uen sut (zhuan shuo, legends) hold that the art that would become Wing Chun kuen began roughly 200 years ago with the nun Ng Mui (Wumei, Five Plums). Ng Mui fled the destruction of the Siu Lam Jee (Shaolin Si, Young Forest Temple) Temple in Fujian province and, hunted by Ching troops, sought refuge at the Bak Hok Jee (Baihe Si, White Crane Temple) atop the Emei Mountains in Sichuan province. There, Ng Mui witnessed a battle between a snake and a crane. This inspired her to create a new martial arts system which she named “white crane boxing” after the noble after the noble bird that had ultimately proven victorious.

Ng Mui taught the art to a monk named Miu Shun (Miao Shun). Combining the nun’s white crane boxing with his previous martial knowledge and refining both, Miu Shun developed a new, as yet unnamed art. Miu Shun passed this art on to Yim Yee (Yan Er). Yim Yee had been a part of the rebellious Hung Mun (Hong Men, Vast Gate)’s militant Hung Gwun (Hong Gun, Red Pole) division in Fujian. When the Manchurians discovered their activities, Yim Yee fled to Guangxi to escape arrest and certain execution. Settling there with his infant daughter, Yim Yee established a tofu shop and, meeting Miu Shun, he became the monk’s sole disciple and learned the blended art of Ng Mui.

Yim Yee’s daughter was named Yim Wing-Chun (Yan Yongchun). At a very young age, she began learning the martial arts from her father. One day, Leung Bok-Lao (Liang Boliu), a Jiangxi native and another former revolutionary and Young Forest Temple student who had fled to Guangxi chanced to see Yim Wing-Chun practicing her martial arts beneath the moonlight. He instantly fell in love with her beauty, grace, and skill. Realizing that he was growing older, Yim Yee arranged for Bok-Lao to marry his daughter. When Yim Yee passed away soon thereafter, Yim Wing-Chun and Leung Bok-Chao moved to Zhaoqing, Guangdong.  A short time later Yim Wing-Chun became sick and passed away. In loving memory of his wife, Leung Bok-Lao called his martial art “Wing-Chun’s boxing”, so that her name and legacy would live on.

In Foshan at the time there was a Hung Suen Hei Ban (Hongchuan Xiban, Red Junk Opera Company) union named King Fa (Qiang Hua). The performers would often travel the route from Zhaoqing, through Foshan, to Guangzhou, and one day Leung Bok-Lao decided to attend the performance. Their technique was superb and Leung Bok-Lao was very impressed. He felt they would make exceptional students to help preserve his wife’s art. Deciding to teach them, he traveled with the Red Junk performers for a time, before leaving for the north.