WCK history - why is it so important ?

Seems that WCK history , for some if not most of the people , is one of the most important things . Being a part of some famous lineage , having a famous ancestor who fought countless battles and never lost , who had almost supernatural fighting abilities , that is , at least that is how things often look like , more important than technical content of the style and real fighting effectiveness . Now, I really like history , especially history of ancient civilizations and my national history , but I never had that , i don't even know how to call it , very special , cult like ,attitude toward history and I was never able to understand it . My question is , why people put so much significance in WCK history \ histories ad how come people loose perspective and believe in things obviously impossible and false ?

History is a way to get an edge over the competing WCK schools.

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Originally Posted by Cataphract

History is a way to get an edge over the competing WCK schools.

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Well , it is obvious that "histories" are nothing more than simple advertising ,but how people fall for that . For example , there are still a lot of people who believe in "Ng Mui" story . Besides the evidence such a person never existed there are obvious logical mistakes in the story , like a woman who lives in a male monastery as the most obvious one . Or Yim Wing Chun part , a local war lord or a bandit wants to marry young girl and he gives her a chance to fight for her freedom . Seriously , in 17th century China ? If poor Yim really existed what would happened is that war lord would just took her and after spending some time with her she would end up dead or sold as slave . But people really believe these things and I cannot understand how . What are the reasons that make people believe these stories and give them such an importance

I know a couple of true WT believers. They want to believe these stories because it makes them feel good about their hobby and their choice to spend a whole lot of money on it. Which is ok with me, as long as it doesn't become an addiction.

Without Wing Chun history, there would be way fewer topics to argue about in Wing Chun forums. And history often bleeds into non-historical flame wars - win/win.

The history of a system is important in the sense that it may ( and I say may because we all know about the exaggerations and even out right fabrications in TCMA histories) help a student understand the reason a system is the way it is.
Beyond that, it is as important as the history of boxing or wrestling or chess, interesting but not directly relevant to one's ability to actually USE it.

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Originally Posted by zuti car

Seems that WCK history , for some if not most of the people , is one of the most important things . Being a part of some famous lineage , having a famous ancestor who fought countless battles and never lost , who had almost supernatural fighting abilities , that is , at least that is how things often look like , more important than technical content of the style and real fighting effectiveness . Now, I really like history , especially history of ancient civilizations and my national history , but I never had that , i don't even know how to call it , very special , cult like ,attitude toward history and I was never able to understand it . My question is , why people put so much significance in WCK history \ histories ad how come people loose perspective and believe in things obviously impossible and false ?

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The fact that so many people think it is so important, is the reason the style has lost perspective on what its actually for

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Originally Posted by GlennR

The fact that so many people think it is so important, is the reason the style has lost perspective on what its actually for

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I couldn't agree more . Seem like WCK became everything but a fighting art ...