Why Snake Crane Wing Chun history is so important
A lot of people studying history because they like to know what really happening in the past, and learnt from it. Just like some historical scholar, businessman, emperors, they can learn a lot from the past, how an empire was established, how to run the empire, how it can be strong, why it going down, and eventually collapsed.
Me too, I spent over 20 years on studying SCWC history, because I had a lot of doubts about my Snake Crane Wing Chun history. More, I also have a lot of questions on some other arts. The following key issues I cannot make myself believing
1. Was there any Southern Shaolin existing in the past?
2. Why almost all the Southern arts, of course including Snake Crane Wing Chun are sourced from the Southern Shaolin and created by the same person, Abbot Chi Sin ? The arts are totally different ways to present and their creation dates may span over serveral hundred years. How can an abbot live over hundreds years and create different arts with totally different fighting ways?
3. In SCWC, the creation is split from the Snake Crane Fist to 3 forms set to train the Southern Shaolin guardian monks to fight against a Shaolin traitor, Ma Ling Yee?
All these bringing me about our SCWC legend, and start my studying the history and the skills again since 1993.
Collecting information from the different legends make me more doubts on the Wing Chun histories, not really realistic. Ridiculously!
A decade ago, I started to publish papers on my studies piece by peice, and finally, my paper “Investigation of some forgotton Wing Chun Kuen history” had been issued in 2014. This paper floating around the different ways, via magazines in Hong Kong, Europe, some public forums and my websites and facebook pages to the public. Eventually, one of the reader, Mr. Tang Kwong Man, is the Chief historical expert of Foshan Wushu Historical Research Centre, he read the paper and tried to get me in 2014 through Sifu Tam Kit Hung, who is the researcher from Foshan Wing Chun Oral History Research Centre. Sifu Tam eventually got me and asked about the content of my paper and Snake Crane Wing Chun. Then he went through the whole Foshan to get the root of Snake Crane Wing Chun. More, he also resolved some questions they cannot resolve from my paper, such as the traitor Ma Ling Yee, and the Abbot Chi Sin not a real person, just a belief from Confucian only.
In my study, based on the Snake Crane Wing Chun ancient documents, the Secret Notes and the forms themselves, we know why Snake Crane Wing Chun is for closed contact combat, who the traitor is. Why using Newly created no one known at that period close contact combat to deal with the open known long bridge big stance arts. Today, scwc 3 forms are still maintained since it created. Then we can clearly see what the Snake Crane Wing Chun is.
Through the Snake Crane Wing Chun Secret Notes, we also see what ‘Chi Sin’ is and explain why most southern arts they are created by Chi Sin.
More, how the term ‘Wing Chun’ coming out, what is its real meaning ? Why it is named Snake Crane Wing Chun, because it is splitted from “Snake Crane Fist”, the long set SLT.
In 2015, Mr. Tang Kwong Man invited us to Foshan to meet and to exchange. We had discussed a lot of my studying based on my scientific approach and scientific reasoning. Then we can see clearly what the evolution of the Snake Crane Wing Chun from the long set, Snake Crane Fist. How the Pao Fa Lin wck come with the long set and a lot of other southern arts, why Cheung Bo wck has only san siks which are the same techniques and application with SCWC, eventually the SCWC is formed without any knives and dummy at early stage.
Mr. Tang also showed me his kuen kuits finding of Snake Crane Fist. There are some common names appeared in the Snake Crane Fist and Snake Crane Wing Chun.
SCWC passed down to my generation is a legend only, like other southern arts. Without putting time on studying it, how come we understand the arts more and know more the applications of the forms. I know most people they just followed what sifu said without any reasoning TODAY, because they just care about how it can use to fight only.
Today, people like to add or to change the forms or techniques, because they don’t really understand how it built up, starting from what point. Once you start in a wrong direction, you will totally lose what the arts giving you.
The usage of terms in Snake Crane Wing Chun are still maintained since it was created around 1860. Our ancestors are stilly using ancient Chinese, not today Chinese. If we don’t realise this, by using today Chinese, sure may mis-interpret them and understand wrongly.
An example here, SNT most people intreprete it as ‘Little Idea’ or other meanings because of these three Chinese characters.「小念頭 」
In ancient Snake Crane Wing Chun,
「小」 means “Little or Small”
「念」means “Concept”
「頭 」means “Beginning/Starting”
SNT means “Let begin/start from a small/little concept”
If you don’t know what the historical is, sure you should not understand what SNT means.
What the small/little concept is? It is using the concept “Close contact to deal with long bridge big stance”
Then you can see why SNT just stands as a jong instead of stance. Jong can make the Qi channel running smooth, then Jin can be issued, then application on combat. The three palms down and the wing foldings in SNT the fourth session is for handling grabbling and the fifth section is used to handle the short striking.
Without understanding historical background, how come you know SNT really for close contact combat in 1860, not today. It is totally a conceptual close contact combat system.
Like the emperor in ancient, as they understand how an empire built up, becoming strong, going down, eventually collapse cycle from the past, then they will avoid doing the same. However, mostly as they are strong, they will forget, then following the cycle, then collapse.
Studying the arts history, we can also learn the same concepts “How, why the arts built, and for what”
However today, a lot of wck practitioners like to change it.
Author: Wayne Yung