Translated literally, Wing Chun means “Beautiful springtime,” or “Forever springtime.” Wing Chun is also written “Ving Tsun” or “Wing Tsun.” According to Wing Chun, there are several ways of defeating the enemy: striking, kicking, joint locking, controlling, throwing and the use of weapons are the most common.
Wing Chun’s unique training method seems tailor made for any visually impaired person to defend themselves as good, if not better than those who can see.
Traditionally only two weapons are taught in Wing Chun.
The system of Wing Chun is a survival system dealing with personal safety.
Wing Chun addresses a wide variety of aggressive acts which include punches, kicks, chokes, bear-hugs, headlocks, grabs, as well as defenses against multiple attackers and assailants armed with a firearm, edged weapon, or blunt object.
Because of Wing Chun’s combat-orientation, there are no competitions or tournaments.
There are multiple histories of Wing Chun in existence today there is a generally accepted legend that says that a Shaolin nun named Ng Mui, a master of Kung Fu, developed the art nearly 300 years ago in southern China.
The style became known as Wing Chun, after Ng Mui’s first student, a woman named Yim Wing Chun.
Wing Chun was a beautiful teenager who had attracted the unwanted attention of a local man who continuously tried to force her to marry him by threatening to harm her father.
Ng Mui learned of this and agreed to teach Wing Chun fighting techniques so that she could protect herself.
Wing Chun followed Ng Mui into the mountains to White Crane Temple, and began to learn Kung Fu. Wing Chun trained until she mastered the techniques.
The Wing Chun System was passed on in a direct line of succession from its origin.
After her marriage to Leung Bok Chau, Wing Chun taught him Kung Fu. He in turn passed these techniques on.
As techniques were passed along, the Six-and-a-half-point Long Pole was incorporated into Wing Chun Kung Fu. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Wing Chun, like other martial arts, was banned in China and survived only through the persistence of practitioners like Yip Man.
Leung Sheung had heard about Wing Chun since he was quite young, and in 1949, found out that one of its most famous teachers, Yip Man was currently in Hong Kong.
Leung Sheung promptly introduced Lok Yiu and Tsui Sheung-Tin to Yip Man, and the three of them became the first batch of Wing Chun students in Hong Kong.
He trained under Yip Man intensively and taught Wing Chun until his passing in 1978.
Over time our Wing Chun has been refined to it’s highest levels by Karl Godwin who is arguably the most skilled and uniquely knowledgeable person in Wing Chun today.
Bill Graves is responsible for bringing our way of Wing Chun to Jacksonville where he successfully taught many students including his most skilled and senior student, Armando Sainz.
Wing Chun remains one of the most popular and most effective forms of Kung Fu today and is alive and well at Centerline Academy of Martial Arts, which has become recognized in the industry as being one of the top Wing Chun schools in the country.
