Grandmaster Ip Man New Martial Hero Magazine Interview

Here is a translation of an original interview with Grandmaster Yip Man in the magazine "New Martial Hero“. It is one of only two ever published interviews with the famous Wing Chun grandmaster.Grandmaster Yip Man was a Fatshan native. When he was very young, he was quite weak. Therefore, his parents sent him to learn Wing Chun from Chan Wah Shun, the most outstanding student of the famous Dr. Leung Jan.

When Grandmaster Yip described his past, he did so with great warmth.

New Martial Hero: “Did Chan Wah Shun have the nickname Jau-Chin Wah (Wah the Money-Changer)?”

Yip Man: “This nickname does not represent my instructor’s character. Other than ‘Wah the Money Changer’, he had also a less graceful nickname. ‘Ngau-Chin Wah’ of ‘Wah the Bull’. He was the headstudent of Dr Leung Jan”.

New Martial Hero: “This name indicates that Wah the Money Changer was a very bad tempered person who liked fighting all the time, right? How many students did Wah the Money Changer admit? How were you ranked amongst your kungfu brohters?”

Yip Man: “Including me, Wah Kung only admitted 16 students since opening his kungfu school. I was 11 years old when I became his student during his latter years.”

New Martial Hero: “We Chinese have a saying that the last son is the most beloved one. According to the Chinese custom, since you were his last kungfu son, you must be the most beloved student of his. Right?”

Yip Man, smiling: “You’re right. When I learnt under Wah Kung, he was already 70. He was a bit weak at that time. However, he still corrected my mistakes with great patience. Futhermore, he also told his other students to teach me. As a result, my techniques improved at high speed.”

New Martial Hero: “It’s a good question. Let me tell you why. In olden days, people were very strict concerning the teacher/student relationship. Before they admitted a student, they had to know the character of this would-be student very clearly. This is what is called ‘to choose a right student to teach’. Secondly, it also depended on whether the student could afford to pay his school fees or not”.

Grandmaster Yip stopped for awhile. He then talked i a rather low tone: “The fact is, not too many people could affordd to pay for such a high school fee. For example: at the time I paid, the red packet for the ‘Student-admitting Ceremony’ had to contain 20 taels of silver. And I had to pay 8 taels of silver each month as my school fee.”

New Martial Hero: “How much was 20 taels of silver worth, in terms of your living standards?”

Yip Man, after thinking for a while: “For 20 taels of silver you could marry a wife, say if you did it economically. Also, with no more than 1 and a half taels of silver you could buy 1 picul of rice.” The Grandmaster continued: “That was why, at that time, most of the people who learnt kungfu were rich people. These people could leave their jobs and live in the old temples in deep mountains for training. It is not the same as today when people can easily learn kungfu anywhere.”

New Martial Hero: “After the death of Wah the Money Changer, you left Fatshan and came to Hong Kong to study in St. Stephens’s College. Did you learn Wing Chun kungfu again when you were in Hong Kong?”

Yip Man, smiling: “Of course I did! And I can say that it was because of a highly proficient Wing Chun expert whom I met that I learnt the most advanced Wing Chun techniques.”

New Martial Hero: “Who was that highly proficient expert?”

Yip Man: “It was Leung Bik, the eldest son of Dr Leung Jan. The story of how I came to meet my teacher Leung Bik was really quite dramatic. It’s a long story.”

But after repeated requests by the writer, Yip Man started telling the following story in detail:

At the time Grandmaster Yip left Fatshan to go to study in Hong Kong, was already very skilled in the basic wing chun fighting techniques. He always fought with his classmates at the school. Although Yip Man was not tall, he was very skilful in fighting techniques. Therefore, he could defeat all his classmates, even those that were much taller and stronger than he. For this reason, he became arrogant for he believed that nobody could match him.

After six months, one of Yip Man’s classmates, surnamed Lai, whose father ran a big silk company named “Kung Hang Silk Company” in Jervois Street of Sheung Wan, told Yip that there was a friend of father’s living in their house. He was in his 50s. This man knew some kungfu techniques. He offered a friendly sparring with Yip Man.

At that time Yip had never been defeated, and so he wasted no time in accepting the challenge. Lai made an appointment to introduce them to each other on one Sunday afternoon.

On that Sunday, Yip went to the house of his classmate. After being introduced to this middle-aged man, Yip looked at him appraisingly. To Yip’s eyes, he looked more like a typical slim-gentleman than someone who really knew kung fu.

After a short time, Yip Man frankly challenged the man to a sparring match.

With a smile, the middle-aged man said: “Well, Yip Man, so you are interested in doing some sparring with me. Before your fight me, I can tell you not to worry about me. All you need to do is attack me to any part of my body with your full strength and that’s all!”

On hearing this, the arrogant Yip Man, though apparently still unruffled, was actually so mad that all he wanted to do was to beat this man up!

No sooner did the middle-aged man give Yip Man a hand-signal inviting him to attack than he was subjected to Yip Man’s aggressive rain of punches. However, this man was so quick that Yip Man could not match his counter-attack movements. In an instant, Yip Man was forced to withdraw into a corner. The man stopped at the same moment.

After the first contact, and already defeated, Yip Man could not believe that this man had gained the upper hand so quickly. Therefore, he asked the man if he could try again. Once again, Yip Man was completely controlled by this man. He could not do anything against him! This time, Yip Man knew that he had surely been beaten by a real kungfu expert. Without saying a word, Yip Man went away with great disappointment.
After that friendly sparring match, Yip Man was so depressed that he did not even dare to mention that he knew kung fu.

One week afterwards, Yip was told by Lai that the middle-aged man wanted to see him again. At that time, Yip Man rather afraid and too ashamed to see the middle-aged man again. He told Lai: “I feel too embarrassed to see him again. I am not his match at all.”

However, to Yip Man’s surprise, Lai told Yip that his father’s friend actually praised Yip’s kungfu techniques highly. That was why he wanted to see Yip and talk to him again. Lai started telling Yip Man the secret of his father’s friend. In fact the one who had fought with Yip Man was none other than Leung Bik, the son of Dr. Leung Jan!

After learning the truth, Yip Man thought to himself: “Gosh! That is why he is so good in kung fu techniques. Actually this time I was fighting with a high-rank Wing Chun expert!”

Immediately Yip Man’s realized what an opportunity this was. He was still not that highly skilled in the kungfu techniques taught to him by his si-fu Wah the Money Changer. This would be the best chance for him to learn the more advanced Wing Chun techniques. Therefore, he wasted no time in asking Lai, his classmate, to take him to the Kung Hang Silk Company to meet Leung Bik.

Since Yip Man was a genius in terms of learning kung fu, Leung Bik was very happy to teach all he knew to Yip Man.

A few years later, Leung Bik got tired of living in Hong Kong and was thinking of going back to Fatshan. At that time Yip Man had already attained the highest proficiency in kungfu techniques.

The Origin Of Ving Tsun

BY THE LATE GRANDMASTER YIP MAN

(from "Genealogy of Ving Tsun Kung Fu" from the Ving Tsun Athletic Association)

The text in Chinese was a rough draft written by the late Grandmaster Yip Man and was supposed to be the preface for the purpose of organizing the “Ving Tsun Fellowship”, once upon a time. However, the Ving Tsun Fellowship never came into existence; instead, the “Hong Kong Ving Tsun Athletic Association” was finally established on August 24, 1967.

The founder of the Ving Tsun Kung Fu System, Miss Yim Ving Tsun, was a native of Canton, China. As a young girl, she was intelligent and athletic, upstanding and manly. She was bethroned to Leung Bok Chau, a salt merchant of Fukien. Soon after that, her mother died. Her father, Yim Yee, was wrongfully accused of a crime and nearly went to jail. So the family moved far away and finally settled down at that foot of Tai Leung Mountain at the Yunnan—Szechuan border. All this happened during the reign of Emperor K’anghsi (1622-1722).

At the time, Kung Fu was becoming very strong in Siu Lam Monastery (Shaolin Monastery) of Mt. Sung, Honan. This aroused the fear of the Manchu government, which sent troops to attack the monastery. They were unsuccessful. A man named Chan Man Wai was the First Placed Graduate of the Civil Service Examination that year. He was seeking favor with the government, and suggested a plan. He plotted with Siu Lam monk Ma Ning Yee and others. They set fire to the Monastery while soldiers attacked it from outside. Siu Lam was burned down and the monks scattered. Buddhist Abbess Ng Mui, Abbot Chi Shin, Abbot Pak Mei, Master Fung To Tak and Master Miu Him escaped and fled their separate ways.

Ng Mui took refuge in White Crane Temple on Mt. Tai Leung (also known as Mt. Chai Har). There, she came to know Yim Yee and his daughter, Yim Ving Tsun. She brought bean curds at their store and they became friends.

Ving Tsun was a very young woman then and her beauty attracted the attention of a local bully. He tried to force Ving Tsun to marry him. She and her father were very worried. Ng Mui learned this and took pity on Ving Tsun. She agreed to teach Ving Tsun fighting techniques so that she could protect herself. Then she would be able to solve the problem with the bully and marry Leung Bok Chau, her betrothed husband. So, Ving Tsun followed Ng Mui into the mountains and started to learn Kung Fu. She trained night and day, and mastered the techniques. Then she challenged the local bully to a fight and beat him. Ng Mui set off to travel around the country, but before she left she told Ving Tsun to strictly honor the Kung Fu traditions, to develop her Kung Fu after her marriage and to help the people working to overthrow the Manchu government and restore the Ming Dynasty. This is how Ving Tsun Kung Fu was handed down by Abbess Ng Mui.

After the marriage, Ving Tsun taught her Kung Fu to her husband Leung Bok Chau and he passed his Kung Fu techniques on to Leung Lan Kwai. Leung Lan Kwai passed it on to Wong Wah Bo. Wong Wah Bo was a member of an opera troupe on board a junk, known to the Chinese as the “Red Junk”. Wong worked on the Red Junk with Leung Yee Tei. It so happened that Abbot Chi Shin, who fled from Siu Lam, had disguised himself as a cook and was now working on the Red Junk. Chi Shin taught the six and a half point Long pole techniques to Leung Yee Tei. Wong Wah Bo was close to Leung Yee Tei and they shared what they knew about Kung Fu. Together they correlated and improved their techniques and thus the Six and a half point Long pole techniques were incorporated into Ving Tsun Kung Fu.

Leung Yee Tei passed the Kung Fu on to Leung Jan, a well known herbal doctor in Fat Shan. Leung Jan grasped the innermost secrets of Ving Tsun and attained the highest level of proficiency. Many Kung Fu Masters came to challenge him, but all were defeated. Leung Jan became very famous and later he passed his Kung Fu on to Chan Wah Shan, who took me as his student many decades ago. I studied Kung Fu alongside my brothers such as Ng Siu Lo, Ng Chung So, Chan Yu Min and Lui Yu Jai. Ving Tsun was thus passed down to us and we are eternally grateful to our Kung Fu ancestors and teachers. We will always remember and appreciate our roots and this shared feeling will always keep our Kung Fu brothers close together. This is why I am organizing the Ving Tsun Fellowship, and I hope my Kung Fu brothers will support me in this. This will be very important in the promotion of Kung Fu.

Seventeen Keys to Wing Chun

- Be ferocious when clashing.

- Be fast with your fist.

- Be forceful when applying power.

- Be accurate with timing.

- Be continuous when applying Fan Sau.

- Do not use all your strength.

- Protect your own posture.

- Be alert with your eyes.

- Unite your waist and stance.

- Coordinate your hands and feet.

- Movements must be agile.

- Comprehend the principles of Yin and Yang.

- Remain calm.

- Be steady with your breathing and strength.

- Sink your inner chi.

- Be commanding with your fighting demeanor.

- Be quick to end the fight.

Ip Man Maxims of Wing Chun, Kuen Kuit

Maxims of Wing Chun

- Retain what comes in, send off what retreats. Rush in on loss of hand contact.

- Do not be lax when your opponent is not advancing.

- Once your opponent moves, his center of gravity changes.

- Make the first move to have control. Attack according to timing.

- Timing is achieved through practice.

- A strong attitude and posture gives an advantage over your opponent.

- Being alert and adapting to the situation allows maximum results for minimum effort.

- The body follows the movement of the hands. The waist and the stance move together.

- Complement the hands with posture to make good use of the centerline.

- The eyes and the mind travel together, paying attention to leading edge of attack.

- Charge into the opponent. Execute three moves together.

- Strike any presented posture if it is there. Otherwise strike where you see motion. Beware of sneak attacks, leakage attacks and invisible centerline attacks.

- Soft and relaxed strength will put your opponent in jeopardy.

- Coordinate the hands and feet. Movement is together.

- Do not take risks and you will always connect to the target.

- Have confidence and your calmness will dominate the situation.

- Occupy the inner gate to strike deep into the defense.

- To win in an instant is a superior achievement.

- The Yin Yang principle should be thoroughly understood.

- The theory of Wing Chun has no limit in it applications.

- Be humble to request your teacher for guidance.

- Understand the principles for your training.

- Upon achieving the highest level of proficiency, the application of techniques will vary according to the opponent.

Wing Chun Fist, easy to learn, hard to master

咏春拳, 易学, 难精

Wing Chun Fist, easy to learn, hard to master

Dinner pictures with Grandmaster Ip Chun, Sifu Samuel Kwok and other wingchun elders

Traditional Wing Chun Rules of Conduct

Traditional Wing Chun Rules of Conduct

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1. Remain disciplined - Conduct yourself ethically as a martial artist.
2. Practice courtesy and righteousness - Serve the society and respect your elders.
3. Love your fellow students - Be united and avoid conflicts.
4. Limit your desires and pursuit of bodily pleasures - Preserve the proper spirit.
5. Train diligently - Maintain your skills.
6. Learn to develop spiritual tranquility - Abstain from arguments and fights.
7. Participate in society - Be moderate and gentle in your manners.
8. Help the weak and the very young - Use martial skills for the good of humanity.
9. Pass on the tradition - Preserve this Chinese art and rules of conduct

Wing Chun Kuen Kuit

Wing Chun Kuen Kuit are “Words of Wisdom” which capture in poetic terms the finer attributes of Wing Chun Kung Fu. “Kuen Kuit” is Cantonese for “Martial sayings” , “Fist poetry” or “Fighting songs.” Chinese martial arts employ Kuen Kuit as concise, rhythmic verses which present a method or philosophy of a style. Even among competing Wing Chun traditions, many sayings are recognized and shared. One significant proverb cites, “Loy Lau Hoi Sung, Lut Sau Jik Chung.” This means: “Retain what’s coming in; Send off what’s retreating; Rush in upon loss of hand contact.” Regardless of the Wing Chun tradition, this advice bridges many differences and defines one of the most important strategies of the art.

The original Wing Chun Kuen Kuit are believed to descended from an ancient, oral tradition, and reportedly were connected to southern Chinese secret societies of the nineteenth century. Moy Yat wrote, “It was during the ching dynasty that many of the proverbs were part of secret codes and rituals developed by the rebels dedicated to overthrowing the Manchus.” Over the passing years, unrelated or inapplicable sayings were eventually discarded, the remaining few are described as being “truly intrinsic” to Wing Chun Kung Fu.

“Wing Chun Chuen Jing Tung” is an important proverb usually displayed in the traditional Wing Chun school. This refers to the genuineness of the martial art and reads, “Wing Chun authentically passing down.” This means passing on the true system of Wing Chun “unchanged by your own ideas.” Other well known proverbs cite: Kuen Yau Sum Faat (The punch starts from the heart); Ying Da Juck Da, But Ying Da, But Ho Da … (Strike when you should, Do not strike when you should not …); Chew Ying Joi Ying (Face toward and chase the opponent); Chum Jong Sau Jone (Sink the elbow, protect the center)4; Guan Mo Leung Heung (The staff doesn’t make two sounds), etc.

Wing Chun’s Traditional Rules of Conduct and the popular sayings above may be easily recognized. Others have been preserved based upon the discretion of Augustine Fong, and these originally appears in Randy William 6 book set. There are maxims, training proverbs and sayings for all Wing Chun forms. The majority of these are genuine, artistic commentaries on Wing Chun boxing. It may be noticed some verses are similar to training proverbs presented in the Chinese Internal Arts. Thus, “People do not know the extent of my skills, but I know their abilities,” has been attributed to Yang Lew-Shan: “The theory of Tai-Chi is that nobody knows you, only you know them.” This is a popular saying, as are those which mention invisible techniques such as the famed Mo Ying Gerk (No Shadow kick).

While masters of self-defense declare that real experience is the best teacher, Wing Chun proverbs do excel as wonderful reminders and clues to the mastery of the martial art. These poetic stanzas preserve a secret Kung Fu tradition, a legacy which can be rendered in beautiful Chinese calligraphy. Wing Chun Kuen Kuit are treasures waiting to be discovered; they remain an outstanding contribution to the world of Chinese martial arts.