The following information attempts to approximate the actual facts surrounding the historical origins of Wing Chun Kung Fu. The myth of the Buddhist nun, Ng Mui, and her student Yim Wing Chun, the supposed founders of the Wing Chun system, is a myth. As the internet has helped us gather information, it has become apparent that the story of the nun and her student was simply a way to hide the truth about the system's origins and to keep the identities of the political rebels who actually developed it unknown. Regarding the story of the five monks of the Shaolin Temple, it is said to have been written by someone in Foshan Province in 1940, and the published names are not the real ones. As for Ng Mui (the 5th nun of the temple and the only one saved from its destruction), her name is a secret code. Many Wing Chun instructors around the world unwittingly make the mistake of believing a romantic, fanciful history of the system, simply reproducing a fairy tale. Ming and Qing Dynasties. As far as history can tell, Wing Chun was developed about 400 years ago during a period of political turmoil. From 1368 to 1644 the power of China was in the hands of the Ming Dynasty (Ming Chao) of Han nationality. However, the weakening of the country during this period resulted in the country being subjugated to the Mongol race of the Manchus, who took power and founded the Qing Dynasty, which reigned from 1644 to 1912. During the Qing Dynasty, China experienced new expansion of its borders. Some of the dynasty's emperors protected letters and the arts, but the dynasty led China into isolation in an attempt to avoid the corruption of its culture by the introduction of European influences. Between 1644 and 1911, the Qing dynasty ruled over 90% of the population, the Han. To maintain control over the Han, the Manchu ruled dictatorially. Aggression and oppression were the cornerstones of their dynasty which forbade the Han to use weapons and practice martial arts. Thus, for the overthrow of their oppressors, the main masters of martial arts, who as we mentioned above kept their identities hidden, promoted the activities of the rebels. Rebel activity developed mainly in Buddhist monasteries, which remained largely unaffected by the Manchu out of respect for Buddhist culture and religion. The Shaolin Temple, Siu Lim was the ideal hiding place for the rebels - renegades who with their heads shaved and wearing the monastic garb of the temple's students during the day did the work around it, while at night they gathered for to lay out their plans for the overthrow of the Manchus. "Secret Societies" and Wing Chun. Upon meeting, the rebels would acknowledge each other with a secret hand signal that would eventually become the official greeting of Wing Chun. In fact, the traditional courtesy salute common to many of today's Kung Fu styles has two meanings. In the first meaning of the greeting, whose origin is recognized by the Shaolin temple, the left hand symbolizes the union of the Green Dragon with the White Tiger (right hand). In the second meaning of the greeting, also recognized by the Shaolin Temple, the left hand forms a fist and the right hand an open palm. This greeting is also referred to as the "secret society" greeting. In this greeting, the fist represents the Sun and the palm represents the Moon. Combined, these two characters symbolize the name of the previous Ming dynasty that was overthrown by the Manchurians, who formed the Qing dynasty in its place. Therefore, during the rebellion, a Wing Chun practitioner or a member of the "secret society" would salute with a fist and an open palm projecting - pushing to the front, thus saying: "Go back to the Ming, overthrow the Qing'. Apparently, this signature way of greeting was not noticed by the Manchurians. Later, the intense activity at the Siu Lim Temple and the continuous development of martial arts forced the Manchurians to send spies, many of whom were military leaders of the dynasty, to infiltrate the rebel quarters to learn their traditional systems. core in the south and how it was taught in the temple. The revolutionary teachers, aware of the intrusion of Manchurian spies, secretly developed a new system that had a twofold purpose: First, one had to be able to learn it quickly and and secondly, it had to be disruptive against the already existing combat systems that the Manchurians were learning and teaching their soldiers. Thus, Wing Chun was born. The infiltration of spies resulted in the Manchus deciding to eliminate the threat of the spread of the rebels by exterminating the monks of the temple, ultimately, the Siu Lim Temple was burned down and completely destroyed. The Ving Tsun museum's extensive research shows a generation of heirs after the destruction of the southern temple. Among them was Cheung Ng, the only one to date who has been historically proven. After establishing the Association of Beautiful Flowers (precursor to the Red Opera) and training the "secret societies" in Wing Chun, Cheung Ng disappeared to escape the persecution of the Qing Dynasty. For years he was hidden by a family named Chan. Chan Sih Sai Ga (Chan family) was a well-known and wealthy family. Through indirect action the family was willing to help Cheung Ng. While staying with the family for over a decade, Cheung Ng taught the art of Hung Fa Yi Wing Chun which for several years was kept within a close family circle before being taught to foreigners. Members of the Chan family were never directly involved in the "secret societies" themselves, so they have kept a low profile in history. The last generation of the Chan family to learn the art included a distant nephew, a high-ranking "secret society" official, Hung Gan Biu. In Qing Dynasty records as well as historical research on "Chinese secret societies", a man named Chan Biu was recorded as a leader of the "heaven and earth society" who was caught and executed by the Manchu authorities. About the origin of the name Wing Chun… In the myth created, as mentioned above, to protect the unknown identities of the creators of the Wing Chun system, legend states that among the survivors of the massacres at Siu Lim Temple was a Buddhist nun named Ng Mui, who was considered and the sole custodian of the improved martial art developed within the temple after the Manchu spies invaded. In turn, she is said to have passed on her knowledge to her student, a young girl named Yim Wing Chun. As Yim Wing Chun taught the system to others, over the years the system became known as "The Way of Wing Chun". The story spread and today many versions of it exist around the world. However, there are three important considerations to keep in mind when it comes to the story of Ng Mui and Yim Wing Chun. First, apart from the legend, there is no other evidence of Ng Mui's existence as a grandmaster of Kung Fu and the founder of a Kung Fu system, there is no record, no historical document or any other evidence that proves it. Second, wouldn't it be prohibitive for a nun to live inside a temple, let alone an all-male monastic environment like Siu Lim Temple? And thirdly and perhaps most importantly, why did the nun manage to escape a life-and-death situation labeled as a revolutionary, teach an advanced martial art to an orphan girl who had nothing to do with the revolution? At that time, according to Chinese history, the Qing Dynasty had devised a form of punishment for traitors and rebels. After someone confessed to their crimes, they were executed, then Qing officials hunted down the guilty's family members for up to nine generations and executed them as traitors. Therefore, teaching Yim Wing Chun, a martial art, would directly put her life in danger. Regarding the elements of the legend of Ng Mui and Yim Wing Chun, the meaning of words in "secret revolutionary societies" is again considered, and the names are "secret" codes. In the Cantonese dialect, the word Ng means the number 5 and the word Mui means flower, meaning "The Five Petals of the Flower", which symbolized the 5 stages of learning in the Southern Shaolin Temple. Therefore the name Ng Mui is a code name and not a person. Decoding the name of Yim Wing Chun we find that "Yim" can be translated as "secret" while Wing means "to speak" that is, "We remain secret, we only speak to each other", a code name inextricably linked to the symbolic greeting "Come back to the Ming, overthrow the Qing." Also in another version of the origin of the term "Wing Chun", possibly the most valid one, it is said that this name refers to a geographical location in the temple, the "Siu Lim Wing Chun Tong" (Hall of Beautiful Spring), where the rebels they practiced the newly invented martial art. The use of the term Spring (Chun) symbolized necessity