Different accounts of Yim's story exist, but the central sequence of events remains largely the same, beginning with Yim's teacher. During the Qing Dynasty, a Shaolin Buddhist nun and abbess, Ng Mui (五枚師太), reportedly fled the destruction of the Siu Lam Temple at the hands of the government; the temple was believed to be harbouring revolutionaries. According to one legend, Ng saw a crane and a snake fighting, and incorporated their movements into her style of Chinese boxing to form a new, unnamed martial art system.
Ng later took on a disciple, Yim Wing-chun, and passed the art on to her. Yim was well known for her beauty, and sold tofu for a living. A local bully tried to force her to marry him, but she used the art to defeat him. Some accounts claim that Ng taught Yim the art specifically for the purpose of defending herself against the unwanted advances.
Yim later married Leung Bok-chau, a salt merchant, and he named the art Wing Chun Kuen (Wing Chun's boxing) after her. Lee (1972) attributes significant development of the art to Yim, crediting her with the invention of the chi sao (sticking hands) exercise. From there, the art passed through several men's hands before coming to Ip Man.
The movie Wing Chun (1994) loosely portrays Yim's life within the action film genre, with Michelle Yeoh portraying the central character. A more recent movie, Kung Fu Wing Chun (2010), Yim Wing-chun was portrayed by Bai Jing and Leung Bok-chau was portrayed by Yu Shaoqun. Meng and Rudnicki (2006) have written a critical analysis of the legend surrounding Yim.
