Wing
Chun Blog – Sifu Garry
Leung
Bik / Ip Man System
Dr. Leung
Zan was taught wing chun kung fu by the Red Boat Members Leung Yi Tai and Wong
Wah Bo.
Leung
Zan had to Sons we are aware off, Leung Chun and Leung Bik.
Wong
Wah Bo and Leung Yi Tai were taught by the legendary Yim Wing Chun and her Husband
Leung Bok Chow. Yim Wing Chun was taught by infamous female Abbess Ng Mui and
her husband was highly skilled in Shaolin Martial Arts.
As
one can see from the descendants, Leung Zan was taught and nurtured by very skilful
Masters.
Leung
Zan decided that his Son Leung Bik was too much of a juvenile, so he would not
teach him Wing Chun.
Leung Zan stated that wing chun was for helping people not hurting them.
His
son, Leung Bik wanted to be a martial arts master and follow in his Father’s
footsteps, so much; he would learn bits and pieces of wing chun and southern
shaolin kung fu from his friend and peers. He was naturally talented, so his
kung fu was still very good.
Leung
Bik was a fighter. He was always getting into street altercations and accepting
challenge matches to prove his martial prowess.
As
time went by, Leung Bik met one of his father’s past teachers, being Wong Wah
Bo.
Wong
taught Leung Bik the Wing Chun System for about 12 months.
Upon
hearing of this, his father, Leunh Zan, thought, if his Teacher decided it was
alright to teach his Son, then his Son was ready to learn from him.
Leung
Zan spent the next several years passing on his wing chun knowledge to his son,
leung Bik.
In
the early 1900’s, there emerged a young man by the name of Yip Man. He was
studying wing chun in Foshan under Chan Wah Shun whom was a peer to Leung Bik.
Ip
Man eventually went to Hong Kong around 1915 to study English.
During
his stay in Hong Kong, Yip Man met a Man in an Apothecary, named Leung Bik, the
son of legendary Leung Zan.
The
Old Man divulged to Yip Man whom he was. As it worked out, Leung Bik and Yip
Man spent the next three years together. Leung Bik taught Yip Man the wing chun
system as seen through his expression and ideas.
When
Yip Man returned to Foshan and demonstrated this new expression of wing chun, his Peers
chastised and ridiculed him for breaking away from Tradition. His Peers slowly
realized that what Yip Man had been taught in Hong Kong by Leung Bik was definitely
superior in many ways to Chan Wah Shun’s Wing Chun.
Yip
Man went on to teach Chan’s wing chun in Foshan to, most notably Kwok Fu and
Lung Kai, apart from others.
After
the Communists took over in 1948, Yip Man escaped to Hong Kong and eventually
started up a wing chun school and kept teaching until his demise in 1973.
It
wasn’t until the 1960’s that Yip Man finally decided to teach someone the very
rare and unheard Leung Bik wing chun system. William Cheung was that person.
Due
to Leung Bik’s childhood upbringing and influences from his Peers, his style of
wing chun was quite unconventional for its time.
Leung
Bik wing chun system incorporated high kicks, elbows to the head, with different
footwork and stances. As Leung Bik was a fighter he incorporated a lot of
techniques from his experiences as a Child, which broke away from the traditional
mind set of wing chun at the time.
It
was not until the Yip Man started to teach in Hong Kong to the general public
that wing chun was still closed door, only being passed down from Father to Son
or Uncle and Cousin.
Leung
Zan’s much talked about wing chun manuscripts are on display at the Yip Man
Tong in Foshan.
Leung
Zan handed them down to his Son Leung Bik, whom in turn handed them down to Yip
Man.
Leung
Bik’s Traditional Wing Chun System is known in Foshan, southern China as the
“true
attack fighting system of wing chun”
