Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Brewer
Now, if you're saying that something can evolve beyond the founder's intent or even knowledge, you have an interesting idea and I'd like to hear more of what you think on the subject.
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Yes, that is along the lines of what I was saying. I was not saying that Ng Mui was not the creator of Wing Chun. What I was trying to say is that the Wing Chun that was created back then is most likely not the same Wing Chun that we know of today. It may have been completely different in terms of technique and concepts. We will never know. WC Probably started out as a side facing, longer range style. And through others that took stuff out and added stuff from their personal experiences created more of what we know today as WC. Every type of martial art (and everything in general for that matter) has evolved. If you look at Wong Shun Leung's WC, it is different than that of Yip Man. Its different than Leung Ting's, William Cheung's, Bruce Lee's ect. I was just saying that it is different now than 200+ years ago.
As for the concepts, the idea of Wing Chun (being a combat art that is for realistic self-defense / fighting and Simple, Direct, and Efficient), is what I believe we should stick to. Not necessarily the actual fighting concepts or techniques. I believe that in Ng Mui's life the concepts and theories that she and maybe others came up with may have been very very different than what we are taught today. Maybe not everything, but at least some of them. The concepts back then would have been set to deal with how people fight then, not now. And through time, the concepts (just like the techniques) have probably changed as needed. As of right now, the concepts that we are taught work in todays world. So we should stick to them. But if there is a different way of fighting 100 years from now, and the concepts no longer hold water, then we should get rid of them and search for new ones. But at the same time keep the original idea of WC and any other concepts that still work.
I think that makes sense, it does for me. If it is not clear, I will try and explain further.