The Lineage of Yip Man

[Shadow_warrior8]

Chinese say, one day as a Sifu, one life time as a father
And to honour the Sifu, the way, ancestors

These years I have heard many stories on Yip Man, whose decision to teach wingchun in Hongkong, and to Bruce Lee, is the reason why many even know of wingchun in the western World. However some spread negative stories like, Yip man didnt learn everything, Someone sent his student to beat up Yip man, He was taught the wrong forms, He wasnt a good teacher etc. He lied about Leung Bik, the elder son of Leung Jan whose only student was Yip Man, which explains the difference in simplicity and internal elements different from Chan Wah Shun Lineage

Here I present from China, what is said about him from the legendary 90yrs old Sifu Gwok Fu. In this video, he talks about Master Yip Man, Master Yuen Kay San, Wong Shun Leung, William Cheung, Bruce Lee's father, Dim Mak etc....
In the written piece accompanying the video, it is written he mentions Leung Bik

http://cache.qihoo.com/wenda.php?do=...BD%D3%BD%B4%BA
http://bbs.ttx.com.cn/dispbbs.asp?bo...&star=1&page=1

While I take somethings with a pinch of salt(I am just biased), but then again I wasnt there. I didnt sit in the same space as Yuen Kay San, Yip Man, Yiu Choi, Gwok Fu, the greats of Wingchun. He was there, trained, talked, had tea with them.
Rumours and stories from people present about people passed. Nothing can be verified. Master Gwok Fu who describes Master Yuen Kay San's art as Fast and Ruthless, said he matched him in Gor Sao. Someone said Master Yuen Kay San also learnt from Ng Chun So, but then again I wasnt there, and I might not believe, or want to believe what this Great Man said- yeah its silly, I know. Everything I have seen of Master Yuen and Master Sum Nung in China- where he is recognised and honoured as the most Traditional of Wingchun, from Sum Nung's students, sifus is mindblowing impressive! Anyone has a time machine?

By all current China records, Yiu Choi, Yip Man and Yuen Kay San were legends in Guangzhou-the 3 heros, even before Yip Man went to hongkong. They were seen together often, training together, even overlooking each other students. So the rumour something is missing in Yip Man, he didnt learn everything, students beat up an elder, presumes the masters didnt exchange, werent close. This would not make sense. They definately exchanged their arts, points, concepts. If your training buddy had a technique, theory you didnt have, you would either try to learn it right? One thing is for sure, they had great respect for each other and were amiable together, as the whole provice had for 3 of them.

In China, they still think the world of Yip Man, hence the chinese goverment build Yip man Tong, ironically, Yip Man became world wide famous in hongkong.

Leung Bik- In China, Leung Bik is a real person, there is historical record that he existed, the strongest evidence from Heshan Kulo Goverment(and these guys can detail anyone's life up the the yellow emperor and beyond). In a series of articles Kulo Master Leung who teaches the 22 san sik, mentions Leung Bik. The Chinese goverment even detailed how many sons he had, and that they went to vietnam to teach. Also Sifu Garry recently posted 3 documents archived in Yip Man Tong, that Yip man said, Leung Bik handed to him.

http://www.heshan.gov.cn/html/2008/1...12112113-1.htm
http://www.heshan.gov.cn/html/2008/0...18175756-1.htm
http://gulao.heshan.gov.cn/html/2003...14102711-1.htm
http://www.gdheshan.gov.cn/html/2008...10111915-1.htm
http://www.gdheshan.gov.cn/html/2007...20174136-1.htm

The confirmation of Leung Bik explains to me, why Leung Sheung's art is soft, relaxed and powerful, like a women's art, as taught by Kenneth Chung, and described by my Sigung Peter Yang- that Leung Sheung taught him a internal soft art. Why Sigung Yip Chun always says to relaxed, to be sung, to use just enough energy. Why Master Hawkins and Bruce Lee said, Yip Man controlled them gently on their feet, in chi sao, with very slight movement or no movement, versus the more. In internal arts, a little energy is all it takes. From big movement to small movement, from small movement to no movement. According to Master Wang Xiang Zhai, that is the real movement

We chinese say, the tree that is big catches alot of wind. This is what I think of the rumours and stories of Yip man. In the latest Yip Man Movie, where in china, they are buzzing about, a scene says, Chinese lost of face is a No-No. Even if what is said is true, chinese loss of face is a No-No.

So I hope this will help those who are seeking to rubbish the name of Yip Man, now see there is another side of the coin, not found on youtube or english language. There is nothing missing from Yip Man Lineage. He did seek to simplify the art(as said by Master Yip Chun), for mass teaching maybe or maybe he wanted to follow in his Sigung's footsteps, Leung Jan, to present the essense of Wingchun
I have realised that most concepts are not repeated in Yip Man forms- hence only those loyal will learn everything, e.g chou dai choi in kulo, or taap choi in yahu- it is presented in Wooden Dummy. I just didnt know the name it was called in other lineages.

Here are my sharings on my ongoing project into Mainland China's Martial Arts. Of course we tend to believe who and what we want to believe
So I humbly present my small research project as a tribute to Legendary Yip Man.