Originally Posted by
ccwayne
Simply speaking, after the collapse of the Tai Ping Heavenly Kindom in the 1860s, a lot of rebellions, including RedBoat Opera, escape from persecution. Some were hiding, some were going to the South of China,(now Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore). That's why there is BaungChung Wing Chun(正旦金) in Malaysia and Singapore. 飛天馬騮派 in between China and Thailand, it is very like between Wing Chun and nowadays Thai's boxing. Fung Siu Ching was one of them, and he returned to GuangZhou meeting YuenKaiShan after the collape of Qing Dynasty. 'Snake Crane Wing Chun' is very closed to the YKS Wing Chun, now called GuangZhou Wing Chun. IN the Wikipedia about Wing Chun(Chinese version), they also bracketed a name beside called 'Snake Crane Wing Chun蛇鶴詠春'. You can also find a lot of old terms they used are exactly the old terms being used in Snake Crane Wing Chun, because both of them are from the same source 'Sun Kam', who is descended from ChiSin, Southern Shaolin. The Twin knieves, both they called them "YeeGeKimYeungDuMingDao', is different from other lineages. Also, the side stance, both they called 'GuyGinMa機剪馬'. Also, the 3 hand forms are very similiar.
In1980, the Chief Editor, Mr. Liu Kwong Wah, of the New Martial Hero Magazine, Hong Kong submitted an article saying there are five main lineages in Hong Kong to the Hong Kong Times Daily(香港時報). Snake Crane Wing Chun is one of them.
Since it keeps itself in very low profile, there are seldom people knowing its existence.
The above just very briefly discuss about the 'Sun Kam' lineage, which is also streaming down to YKS Wing Chun, then GuangZhow Wing Chun. The other lineages other than the source from Chi Sin or Sun Kam, they should be sourced from Ng Mui and other guardian monks, both they developed and picked up the skills. After the fire of Southern Shaolin, they escaped and scattered in the different of the China. That's why different tributries have their own styles.