Yip Man Master of Chinese martial arts Date of Birth: 14.10.1893 Country: Hong Kong

Biography of Ip Man

Ip Man, also known as Yip Man, was a master of Chinese martial arts. He was born on October 14, 1893, in Foshan, Guangdong province, China. Coming from an aristocratic and relatively wealthy family, Ip Man did not inherit any social status or significant wealth as the youngest son.

In his childhood, Ip Man received an excellent traditional Chinese education, which included the study of martial arts. At the age of six, he became a student of Chan Wah Shun, a renowned master of the Wing Chun kung fu style who was already in his old age. When Chan Wah Shun passed away, one of his last requests to his senior student, Ng Chung So, was to continue Ip Man's training. Thus, Ng Chung So became Ip Man's second teacher. In 1908, at the age of fifteen, Ip Man was sent to Hong Kong to receive a more modern education at St. Stephen's College. In Hong Kong, he soon met Leung Bik, the son and student of Leung Jan, another teacher of Chan Wah Shun. Ip Man became a student of Leung Bik and continued to study Wing Chun in a slightly different interpretation. He later stated that he took a good foundation from Chan Wah Shun and learned advanced techniques from Leung Bik. Ip Man returned to Foshan in his early twenties as an accomplished martial arts master. Over the years, he engaged in numerous fights with renowned fighters and organized joint training sessions in the garden of his home, which contributed to his growing skills and reputation.

Ip Man's main occupation became serving as a police officer. He participated in the arrest of dangerous criminals, relying on his martial arts skills, as he had a disdain for firearms and preferred not to use them. Ip Man married a woman named Cheung Wing Sing, and they had two sons and two daughters. During this period, although he did not have formal students, he taught martial arts to several relatives and colleagues.

During the Japanese invasion of China that began in 1937, Ip Man's hometown of Foshan quickly fell under the control of Japanese occupation forces. In this difficult situation, Ip Man decided to avoid any collaboration or contact with the Japanese administration. As a result, he lost his job and means of livelihood. One of his friends, the owner of a cotton mill, occasionally helped him out. In gratitude, Ip Man initially took his son as a student and then began teaching Wing Chun kung fu to the workers at the mill. This activity did not go unnoticed by the Japanese authorities, and Ip Man received an offer to train Japanese soldiers in hand-to-hand combat. Refusing to cooperate with the occupiers but not wanting to openly confront them, Ip Man was forced to leave Foshan and hide in rural areas. After the end of World War II in 1945, Ip Man returned to Foshan and rejoined the police force. In the ensuing civil war, he sided with the conservative Kuomintang party, which formally ruled the Republic of China but had lost control over China's territory. When the Communist Party came to power in 1949, Ip Man fled first to Macau and then to Hong Kong. As an aristocrat by birth, a supporter of the Kuomintang, and a former police officer, he had enough reasons to be concerned about his own safety after the Communists took power. His wife and children remained in China. At the age of 56, with no means and almost no connections in a foreign country, Ip Man made the decision to break the clan tradition of martial arts transmission and openly teach Wing Chun kung fu for a fee. However, his approach was far from the modern commercial approach to martial arts instruction. According to his son, Ip Man never advertised his teachings or even hung signs indicating that he taught martial arts. Future students found him on their own, and Ip Man, without making any promises to teach anyone, reserved the right to accept or reject individuals as his students. "It is true that it is difficult for a student to find a good teacher, but it is even more difficult for a teacher to find a good student," said Ip Man.

Although Ip Man began teaching Wing Chun kung fu openly due to circumstances, the spread and promotion of the art became his life's work. His students quickly gained fame for Wing Chun in Hong Kong, and by the beginning of the 1970s, this style was being taught in America, Europe, and Australia. Ip Man never claimed to be the head of any school, and his fully trained students began teaching Wing Chun under their own names.

In 1962, Ip Man's sons, Ip Chun and Ip Ching, moved from China to Hong Kong and also became his students.

Only in the last few years of his life did Ip Man stop leading group classes, but he continued to give personal lessons in his home. In 1972, he was diagnosed with throat cancer, and on December 1, 1972, Ip Man passed away. Wanting to preserve the Wing Chun system and pass it on to future generations, a few weeks before his death, Ip Man recorded his execution of the main forms on film. Seeing how a terminally ill person could deliver powerful strikes to a wooden dummy, it becomes clear that mastery remained with Ip Man until the very end. In Hong Kong, Ip Man gained fame during his lifetime, but in mainland China, his name was forgotten for a long time. In late 2002, the Ip Man Museum was opened in Foshan, recognizing his historical role in his homeland despite his past political beliefs.

In the eyes of Wing Chun practitioners from different branches, the image of Ip Man is consistently surrounded by an aura of respect and gratitude. While he did not hold any official title in his lifetime, he is now referred to as the patriarch or grandmaster of Wing Chun. It is difficult to overestimate Ip Man's contribution to the spread and popularization of Wing Chun kung fu. He was the first to break away from the closed clan system of knowledge transmission and openly accept students based on their abilities, regardless of their family or friendship ties. As a result, Wing Chun became extremely popular in Hong Kong and was soon spread around the world by Ip Man's students. With one of his students, Bruce Lee, the interest in kung fu in Europe and America in the 1970s surged. Until then, the Western world was familiar with Japanese martial arts but not with Chinese ones. At the same time, in China itself, traditional martial arts were persecuted and fell into decline due to the Cultural Revolution. If today wushu is actively supported and promoted by the Chinese government, it is largely due to its popularity outside of China.

It is known that Ip Man continuously modified and developed the technical arsenal of Wing Chun, but it is difficult to determine his personal contribution because many of his students further modified the technique. Therefore, it is almost impossible to find a "pure" Ip Man Wing Chun, let alone find examples of his teachers' kung fu for comparison. Overall, Ip Man taught traditional Wing Chun and never aimed to create his own style.

Although Ip Man is sometimes called the founder of modern Wing Chun, this is primarily due to his contribution to the theory and teaching methodology of this martial art. Today, Wing Chun is known as a compact and rational style. Instead of memorizing complex movements, students are introduced to a small set of principles from which they can evaluate the correctness and effectiveness of various techniques. The theory of Wing Chun is formulated in rational terms, such as "central line" and "redirecting the line of attack." However, in the early 20th century, Wing Chun, like other styles of Chinese kung fu, was dominated by esoteric terminology and even imitated the behavior of animals. Ip Man gave Wing Chun its modern structure and practically purged the teaching methodology of religious-mystical and "animal" elements, perhaps anticipating that future generations of Wing Chun practitioners would not be familiar with traditional Chinese religions or the behavior of local fauna.

Shortly before his death, Ip Man decided to create an association that would unite his numerous students. Today, such a step may seem natural, but in 1967, his "Athletic Association of Wing Chun" became the first officially registered organization in Hong Kong dedicated to the spread and development of the martial art. The association has since become international, with its membership constantly growing. Many versions of the popular legend of the origin of Wing Chun exist, varying in details but coinciding in key moments. The legend attributes the source of the knowledge to the Southern Shaolin Monastery, not the well-known Shaolin that survived until the 20th century, but its sister monastery, according to legend, located in Fujian province and destroyed by the Manchu rulers of China in the 17th or 18th century. Furthermore, the Wing Chun system takes shape under the influence of a battle between two animals: a crane and a snake. Finally, at the origins of the style, we see two women: a nun and her disciple, a simple village girl, whose name eventually became the name of the style.

Ip Man's autograph of this legend has been preserved. At first glance, the text he wrote may seem like a condensed retelling of full versions filled with vivid details, but in reality, the situation is quite the opposite: there seem to be no earlier texts of this legend. It is challenging to determine to what extent Ip Man relied on the information he received as a child from his first teacher, Chan Wah Shun, and to what extent he used his own imagination when writing his version. Nevertheless, he gave the legend the appearance of a short connected narrative and skillfully stylized it according to the unofficial canon for works of this kind. As a result, his version of the origin of the style was initially unquestionably accepted by the Wing Chun community and later became embellished with additional details.

Despite ongoing attempts by modern researchers to understand the historical roots of Wing Chun kung fu, Ip Man's retold legend remains unconfirmed but also unrefuted, much like anything related to the mythical Southern Shaolin Monastery. On the internet, one can find embellished versions of this legend presented as authentic Wing Chun history, with the source text by Ip Man often left unmentioned.

Elements of Ip Man's retold legend formed the basis of the script for the 1994 film "Wing Chun." Prior to 2008, Ip Man only appeared as a secondary character in films about Bruce Lee, with his son, Ip Chun, playing the role of the master in one of them.

In late 2008, the drama film "Ip Man" (also known as "Yip Man") was released, depicting the master's life during the occupation of China by Japanese forces. Ip Man was portrayed by actor Donnie Yen. While the film incorporates some real events from Ip Man's life, the demonstrated fighting techniques correspond to the Hong Kong branch of Wing Chun kung fu. However, the film cannot be considered a biographical account. The main character, like his historical counterpart, tries to avoid contact with the Japanese occupation forces but ultimately becomes a symbol of local resistance. Fleeing from persecution by the Japanese administration in his hometown, the film's hero escapes to Hong Kong with his wife and son.

This interpretation of Ip Man's departure from mainland China does not correspond to his real biography in terms of dates or substance. Today, with Ip Man's historical contributions recognized in his homeland, it is understandable that the creators of the film chose not to emphasize the fact that the master was, in fact, in opposition to the ruling regime in China to this day.

In 2010, a sequel to the film about Ip Man was released, titled "Ip Man 2," which tells the story of the master's life in Hong Kong. The second film differs much more from the teacher's real biography than the first one. Now, Ip Man represents the defender of Chinese martial arts' honor against British boxing, which definitively shifts the film's genre into pseudo-biographical territory. However, the film captivates with its beauty. At the end, they showed a boy who was Bruce Lee, and he began training with the master at the age of 16. In the same year, another film called "The Legend Is Born: Ip Man" was released, which tells the story of the master's childhood and his study of wushu.

In conclusion, Ip Man's life and contributions to the world of martial arts are still revered and respected. Despite the variations and embellishments in his retold legend, the impact he had on the spread of Wing Chun kung fu cannot be overstated. His decision to openly teach the art and accept students based on their abilities rather than family ties revolutionized the traditional system of martial arts transmission. Today, Wing Chun is practiced and celebrated worldwide, thanks in large part to Ip Man's dedication and influence.