VTM Geneology
Welcome to the VTM's Wing Chun Genealogy Information. It is an ever-growing resource for the Wing Chun family.
We are gathering data on the various family lineages of Wing Chun. This information is collected from research by VTM Staff. Families are listed only after extensive research and first-hand interviews have been conducted. For this reason the list of families will begin small and grow slowly as we collect more and more information.
One of the primary functions of a museum is to record and protect the true sources of historically significant information, concepts, and terms with scholastic exactitude and fervor. The Ving Tsun Museum takes extreme care to ensure that researchers, readers, and students know precisely where information is derived from. Below are original concepts and terms shared with the world at large by this lineage. They are listed here as a way to safeguard the lineage's knowledge and science from unscrupulous writers and practitioners. If you see reference to these or similar terms and concepts presented by others as if they were products of their own achievement without giving credit to this lineage as a source, please contact the Museum to determine when and where they received that information in order that true sources may be verified and credited.
A Word of Caution About "Roots" and Subjective Comparisons of Various Expressions
The Ving Tsun Museum is first and foremost a research organization pursuing the true roots of Wing Chun Kung Fu. Since the museum's resources are limited, they must be targeted on furthering Wing Chun development through historic research first. Truth, not subjective opinion, in that research must remain at the center of everyone's focus. It is important for any and all serious martial artists to seek truth in what they do. Anything short of truth represents illusion that can ultimately become a fatal weakness. Seeking the true roots of a system is nothing less than an extension of the search for ultimate truth in one's own Kung Fu. At no time should the pursuit of one's true origins be viewed as threatening. However, knowing one 's roots will not automatically make one a better martial artist. The Ving Tsun Museum staff remains fully aware of this fact. Personal choice for specific strategies, tactics, and techniques, along with the 'heart' put into mastering them, will ultimately describe one's depth of Kung Fu knowledge and skill. Identifying a specific system or systems as the true roots of modern day expressions does not, in itself, describe those roots as superior to other expressions of the system, yet some practitioners in the Wing Chun community at large keep attempting to make such an assertion. This type of comparison is subjective in nature and can only be made by individuals (for themselves) in their personal search for truth - a search that must be grounded in real world experience with the systems being compared.
Today's Wing Chun practitioners and families, regardless of name, all ultimately come from the same roots. The search for those roots leaves no room for comparing subjective value of one family or lineage to another. All serious practitioners should embrace any endeavor to determine the truth of their roots. Discoveries made by any of the families and researchers pursuing truth through the application of science hand-to-hand should be greeted with jubilation, not resentment. Wing Chun practitioners from all lineages are ultimately brothers and sisters. We should strive to know as much as we can about each other, without falling into the trap of making subjective comparisons. To demonstrate that one posture, structure, energetic, etc. is most efficient in terms of human genetic code is not an open license to criticize other postures that have also been successful. Instead, such a demonstration should enhance everyone's understanding of Wing Chun as a science.
If the center of a circle represents maximum efficiency, and we find a system that has a formula and gets you to the center of the circle with each hand, posture, structure, theory and strategy, it is our responsibility as a research organization to get that information out to the public rather than bury it for political or personal reasons. In a similar vein, if we find a system that leads somewhere off-center, that doesn't mean it is no good or ineffective. Indeed, other factors such as attributal development (both mental and physical) can make it quite formidable. We must acknowledge those great expressionists like Wong Wah Bo, Leung Jan, Chan Wah Shun, Ip Man, Pan Nam, Jiu Wan, Bruce Lee, Wong Shun Leung, etc. Obviously, their personal attributal development and experience made their kung fu what it is and the basis of their success is most worthy of analysis and study. At the same time, it would not be fair to ignore the root science just because it reflects detail not presented by these and other great expressionists. An advanced combat weapon is guided, formed and tested through scientific processes, but it must be put into operation by a human being. Together, the tool and the human factor, make up the overall combat system. If person A trains a system that is 80% efficient and person B trains a system that is 90% efficient, but person A can perform his art at 75% of capability while the person B is only doing 50%, person A will outperform person B every time (at a ratio of 60% total efficiency to 45% total efficiency). There are too many unknown variables in the human factor such as morale, moral conviction, dedication, experience, etc. to ever reduce combat to a simple operation of factors on paper.
If the museum has introduced information in a manner that has been perceived as offensive to other lineages, we apologize. It has never been our intent to imply a subjective value consideration to one system over another. Our true intent has always been the accumulation and communication of science through real experience. Since much of Wing Chun must be learned through touch and the interaction of energetics, the museum will forever insist that its staff members attain this experience hands-on rather than through written and verbal means. The traditional Shaolin phrase for this type of learning is "Hau Chyun San Sau" meaning "face-to-face" and there is great wisdom in the need for it.
Truth in a martial system cannot be ascertained by dissertations and written or verbal treatises. Truth must be discovered by touch. At the same time, we realize there is a place for written documentation in the pursuit of knowledge. The museum will do its part in this endeavor with a comprehensive documented report later this year in the form of a book entitled: Mastering Kung Fu - Shaolin Wing Chun. The book will be distributed world-wide through bookstore chains and magazines. Additionally, smaller articles on the same subject will be published in martial arts and Asian cultural magazines.
We currently have information, on the following families.
Southern Shaolin Temple - Chi Sim Weng Chun
Southern Shaolin Temple - Hung Fa Yi Wing Chun
Koo Lo Village - Pin Sun Wing Chun (Dr. Leung Jan)
Hong Kong - Yip Man Ving Tsun (Wing Chun/Wing Tsun)
It is our hope that all sources of information can be pooled together for the benefit of the entire Wing Chun Community, both now and in the generations to follow. As a non-profit, non-political entity, it is our wish that you will allow this to be your Museum for Wing Chun Kuen.
This endeavor will only succeed with the support of you, the Wing Chun practitioner. It is the VTM's sincerest hope that all of us in the Wing Chun Community may have a place that is non-political, and completely objective, in which to research and explore all the many unique branches of the Wing Chun family tree. It is our sole purpose to provide such a place for you both on the web and in the real world.
The VTM recognizes and appreciates other websites and organizations that have also begun to strive for this same purpose. We would like to openly extend an invitation for all to join us in this pursuit.