Ng Mui
伍枚
Legendary figureLegendary nun, according to tradition one of the Five Elders who survived the destruction of Shaolin; tradition credits her with the origin of Wing Chun and other styles.
Quick Facts
ChinaBiography
Ng Mui (伍枚, in pinyin Wu Mei) is a legendary figure of the Chinese martial arts. According to tradition she was born in 1703 and was one of the "Five Elders" who survived the destruction of the Shaolin monastery by the Qing dynasty. The sources do not state the date or circumstances of her death.
According to tradition she mastered the martial arts of Shaolin and Wudang, the Ng Ying Kung Fu style and Yuejiaquan, the family style of Yue Fei. Tradition credits her with founding the styles Wu Mei Pai, Wing Chun, "Dragon style" and Five-Pattern Hung Kuen.
According to legend, the fifteen-year-old Yim Wing-chun was to defend herself against a bully who wanted to force her into marriage, and Ng Mui taught her defensive techniques. In Ip Man's account she survived the destruction of Shaolin under Emperor Kangxi (1662–1722), fled to the White Crane Temple in the Daliang Mountains and taught the girl a simplified system from Shaolin, quickly mastered without great physical strength. Yim Wing-chun later passed the method on to her husband. Another version places the destruction of the Fujian Shaolin around 1730 and the end of Yim Wing-chun's training around 1790, contradicting Ip Man's version.
Ng Mui's true identity has been disputed for more than 200 years, and her figure is linked with places from Shaolin in Henan or Fujian through Wudang and Mount Emei to Guangxi and Guangdong. The Hung Suen and Hung Gu Biu lineages claim that the legend arose to protect the identity of the Shaolin monk Cheung Nga, who hid on the Red Boat of the opera. We have not found evidence of her historical existence in the sources.