Wing Chun is a Chinese martial art that specializes in close-quarter combat. Wing Chun was originally passed down orally from teacher to student rather than through written records. This makes it difficult to determine its precise origins. Attempts have been made to trace its history by looking at the specific goals of the techniques used. The first accounts of the martial art emerge from independent records recorded during the century of Wing Chun master Leung Jan.
There is a legend about a young woman named Yim Wing Chun. After she rejects a marriage proposal from a local warlord, he in turn says that he will withdraw his proposal if she can defeat him in a fight. She asks a local nun, Ng Mui, to teach her boxing, and the style they develop enables her to defeat the warlord. She then marries the man she truly loves and teaches him the style that he names after her.
