KUNG FU YIP MAN 2

Teenage Years in Hong Kong and Meeting of His Second Teacher

He later traveled to Hong Kong to pursue academic studies at the St. Stephen's College at Stanley. This was an upmarket secondary school for kids from wealthy families and foreigners who lived in Hong Kong. Yip Man was a real troublemaker and would get quick into fights and even upon one occasion beat up the school's Indian doorman. After six months in Hong Kong, one of his classmates by the name of Lai whose father owned a large silk factory in Jervois Street in Sheung Wan, told Yip Man of an older gentleman who was living in their house and who knew martial arts. This same person extended an invitation to Yip Man to a friendly exchange of techniques. Yip Man had never lost a fight up to that moment and was very confident and proud of his Wing Chun skills and gladly accepted. This gentleman, Leung Bik, asked Yip Man to demonstrate his Wing Chun Kuen, which Yip Man was initially happy to do and then Leung Bik pointed out a number of deficiencies in the boy's skills. Yip Man was enraged and when he was finally asked to practice Chi-Sao (a form of sensitivity training used in Wing Chun Kuen) thinking that he now had an opportunity to teach the old man a lesson, Yip Man immediately threw a punch which was diverted, with Yip Man thrown effortlessly to one side, two more attempts both left Yip Man lying on the floor wondering what had just happened. Yip Man was furious and stormed out; it was only the next day when he had calmed down and asked who Leung Bik was, he realised that he had a lot to learn from this man. He went back to Leung Bik, apologised and asked him to take him on as a student. For the next four years, until Leung Bik's death, Yip Man refined his Wing Chun skills under this master's guidance.

Leung Bik was very clever and analytical as a teacher besides his martial proficiency which impressed Yip Man greatly. Thus, eventually Yip Man became the product of two masters - one a better fighter and the other a better teacher.

Back in Futshan

At around the age of 24 Yip Man returned to Futshan. Being from a well-to-do family, he didn't need to work and was able to devote the next years to refining his Wing Chun skills and passing them to others. Yip Man installed a wooden dummy in the corner of his living room. Yuen Kay Shan for example was practising with Yip Man at that time. Yuen Kay Shan, like Yip Man, was from a wealthy merchant family in Futshan and besides working as a lawyer part-time, he devoted himself to the study of Wing Chun Kuen and thus reached quite an advanced level of skill.

Yip Man also got married to a lady by the name Cheung Wing Sing and had four children. Two sons (Yip Chun and Yip Ching) and two daughters (Yip Ar Sum and Yip Ar Woon). Challenge matches between Kung Fu schools were an everyday reality of Chinese martial arts culture and Yip Man quickly acquired a reputation that made him the target for many of these challenges. He was however able to dispatch all his challengers.

While Yip Man had been away from Futshan his Wing Chun skills had improved tremendously and he found himself more advanced in his skills than his former fellow students under Chan Wah Shun. This provoked complaints from his elder Kung Fu brothers who believed he had learned a different kind of martial art and treated him as a traitor to Wing Chun Kuen. This resulted in many arguments between Yip Man and his elder Kung Fu brothers. Fortunately, Ng Chung So successfully explained the situation to the other students. He revealed that their master, Chan Wah Shun, although highly skilled in the art, had not been a scholar, therefore he wasn't in the position of explaining in a proper way the theories of Wing Chun Kuen to his students. Whereas Leung Bik was a learned scholar in addition to being a highly skilled martial artist. Therefore he could give explicit explanations of the principles of Wing Chun Kuen to Yip Man. This was where the difference between Yip Man and his elder Kung Fu brothers lay.

Yip Man was known for being a modest and unassuming man with a friendly and humorous manner and made a point of never indulging in laying claim to supernatural powers or aggrandized stories of his fighting prowess. This earned him a reputation of being an honest and honourable gentleman. As a result of his reputation not only for martial skills, but also for his honour and honesty, Yip Man was offered the job of police chief of Futshan. He carried out this job diligently using much of his spare time to practice and teach Wing Chun Kuen in his house.