Ip Chun (葉準
or
Yip Jun) (b. 1924)
is Yip
Man's (Yip Gei-Man) eldest
son. He was born in 1924 in Foshan in the Zheyieng Delta
region of the Guangdong province of Southern China. He
began studying Wing Chun with his father when he was 7
years old, however he admits that he did not really want to
learn at that time and that he remembers relatively little
from that early tuition.
When the communist revolution swept through China in 1949,
the communists began to persecute the wealthy, the
influential and anyone connected to the Kuomintang (the
political party founded by Sun Yat-Sen, the first president
of the Republic of China). Since Ip Man was both wealthy
and a Captain of Local Police patrols of Namhoi, he felt
forced to leave China, finally settling in Hong Kong after
a short stay in Macao with friends. However, being only 24,
Ip Chun stayed behind to continue his studies at University
studying Chinese history and traditional Chinese music. He
also researched Chinese Philosophy, Buddhism and Chinese
Poetry. In 1950 Yip Man began teaching Wing Chun in Hong
Kong to members of the Restaurant Workers Union to earn a
living. Over the following 22 years he taught hundreds of
students, some of whom trained to an exceptionally high
standard, such as Wong Shun Leung, Lok Yiu, Leung Sheung
and Tsui Shun Tin. Ip Chun meanwhile, finished his studies
and chose teaching as a profession. He taught Chinese
history, music and science, whilst during his leisure time
he helped the Chinese Foshan Entertainment Department
organize Chinese Operas. During this period he was awarded
'The person with the most potential in Chinese art' for
music research. Unfortunately Mao Tze Tung's policies and
campaigns meant that in 1962 Ip Chun and his younger
brother Ip Ching , were forced to leave China for Hong
Kong, where they lived with their father. During the day Ip
Chun worked as an accountant and newspaper reporter, at the
same time in the evenings he restarted his Wing Chun
studies with his father, maintaining the Chinese tradition
of passing down the Kung Fu skills from father to son.
Master Ip Chun trained with his father most evenings and
since Grandmaster Ip Man's home in Tung Choi Street, Mong
Kok was also his Wing Chun school, Master Ip Chun was able
to witness and study his father's Wing Chun and his
teaching methods every evening.
In accordance with his father's wishes, in 1965, Ip Chun
began participating in the work of the Ving Tsun Athletic
Association (VTAA) founding group and became a founding
member of the VTAA proper. The association formally came
into being in 1968 and Ip Chun was issued with the
membership number nine. During the first three years of the
association's existence he took on the responsibility of
Treasurer and later was appointed as Chairman. The VTAA has
compiled three magazines, of which one is yet to be
published. Ip Chun was the compiler for two of those and
was further elected to the position of committee
coordinator/ chief coordinator. From conception through to
the present day, Ip Chun has worked with the association
and has shared in its trials and tribulations as it has
grown and become the success it is today.
1967 Ip Chun began teaching Wing Chun in Hong Kong with his
father's blessing and it is testimony indeed that some of
those first students such as Ho Po Kai and Leung Chung Wai
still train with him today. Later between 1978 and 1981 Ip
Chun and Lau Hon Lam taught a class of around 20 students
in Ho Man Tin. Students in that class included Leung Ting
Kwok (Patrick) who now teaches for Ip Chun in Hong Kong.
On 1 December 1992 Grandmaster Ip Man passed away aged 79.
Six weeks before, knowing he had not long to live he made
the supreme effort to commit the Siu Nim Tao, Chum Kiu and
Muk Yan Jong forms to 8 mm film in order to record and
preserve the pure Wing Chun system, this crucial piece of
film footage he entrusted to his two sons for posterity,
and true to his father's wishes Master Ip Chun has carried
on his teachings, keeping Wing Chun pure and maintaining
its principles and concepts.
Today at over eighty years of age, Ip Chun is one of the
most successful Wing Chun teachers in Hong Kong teaching
five days a week to individuals at his home or to small
groups at the Ving Tsun Athletic Association, as well as
teaching a class in Shatin once a week. Several of his
senior Hong Kong students now teach at locations around
Hong Kong including several of the Universities. Ip Chun
also has seven students living and teaching in England,
America, South Africa and Australia, who represent him and
help him spread his father's teaching around the World.
Between 1985 and 2001, Ip Chun travelled the length and
breadth of the world to promote and conduct Wing Chun
seminars and in the process receiving various accolades,
before semi retiring in 2001 to concentrate on teaching his
classes in Hong Kong.
Ip Chun can be reached via his website or by writing/calling
to:
Ving Tsun Athletic Association, 3 Nullah Road, 2C/Fl.,
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2381-6044 or Fax: (852)
2422-0732