It is hard to know how historically accurate the old legend of Ving Tsun can be, but this is the origin as it’s been told. Ving Tsun (Wing Chun) was developed by the Shaolin Abbess Ng Mui after the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644 C.E.) fell to Qing forces and the Shaolin Temple was burned to the ground. Ng Mui sought refuge in the White Crane Temple. There she met a fifteen year old girl named Yim Ving Tsun who was being forced into marriage with a bandit. Ng Mui developed Ving Tsun (which means “forever spring”) by studying a snake and a crane fighting, and by modifying the kung fu she already knew. She taught Yim Ving Tsun this new kung fu so that she could defend herself against the bandit trying to marry her. A conflict took place where the bandit was seriously injured by Yim Ving Tsun.
Read Yip Man’s history of Ving Tsun here.
Yip Man
From Yim Ving Tsun, the kung fu was passed on for hundreds of years until it was taught to a thirteen year old Yip Man by Chan Wah Shuen in the early Twentieth Century. Grandmaster Yip Man was the first sifu to teach Ving Tsun openly. He had several students who later became world renowned martial arts teachers in their own right, including Bruce Lee. Most all schools of Ving Tsun trace their lineage back to Yip Man.Moy Yat
In 1957, Grandmaster Moy Yat became one of Grandmaster Yip Man’s students. In 1967, Grandmaster Moy Yat became the youngest sifu recognized by Yip Man at the age of 24. He moved to the United States in 1973 and opened his first U.S. school a year later in New York City. He was very well known and respected as a Grandmaster of Ving Tsun kung fu and also as a highly skilled calligrapher, painter, stone seal maker, and master of massage. He was a pioneer in the field of ear acupuncture, discovering and mapping new points on the back of the ear which are now being used by acupuncturists throughout the world.Moy Tung
One of Grandmaster Moy Yat’s closest diciples is Anthony “Moy Tung” Dandridge. Moy Tung began Ving Tsun in 1980 after ten years of martial arts training in other styles. In 1986, Moy Tung founded his first school in downtown Richmond, Virginia. Since Grandmaster Moy Yat’s passing in 2001, Moy Tung has been the Grandmaster of our Ving Tsun family. Today, Grandmaster Moy Tung has thousands of students, grandstudents and even great-grandstudents. He continues training with all of them and frequently travels across the country to touch hands with his kung fu family.Robert Moy “Yat Tung” Squatrito
Sigung Robert Squatrito began his Ving Tsun training in Richmond while attending medical school. Like his Sifu Moy Tung, he was already a karate sensei when he became a student of kung fu. He left Richmond to study oncology in Iowa and opened a Ving Tsun school in Iowa City in 1993. As one of Moy Yat’s favorite grandstudents, Robert Squatrito was given the Chinese name Moy Yat Tung. Sigung Moy Yat Tung opened the Virginia Beach Ving Tsun school in 2001 while being a surgeon in the practice of oncology.Owen Matson
Sifu Owen Matson began his training in Iowa City in 1999. As a close grandstudent of Moy Tung and student of his sifu Moy Yat Tung, he is a member of their MY4 and ICC inner circles. He opened the Detroit school in 2006.