Martial arts legend Ip Man’s son, Ip Ching, has died – 5 things to know about the wing chun grandmaster
Ip Ching and his older brother, Ip Chun, never met Bruce Lee, but worked as consultants with Donnie Yen on the Ip Man film series, and Ip Ching was a major character in the new Ip Man 4: The Finale
Douglas Parkes
Published: 12:00pm, 1 Feb, 2020
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Ip Ching, his father, the legendary Ip Man, and older brother Ip Chun (L-R). Image: SCMP
Ip Ching, the second son of martial arts legend Ip Man, died over Lunar New Year. Although not an well known as his immortally iconic father, Ip Ching still lived a life less ordinary. Here are five things you should know.
1. Like his father, Ip Ching was also a wing chun grandmaster Ip Ching learned wing chun from his father, Ip Man. Given that Ip Man’s school was at his home, learning wing chun was almost unavoidable. Both he and his older brother were students of the famous master who would eventually instruct a young Bruce Lee. Although the brothers would both become grandmasters, their martial arts studies were conducted out of respect for their father and a desire to maintain tradition as opposed to Lee’s innate passion.
2. He gave up martial arts to become a businessman Although both Ip Ching and Ip Chun assisted their father in teaching wing chun until the master’s death in 1972, they did not, initially, continue to teach lessons. Ching turned to business and opened a factory in the New Territories following the boom in manufacturing in Hong Kong during the 1960s. Ching offered private wing chun lessons but it was decades before he would become more active in martial arts.
3. He never met Bruce Lee Despite his father’s pivotal role in the martial arts education of Bruce Lee, Ip Ching never met the superstar. When Ip Man was training Bruce Lee, Ching and his older brother were still in Foshan in central Guangdong province. By the time the siblings moved to Hong Kong in 1962, fleeing the Cultural Revolution, Lee had already departed for the United States.
4. He served as a consultant on Donnie Yen’s films Ip Ching returned to wing chun in the 1990s following his retirement from business. Ching began teaching the martial art at the Ving Tsun Athletic Association in Mong Kok and hosting seminars around the world on his father’s legacy. Although not initially brought on-board for the hugely successful Ip Man series, in which Donnie Yen played the title role, both Ip Ching and Ip Chun worked with Yen as wing chun consultants on the third instalment. Possibly with one eye on the future …
5. Ip Ching was a major character in Ip Man 4 Perhaps one of the reasons Yen wished to engage Ip Man’s sons with his franchise is because he wanted to feature them in his films. Although Yen once swore that Ip Man 3 was going to be the series finale, he eventually conceded he wished to make a fourth film. Released in Hong Kong before Christmas, Ip Man 4: The Finale has Taiwanese actor Jim Liu play Ip Ching, whose fight against a bully sees him expelled from school. It is this event that pushes Ip Man to travel to San Francisco, where his former pupil Bruce Lee lives, to find a new home for his tempestuous son.
