Ip Man, whose real name was Ip Kai-man (葉繼問), was born in Foshan, Guangdong Province, in 1892. He was the second child of a prominent scholarly family in Foshan who believed in traditional educational values.
Foshan has always been a haven for flourishing martial arts. Famous martial arts masters of the Southern schools, such as Wong Fei Hung, Cheung Hung Sing, Leung Jan, and Fung Siu Ching, were all from Foshan.
When Ip Man was seven years old, he became a student of Chan Wah Shun (陳華順). Chan Wah Shun was taught Wing Chun by grandmaster Leung Jan (梁贊), known as the king of fist in the Southern Sea area. After the death of his master, Ip Man became the student of Ng Chung-sok (吳仲素) Chan Wah Shun’s second senior student.
Ip Man was short, about 163 centimeters tall, but he was solid when he was young, especially his forearms. In his later years, he had an operation, and his whole body became thin. Only his two forearms still looked like those of a strong man. This was the result of decades of training. His head looked as if he were bald, but he had concise hair like a blanket of velvet, and he never wore a beard.
Born in a prominent family, Ip Man was concerned about appearance and cleanliness. He liked wearing dark gowns and dark-colored Chinese-style clothes, even on ordinary days. He was polite and gentle. When he went out on the street, people would only think that he was a pawnshop manager or a private school teacher. They would never believe that he was Ip Man, the famous grandmaster of Wing Chun and the master of Bruce Lee.
In the early years of the Republic of China, Foshan held the “Autumn Colors” parade every year. The parade was always crowded with people, including locals and tourists from other places. Once, Ip Man went to watch the “Autumn Colors” parade with his cousin and some friends. He wore a long gown and thin-soled dress shoes at that time. As he was not very tall, he looked like a weak and vulnerable young man. A warlord’s platoon leader approached them on the way and wanted to touch his cousin.
At that moment, Ip Man suddenly stepped forward and used his customary Wing Chun fist to stop the platoon leader’s move. The opponent immediately fell to the ground. A weak, scholarly-looking man defeated the platoon leader who had always oppressed the people. He was not prepared to swallow his anger and pride. He rose and drew his gun. Ip Man turned around immediately. With a swift maneuver, he gripped the opponent’s revolver and used the power of his thumb to press the revolving cylinder directly, which bent the wheel core and made it unable to fire.
The joke about Bruce Lee’s “short life” came true
In 1949, Ip Man moved to Hong Kong. His good friend, Lee Man Chi, introduced him to the chairman of the Hotel Association, Leung Seung, who was also a martial arts enthusiast. When Leung Seung learned that Ip Man was a student of Chan Wah Shun in Wing Chun, he immediately sought to learn from him and asked him to teach it publicly at the Hotel Association on Big Street in Sham Shui Po, Kowloon.
Gradually, more and more people sought to become students to learn the skill. Ip Man changed his venue twice, from Castle Peak Road in Sham Shui Po to Lee Tat Street in Yau Ma Tei, and his students moved on and opened their teaching schools. So, Wing Chun spread to every corner of Hong Kong.
In 1956, Bruce Lee joined Ip Man at the Lee Tat Street martial arts school. He was very devoted to his lessons and never missed a class. Later, Bruce and his family emigrated to the United States, so he could not learn all the techniques in Wing Chun.
Bruce Lee was born with a slight foot defect that caused him to walk with a slight up-and-down “jolt.” While ordinary people might not be able to see this defect, the observant Ip Man had noticed it and laughed at Bruce, telling him that “walking without the heels touching the ground is a sign of a short life.” He said it as a joke but never thought it would come true.
The ‘Traitor of Wing Chun’ was still his student
Ip Man was a very tolerant person. He was unlike some instructors who forbade his students from learning or practicing kung fu at other schools, considering it treasonous. Looking at Bruce Lee’s first moves, Ip Man knew that he had learned kung fu from his uncles in the entertainment industry. He did not consider this a bad thing because, as he saw it, although an artist’s moves were just for show, they were, after all, evolved from martial arts and still had their merits.
Before Bruce Lee returned to Hong Kong to make movies, he had founded Jeet Kune Do in the United States. Because of that, many people regarded him as a “traitor to Wing Chun” and believed that Grandmaster Ip Man would never recognize him as his student again. That made some of Bruce Lee’s friends want to bet with him. The bet was for Bruce to ask Grandmaster Ip Man to come out for dinner. If he came, they would lose; otherwise, Bruce Lee would lose.
Bruce Lee took on the bet. He called Ip Man and asked: “Master, it’s Bruce. I want to ask you a question. Do you recognize me as your student or not?” Bruce Lee’s question sounded simple, but was very difficult to answer. If Ip Man said no, it would make him look petty. If he said yes, he would worry that his other students would be upset if they knew about it. He said: “Recognize me or not, it’s up to you!” He kicked back the ball to Bruce Lee.
Ip Man later said that he still recognized Bruce Lee as his student. After talking to him on the phone, Bruce Lee “sincerely invited his master to dinner” and came to pick him up and take him to a restaurant. It was only after arriving at the restaurant that Ip Man realized that Bruce Lee had a bet on it with someone. This can be regarded as an exciting story between Ip Man and Bruce Lee.
No difference between rich and poor students
Ip Man attached great importance to talent selection. He often said, “It is certainly difficult for a student to choose a good master, but it is even more difficult for a master to choose a good student.” He had a student named Kwok Fu. After five years of teaching, Ip Man greatly liked this diligent and studious student.
However, Kwok Fu lost his job later and left without saying goodbye. Ip Man went to the countryside to find this “poor man” and taught him step by step. In the nearly two years that followed, Ip Man often walked several dozen miles to Kwok Fu’s ancestral home to continue teaching him Wing Chun and even let him copy and record all of his kung fu manuals.
Later, Bruce Lee revisited Ip Man, hoping to learn the Wing Chun wooden dummy techniques. He offered to pay the price of a flat for Ip Man to personally demonstrate all the Wing Chun wooden dummy techniques, which Bruce Lee would film and take back to the United States to learn on his own, but Ip Man refused.
Ip Man once said he wished to teach his students thoroughly if they wanted to learn the skills. He never treated kung fu as a commodity to be sold, and most importantly, he would not discriminate between the rich and the poor by teaching only wealthy students.
Ip Man brought Wing Chun from Mainland China to Hong Kong in the 1950s and established the Wing Chun Athletic Association in 1968. In the 1970s, Leung Ting, his second-generation student, was the first to introduce Wing Chun to Germany. From then on, Wing Chun developed into an international martial art in Europe and North America, which is considered the most significant contribution of Ip Man in his life.
Translated by Cecilia and edited by Helen London
