Espionage and Assassination

According to one proposed explanation, opponents of the Qing Dynasty used the Red Boat Opera Company as a cover to disguise themselves as troupe of travelling entertainers.

Their identities as Chinese opera performers provided a cover for martial arts training; however, the flashy moves of opera style martial arts ware not suited to the activities of espionage and assassination, which required specialised skills. Even though assassinations themselves would be carried out using poison or knives, their targets were usually protected by bodyguards who, on discovery of an intruder, would seize the person, call for help, and disable the person to be held for interrogation.

Therefore, according to this hypothesis, Wing Chun was designed to deal with an opponent who seized rather than struck and to silence that opponent immediately. This would explain certain technical aspects of Wing Chun, such as its emphasis on close-range combat and its many strikes to the throat and diaphragm.