Grand Master Ip Man

Grandmaster Ip Man was born in Foshan (China) in 1893 to a wealthy merchant family.

He began learning Wing Chun at the age of thirteen under Chan Wah Shun who was said to have been teaching out of the Ip Family Ancestral Temple at the time. Ip Man became Chan Wah-Shun’s youngest and last student, as Chan was old and nearing the end of his teaching. Around 1908 Chan suffered a stroke and retired, leaving Ip Man’s kung fu instruction to be continued by his senior kung fu brothers such as Ng Jung-So.

After Chan Wah-Shun’s death in 1911, Ip Man went to attend St. Stephan’s College in  Hong Kong. Here he met his kung fu uncle, Leung Bik, who was the second son of Leung Jan. Ip Man apprenticed himself to Leung Bik learning Wing Chun for another 7 years. It is said that he got a good foundation from Grandmaster Chan Wah Shun, but learnt more sophisticated techniques from Master Leung Bik.

Ip Man returned to China and developed an extraordinary reputation for his great Wing Chun skill. He even joined the Chinese army for a time. He did not however teach for many years. In 1942 his resources became severely depleted under the Japanese occupation of China and he took on some students in Yongan.

In 1949, Yip fled the Communist rise in China eventually arriving in Hong Kong. Here he accepted his first batch of disciples on a professional basis. Over his long teaching career in Hong Kong Ip Man taught many outstanding and famous students.

Ip Man taught all of his students differently, depending on their natural ability, personality, understanding, how he felt Wing Chun would best suit them and the level of trust that he had with them. Consequently there is significant variation in the teaching of Wing Chun depending on which branch of the Wing Chun family tree you are learning from.

Wing Chun as taught by Grandmaster Ip Man has three empty-hand forms, a wooden dummy form, and two weapons forms. Integrated into drills and sticky hands practice, The movements of the forms are the Wing Chun practitioner’s fighting skills.

Grandmaster Ip Man spent his whole life as champion of the cause of Wing Chun Kung Fu. He taught that Wing Chun is not for sale, but students may apply for lessons. He promoted honesty and respect and almost all the Wing Chun being taught in the world today traces its lineage back to him.