For the first Friday of Women’s History Month we are celebrating Ng Mui (or Ng Mei), a Shaolin Temple nun who is credited with creating Wing Chun, a martial art popularized in cinema by Michelle Yeoh, Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Donny Yen, and more. She is known as one of the Five Elders, one of the few who survived the destruction of the Temple during the Qing dynasty around 1730.
In the 1700s she was already credited as one of the top martial artists in the world; she wanted to create a style that did not rely so much on brute strength or take too long to learn.
According to legend she was inspired one day by a stork fighting a large rodent, and how it used its wings to deflect and counterattack at the same time.
Wing Chun is named for Yim Wing-chun, a fifteen year old girl that was being forced into marriage by local warlord. Ng Mui taught her how to defend herself from the warlord by creating a system that the young woman could learn quickly.
Ng Mui is also credited with creating the Dragon style Kung fu, White Crane, and Five Pattern Hung-Kuen.
One of the most identifiable traits of Wing Chun is “Chi Sau” aka “Sticky Hands.” This is a series of techniques designed to train automatic reflexes when people make contact by “sticking” to their opponent. The thought is that information travels faster through contact than through the eyes and a person will be able to react faster when they sense changes in motion, pressure, and mechanics. The goal is to protect your center-line while controlling your opponent’s.