Grandmaster Tse’s Wing Chun Note 410

The Meaning of Wing Chun

Our founder, Ńgh Mùih Sī Taai  五枚師太  created Wing Chun Kung Fu and taught it to her student Yìhm Wing Chun 嚴詠春 . At that time Ńgh Mùih Sī Taai had not decided on a name for her newly created Kung Fu. After learning all the skills and when she was about to leave, Yìhm Wing Chun asked her Ńgh Mùih Sī Taai, “Sīfú 師父, what is the name of this Kung Fu?” Ńgh Mùih Sī Taai thought awhile and replied by asking her, “What is your name?” Yìhm Wing Chun was surprised her teacher would ask this because of course her Sīfú already knew this. But as a good student, she would not ask her teacher why, so she politely answered, “My name is Wing Chun.” Ng Mui Sitiai immediately replied in a serous manner, “Then call it Wing Chun Kung Fu.” Since then, the skill has been called Wing Chun Kung Fu.

This is the story Ip Man Sī Jóu 葉問師祖 told all his students, and he had heard it from his Sīfú, and his Sīfú from his Sīfú before. So the name is nothing to do with the attitude or appearance of the skill, like Monkey Kung Fu, or Tiger Kung Fu. Yìhm Wing Chun was a lady, and her name literally means Humming in the Springtime. Wing詠 means humming and 春Chun means Spring.