What are the main wing chun lineages? Differences between them?

I want to start WC but I keep hearing about lineages this and that, I don't care about ranks etc, I can take them or leave them. I simply want to practice an effective brand of WC and don't know where to start in this regard. I keep hearing the wong shun leung lineage is a good one with little emphasis on gradings??





Side note; I have a long Muay Thai and Boxing background and want to add an equally effective trapping system to my arsenal.

What are the main wing chun lineages? Differences between them?
It's generally seen that there are two lineages in Wing Chun. One is Hong Kong Wing Chun while the other is Chinese Wing Chun. The Chinese Wing Chun (or Mainland) Wing Chun has two distinct families, Yip Man (pre-Hong Kong) and from lineages other than Yip Man. The Wing Chun from Mainland China is more complex and less refined although not less effective. It has more forms and more weapons but is quite rare to find. It is generally seen as being Pan Nam or Red Junk style Wing Chun. Searching for 'Pan Nam' or 'Red Junk' will find you information on this style.





Hong Kong Wing Chun or Yip Man lineage Wing Chun is by far the most prominent system of kung fu in the Western World. He trained numerous students who have moved around the world to teach the art although it must be said that not all were taught the whole system by Yip Man regardless of what they profess. This accounts for the large differences in the more advanced forms available at different schools. Particularly the Bil Jee, Bart Charm Do (Swords) and Dummy forms. In fact, one well known 'master' in the UK was not taught the full sword form by his instructor (his instructor was a student of Yip Man who was not taught the knife form and therefore couldn't teach it) and so he made it up himself. The difference between the real form and his are like chalk and cheese.





There are some great lineages to study under and some okay ones. Obviously, there are also some crap ones. Yip Man students who learnt the full system include Wong Shun Leung, Ip Chun, Ip Ching, Lok Yiu and a few others. Some however make spurious claims about being taught by Grandmaster Yip and create flowerly stories to support their claims. My own view and experience would strongly suggest staying with the names above as lineage and avoiding the likes of Leung Ting and William Cheung. To me, these rate the high and low of Wing Chun. In the US there are two other lines which I would consider as being exceptionally good; Duncan Leung and Hawkins Cheung.





A good resource for tracing Wing Chun lineage is this one:


http://www.wcarchive.com/html/wing-chun-...





It gives an alphabetical list of who studied under who.





Good luck with your choice and search.
Reply:To my understanding, the lineages may place emphasis on certain forms or may differ in how the forms are done.





For example, I think (correct me if i'm wrong WC pracs.) Yip Man lineage places great emphasis on Siu Lim Tao form and also may perform it slightly differently to other lineages ?
Reply:Just try to find one that doesn't have rankings.





My school only has three rankings, student, junior teacher, and senior teacher and it's great because it means that to be a teacher you actually have to be good.