|
The next day Ip Man's friend told him that the old man wanted to see him but Ip Man said no. The friend told the old man of Ip Man's response. The old man told the boy he was Leung Bik and to tell this to Ip Man. The next day during class his friend told Ip Man that the old man was Leung Bik. Before class was over, Ip Man jumped up and went straight to Leung Bik's home. Leung Bik was Ip Man's Si Pak (older uncle, the youngest son of his teacher's teacher, Leung Jan). Ip Man lived with Leung Bik for five years and learned the entire system of Wing Chun. Leung Bik was an educated man, and his metaphors and understanding were shaped by philosophy. His understanding of the principles of Wing Chun was deeper and more refined than his kung fu younger brother Chan Wa Shun. Ip Man referred to Leung Bik as Si Pak. Chan Wa Shun was a relatively uneducated man whose metaphors and understanding were more grounded in the earth, in the common man's language. Ip Man referred to Chan Wa Shun as Sifu. Both of his kung fu teachers had the same kung fu but they both had different teaching styles. Upon Leung Bik's death, Ip Man returned to Fatshan to help his kung fu brothers with the knowledge he had gained in Hong Kong. Ip Man's classmate later told an old man who lived in the same building about what had happened. The old man, who was also from Fatshan, asked the young man to show him what Ip Man had done. After seeing the technique the old man asked Ip Man's classmate to bring Ip Man to him. The next day Ip Man and his friend went to see the old man. He asked Ip Man what type of kung fu he had studied in Fatshan. Ip Man being young and cocky replied that it was the best kung fu in the world and that if he told him he wouldn't understand. After some convincing, Ip Man relented and told the old man that he had studied Wing Chun. The old man replied that he had heard of it and that there was a person named Chan Wa Shun teaching there. The old man asked Ip Man to show him the Siu Lim Tau form. After the demonstration the old man said, "eh, not too great."This did not make Ip Man happy. Then the old man asked Ip Man to perform his Chum Kiu form. Remember at this time the respect between young people and older people was very great. Ip Man was unhappy with the request, but he did it anyway. During his demonstration, the old man kept shaking his head and saying, "not very good." This angered Ip Man. The old man asked Ip Man to perform his Biu Gee form. Ip Man did not know the Biu Gee form and replied, "I really don't feel like showing you the form." Then the old man asked if Ip Man would chi sau with him. Ip Man happily complied, thinking that he could finally teach the old man a lesson, Ip Man threw a punch and the old man simply blocked it and threw him to the side. Ip Man got up and attempted another punch. Again the old man just blocked it and threw him down. Ip Man got up and stormed out. Chan Wa Shun was very old when Ip Man began training under him and he died shortly after. Ip Man then went to Hong Kong at the age of 17 to attend high school at Saint Francis College. One day, on the way to school, Ip Man and a classmate came across a police officer beating a Chinese lady. They told the officer if this lady had done something wrong, then he had every right to take her into custody. But even if she was a thief, he had no right to beat her. In actuality, she had done nothing wrong and the officer was just being cruel. The officer realizing that Ip Man was just a kid, took a swing at him. Unfortunately, for the officer, Ip Man had four years of kung fu under his belt. Ip Man responded to the attack with what appeared, to his classmate, to be a very simple move, but the police officer went down with blood all over his face. Ip Man and his classmate ran away very quickly to school. After Leung Jan died Chan Wa Shun opened his own kung fu school in the Ip clan family building at Fatshan. It was in the family hall that Ip Man, first saw Wing Chun Kung Fu. When he was 12 years old, Ip Man went to Chan Wa Shun and asked to be taught Wing Chun. Chan Wa Shun told Ip Man that people who were rich made poor students of Wing Chun. Because he was teaching at the Ip family building, Chan Wa Shun could not refuse the request, however, he required Ip Man to pay 600 silver pieces to become a student. At the time 600 silver pieces was enough money to buy several houses. It took Ip Man 6 months to raise the money. Chan Wa Shun was shocked, he suspected the 12 year old Ip Man of stealing the money. Chan Wa Shun immediately took Ip Man to see his father. Ip Mans father explained that he had given Ip Man money so he could study kung fu from Chan Wa Shun. From this time forward Ip Man became an official student of Chan Wa Shun. All together, Chan Wa Shun only taught 16 people. The Dei Si Hing was Ng Cheung So and Si Dei or lowest brother was Ip Man. Ip Man learned directly from Chan Wa Shun for three years before Chan passed away. (Even though many people had heard of Leung Jan's kung fu, only three people had actually learned it.) Having mastered Wing Chun, Leung Jan began teaching his two sons, Leung Chun and Leung Bik in the herb shop after he closed up for the day. Chan Wa Shun, a fellow merchant also known as Wa The Money Changer, operated a money changing booth in the market place in front of Leung Jan's shop. One day during a heavy rainstorm Chan Wa Shun stood under the awning of Leung Jan's shop so as to stay dry. Safely out of the rain, Chan Wa Shun noticed light coming from around the crack's of Leung Jan's door and he looked into the shop. He watched as Leung Jan instructed his two sons in Wing Chun. Chan Wa Shun secretly watched Leung Jan's instruction every chance he could and practiced the movements he saw. Eventually he begged Leung Jan to teach him kung fu. Because Leung Jan had known Chan Wa Shun for a long time and because Leung Jan knew Chan Wa Shun was a very moral man, Leung Jan agreed to take Chan Wa Shun as his student. Chan Wa Shun was Leung Jan's loyal student and the only non-family member that Leung Jan ever taught. Leung Yee Tai and Wong Wa Bo passed Wing Chun Kung Fu on to Leung Jan, a well known herbal doctor in Fatshan. Leung Jan grasped the innermost secrets of Wing Chun, and attained the highest level of proficiency. Leung Jan became very famous and many kung fu masters came to challenge him in his hometown of Fatshan. Challengers would travel hundreds of miles only to meet defeat, countless people approached him offering fortunes to be taught his style of fighting but he refused all that asked. After the marriage, Yim Wing Chun taught her kung fu to her husband Leung Bok Cho, who brought the knives into the system, he passed his kung fu techniques on to Wong Wa Bo. Wong Wa Bo was a member of an opera troupe on board a junk, known to the Chinese as the Red Junk Opera. Wong worked on the Red Junk with Leung Yee Tei. It so happened that Abbot Chi Shin, who fled from the temple, had disguised himself as a cook and was now working on the Red Junk. Chi Shin taught the six-and-a-half point long pole techniques to Leung Yee Tei. Wong Wa Bo was close to Leung Yee Tei, and they shared what they knew about kung fu. Together they improved their techniques, and thus the six-and-half-point long pole techniques were incorporated into Wing Chun Kung Fu. Yim Wing Chun was a young woman of the marrying age then, and her beauty attracted the attention of a local bully whose father owned the town. He tried to force Yim Wing Chun to marry him. Ng Mui learned of this, took pity on her and agreed to teach Yim Wing Chun fighting techniques so that she could protect herself. A challenge was issued, she told the bully if he could defeat her in a fight Yim Wing Chun would become his bride and if he lost then the deal was he would leave Yim Wing Chun alone. So Yim Wing Chun followed Ng Mui into the mountains, and started to learn the kung fu. She trained night and day, and mastered the techniques. Yim Wing Chun returned to fight the bully and beat him. After this she then was able to marry Leung Bok Cho, her betrothed husband. When Yim Wing Chun asked Ng Mui the name of her style she replied that the style has no name, Ng Mui then named it after her first student. In 1644 the Manchurians took over and an end came to the Ming Dynasty. Early in the Qing Dynasty the Shaolin Temple became a place where people loyal to the Ming family took refuge and revolutionary activities took place. Word of this leaked out to the Manchu government, which was hostile to the Chinese people. During this same time five of the temple elders were charged with developing a new form of Kung Fu. These activities aroused the fear of the Manchu government, which sent troops to attack the Monastery. The temple was attacked and fire was set to the monastery from the inside with the help of Siu Lim monk Ma Ning Yee. The monks who survived scattered. Buddhist Abbess Ng Mui, Abbot ChiShin, Abbot Pak Mei, Master Fung To Tak and Master Miu Hin escaped and fled their separate ways. After fleeing the temple Ng Mui often practiced her Kung Fu and spent much time furthering the principles she had worked on in the temple. One day while walking she witnessed a fight between a snake and a crane. Ng Mui eventually took refuge in White Crane Temple on Mt. Tai Leung (also known as Mt. Chai Har). There she came to know Yim Yee and his daughter Yim Wing Chun.
THE
HISTORY OF WING CHUN KUNG FU
Copyright © 2007 Self Defense
Academy All Rights Reserved.
Click on Link Below to return to |