According
to semi-legendary accounts, Wing Chun originated in the early 1700's at the
Shaolin Temple in Honan Province. At that time in Chinese history, the Shaolin
Temple with its long established tradition of martial arts training had become
a sanctuary for dissidents, revolutionaries, and secret societies dedicated
to the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty. The Manchu government employed professional
soldiers who were highly skilled in the martial arts and well versed in the
fighting tactics of the Shaolin Temple. Whenever they were sent into an area
of Shaolin activity to enforce Manchu will, they quickly put a halt to the Robin
Hood operations of the rebellious monks.
The
monks eventually realized that they could not rapidly train a young rebel
to match the fighting skills of the Manchu soldiers since full mastery of
the Shaolin martial arts requires approximately eighteen years. A solution
to the problem needed to be found. The elders of the temple convened a meeting
and agreed to develop a new fighting art which would overcome all others,
and which would take a much shorter period of time to learn.
