Leung
Sheung was born in 1918
in the Canton Province. By the time of his early youth, he
was in the Macau area, a Portuguese Colony at the mouth of
Pearl River, located near Hong Kong. At 14, he started his
formal martial arts training in Choi Li Fut, White Eyebrow,
and Dragon style.
By 1949, Leung
Sheung had developed quite a reputation in several areas,
one as a restaurateur, another as a lion dance performer,
and as a martial artist. Leung Sheung was very, very fond
of the Lion Dance. During this period in Hong Kong,
merchants would extend a collection of vegetables from
their second floor balcony for the Lion Dancers. Attached
to the vegetable bundle would be a red envelope containing
"lucky money." Toward the conclusion of the Lion Dance, the
"lion" would take the vegetable bundle and money. The
performers, usually a three-man team, would be required to
climb upon each other so that the "lion" could take the
money in his mouth. All the lion dancers wanted Leung
Sheung, a big man, probably 5'10" to 5'11" and weighing
around 200 pounds, as the base.
As a
restaurateur, by 1949, Leung Sheung had been in the
restaurant business for some time. In recognition of his
abilities in the restaurant business, Leung Sheung was
selected as an officer in the Restaurant Association in
Hong Kong. The Association owned a flat in the city of
Kowloon. They used the flat as an office and for lodging
for people coming from main land China, escaping the
Communist rule there. As an officer in the Restaurant
Association, Leung Sheung had some level of influence in
the use of this flat. It is important to remember that at
this time, lodging in Hong Kong was extremely scarce. The
massive influx of people into Hong Kong was putting an
extreme strain on the housing and job market. Typically,
the Restaurant Association would provide the flat as a
place to stay for their restaurant workers, cramming 40 to
50 people into this small, one-room flat. So, typically,
when bedtime rolled around, the back door would be opened,
and the "cots" brought out, and they would line up out the
back door. When daylight approached, the cots would be
folded back up and moved against the wall. Residents would
then depart to their various restaurant jobs in and around
the city of Kowloon and Hong Kong.
As a martial
artist, Leung Sheung was well respected for his proficiency
in Dragon Style. He taught White Eyebrow in the flat. As
people "hot bunked" (slept in shifts), there was room to
teach and practice during the day and night. Leung Sheung
had heard about Wing Chun since he was quite young, but as
Wing Chun was quite secretive and well protected, he had
never seen it; but, this martial art intrigued him, as did
the stories about one of its teachers, Yip Man. The thought
that he would take Wing Chun at his first opportunity was
beginning to emerge as a prominent thought in the back of
his mind.
Mr. Lee, also an
officer in the Restaurant Association, in 1949, found out
that Yip Man was currently in Hong Kong. Knowing Leung
Sheung's interest in Wing Chun and Yip Man, he informed
Leung Sheung that Yip Man was in town. Leung Sheung urged
Mr. Lee to introduce him to Yip Man. By the time they met,
Leung Sheung had already decided that he wanted to learn
Wing Chun from Yip Man. He would provide the flat for Yip
Man to teach in. In addition, Leung Sheung would turn over
his White Eyebrow class to Yip Man, and he would become a
student again.
Leung Sheung
promptly introduced Lok Yiu and Tsui Sheung Tin to Yip Man,
and the three of them became the first batch of Wing Chun
students in Hong Kong. Both Leung Sheung and Lok Yiu
resided at the Restaurant Association's flat during this
time. Yip Man would now live in the flat, having no place
to stay, and from 1949 until 1955, Leung Sheung and Lok Yiu
trained under Yip Man intensively.
In 1955 Leung
Sheung returned to Macau, and taught Wing Chun during the
one year he was there, returning to Hong Kong in 1956.
In 1956, Leung
Sheung began to teach Wing Chun publicly, along with Lok
Yiu, Tsui Sheung Tin, and Wong Sheung Leung. They formed
the first generation of teachers from Yip Man's class, and
were widely recognized as the best students Yip Man ever
produced.
From 1956 though
1978, Leung Sheung taught Wing Chun continuously. During
his entire teaching career, he maintained a very low
profile, never advertising his school. His famous saying
from this period was, "You find me, you are lucky."
Leung
Sheung's teaching philosophy in Wing Chun was to think of
students as drift wood. As a teacher, figuratively, he
lived on the bank of a wide river, and from time to time,
driftwood came up on the bank in front of his house.
Occasionally he inspected the driftwood, and from time to
time, he'd find a piece that interested him. He'd drag the
select piece up the bank a bit so it wouldn't wash away. As
the pieces accumulated higher on the bank, he would find
one piece that interested him enough to take it into his
shop and begin to shape it. As with all things, the
external appearance does not always show what lies beneath.
Some driftwood will not be molded, either because of too
many knotholes or other various failings. However, he would
keep the driftwood that molded at the master's hand.
Deeming a
student as appropriate, a piece of driftwood to be kept,
Leung Sheung would then become very demanding on that
student. It was back into the river for those students with
"too many knots."
In 1968, when
Bruce Lee returned to Hong Kong to shoot a movie, he
attempted to have a (daily) friendly dialog with Leung
Sheung. Bruce Lee always payed him "high respect" during
their meetings. Both Bruce Lee and Tsui Sheung Tin referred
to Leung Sheung as their older brother.
In 1970, Leung
Sheung had a kidney stone removed. After the stone's
removal, Leung Sheung's health began to degrade steadily
from that point onward. Leung Sheung passed away in 1978.
Reprinted with permission from THE WING CHUN
ARCHIVE.