Ep. 204 | Chinese Martial Arts, Wing Chun, and Ip Man (Part 2)

We continue on from the last episode’s overview of the Chinese martial arts history timeline. Today we zero in on the history and legends behind the Wing Chun style of king fu.  We’ll also look at Grandmaster Ip Man and all those Wing Chin greats who came before him going back to the founder Ng Mui (Wu Mei).

I wanted to emphasize that almost all of what we know about Wing Chun today was passed down orally before it was written down late in its history.  We only know the names of the great masters mentioned in this episode, through the stories and legends that were told and re-told to successive generations of Wing Chun martial artists.

Thanks to Detroit's attorney and unofficial Wing Chun ambassador Michael Benkstein for all the support and input that went into this series. And thanks also to Peter Söderbaum for his kind comments

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Terms in Episode

Pinyin/Term	Chinese	English/Meaning
Bátuó	跋陀	The first abbot of Shaolin Temple
Bìyǎn Hú	碧眼胡	The Blue-Eyed Barbarian
Bā Guà	八卦	The Eight Trigrams
Bā Guà Zhǎng	八卦掌	Eight-Trigram-Palm
Bǎi Jiā	百家	The 100 Schools of Thought who sprang up during the Spring & Autumn Period
Bǐ Shǒu	匕首	Another kind of dagger
Chang’an	长安	Ancient capital of several dynasties. Present day Xian
Chán	禅	Chan Buddhism (a.k.a. Zen Buddhism)
Chán Quán Héyī	禅拳合一	to unify Chan Buddhism and Shàolín-style Martial Arts
Chī Yóu	蚩尤	A warlike, hero king to the Miao people, a character from mythical times who was both an opponent of the (also mythical) Yellow Emperor at the Battle of Zhuolu (also mythical).
Chǔ Hàn Contention	楚汉之战	The epic showdown between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu for the control of China. It ended in 202 BCE
Dámó	达摩	A name Bodhidharma is better known by
Dǎogē Jiāngjūn	倒戈将军	Shi Yousan nickname: The Defector General
Dǒng Hǎichuān	董海川	Teacher and master of Ba Gua Zhang style of boxing.
Fǔ	斧	an axe
Fǔ	腑	small and large intestine, gall bladder, bladder and stomach
Guóshù	国术	The National Arts (as opposed to Wu Shu). The PRC changed it back later on.
Gāixià	垓下之战	The deciding battle during the Chu-Han Contention between the two great heroes Liu Bang and Xiang Yu in 202 BCE
gē	戈	A dagger axe
Huáshān	华山	One of the Five Great Mountains (in Shaanxi)
Huò Yuánjiǎ	霍元甲	The force behind the creation of the Chin Woo Athletic Association that did so much for the teaching and propagation of Chinese martial arts
Huīzōng	徽宗帝	Northern Song emperor who was on duty when the walls came crumbling down in the 1120’s
Huǒyào	火药	Gunpowder
Héngshān	衡山	One of the Five Great Mountains (in Hunan)
Héngshān	恒山	one of the Five Great Mountains (located in Shanxi)
Jiànfǎ	劍法	Sword Play
Jiǎo Dǐ	角抵	the oldest known form of wrestling in China
Jūnzǐ	君子	gentleman aristocrat as defined by this Rú school
Jǐ	戟	A halberd
Kangxi	康熙	Early Qing Dynasty emperor…one of the greats
Kwai Chang Caine		David Carradine’s character from the TV series Kung Fu
Liáng Wǔdì	梁武帝	Emperor Wǔ of Liáng…he reigned 502-549
Liù Yì	六艺	The Six Arts (see below)
Luó Hàn	罗汉	The original 500 disciples of The Buddha
Luó Hàn Shíbāshǒu	罗汉十八手	The Luó Hàn 18 Hands
Líu Bāng	刘邦	Founder of the Han Dynasty, also known as Han Gaozu
Lónghǔ Mountain	龙虎山	One of the Four Sacred Mountains of Daoism
Lǐ Jì	礼记	The Book of Rites
Lǐ Zìchéng	李自成	Rebel during the last years of the Ming Dynasty who helped bring the house down.
lǐ, lè, shè, yù, shū and shù	礼, 乐 射, 舆, 书, 数	Understanding the rites, music, archery, charioteering, Calligraphy and Math
Miáo	苗族	One of China’s largest ethnic minorities. Also known as the Hmong
máo	矛	A pike or spear
Nánběi Cháo	南北朝	Northern & Southern Dynasties period
Nèigōng	内功	Inner Gong
Pútídámó	菩提达摩	Bodhidharma, who brought Chan Buddhism and kung fu to Shaolin
Qiánlóng	乾隆	Qing dynasty emperor who reigned from the 1730’s to 1790’s
Qiāng	枪	A long spear…It’s also the character for gun
qìgōng	气功	A system of health promotion that involves breathing, body posture and other things.
Qíyūn Mountain	齐云山	One of the Four Sacred Mountains of Daoism
Qīngchéng Mountain	青城山	One of the Four Sacred Mountains of Daoism
Shuāi Jiāo	摔跤	Another ancient form of martial arts
Shàolín Quánshì	少林拳式	Shaolin Fist style or Shaolin style kung fu
shì	士	a knight or knight errant
Shí Yǒusān	石友三	Republican era warlord who, among other baggage he carries, also stands accused of buying Shaolin Temple down
Shù	术	Art or style
Shǎo Shì	少室	The mountain peak of Song Shan where Shaolin Temple is located
shǒubó	手搏	An ancient form of boxing
Shǔi Hǔ Zhuàn	水浒传	The Water Margin (among many other names). One of the classics of Chinese literature
Sì Jiù	四旧	The Four Olds (of the Cultural Revolution)
Sōng Shān	嵩山	one of the Five Great Mountains.
Sūnzǐ	孙子	A.k.a. Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War
Tiāndìhuì	天地会	The Heaven and Earth Society
Tài Jí Tǔ Shuō	太极图说	The Diagram explaining of the Supreme Ultimate
Tàijíquán	太极拳	Tai Ji Quan
Tàishān	泰山	One of the Five Great Mountains (near Jinan in Shandong)
tánglánggōu	螳螂沟	The praying mantis hook
tánglánquán	螳螂拳	praying mantis style of boxing
Wàigōng	外功	Outer Gong
Wáng Lǎng	王朗	Creator of the Praying Mantis Style of martial arts
Wénxǔan	文选	a literary anthology written during the Liáng Dynasty 502-557
Wǔ	武	Martial or military
Wǔ Qín Xì	五禽戲	The Five Animal Exercise that took its inspiration from the movements of the tiger, deer, bear, ape and bird
Wǔ Zétiān	武则天	Empress of China during the Tang Dynasty (and a whole lot more). A major benefactor of Buddhism during her long period of leadership.
Wǔdāng gōngfu	武当功夫	Wu Tang Kung Fu
Wǔdāng Mountains	武当山	One of the Four Sacred Mountains of Daoism
wǔshù	武术	Martial arts
wǔxiá	武侠	A genre of fiction about martial arts heroes of ancient times
Wǔxíngquán	五形拳	Five Animals Style martial arts
Wǔyì	武艺	Another name for martial arts
Xia Dynasty	夏朝	Mythical dynasty (around 2070 to 1600 BCE) that preceded the Shang
Xiàng Yǔ	项羽	King of Chu who was defeated at the Battle of Gaixia by the forces of the Han king Liu Bang
Xiàowén	孝文	Northern Wei King who gave the go-ahead to build Shaolin Temple in 495
yuè	钺	A kind battle axe or halberd
Yì Jīng	易经	The I Ching or Book of Changes, one of. The oldest books in the world
Yìhé	义和	Righteous and harmonious
Yìhé Quán	义和拳	The Righteous and Harmonious Fists
Yǒng Chūn	咏春	Wing Chun (style of kung fu)
Zhuōlù zhī Zhàn	涿鹿之战	The epic and fantastical battle between the forces of Chi You and the Yellow Emperor sometime around 2500 BCE
Zhōnghuá Guóshù Guǎn	中华国术馆	The Central Guo Shu Institute
Zhōu Dūnyí	周敦颐	One of the five founders of Neo Confucianism. A Northern Song era polymath and author of the Tai Ji Tu Shuo (see below)
Zhōu Wén Wáng	周文王	The founder of the Zhou Dynasty, father of King Wu and the Duke of Zhou, inventor of the 8 Trigrams and a whole lot more
Zhǎng	掌	Palm
Zàng	脏	internal organs, the heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney
Zájù	杂剧	A four-act poetic drama
精武体育会	精武体育会	Jīng Wǔ (Chin Woo) Athletic Association

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