Who is Ip Man you say? Well this is the Kung Fu instructor of Bruce Lee and he is getting the respect he is due with a pair of biopics celebrating his life and work. We get wind of this very exciting story from the legendary caves of yahoo:
Bruce Lee is the master to many martial arts fans, but less is known about his master, Ip Man, a pioneer in the kung fu style that influenced Lee. Hong Kong On Tuesday, action stars Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung from the U.S. TV series “Martial Law” prepared to start shooting one of two planned movies about Ip. They joined Ip’s sons in paying tribute to their father at his hometown in the southern city of Foshan, a four hours northwest of Hong Kong.
Born in Foshan in 1893, Ip started training around 1903 in wing chun. He arrived in Hong Kong in the 1940s to escape the Communist takeover of the mainland. In Hong Kong, he started out teaching kung fu to restaurant workers but broadened his reach to hundreds of students, including Lee, before passing away in 1972. Lee, who died in 1973 at age 32 from swelling of the brain, studied under Ip for five years, according to his official biography on the Bruce Lee Foundation Web site.
I think this is outstanding. To study the teacher of Bruce Lee will help us to understand his own fighting evolution that eventually led to the creation of his own Martial Art Jeet Kun Do. I would welcome further biopics exploring the life of Ip Man’s instructor, and if possible the instructors before him. To see the how fighting styles evolve as they pass from master to student over multiple generations would be an epic masterwork.
I am interested in a biopic but would also welcome an investigative documentary that interviews other students of Ip Man. Have they gone on to teach, and do they see similarities in their own Kung Fu to that of Bruce Lee? Five years is a substantial amount of time to learn from someone and the influence of Ip Man cannot be denied. This pair of films should delight Bruce Lee fans and martial arts fans alike.
I will be certain to keep you up to speed on the progress of these films, I look forward to them.
Hi T-VO
yip man is the way ip man sounds eg ip when spoken sounds like yip when you say it but the correct spelling is ip as quoted by ip ching(ip man’s son )from the book IP Man: Portrait of a Kung Fu Master (author ip ching)
do not believe everything your told,search for the answers yourself
ps
can’t wait for the films,
wing chun is a way of life,live the life you love
Ip Man and Yip Man are the same name just a different way of saying it depending on what part of China or Hong Kong you are from. Wing Chun is known worldwide and is probably the most efficient system of kung fu. Research it and find out.
Thank you very much for the information Kent! I am ignorant of the man’s influence but am glad that you have filled us in . I appreciate it very much.
T-Vo, as someone who clearly knows nothing, be quiet until you’re sure of your facts. The correct spelling is Ip Man — his sons, who I’ve met personally, would know. It was earlier sources who got it wrong.
But uh, Doug — in answer to your last question — have other students of Ip Man gone on to teach — the short answer is tons of them have, and Ip Man’s wing chun style of kung fu is now second only to Taijiquan (Taiji/Tai Chih) in terms of popularity around the world (compared to other Chinese martial arts). Do a simple wiki on: Ip Chun, Ip Ching, Wong Shun Leung, Hawkins Cheung, William Cheung, Leung Ting, and Moy Yat — to name just a few of the more prominent teachers with international reputations in the martial arts community …
Doug, as a so called journalist, try researching your subject material before posting.
The name was YIP MAN, not IP.
Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung? They could make a documentary on Cleopatra’s Daughter and I would be there opening night!
This could be great. Ive been hearing for years about a more historically accurate bruce lee biopic to be made, but this is interesting. Hes always mentioned in the first five miniutes of most bruce lee documentaries and Id like to know more