Wing Chun Quan:

A Popular Way to Learn About

Chinese culture

Learning Chinese martial arts or wushu is a popular way for expats to learn about Chinese culture, and it opens a window onto traditional wisdom. Many experts in stressful Shanghai say it helps to keep themselves centered.

One of the best-known martial arts training centers is Longwu Kung Fu Center on Maoming Road. Over 10 years, it has enrolled thousands of members, and over 70 percent of them is foreigners. Every day it handles around 10 phone inquiries or visits by newcomers seeking trial sessions.

The center offers a variety of kung fu/wushu courses, such as traditional Shaolin kung fu, Xingyiquan (shape/will boxing), tai chi, Sanda (free boxing) and Wing Chun Quan (“eternal spring,” or Bruce Lee-style).

Expats’ favorites are traditional Shaolin kung fu and Wing Chun Quan, which is a combination of traditional moves.

“There’s been a surge in Wing Chun Quan learners due to the big success of the ‘Ip Man’ movie (about the man who trained Bruce Lee),” says Spring Wang, a course and membership consultant at the center. More than 20 students gather for Wing Chun Quan sessions, compared with five to 10 students for other courses, she says. The kung fu biopic “Ip Man” starring Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen was a hit in the holiday season early this year. Yip Man was a patriotic grandmaster of Wing Chun Quan kung fu and once the mentor of kung fu superstar Lee.

Wing Chun Quan, a female name in colloquial Cantonese, employs practical close-range fighting skills form different schools of martial arts. It involves speed, strength, agility and simultaneous defense and offense. The Wing Chun Quan saying goes: “Greet whatever arrives, escort what leaves and rush upon loss of contact.” Wing Chun Quan arose in southern China’s Fujian Province and became extremely popular in Foshan City of Guangdong Province during the 1930s. It is named after a woman known as Yim Wing Chun Quan, who was said to have first put the new combat techniques into practice and later taught them to her husband. The story is the most widely credited among Wing Chun Quan tales.