Yip Man

Many recollect that he had drug use problems and experienced financial strain due to his vice. They say that he was never really happy after losing his affluent lifestyle in China.

Bruce Lee attributes him as a primary inspiration and a teacher he admired for all of his life. Yip and Lee were friends beyond Lee's years at the school. Bruce Lee's wife details the impact of his teacher in her book 'The Man Only I Knew.'

Yip Man was born in 1893 to very wealthy parents Ip Oi Dor and Ng Shui and was the third of four children. His upbringing reflected his family's status - he was a determined student and received a high level of education including college. His martial arts education began at age 13 under Chan Wah-shun and continued throughout his early years.

It is reported that during his days at ‘St. Stephen's College’ in Hong Kong, Yip Man intervened in an altercation between a police officer and a woman and subdued the officer with martial arts moves. A student told a nearby man about the fight and Yip was invited to meet him.

The man challenged Yip to show him his martial arts skills and, after seeing Yip's form and moves, deemed them rudimentary. The man then revealed himself to Leung Bik, the master of Yip's former teacher Chan, and took him under his tutelage. Some of the details of the account have been questioned, but his education under Leung Bik was a critical point in his Wing Chun career.

In 1917, he returned to his childhood home in Foshan, China to become a police officer. He began teaching Wing Chun privately.

From 1937 to 1941, he fought in the army against the Japanese invasion. During this time, most of his property was ruined or lost and his wife fell ill. After the war, he was recruited by the ‘Nationalist Party’ to serve as a police officer as China rebuilt.

During his career as a police officer, he taught many students Wing Chun on the side. He taught several students that would go on to teach Wing Chun themselves.

In 1949, after civil war, the political tides changed and the ‘Chinese Communist Party’ rose to power. As a police officer for the opposing ‘Nationalist Party’, he was likely to be arrested by communist officials.

At 51, he lost the rest of his fortune. Left with only the things he could carry, he fled to Hong Kong. He set up the first public Wing Chun martial arts training facility. His most famous student, Bruce Lee, came to study with him in 1953. Lee was 13 years old and remained a lifelong friend.

He wrote the first comprehensive history of Wing Chun. A part of the text was supposed to be utilized for the proposal which was submitted for establishment of the ‘Ving Tsun Tong Fellowship’.