Ching Dynasty (1662-1722). Whilst in hiding she befriended a young 15 year old girl named Yim Wing Chun (Beautiful Springtime) whose was receiving unwanted attention from the local bully. (Some legends say it was a Warlord or a Bandit) Ng Mui took the girl into the mountains for 6 months and taught her a new adaptation of her martial art. Because they were women they discarded techniques requiring great strength and concentrated on speed and the concept of yielding with an opponents superior force. Yim Wing Chun returned to her village and gave the local bully-boy a sound thrashing and was never bothered by him again. Ng Mui made her new pupil promise to keep on training in the new style and before leaving named it Wing Chun in her honour. This style was popularised by Bruce Lee. Can be spelled Wing Shun, Wing Tsun or Ving Tsun!