Wing Chun Forms

Over the past three years or so, I have been learning Wing Chun from a Cantonese master who was born in the same year as Bruce Lee.  This is where my original interest in Cantonese started, as all the names of forms and techniques are in Cantonese, and I wanted to create a glossary of terms so that I could learn to recognise the written names as well.

The history of this art before the 1900s varies widely, largely because there are few written documents.  The version I have "inherited" suggests that this was originally a secret un-named art used for security in a Southern Chinese Shaolin monastery, only leaking out into the wider world at the beginning of the Ching dynasty (mid 17th century), when the monasteries were destroyed because they were suspected of harbouring supporters of the previous dynasty.

Here are the names of the four "empty-hand" forms and the two weapons forms. From what I understand of the history of this art, the weapons forms were added relatively recently. Typically the forms are taught in this order over a period of ten years or so, although this can vary from teacher to teacher:

English	Jyutping	Characters
Wing Chun (“praise the spring”)	wing6 ceon1	詠春
Siu Nim Tao (“little ideas”) (first form)	sui2 nim6 tau4	小念頭
Chum Kiu (“search for a bridge”) (second form)	cam4 kiu4	尋橋
Biu Jee (“thrusting fingers”) (third form)	biu1 zi2	鏢指
Moot Yan Jong ("wooden dummy") (fourth form)	muk6 jan4 zong1	木人樁
Bart Jum Do ("butterfly knives") (weapons form)	baat3 zaam2 dou1	八斬刀
Look Dim Boon Kwan (six-and-a-half point pole) (weapons form)	luk6 dim2 bun3 gwan3	六點半棍

Notes:
1. The reference to the number eight in Bart Jum Do is not to the number of knives being used but to the number of techniques embodied in the form.

2. The reference to the number six-and-a-half in the pole form similarly counts the number of techniques embodied in the form, one of which is a very simple move, apparently insufficiently complex enough to count as a separate "technique".

3. Legend has it that "Wing Chun" is actually the name of the first person (a young woman) outside the Shaolin monastery to be taught the art.