There is a saying in kung fu that "it is hard for a student to find a
good sifu(teacher), but it is even more difficult for a sifu to find a good
student" It is also said that there are systems of kung fu that have
been lost over the passage of time because the masters could find no worthy
student to whom to pass the traditions and heritage.
This could well have been the case for Wing Chun, had
Leung Bik, son of the famous Wing Chun Master Leung Jan, not met Ip Man, his
only student. Ip Man proved not only to be a great student, but a genius in
fulfilling the responsibility of passing the art on to the future generations
of masters. It was due to Ip Man's innovations that Wing Chun was able to
spread from a little city in Southern China to become one of the most popular
and sought after systems of Martial Arts in the world.
Although Chinese Kung Fu has risen in
popularity since the time of Bruce Lee, few people know the inside story of Bruce Lee’s master – Ip Man, the leader of the Wing Chun Kung Fu style..
Ip man, often referred to as Yip Man was born
on the first of October, 1893 to Yip Oi Dor and Ng Shui in Fo shan, Kwangtung,
China, at the end of the Qing Dynasty and was third of four children. He was
named Ki Man. He grew up in a very wealthy family. His older brother was Ip Kai
Gak. His older sister was Ip Wan Mei and his younger sister was Ip Wan Hum. Ip
is the family name which is said first in Chinese culture. Foshan was situated
in the most prosperous region of the Zheyleng Delta of Guangdong. He lived on
Fook Yin Road in the Mulberry Gardens of Fo Shan. His was a well-known family
in that area. Wong Fai hung, Cheung Hung-shing, Leung Jan, Leung Siu-ching were
some of the great masters of kung fu who came from Fo shan. So Ip Man, grew up
hearing the stories of the exploits of these great kung fu men. It's not
surprising that he would develop into one of the greats himself.
Ip Man's education in Wing Chun began as a
youth when he became a student of Chan Wah Shun, who was a student of the
famous Leung Jan. Chan Wah Shun accepted Ip Man as a student towards the end of
his teaching career, when he was quite old. Master Chan was a big man by
Chinese standards. So his Kung fu was powerful. Six years later, Master Chan
was near death. One of his dying wishes was to have his student Ng Choun Su
continue training Ip. Master Yip Man followed
the elder fellow-student for three years. The tuition of Master Chan was very
high, each student had to pay a few ounces of silver. The common man at the
time could not afford such a cost, so Master Chan’s students only numbered in
the teens. This is also why Wing Chun is known as the rich person’s kung fu.
At the age of 15 Ip man moved to Hong Kong
with help from Leung Fut Ting, a relative. At age sixteen, Ip Man attended
school at St. Stephen's College in Hong Kong. It was a secondary school for
wealthy families and foreigners who lived in Hong Kong.
According to Ip Man's two sons (Ip Ching and Ip Chun),
while at St. Stephen's Ip Man intervened after seeing a foreign police officer
beating a woman. The story goes that the police officer tried to strike Ip Man
who used his martial arts to strike the officer down, at which point Ip Man and
his classmate ran to school. The classmate is said to have told an older man
who lived in the same apartment block. Ip Man was invited to see this man and
the man asked Ip Man what martial art he studied. Ip told him, but the old man
said he would not understand. The man then asked Ip Man to show him his first 2
forms (Sil Lim Tao and Chun Kiu). The man then told Ip Man that his forms were
"not too great." Ip Man was then invited to Chi Sau (a form of
training that involves controlled attack and defence). Ip Man saw this as an
opportunity to prove his Kung Fu was good, but he was beaten after just a few
strikes. It turned out that the old man was his master's elder fellow-disciple
(and so, by Chinese tradition Ip Man's martial uncle or Sibak), Leung Bik, son
of his master's master Leung Jan . After that encounter, Ip Man continued his
training lessons from Leung Bik. Master Leung Bik's Wing Chun was much more
refined than what Ip Man had leaned from Master Chan. While Chan Wah Shun had
been a big man, Leung Bik was much smaller. There also was a pretty wide gap in
the education level between the two masters. Chan Wah Shun was nor very well
educated, while Leung Bik's father was a well-educated doctor of Chinese
medicine. This education was passed to his son. Thus, Leung Bik was better able
to understand the underlying principles of the Wing Chun system. This knowledge
was passed to Ip Man. By the age of 24, Ip Man had returned to Foshan, his Wing
Chun skills tremendously improved.
Upon learning all that Leung Bik had to teach
him, Ip Man went on to explore ways to simplify Wing Chun, making it easier to
understand. In addition to his education in Wing Chun, Ip Man received an
advanced formal education in his youth. He learnt the theories and principles
of modern science and could therefore make use of modern technological
knowledge, such as mechanical and mathematical theories, to expand the
principles of Wing Chun. Ip Man even changed terminology, such as the Five
Elements and Eight Diagrams (Ba Gua) that were commonly used in metaphysics.
This helped to demystify Wing Chun, thus making it easier for the common
student to understand and apply the system.
In Foshan, Ip Man became a policeman. He did
not formally run a Wing Chun school, but taught several of his subordinates,
his friends and relatives. Kwok Fu and Lun Kai (2 of Ip Man's students and
friends) went on to teach students of their own. The art of Wing Chun in the
Foshan and Guangdong area was mainly passed down from these two individuals. Ip
Man went to Kwok Fu's village house during the Japanese Occupation. He only
returned to Foshan after the war, to once again take up the job of a police
officer. At the end of 1949, the Chinese Communist party won the Chinese civil
war. Ip Man being an officer of the opposing Kuomintang political party,
decided to escape to Hong Kong without his family when the Communists had come
to Foshan. In Hong Kong, Ip Man opened a Wing Chun martial arts school.
Initially, business was poor because his
students typically stayed for only a couple of months. He moved his school
twice, to Hoi Tan Street in Sham Shui Po, and then to Lee Tat Street in Yau Ma
Tei. By then, some of his students were skilled enough that they were able to
start their own schools. Some of Ip Man's students and descendants compared
their skills with other martial artists in combat. Their victories over other
martial artists helped to boost Ip Man's reputation as a teacher.
During the early years of the Chinese
Republic, Fo Shan had a yearly festival called “Autumn Scenes.” One year Yip Man and his wife went to see the festival. While
there, an officer of the military tried to take advantage of Mrs.Ip. At the
time, Ip was wearing a long gown with cloth shoes. His stature was not tall,
and he looked more like a gentleman than a fighter. The officer figured he was
weak and helpless, so he became more daring and offensive. Ip Man immediately
resorted to the “simultaneous attack and defense” technique of Wing
Chun, and the officer was knocked to the floor
immediately. The officer then took out his revolver, but Ip Man grabbed its
barrel and used the strength of his thumb to break the trigger, rendering it
useless.
When the Japanese occupied Fo Shan, the
military police caught wind of Yip Man’s reputation and invited him to become
their coach. But he refused from the standpoint of righteousness. That angered
the Japanese greatly, to the point that they ordered another kung fu master,
surnamed Leung, to challenge Master Yip Man. Yip
Man accepted only after being asked many times. Master Leung
thought his punch was very powerful and used it against Master Yip. Yip Man
immediately executed the Wing
Chun “Horse Stance and Kwan Sao” to defend
himself, and then turned around and kicked Master Leung to the ground. After
this occurrence, Yip Man left Fo
Shan due to the increased pressure the Japanese placed on him. However, he
still continued helping the Chinese government suppress the Japanese. After the
Japanese resistance, Master Yip did not teach Wing
Chun, but worked at the police department. In
order to rid the area of evil and protect the people, Master Yip solved many
crimes, including the Fo Shan Sar Ton Fon Street Robbery, and caught the robber
in Sing Ping Theater. Master Yip Man continued
his position as leader of the military patrol of south Kwang Chow until the
collapse of Mainland China.
With the mainland lost, Ip Man left Fo Shan
for Hong Kong. There he was introduced to Mr. Lee Min, who later helped Yip
establish a Wing Chun school at the Mess Union in Da Nan Street, Kowloon. At the
beginning, the followers were Lee Min, Leung Chan, Lou Yue. Later on, Shu Sun
Tin and Yip Bue Shing also followed. The students kept increasing to the point
that in 1954 Master Yip Man left the
Mess Union to establish a kung fu institute at Hia Ten Street, Deep Water Bay,
Kowloon. The students kept increasing, so Ip Man moved the institute from Hia
Ten Street to Lee Da Street to Lee Jenwou Village to Hing Yip Building. But he
did not openly advertise for students. One would have to be introduced or know
a follower. Bruce Lee was introduced by Mr. Cheung Jwo Hing to learn Wing
Chun when the institute was at Lee Da Street.
In 1967, Ip Man and some of his students
established the Hong Kong Ving Tsun Athletic Association.
The way of Yip Man’s
instruction depended on every student’s degree of knowledge, natural ability,
personal habits, and interests. Yip Man’s great innovation was to personalize
instruction by making each student’s progress dependent on his own habits and
will to succeed. The strength of Yip Man at over
seventy was no less than that of a young man. At about a later age, robberies
occurred frequently in Hong Kong. One night when Yip Man was taking a walk, two thugs with knives tried to
rob him. It only took Yip Man a few
kicks to knock them out of the way.
In 1972, Ip Man suffered cancer and
subsequently died on the 2nd of December that same year. About 6 weeks before
he died he asked his 2 sons and his student Lau Hon Lam to film him performing
the Wing Chun system as practice by him. He only managed Sil Lim Tau, Chum Kiu
and the Dummy form. This is because he was in a lot of pain and was weak and
unsteady on his feet. He was going to do Biu Gee, the Knife form and long pole.
However Grandmaster Ip Chun and Ip Ching and Sifu Lau Hong Lam stopped Ip Man
because Biu Gee, the knives and full pole form require a lot of energy to
perform. Ip Man had many students and worried some of them were adapting the
system due to their own incomplete knowledge and felt that filming it was the only
way to stop the frauds and cheats.
It is thanks to Master Ip Man that the modern
Wing Chun system is so popular. Among the kung fu systems, Wing Chun is
considered one of the simplest to learn and understand. The system is known to
be direct, simple, economical in application, and highly effective in combat.
Master Ip Man's contributions to the evolution of Wing Chun can be credited for
building the systems reputation. These innovations demonstrated the
intelligence of Ip Man.
Ip Kai Man was one of the first martial arts instructors, or Sifu,
to teach the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun Kung Fu openly.
Written by : Debjyoti Ganguly
@copyright protected 2012.
No comments:
Post a Comment