The true origins of Wing Chun are not very clear.

It is said Yip Man altered the

Wing Chun he originally learnt before passing it on to the world. What did it look
like before? The author gives us a possible answer.
1989 was the year I returned to Maritius (an island west of the Indian Ocean) to
visit my parents and relatives. I was prepared for a relaxing and lazy holiday
lounging on the golden beach of this tropical island paradise and unexpectedly
all of this went out of the window. One afternoon when I visited my father's shop,
I noticed an advert in the Chinese newspaper that a certain person was
recruiting students for a Wing Chun class. This came as a total surprise that Wing
Chun had even infiltrated this remote part of the world. When my father read out
the name of the instructor (U-ung Tong Sing), I immediately realized that I had
met him previously, a few years ago, as a Wu Shu instructor who recently came
from China, not knowing then that he also knew the Wing Chun style. The only
thing I knew about him was through my father-in-law who is a committee
member of a Cantonese speaking organization which sponsored Mr Leung from
Fatshan, China, to teach Chinese Wu Shu on the island. Mr Leung, a Wu Shu
champion in the Fatshan area of the Guangzhou province of China, came highly
recommended by the Chinese Wu Shu organization. A coincidence of passing
interest, Port Mauritius (an island Louis, the capital of the island is twinned with
Fatshan in China, the home of Wing Chun. When I first met him several years
before, he was teaching Wu Shu which incorporated the monkey, drunkard and
other styles. These were the jumping and flowery stuff which I was not very keen
on.
Upon hearing of the advert, I immediately arranged a meeting with Mr Leung to
find out what he knew about Wing Chun. When I met him, I was totally surprised
to see that the Wing Chun he practiced was not the same as the one I knew and
was more surprised to leam that he had heard of Yip Mans style of Wing Chun
but he had never seen it. So mutual curiosity took the better of us and that was
the beginning of lengthy and interesting conversations and training sessions. I
had to kiss good-bye to the long hours I planned to lounge on the golden beach;
given the chance, my wife might have had a few words to say about that
Mr Leungs Wing Chun teacher was Pang Lam, an old master, still living in
Fatshan, the legendary home of Wing Chun. This style of Wing Chun has had a
separate development from that of Yip Mans. In fact Pang Lams Wing Chun
carried on its development in Fatshan and never left the area and it has retained
many old characteristics which are similar to Shaolin Kung Fu confirming once
again the Shaolin ancestry of the style.
This style of Wing Chun is also known as "Shaolin Wing Chun" for its obvious
ancestral connections. Yip Man, uprooted from Fatshan, continued his
development in Hong Kong from where it spread to the rest of the world with a
large contribution to the popularity of the style from the film star Bruce Lee,
himself a former student erf Yip Man. For the reader to better understand and
compare the lineage of both Pang Lams and Yip Mans Wing Chun, following the
family tree will be helpful:
The above diagram shows that both Yip Man and Pang Lam shared the same
lineage up to Chan Wah Shun's generation. Yip Man, as a young man, first
studied under Chan Wah Shun, then under Ng Chung So, a senior student of
Chan, after the latters death. He later completed his studies with Leung Bik, the

son of Leung Jan. Pang Lam also had three teachers but took a somewhat
different root. His first teacher was Chui Chau who was a student of Chan Yu Min,
the son of Chan Wah Shun. His second teacher was Lai Yip Chi another student of
Chan Wah Shun and classmate to both Ng Chung So (the second teacher of Yip
Man) and Yip Man himself. His third teacher was Dai Fa Min Kam, a very old man
by then, who belonged to a generation previous to Leung Jans and was
classmate to Wong Wah Bo and Leung Yee Tel. If all this sounds complicated, just
imagine that you have to trace back your ancestors for the previous two
centuries without much written records; it wont be easy. The question is
therefore, why trace back the history of Wing Chun? There is a Chinese saying
which goes, "Always remember the source erf where you drink die water from*.
Indeed you may never know when you might want to drink from it again. Tracing
back is not just a sentimental or academic exercise, we can still leam from the
past, not only to understand the present but to build for the future. Indeed we
have a unique opportunity to look as to how Wing Chun could have looked like in
the past from what Pang Lam has preserved. The style is different and
sometimes off putting to those who have trained for many years in Yip Man's
method. I personally have been practising Yip Mans Wing Chun for about fifteen
years and Pan Lams Wing Chun for four years; I can appreciate how the two
complement each other. One is fast and dynamic, the other is slow, well focused
and subtle. It might not be a good idea for a beginner to leam both, this will only
create confusion. To the advanced students of Yip Man's style, if they put aside
their egos and vested interest and look deeper into Pang Lam's style they will
gain a deeper understanding and go into the heart of the Wing Chun system. To
leam something which is opposite to our beliefs is very difficult and the only way
to progress is to keep an open mind as this little story illustrates:
In olden China a well renowned scholar went to a master asking to be educated
in spiritual matters. The master poured tea into the scholars cup and kept
pouring even though the cup was overflowing. The scholar was taken aback and
tokl the master that the cup was overflowing. The master replied, "your mind is
like this cup, full and overflowing with your own ideas and if I teach you now,
thats what will happen (pointing to the overflowing tea). So if you want to study
with me, then empty your cup (mind) so that it can receive what is being
poured".
The lesson here is to keep an open mind, dont be judgemental until you have
learnt enough to enable you to assess what you have or have not gained.
Discovering Pang Lams Wing Chun for me was like finding a long lost love which
mades me feel whole again. I feel I have merged the past with the present and
can confidently look to the future because of my better understanding which
filled many gaps and cleared the many unanswered questions I had about the
system.
How do the two systems differ? This will be the first question that a Wing Chun practitioner is likely to
ask and I can probably answer this question better by looking at the similarities first. If someone looks at
Pang Lams forms, they obviously look different to Yip Mans. But when you look deeper, the similarities
with Yip Mans forms are self evident; the movements, techniques and emphasis may differ visually but
the principles and concepts are similar. Its like two pilgrims setting off on different roads to reach the
same destination. The basic techniques like Tan Sau, Bong Sau, Jum Sau, Kan Sau etc. are the same. Pang
Lams Wing Chun like that of Yip Mans have three hands forms; Sui Nim Tao, Chum and Chum Kui and
Bui Chee. There is also the wooden dummy, the pole and butterfly knives technique. The movements in
Pang Lams forms are more rounded, flowing, subtle, more internally focused and less snappy than those

of Yip Mans, the forms are performed at a relatively slow pace, more like Taiji but marginally quicker and
stronger and this is probably why Pang Lams forms seem to be longer. Pang Lams emphasis is more on
the Physiological and Qi development in contrast to Yip Mans emphasis on speed and simplicity of
Movements. Pang Lam has also retained the "artistic" aspects more than Yip Man who emphasized on the
practicality of the movements for fighting. If we may venture into the realm of speculation, it may be
possible that, to better fit his character, Yip Man has removed certain movements which he felt
superfluous. Maybe Pang Lams style is closer to the originator of the system. Who knows? On the
technical level, here are some examples how Shaolin Wing Chun differs to that of Yip Mans. In Sui Nim
Tao, the 'Horse Stance instead of being pigeon toe the feet are parallel like in Shaolin Kung Fu. The
Bong Sau, the angle between the forearm and the upper arm is closed and the elbow is ninety degrees to
the centreline which makes it resemble an elbow strike. the knuckles in a vertical line. The Gum Sau is
performed to the front as well as to the sides. In Chum Kui, the moving stances are wide and deep and the
manner in which the stepping is done is completely different to Yip Man's sliding stance. In Bui Chee, the
pressing down elbow movement (Kup Jam) is performed by bending the torso forward. The upward chop
to the side (Man Sau) is replaced by finger jabs to the sides. The wooden dummy form includes grabbing
techniques, finger and daw strikes to the nerve points. The wooden dummy arms are not fixed to the main
body but can slide in and out for arm pulling/pushing techniques. The six directions, left and right, front
and back, are very common, whereas Yip Mans techniques are usually in one direction a time. These are
by no means the only visual differences
Only a few examples. As for as auxiliary exercises are concerned, more emphasis is placed on grabbing
techniques, stance stability/rooting training, waist and leg strengthening. The Chi Sau resembles more the
pushing hands of Taiji Quan and the grabbing techniques of Chin-Na than Yip Mans dynamic Poon Sau.
In addition to arm and leg sensitivity training, Pang Lam has additional drills to develop body sensitivity to
deal with an opponents force when there is body to body contact. For me, the simplicity and dynamism of
Yip Mans Wing Chun mixed with the strong, subtle and artistic aspects of Pang Lams Wing Chun are
complementary to each other like the left hand helping the right. Which method is better you may ask? My
answer is, it does not matter whether your left hand is stronger or right hand is stronger, its-making work
together which is more important.