Different accounts of Yim's legend exist, but the central sequence of events remains largely the same, beginning with the origin of her teacher. During the
Qing dynasty, a
Shaolin Buddhist nun and abbess,
Ng Mui (), reportedly fled the destruction of the Shaolin temple at the hands of the government; the temple was believed to be harbouring revolutionaries. According to one legend, after being inspired by witnessing a crane and a snake fighting, Ng Mui incorporated their movements into her style of Chinese kung fu to form a new, yet-unnamed martial art system. A local bully tried to force her to marry him, but she used the art to defeat him. Yim later married Leung Bok-chau, a salt merchant, who named the art "Wing Chun Kuen" (Wing Chun Fist) after her. From there, the art passed through several men's hands before coming to
Ip Man. == Lineage ==