Oh, man... where to start? Is this what you base these opinions on, Graham? Do you even know the details behind this story? I think not. So... here goes.
Leung Ting gave an interview and said he was the head of the school. The
Wing Tsun school.
His school. The one
he taught at - to
his students. He's given himself all sorts of ranks over the years... ranks in
his own school and organisation.
The journalist in question didn't write
Wing Tsun, he wrote "Wing Chun." And hence everyone ****ed their pants and a big conference was called.
In itself, this wasn't even necessary. As soon as the article was published and Leung Ting saw it, Leung Ting himself asked for a correction because the journalist had been inaccurate in his spelling of "Wing Tsun".
I have no idea if he ever got that correction - but I doubt it. But it makes no difference either way. Because...
Leung Ting made it clear to the Hong Kong Wing Chunners what had happened. It was funny, really. How could someone so junior be named the head of Yip Man's school? But LT explained the situation anyways. But things weren't so simple - the HK WCK guys called their conference anyways -
presumably to simply make it clear to the general public that Leung Ting was not the head of Yip Man's WCK.
I'm sure people were emotional, LOL, as your quoted text says. Who do you think called all the journalists? And why? It doesn't take much thought to work it out, fella.
"He also said that Grandmaster Ip Man personally selected him as the leader of the instructors of the Wing Chun School."
Leung Ting was appointed to a position as one of the Chief Instructor at Yip Man's Ving Tsun association. Appointed by Yip Man. If the journalist wrote what he did, the way he did, then that is his bending of the data, not Leung Ting's. LT has never made the claim that he was a leader, or teacher, of the
other instructors. How could he be. He was junior to so many. Probably, if such a thing were to have happened, it would have gone to Leung Sheung - or whomever else was most senior in Hong Kong. Certainly not to Leung Ting, LOL... which he knew full. They all knew this... and yet the conference was called anyways. Worked it out yet, Graham?
Sifu Wong Sheun Leung went on to point out: “The Wing Chun School is a Chinese kung fu school. It has no black belts and white belts at all, neither is its practiced to divide disciples into dans or levels."
Yes, traditionally there might not have been dans, levels, belts etc, whatever we want to call them. But in Leung Ting's "Wing Tsun" organisation he created a curriculum. It was structured around levels. That was his choice. His teaching method, to his students. He created uniforms too. Guess what... most Wing Chun organisations in the world today do a similar thing (uniforms, curriculum, levels). Leung Ting gave himself a rank. A rank in
his own organisation. Not a rank in the Wing Chun world as a whole. He was crystal clear on this, and always has been.
"Now, after all, is Leung Ting a disciple of Grandmaster Ip Man? Ip Man’s eldest son Sifu Ip Chun testified that he had never seen his father teaching pugilism to Leung Ting. This proves that Leung Ting is not a disciple personally-tutored by Ip Man."
This might just be the best bit of all the garbage you quote from, Graham. Ip Chun doesn't see his father teaching Leung Ting. Ergo, his father didn't do so.
Hilarious.
This, of course, is said following his father's death. Why? Because when YM was alive and well, everyone knew he was teaching Leung Ting. How? Because Yip Man said it himself in an interview with New Martial Hero.
Yes, that's right - Yip Man himself said it. I guess Ip Chun didn't get the memo (read the article).
So why is all of this such a concern, and why hold conferences, etc, when Leung Ting had already made everything very clear to those who mattered (the senior students of Yip Man)?
The answer is dead simple. Leung Ting was gaining attention. And gaining large numbers of students. Some people didn't like it. First chance they got... called a conference; invite the press, ignore the fact Leung Ting has already explained that the original reporter f*cked things up. What Leung Ting found stupid and kinda funny, turned out to be quite serious to others.
But why so serious, you ask? Because everyone knew that Yip Man had retired from public teaching and had taken on Leung Ting as a student, regardless. Because in doing so, YM had allowed this generation jumping - which was unusual at the time. Because this, combined with the fact that LT was clearly a talented teacher and good at his art, and clearly knew how to market himself and his Wing Tsun after YM's death... caused a problem.
He, LT, was gaining more public recognition than people senior to him.
Simple. As. That.