The Way of the Brush & the Sword Sacred Fist Karate International Ken To Fude No Ryu Kenshu Kai Karate Solly Said's Solly Said's Karate,Kickboxing & Gym
Ken To Fude No Ryu Kenshu Kai Karate International Karate, Kickboxing & Gym
The Way of the Brush & the Sword Sacred Fist Karate International Embracing the spirit of never quitting
WING CHUN

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CHINA KOREA MONGOLIA AND TIBET
Ba Fa Quan Ba Gua Zhang Ba Ji Quan Bak Fu Pai Bak Mei Black Crane Kung Fu
Black Tiger Chang Quan Choy Gar Choy Li Fut Chuo Jiao Da Cheng Quan
Di Tang Quan Dim Mak Do Pi Kung Fu Dragon Fist Drunken Monkey Duan Quan
Emei Quan Fanzi Quan Feng Shou Five Ancestors Fist Five Animals Fu Jow Pai
Fujian White Crane Fut Gar Kung Fu Go-Ti Boxing Gou Quan Hong Cha Hou Quan
Hua Quan Hung Fut Hung Gar Hung Sing Jing Quan Do Jiu Fa Men
Lai Tung Pai Lau Gar Leopard Kung Fu Liq Chuan Liu He Luohan Quan
Meihua Quan Mian Quan Mizongyi Nan Quan Northern Eagle Claw Northern Praying Mantis
Pao Chui Pigua Quan Quan Fa San Shou Sansoo Shaolin Kung Fu
Shaolin Nam Pai Chuan Shuai Jiao Snake Kung Fu Southern Praying Mantis Tai Sheng Men Taijiquan
Tai Chi Chuan
Tamo Sho Tan Tui Tang Shou Dao Tien Shan Pai Tiger Kung Fu Tongbei Quan
Wing Chun Wushu Xingyi Quan Yau Kung Moon Zui Quan  

The common legend involves the young woman Yim Wing Chun (Wing Chun literally means beautiful springtime or praising spring) at the time after the destruction of the Southern Shaolin and its associated temples by the Qing government. After Wing Chun rebuffs the local warlord's marriage offer, he says he'll rescind his proposal if she can beat him in a martial art match fight. She asks a Buddhist nun- Ng Mui, who was one of the Shaolin Sect survivors, to teach her boxing; this still nameless style enables Yim Wing Chun to defeat the warlord. She thereafter marries Leung Bac-Chou and teaches him the style, which he names after her.

The Ching dynasty, over 275 years ago. The Manchus, who made up about 10% of the population, ruled the Hans and created many restrictions to keep them dependent on the small ruling class. Through the years, however, the Manchus gradually began to accept the Han culture and to respect the Sil Lum (Shaolin) Temple as a place of worship and sanctuary. Even so, to repress the Hans, the Manchus banned all weapons and martial arts training. Secretly the Hans began organizing rebel groups within the Sil Lum Temple.

Because the classical animal styles of kung fu took 15 to 20 years to master, it was necessary to develop a new style that would enable students to become proficient fighters in a much shorter time span. As the Manchu soldiers were often trained in classical kung fu styles, it was important that this new style be designed to be effective in neutralizing the existing techniques. Five kung fu masters pooled the knowledge of their own respective styles in order to come up with a new, more economical style, utilizing only the most effective methods of combat from each. What these five kung fu masters developed would create an efficient martial artist in only 3 to 5 years.

Before they could teach anyone the new style, a traitor within the temple opened the gates for the Manchu soldiers and the temple was burned to the ground. Only one master, a Sil Lum nun named Ng Mui, escaped. She later passed her knowledge on to a young orphan girl, who she named Yim Wing Chun (Beautiful Springtime) and who shared this knowledge with her husband, Leung Bok Cho. Through the years, the style became known as Wing Chun kung fu.

Wing Chun believes in using the least amount of required force in any fighting situation. It believes properly timed positioning and movements can and should be used to defeat an opponent. This is achieved through balance, body structure and relaxation.uses deflection and counter-attack in the same motion or will intercept the opponent to nullify an attack, rather than blocking then attacking in two separate motions. Further on interception the punch can act as a block as a consequence of the structure and the position of the arm traveling along its triangular "power-line" pathway to the opponent's "Core". This means that the opponent's attack is automatically deflected by the arm-structure of the Wing Chun practitioner as the counter-punch is delivered.

The "structure" permitting this deflection to occur is controlled through the correct focus of energy from the "core" to the "elbow". If the structure is not in place, the counter-attack/interception is likely to break down losing the "forwarding" power which may result in the deflection failing and allowing the attacking punch to make its target.

In addition to efficiency being understood as the "shortest distance to the opponent's core" (which relates specifically to the speed of attack/counter-attack), it is also important to understand the importance of energy efficiency within Wing Chun. A person using Wing Chun is said to be able to defeat a stronger person because they are able to use their structure effectively. Given this, it is essential in ensuring that the Wing Chun practitioner has a full understanding of structure which enables them to use the correct use of energy required - deviation from the structure results in having to use the muscles more and your Wing Chun will not as effectively counter the strength of a stronger opponent. The structure deflects the energy in the enemy’s attacks and opens for counter attacks, if used properly it will also weaken the opponents blocks resulting in strikes that hit.

Balance is related to structure because a well-balanced body recovers quicker from stalled attacks and structure is maintained. Wing Chun trains the awareness of one's own body movement derived from muscular, tendon, and articular sources. Performing Wing Chun's forms such as Chum Kiu or the Wooden Dummy form greatly increase proprioception. Wing Chun favours a high, narrow stance with the elbows kept close to the body. Within the stance, arms are positioned across the vitals of the centerline. Shifting or turning within a stance is carried out variantly on the heels, balls, or middle (K1 or Kidney 1 point) of the foot depending on lineage. All attacks and counter-attacks are initiated from this firm, stable base. Wing Chun rarely compromises structure for more powerful attacks because this is believed to create defensive openings which may be exploited.

Softness (via relaxation) and performing techniques in a relaxed manner, is fundamental to Wing Chun.
-Tension reduces punching speed and power. Muscles act in pairs in opposition to each other (e.g. biceps and triceps). If the arm is tensed, maximum punching speed cannot be achieved as the biceps will be opposing the extension of the arm. In Wing Chun, the arm should be relaxed before beginning the punching motion.
-Unnecessary muscle tension wastes energy and causes fatigue.
-Tense, stiff arms are less fluid and sensitive during trapping and chi sao.
-A tense, stiff limb provides an easy handle for an opponent to push or pull with, whereas a relaxed limb provides an opponent less to work with.
-A relaxed, but focused limb, affords the ability to feel "holes" or weaknesses in the opponents structure (See Sensitivity section). With the correct forwarding these "holes" grant a path into attacking the opponent.
-Muscular struggle reduces a fight to who is stronger. Minimum brute strength in all movement becomes an equalizer in uneven strength confrontations. This is very much in the spirit of the tale of Ng Mui.

Centerline
existence of a "central axis" concept is unified in Wing Chun, the interpretation of the centerline concept itself is not. Many variations exist, with some lineages defining anywhere from a single "centerline" to multiple lines of interaction and definition. The most commonly seen interpretation emphasizes attack and defense along an imaginary horizontal line drawn from the center of the practitioner's chest to the center of the enemy's chest. The human body's prime striking targets are considered to be on or near this line, including eyes, nose, throat, solar plexus and groin.

The vertical punch is the most basic and fundamental in Wing Chun and is usually thrown with the elbow down and in front of the body. Depending on the lineage, the fist is held anywhere from vertical to horizontal (palm side up). The contact points also vary from the top two knuckles, to the middle two knuckles, to the bottom three knuckles. In some lineages of Wing Chun, the fist is swivelled at the wrist on point of impact so that the bottom three knuckles are thrust forward adding power to the punch while it is at maximum extension.

The punches may be thrown in quick succession in a 'straight blast' or 'chain punching'. When executed correctly, it can be used as a disorienting finisher but is often criticised for encouraging weaker punches that don't utilise the whole body. Wing Chun favours the vertical punch for several reasons:

Directness.
The punch is not "loaded" by pulling the elbow behind the body. The punch travels straight towards the target from the guard position (hands are held in front of the chest).

Protection. The elbow is kept low to cover the front midsection of the body. It is more difficult for an opponent to execute an elbow lock/break when the elbow occupies this position. This aids in generating power by use of the entire body structure rather than only the arm to strike. Also with the elbow down, it offers less opening for the body to be attacked while the forearm and punch intercept space towards the head and upper body.

Strength and Impact. Wing Chun practitioners believe that because the elbow is behind the fist during the strike, it is thereby supported by the strength of the entire body rather than just a swinging fist, and therefore has more impact. A common analogy is a baseball bat being swung at someone's head (a round-house punch), as opposed to the butt end of the bat being thrust forward into the opponent's face (wing chun punch), which would cause far more damage than a glancing hit and isn't as easy to evade. Many skilled practitioners pride themselves on being able to generate "short power" or large amount of power in a short space. A common demonstration of this is the "one-inch punch," a punch that starts only an inch away from the target yet delivers an explosive amount of force.

Alignment & Structure. Because of Wing Chun's usage of stance, the vertical punch is thus more suitable. The limb directly in front of the chest, elbow down, vertical nature of the punch allows a practitioner to absorb the rebound of the punch by directing it through the elbows and into the stance. This is a desirable trait to a Wing Chun practitioner, where in contrast the rebound of a horizontal, elbow-out punch promotes torque in the puncher's body. This is because the limb and elbow are now directing rebound force outwards instead of inwards due to the positioning of the hinge-structured elbow. This aids in generating power by promoting use of the entire body structure rather than only the arm to strike.

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