The history of Wing-Chun begins in the Siu Lam temple, the cradle of the martial arts around the world, with the culmination of hundreds of years of experience. The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) saw a blossoming of Siu Lam martial arts as never before. Almost all the residents of Siu Lam practiced, and a powerful detachment of several hundred warrior-monks was organized. The Ming government treasured the warrior-monks, sending them on expeditions to border areas. After the Manchurians conquered China, the remnants of the Ming family encouraged export of the secret knowledge of Siu Lam fighting arts to rebel troops to defend the Han nation and to try to restore the Ming regime with the slogan: “Overthrow Ching, Restore Ming”. This time period was known as the Ching Dynasty.

The conquest of China by the Manchu in the 17th century and harsh actions created distrust among the people towards the Ching government. The Manchu, excellent warriors in their own right, kept the Ming dissidents under control, imposing on all the badge of subservience, the "queue" which symbolized for them a horse’s tail. Animosity and discontentment towards the Manchurians became more visible. In the spirit of “Overthrow Ching, Restore Ming”, many boxers joined various secret societies hoping to return the Ming to power. Formations of underground movements were the precursory events that brought Wing-Chun and many other Chinese martial art styles into existence. Thousands from the north retreated southward to southern China, disseminating their martial arts skills as they went. Although unsuccessful in their aims, the boxers seeking a return of the Ming did achieve a result. They spread the Siu Lam boxing doctrines to all corners of China. Many of them were later killed by the British gun during the eight nations allied military forces era.

Early in the 1700’s, during the reign of Emperor K’ang Hsi (1662-1723), the Manchurians became concerned about the Siu Lam Temple’s rebellious activities as well as their advanced fighting abilities and continued development of their martial arts system. Deciding to eliminate the threat of these rebels and their rebel leaders, the Manchurians sought to exterminate the Siu Lam monks to prevent them from spreading their martial arts skills and rebellious activities. The Emperor even sent his own officials to live like monks at the Siu Lam Temple to spy on rebel’s activities but many failed. Eventually the Southern Siu Lam Temple was burned and destroyed by K’ang Hsi’s order.

The Siu Lam Temple was not only a repository of martial arts knowledge and rigorous training academy but, just as important, a stimulus for other martial art styles. Many of the systems today were born out of Siu Lam roots. Prior to the destruction of the Siu Lam Temple, a comprehensive and high-level martial art system was developed which was formulated through multiple generations of Siu Lam knowledge and experience.

During that time it was strictly forbidden to teach or reveal the art to anyone that didn’t belong to the secret societies or were non-Han. Because of this reason, Wing Chun took on a mysterious personal. Many years later, a famous novelist wrote a martial art fiction titled 10,000 Year Ching. The novel talks about Ng Mui, Chee Sim, Hung Hei Goon, and Fung Sai Yuk. Many fairy tales, movies and stories about Hung Kuen and Wing Chun were based on this novel. With each telling of the story from the novel, embellishments and exaggerations were added until the story reached the level of a fairy tale. Due to the nature of secret societies, these fictional stories and legends came to be the accepted truth as to the creation of Wing Chun.

After the destruction of the Southern Siu Lam Temple, Cheung Ng fled to Guangdong province. In order to keep his identity and Siu Lam background from the Manchurian government, Cheung Ng founded the Red Boat Opera Troupe in Fat Shan. Known for its discipline and rules of conduct, the Red Boat Opera Troupe was an organization of talented stage performers who traveled in up and down the rivers of Southern China in red boats. This time period around the mid-to-late-1700s was known as the Red Boat Period.