Well as Master Kwok's grandstudent and Sifu Tony Massengills student (Author and co-author respectively), I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with the review only because I think the reviewer had an expectation of the videos that it was not intended by the authors to give. The purpose was to standardize what was Ip Man's Wing Chun Method, particularly the forms. Even the "slouch" was something that Ip Man himself did and taught. There are numerous photos of the Great Grandmaster is such a "slouch" position. The videos were not meant to be exhaustive (can you imagine the size of the DVD library it would take to explore that!!! Holy SCHNIKEE's)

As per the many different versions of Ip Man's methods...you have to remember that only 4 people en toto completed the system under him, including his own son, Ip Ching. Many MANY MANY people - even the early students of foshan trained with him only for a while but did not finish. They say "well he taught me this" but Ip Chun has gone on record saying that his father did not teach different things to different people. According to Ip Chun, his oldest son, that would have made his father dishonest. According to his sons, Ip Man would teach a person the correct method...if they veered into error, he would correct them. If they persisted a third time, Ip Man would allow them to continue into error. He was a very stern teacher and somewhat of a perfectionist it seems (This is from Ip Chun's book "Wing Chun" with Danny Connor). From what I have been told, many of the "early" students didnt' finish the system. That is why their Chum Kiu's and Biu Jees and Mook Yan Jong forms, and the pole and especially the knives look COMPLETELY different!!! Ip Ching has told the history of Wing Chun before and related this exact story. Ip Ching lived and trained with his father for 10 straight years recieving intimate knowledge of his Father's own kung fu. Ip Ching lived with Ip Man night and day and according to Ip Ching "training till 3 in the morning" (1999 VTAA World Conference, after Biu Jee demonstration). The truth is out there, but there are many people who are using Ip Man's name to give credibility to things that Ip Man never taught!! There are people with kicks in their Siu Lim Tao form for crying out loud saying that that is what they learned from Ip Man "training with him night and day for 9 months before leaving to America"....come on!!!

The purpose of the videos was to standardize the forms that Ip Man taught. Those were the order of movements that he taught. That was even the purpose of attempting to get all of the forms on 8mm just before Ip Man passed away. At that time, people were already starting to branch away and say they learned from Ip Man. Funny how people's Siu Lim Tao or Chum Kiu doesn't look like Ip Man's? Could it be that even Ip Man isn't doing Ip Man Wing Chun?

As for the Chi sao explanations, there is a further video series on chi sao that was just filmed and will be released later this year as well as a two DVD (I believe its two) that will be on the Mook Yan Jong (according to Ip Man, Ip Ching has some slight differences that he introduced as well in the biu jee form which Master Kwok acknowledges in the Biu Gee DVD).

Master Kwok will be in TExas in October of this coming year for a seminar (2 days maybe!!), hopefully with Master Massengill as well. He can tell you himself that he has trained with some of the early students with the intentions to track down Ip Man's wing chun. That is his personal quest; to find the true Ip Man System. He's found that in BOTH of Ip Man's sons, Grandmasters Ip Chun and Ip Ching.

Respectfully submitted,

Moses Flores
Texas Representative
Traditional Ip Man Wing Chun Assocation, Samuel Kwok Wing Chun Martial Arts Assocation