Outside Perception of Wing Chun

I've noticed that a lot of other martial artists really, really diss Wing Chun 詠春. It's not just as a matter of belittling other styles out of machismo, it's often those who have trained in it and for whatever reason left - they either haven't seen the point of it, or don't think it's tough enough. "Style xxxx is better" is often the motto of theirs. "I know 'coz I've done it".

And did Bruce Lee really lose respect for it, or did he simply identify that it's 'incomplete'? This question, more than whether it's 'better' than other styles (it's really down to the martial artist), really does concern me. Probably much the same question for this modern wave of MMA fighters.

But then, why should it concern me? If I really wanted to pummel anyone, then sure being a BJJ-Kickboxer psycho is the way to go (lot of respect for the grapplers though).

The thing that gets me is that martial arts - whether Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Filipino, Russian - evolved for millennia through whatever motivating factors, but often amalgamated with whatever was effective at the time. There's an element of 'fashion', of what's popular, but MMA isn't really new. It's modern, but the idea to mix it up isn't. Bruce Lee did it, but kept his Wing Chun. Nobody can forget the super-fast Pak Sau on O'Hara in Enter the Dragon, but how many realise that's Wing Chun?

Apart from the perhaps slight stagnation of Wing Chun (A misconception? As good as the fighter after all), I have noticed something else about Wing Chun 詠春 and I have seen comments on this from other people (mainly the ones who say "xxxx is better" - though it doesn't mean it's not true).

A lot of the critics of Wing Chun 詠春 reckon most of its students are the scrawny, geeky types (I know I fall into this category).

It might be because that it appeals to this crowd: simple, direct, no-nonsense, un-acrobatic (unlike Wu Shu/Tae Kwon Do) and supposedly invented by a Nun (yeah right).

But because of this sweeping generalisation, it's probably what feeds the prejudice that Wing Chun 詠春 gets from other martial artists. I don't think it's fair as I sense that many of the geeks tend to really apply themselves and are no longer 'scrawny geeks', drop out or don't really become effective in Wing Chun 詠春 (and never will in any martial art really).

I know that some might not 'look much' in the nutter on the street sort of sense, but I do know that they are damn good at kung fu and some have taken out such nutters on the street.

Perhaps Wing Chun 詠春 needs a 'champion' like it did in Bruce Lee, who made it so popular in the first place.

In answer to the 'is it complete' question, I'd like to take up Chen 陳氏 Tai Chi one day as a compliment to Wing Chun 詠春 just 'coz it's probably worth having the option to not pummel someone senseless. And BJJ would be cool.