Yim Wing-chun

Who is Yim Wing-chun?

Yim Wing-chun is a Chinese legendary character, often cited in Wing Chun legends as the first master of the martial art bearing her name. Wing-chun, though a person's name in Chinese language, literally means "spring chant" or "forever spring", or may be substituted with the character for "eternal springtime".

Different accounts of Yim's story exist, but the central sequence of events remains largely the same, beginning with Yim's teacher. During the Qing Dynasty, a Shaolin Buddhist nun and abbess, Ng Mui, reportedly fled the destruction of the Siu Lam Temple at the hands of the government; the temple was believed to be harbouring revolutionaries. According to one legend, Ng saw a crane and a snake fighting, and incorporated their movements into her style of Chinese boxing to form a new, unnamed martial art system.

Ng later took on a disciple, Yim Wing-chun, and passed the art on to her. Yim was well known for her beauty, and sold tofu for a living. A local bully tried to force her to marry him, but she used the art to defeat him. Some accounts claim that Ng taught Yim the art specifically for the purpose of defending herself against the unwanted advances.