wing chun: snake and crane?

[Raatra]

hi all. how are you today? /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

i have heard that wing chun is a refined blend of the snake and crane systems. i am very familiar with snake and crane and can definetly see the influence. is this true? does anyone have any information on this or is it just a coincidence?

now i know that many martial arts have similar origins and all share some similarites. i am interested in any specific traces of snake and crane in wing chun.

[vingtsunstudent]

raatra
yes i to have heard this & can safley say no-one is absolutly sure of wing chuns past,it's just another one of the many origins that we all here.(sad but true)
i would also agree with you in saying some technics share a similar appearance but can be quite different in aplication.

[benny]

it seems as though they got all the techniques that went with the vingtsun princibles or adapted them as you can see vt movements in a lot of different styles that have been changed. take the bong sao, i like to call it the "jesus block" as it is a natural reaction just with certain princibles added, many people do a type of bongsao to block even in boxing (george formon being a prime example,its not as refined as ours but without being close its pretty close.and in biu jee you even learn techniques that go against the vt princibles but are specific to certain times,ie when you make a mistake or if you have a problem ie didnt see them till to late, one arm broken or being pinned against the wall or floor.
see ya

[Jeff]

Yeah, it seems as if fuk sau comes from the praying mantis style,and fak sau comes from the crane style, and biu sau comes from the snake styles.

Peace

[HuangKaiVun]

Some of the non-Yip Man styles have plenty of other animal influences (e.g. tiger, leopard).

[tiger_1]

my respons: tiger-snake-eagle,that is tree must important and serios in w.c.but that is only my opinion . friendly tiger_1undefined

/

[Ten Tigers]

What I was taught historicaly during my WC training is that wing chun was developed because the animal forms not only took too long to become combat proficient, but were not geared towards the human form. While the various animal forms have their different advantages, one must realize that we are humans. Not tigers, not cranes, not dragons. Humans. Therefore the forms were streamlined. More friendly to the human form. The efficient and the useful were adopted, the more difficult, obscure tecniques were eliminated. :cool:

I love a good fight...

[Daredevil]

I've always wondered about Wing Chun myself, being a practicioner of Tai Shin Mun, a Monkey style. I see a few key similarities, though also a lot of differences.

Chain punching (we don't see that in many other kungfu styles, or am I wrong here?), triangular footwork, sticky hands (though ours is much less refined than Wing Chun's), centerline theory.

Tai Shin Mun is a bit wider (that is not to say complete, I'm not looking to start a flame war), containing several sub-systems geared for individual body and personality types, but also less specialized.

Anyhow, I've often wondered at the similarities. I know the centerline theory is in common with a lot of styles, but triangular footwork seems less common and especially chain punching ???

I've been intrigued enough, though, and I'm going to check our local Wing Tsun school out if it's as good as it seems. I'm hoping to add some more mastery of the centerline to my arsenal.

[WongFeHung]

(the original TenTigers) If you look at the snake and crane techniques of Siu Lum Hung Kuen (Hung-Ga),particularly the opening of the Tiger/Crane form and Five animal set, you will definately see pretty much all the techniques found in Wing Chun. The line about it being not based on animal techniques, or that it was developed as a 'super system' is just promo stuff. Wing Chun,Fukien White Crane came directly from Siu-Lum.I find it particularly interesting, that Fong Chinyiang, a woman who passed on Fukien White Crane, came from Wing Chun county in Fukien province.Could she be the Fong Wing Chun that is mentioned in Hung Ga's history as well? hmmmm?-oh yeah, and Ten Tigers is not me!