Chu Shong
Tin was born in 1933
at Kwong-tung Province of Mainland China. In November 1949,
he left China and settled in Hong Kong. During September
1950, he started work as a secretary for the Association of
Restaurant Workers of Hong Kong at 159 Tai Nan Street,
corner Wong Chuk Street, Shum Shui Po, Kowloon. It was at
that time that he first met the Grandmaster Ip Man who had
just started teaching Wing Chun for about four months at
that Union. As Ip and himself both came to Hong Kong alone
gave them a feeling of being very close to each other.
After several months' observation and urging by Sihing
Leung Sheung and Lok Yiu, he asked Ip to accept him as his
student and on 1st January 1951, thus starting his life in
Wing Chun.
He lived with Ip Man from 1951 - much of 1955.
As he had been observing for several months, he could show
the whole Siu Nim Tau form to Ip on the first day of his
lesson. Besides working hard on his own training, he also
paid attention to what Ip was teaching to the other
students. After about a year, Ip started to ask him to
practice pivoting. When practicing this pivoting, he
insisted practicing several hours each day. It was
about half year later before Ip asked him to learn the Chum
Kiu. And it was just like Siu Nim Tau; he knew the
movements of the whole form already without Ip showing him.
Roughly after one year, he started to learn the Wooden
Dummy. Every year, he learnt about twenty to thirty
movements until the whole form was finished. It was about
two years after he had learnt the Chum Kiu that he started
to learn the Biu Gee form. Around 1955 was the first time
he started to practice the long pole. As he learnt roughly
one movement of the pole each year, it took him nearly
seven years to finish the Six-and-a-half Point Pole.
It was many years later after he finished all the hand
forms that he started to learn the Butterfly Knives. The
first part of the Butterfly Knives was learned in
1963. In the summer of 1964, he established his own
school & learnt the second part of the Butterfly
Knives. In 1965 he finished the whole Butterfly Knives
form.
Reprinted with permission from THE WING CHUN
ARCHIVE.