Yuen Chai Wan's System

Foshan Period Curriculum:

Ethnic Chinese Vietnam Period Curriculum:

Yiu Kay relates that Yiu Choi learned the Siu Lien Tao form (which as been theorized to have been like the Cho Family Siu Lien Tao form, I.E. having Siu Lien Tao, Chum Kiu, and Biu Tze in one long hand form). Yiu Kay additionaly relates that over the 15 years his father learned from Yuen Chai Wan, he also learned San Sik (seperate methods), the Juk Jong (Bamboo Dummy), Tang Huen (Rattan Ring) and the Yee Gee Dao? (Character 2 knives).

It is hard to determine if this is accurate information that Yiu Kay related or not. As it would seem to be that Yuen Chai Wan would have the exact same knowledge as his brother Yuen Kay Shan, as they learned from the same Teachers. It is possible that Yuen Chai Wan was a reluctant teacher, to share the Wing chun system, just as his brother, Yuen Kay Shan, had only accepted student (Wong Jing) and 1 disciple (Sum Num).

In Saigon, Yuen Chai Wan Passed down A Muk Yan Jong form instead of the the Juk Jong. He also included teaching the Look Dim Boon Gwun?. An interesting fact, noticed by the Ancestral Wing Chun Kuen Research Institute, is that the Yuen Brothers had only been able to teach what they had learned from their first Sifu, Fok Bo Chuen?, at the time Yuen Chai was teaching Yiu Choi. In around 1933, when Fung Siu Ching moved into the Yuen estate, they expanded there learning from him. It is possible that the 36 Movement Wooden Dummy Form and Look Dim Boon Gwun was material that hadnt mastered until learning from Fung Siu Ching. Hence Yuen Chai couldnt have taught something he didnt have a firm grasp on pre-1933.

Vietnam Vietnamese Student Modern Curriculum:

  • Siu Lien Tao (Siu Nim Tao / Little Idea)
  • Ng Ying Hei Gung (Five Animal Qigong)
  • Siu Mui Fa (Little Plum Flower)
  • Dai Mui Fa (Big Plum Flower)
  • Hok Ying Sao Bo (Crane Shape Hand Step)
  • Muk Yan Jong (Wooden Dummy)
  • Lok Dim Boon Gwun? (Six-and-a-half Point Pole)
  • Gim (Sword)
  • Da Pa (Trident)

Yuen Chai Wan's (Ruan Jiyun / Nguyen Te-Cong ) ethinic Vietnames students have a completly differant curriculum, than when Yuen taught in Foshan or to what he taught Ethnic chinese in Vietnam. The differing curriculum in Vietnam (which is also said to vary from North to South) is likely the result of Yuen's students adding in material. Under Investigation, the mechanics used in many of the forms are not of Wing Chun Origin. Its possible that the only material Yuen Chai Passed down to non chinese was only the Siu Lien Tao Form, Muk Yan Jong and Look Dim Boon Gwun and the rest of the forms were added in by later generations.

Sources:

  • AWCKRI
  • Oral and written traditions Yiu Choi
  • Oral and written traditions Yiu Kay
  • Oral and written traditions modern Vietnamese Wing Chun
  • Oral Accounts of Lam Kam Ho and Leung Wai Chuen
  • Leungs Publishing