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Available Classes:
High-level coach training (includes employment assistance), amateur class, one-year amateur class, short-term class, long-term class, professional tutoring for foreign students.

Training Regimen:
Explanation of boxing theory, xiao nian tou techniques, xun qiao techniques, biao zhi theory and training systems, gung shou, chi shou kicks, principles and analysis of various striking techniques, true combat practice. Training is divided into nine levels of ability, beginning with the basic foundations and continuing on into more detailed study, to give the student direct and practical experience for any combat situation and the skills required to resolve combat as quickly as possible. Training aims to provide students with indomitable self-defense abilities and to merge the mind and body as one force. Along with the foundations listed above, we incorporate well-established training techniques to take your strength and ability to the next level.

Class Schedule:

1: Main Branch at Daliushu: Every Tuesday through Sunday 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 to 4:30 p.m.
Address: Daliushu, Chaoyang District, Beijing (Guanzhuangcun, near Dajiaoting)

2: Shuangjing Branch: Every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. and 8:30 to 10:00 p.m.
Address: 59 East 3rd Ring Middle Road, Fuli Towers, Building A, Number 902, Chaoyang District, Beijing

3: Gongzhufen Branch: Every Monday and Friday 7:30 to 9:00 p.m.
Address: Inside the fitness center at Luodaozhuang Yiyuanju Xiaoqu, Cuiwei Road, Haidian District, Beijing

4: Guanghua Lu Branch: Every Saturday and Sunday 3:00 to 4:30 p.m.
Address: Yihe Fitness and Recreation Center, 1 Wensha Dadao, Building B, Guanghua Xili, Chaoyang District, Beijing (Basement Level 1)

Further Information: Amateur classes are offered eight times monthly and students are welcome to attend whichever class they prefer from Tuesday to Sunday. Professional training classes are offered four hours daily from Tuesday to Sunday. Monthly cards, seasonal cards, and yearly cards are offered. Please inquire by telephone for details.

Training Fees: Please visit www.bjvingtsun.com or call us for detailed information.

Registration Address: Students may register at our Shuang Jing Branch (see Item 2 above for address)

Contact Information:

Wang Zhi Peng
Tel: 010-52022130
Mobile: 139-1150-7749

Jai Harman (English Speaking)
Tel: 010-84859360
Mobile: 13146217796

Email:wangzhipeng_006@163.comWebsite:www.bjvingtsun.com

WHY IS WONG SHEUNG LEUNG'S VING TSUN SO DIFFERENT?

WHY IS WONG SHEUNG LEUNG'S VING TSUN SO DIFFERENT?
Many people ask me why Wong’s way of Ving Tsun is so different than other Sifus. Essentially I can only apply this question to the United Kingdom as that is where the question is asked and that is where I know the question is true. For example one very noticeable difference is the way the Wong’s system turns. In many styles of Ving Tsun in the U.K., when the practitioner turns he puts most if not all his weight on the back leg which of course moves him away from the opponent. Wong system turns on the centre of gravity giving more control of the opponent. Years ago when Anthony Kan and I were learning we were aware of this difference and wondered, even though to us Wong’s way made more sense, that perhaps we were wrong as most styles of Ving Tsun in the U.K. placed the weight on the back leg when they turned. Of course we stayed with what made most logical sense. There are also many other ways that other different Ving Tsun schools have similarities that are different from Wong’s thinking. Personally, I have viewed many, many ways of Ving Tsun over the years, but never have I found a way that is as simple, as efficient and as direct as Wong’s. Indeed, if I had I would be there!
However, to find why Wong’s way is so renowned and different to other Ving Tsun we must look at the past. One obvious pointer is the experience that Wong gained in what worked and what did not from all the real fights he had when he was young. Another is the relationship he had with Yip Man which had a bearing on the knowledge he gained. For this I would like to quote from an article by Dave Peterson and Enzo Verratti called “Ving Tsun by Definition”. I hope they don’t mind me borrowing their words.

“It has been often suggested that Yip Man taught in a fairly unsystematic way, tending to pass on skills according to the student’s size and reach. It is also said that he didn’t have much time for his slower, less intelligent or less diligent students and actually taught few people the entire system in person. This in turn led to many people learning by observing others training, rather than first-hand, and that quite a few actually learn “second-hand” or even “third-hand” version of Ving Tsun filling the gaps in their knowledge with guesswork based on what they could recall seeing others do, or even worse, making it up out of their own imagination! This, of course gave rise to the variation in technique (and the interpretation of these techniques) extant today among instructors of the same generation, not to mention those of their younger Ving Tsun brothers and sisters.
Of all of Yip Man’s students, Sifu Wong Shun Leung probably spent the longest time under his tutelage because it was Sifu Wong who did most of the teaching in Yip Man’s school, whereas most of the other senior students opened their own schools and went about doing things their own way. Wong was therefore, always close to his teacher, could confer with his teacher and, observe his teacher, thereby picking up many of the subtleties which his peers never did. Sifu Wong was also the one Yip Man student who always put everything he had learned to the test, so he soon developed what can only be described as an intimate knowledge of the Ving Tsun system. Becoming known throughout Hong Kong as “Gong Sau Wong”, or “King of Talking with the Hands”, Sifu Wong took the Ving Tsun system to a whole new level and was never defeated in dozens of real life encounters with practitioners of a myriad of martial styles.”

Certainly, when I was in Hong Kong last November 1999 for the “First World Ving Tsun Conference”, it was clear from what was said on stage that Wong Shun Leung was highly respected by his peers. Dave Peterson also gave a rousing speech as to how many Ving Tsun teachers have “lost the way” making their techniques pretty and indirect. What amazes me is how it appeared that many people including Wong’s peers agreed with Dave Peterson but I have never seen any evidence of anyone doing anything about it! This leads me nicely in to quoting a little more from the same Dave Peterson and Enzo Verratti article:-

“What is more disturbing and frustrating is that many very intelligent people blindly continue to follow such instructors, even when confronted by convincing arguments which clearly prove that what they are doing does not conform to a logical approach. Instead, they take what is basically a simple straightforward method and turn it into one that is complicated and less efficient. …………………. So many Ving Tsun practitioners invent endless sequences of defensive actions when what is clearly the obvious message of the system is that ‘attack is the best form of defence.’”

Dave Peterson’s message is one that I completely concur with. Wong once said to me if you want to develop your Ving Tsun you must keep one formula in mind. Does the idea you wish to develop make it more simple, more direct and more efficient?
Long live the way of Wong Shun Leung!

Our Training

Our Training

Siu Nim Tau - Siu Nim Tau(The Little Idea) form is the first and probably the most important form of Ving Tsun. Through prolong practice of this form, practitioners would develop good rooting, body-structure and most importantly - the ability to use thought over physical strength. Practitioners who train well in this form is able to combat against hard forces with very little energy.
The first form also contains all the basic moves of Ving Tsun. Through correct posture, body structure alignment and a focused conscious intent; each move would carry substantial power but yet very little energy is invested. The ability to relax while maintaining good structure is the key to succeed in this form.


Chi Sau (Sticking Hand) - After learning the first form, practitioners should put their Ving Tsun skills into play! Although this exercise does not look like real sparring, it helps practitioners build up the foundation and energy for close-distance combat.
Chi Sau exercise is also called Sticking hands or Rolling hands. Students learn how to use the three basic moves of Ving Tsun: Tan, Bong and Folk through rolling hands. Most importantly, the exercise teaches them how to use body structure and mind intent to perform the three basic moves. Advance students are able to develop very heavy and powerful hands through this training, the key is to optimize the use of body mass in every movement.
Through Chi Sau, practitioners learn to sense, control and finally conquer their opponents. Again, correct posture, body alignment and focused intent are the keys to do well in Chi Sau. Failing to do that practitioners would tend to use "local muscle" forces and forget to use their complete body structure; thus wasting valuable energy during combat.

Chum Kiu - This is the second empty handed form of Ving Tsun. Literally the term Chum Kiu means "to search for the bridge". In Chinese martial arts, "bridge" represents the arm. To control one's opponent, he/she must close the gap, find the bridges (arms) and finish the job. Chum Kiu contains many moves that do just that.
On a different level, if we were to compare training Ving Tsun with the building of an automobile, Siu Nim Tau is the equivalent of the frame of a vehicle and Chum Kiu is the equivalent of the engine. In the second form, there are many stepping and turning sequences. All these moves would carry the practitioner's body mass in them as if the engine is carrying the momentum of the whole vehicle. Through Chum Kiu, one learns how to move as one unit.


Bil Gee - Aim!... Fire!! Bil Gee is the third and the most advance empty handed Ving Tsun form. After completing Siu Nim Tau and Chum Kiu, the practitioner will have the proper structure and energy; Bil Gee will transcend the foundation into aggressive firing power. In short, Siu Nim Tau teaches one how to build up his/her structure; Chum Kiu teaches one how to mobilize the structure; and Bil Gee teaches one how to mobilize the structure at high speed to achieve martial power.
An important theme of Bil Gee is to "aim" at the opponent from every possible angles, even from unsafe positions. In Bil Gee practitioners will learn to use elbows, leg sweeps, finger jabs etc. Every move combines "aiming" and "firing" together.
At the most advance level, the practitioner is able to focus all of his/her body mass and energy into the finger tips during attacks. This takes years of dedicated training to achieve. In the past, Bil Gee had a secretive impression to the martial art circle because it is rarely seen "outside the door" of a Ving Tsun training hall. Some believe that with Chum Kiu's good arm/bridge and center of gravity control, most combat situations are taken care of with ease. There is no need to elevate a fight with so much firing power of Bil Gee. Others may say that without an extremely solid Chum Kiu and Siu Nim Tau foundation, it is very hard to deliver the true power of Bil Gee. Therefore it was seldom taught in the past and only few elite students had managed to reach such level. Bil Gee should be done at the highest speed possible, without a good foundation the student may fail to maintain his/her structure after a few elbow strikes.


Wooden Dummy - You have a stressful day at work? Want to bang on something to release your anger? I suggest you go back to do some more Siu Nim Tau! The wooden dummy is not a frozen target that lets you blindly hit a thousand times a day, hoping that some day you can break the wooden arms with your bare hands. It is in essence a training companion that lets you test your structure, improve your judgment of space and distance, and practice your drills, stepping, and turning. The whole wooden dummy set contains 108 moves; it helps practitioners prepare for real-life combat situations.
To train well in the wooden dummy set, the practitioner should always maintain close contact (sticking) with the wooden arms. Every drill should be done with a well-aligned body structure. One should never practice the motions with their hands only and ignore the structural details. Most of the 108 moves come from the three empty handed forms. Although practitioners are already familiar with the moves, they will find many new insights through the training. The flow of movements in the set is so dynamic and fluid that all the Ving Tsun techniques learned in the past seem to come together all at once!

Baat Cham Tao - Weapons are extensions of the arms. Baat Cham Tao (also known as eight-slash knife) is Ving Tsun's trademark weapons. Once a practitioner has reached a high level of skills and power, Baat Cham Tao further extends the hand techniques. Through the empty handed forms, practitioners learn to transmit body mass into every attack. When combining the weapon's momentum and body structure power, Baat Cham Tao becomes a deadly combat tool.
The Baat Cham Tao form employs direct and effective movements. Similar to Bil Gee, every slash in the form is aim to kill. To combat against long weapons, it also contains special footstepping techniques that compensate for the weapon's short range. Accomplished practitioners of this weapon will find the knife form extremely enlightening!

Six and a half pole - Ving Tsun is as refined as it is rich in combat experience. Ving Tsun never emphasizes "flowery hands", nor does it tolerate fancy weapon techniques. Old sayings is so true: "the pole never makes two smashing sounds in a fight". In real weapon combat, life and death happens in split seconds. There is hardly any chance for a recess. Ving Tsun's Six and a half pole has been passed on through generations of experienced masters, it is so refined that it contains no excessive movements. The practitioner simply combines all of his/her power and energy into the attack. Every move aims at breaking the opponent's defense circle. Once an opening is made, the fatal hit then penetrates through. That is why the pole never smashes twice. Bang! Finished!

vingtsun Master Wang Zhi Peng

Master Wang Zhi Peng was born on the boundless grasslands of Inner Mongolia, where he studied martial arts from famous masters since his childhood. He has studied Shaolin Kung Fu, Sanda, Taiquandao (Tae Kwon Do), Yi Quan (Dacheng Quan), and other true combat forms of kung fu. In 1996 he took as his master Mr. Li Heng Chang, an outstanding student of Wong Shun Leung, chairman of the Wing Chun Athletic Club in Hong Kong and a contemporary of Bruce Lee. He has studied Wing Chun up to the present day. Master. Wang has served as a coach at the Yan'an School of Martial Arts, the president of the Wing Chun Society of Xi'an, and the head coach of the Xi'an Wing Chun Training Center. During his time as a teacher, he has accompanied students to many competitions of various types, receiving excellent marks. His accomplishments have been the subject of special television reports on sports channels in Shaanxi and Beijing.
Master. Wang moved to Beijing in 2000 and worked as the personal bodyguard of Wu Yinqiang, the chairman of the board at Shengdiwei Jewelry Co., Ltd. In 2002 he was invited to perform for and teach Wing Chun to the troops of the Hainan Province Military Police. In 2003 he was invited by a scout battalion of the People's Liberation Army to give instruction on Wing Chun methods. From 2004 to the present he has been the technical consultant to www.kungfuland.com. In May of 2006, he was invited to teach at Cambridge Tae Kwon Do in England. On May 2, 2007 he accompanied students to compete in the Mixed Martial Arts Tournament of China, where one of his students won a championship and another won a second-place finish in separate events. On July 25 of that year, National Geographic came to China to film for their Kung Fu series, which featured Wang Zhi Peng and Wing Chun students atop the Great Wall of China and further elevated awareness of Wing Chun in the West in a series called ‘Human Weapon’.
At the end of 2008, Master. Wang collaborated with a domestic film company, serving as the kung fu director for the martial arts film Ip Man. He is currently the general manager and head coach of Beijing Huangpu Institute of Wing Chun and Beijing Sheng Long Wing Chun Cultural Development Company.

wingtsun Yip Man

Grandmaster Yip Man was born October 1893 and died December 1972 at the age of 79 years. Grandmaster Yip Man spent his whole life as champion of the cause of Wing Chun Kung Fu. He was responsible for advancing Wing Chun Kung Fu to it's eminence today. Throughout the world, students of Wing Chun Kung Fu continue to publish articles about Grandmaster Yip Man, his life and achievements.
He was born on October 14th 1893 in the Ching Dynasty (Kand Shoui - September 5th in the Chinese calendar) in Fut Shan town in Kwong Tung province which was then in Lam Hoi county. So Yip Man's birthplace is often referred to as Lam Hoi in Kwong Tung. Grandmaster Yip Man's father was called Yip Oi Dor, his mother was Ng Shui, he was one of four brothers and sisters. His brother was called Gei Gak (Grandmaster Yip Man was originally called Gei Man). His sister's name was Wan Mei (Sik Chung).
No other name is spoken in wing chun circles with greater reverence than that of Grandmaster Yip Man. A teacher of the art until his death in 1972, Yip Man moved Wing Chun from an obscure fighting system known only in China to a world-renowned style of kung fu studied by thousands.
Yip Man was the first Sifu ever to open a Wing Chun school accessible to the general public. No one was more surprised over the rapid and intercontinental spread of the art than Yip Man himself. Now it is practiced from Wales to Malaysia with strong followings in Australia and the United States. Also, the Wing Chun Yip Man taught has become the grand irony of the martial arts world it has acquired its recent popularity in spite of Yip Man's own insistence that it be taught to only Chinese students for the sake of maintaining its heritage and purity.
Yip Man's began with his training under Chan Wah Soon, the first of three wing chun masters to instruct him. Yip Man approached Chan while they both resided in Fatshan, Kwangtung Province, with a request for acceptance as one of Chan's disciples. The Year may have been 1895, making Yip twelve years old at the time. A biography of Chan in the Wing Chun Archives puts him in Fatshan working as a money changer--hence his nickname Jow Chien ("Money Changer") Wah--and teaching wing chun on the side, by some accounts for a total of thirty-six years. Yip carried three hundred pieces of silver with him to his meeting with Chan, thinking to buy an apprenticeship in wing chun with the money. Chan, believing the boy must have stolen the money from his parents, escorted Yip back home to discover the truth of the matter. To his astonishment, Yip's parents reported that the young Man had saved up the coins on his own. Man had been born to a wealthy family, his father Yip Oi Doh being a respected and influential member of the merchant class in Namhoi County, so Man's legitimate access to that kind of money was certainly a possibility. Upon discovering this evidence of Man's ambition and determination, Chan accepted him as both his youngest and his final student. Yip trained under Chan until Chan's death in 1905, thereafter continuing His wing chun with Ng Chung So, one of Chan's top disciples. After two more years of study, Yip left Fatshan for Hong Kong and enrolled in St. Stephen's college at Stanley to pursue an academic education.
While enrolled at St. Stephen's, a classmate, hearing of Yip's training in kung fu, dared him to challenge an old kung fu practitioner living on a boat anchored in Hong Kong Bay. Yip accepted the dare and duly sought out and challenged the old man. The old man accepted his challenge and, despite Yip's growing reputation as an unmatched fighter, beat him handily. Only after his defeat did Yip discover that the old man was actually master Leung Bik, a direct descendant of the original wing chun lineage reaching back to Wing Chun herself. After the melee, Leung took Yip as his only student in the art and advanced his wing chun even further, both expanding his theoretical grounding in the art and his refining his technique. (Another version of Yip Man's biography omits the story of the challenge while still confirming that Yip met Leung in Hong Kong and became his student. Yet a third version suggests that Leung himself contrived to meet Yip and invite him to train.)
Grandmaster Yip Man returned to Fashan at age 24 and found a position as the Captain of the Local Police Patrols of Namhoi. Yip Man worked as a law enforcement officer for several years teaching Wing Chun in his spare time, but always, in accordance with Wing Chun tradition, restricting his lessons to a just a few carefully selected students. Yip Man's first private student was a silk merchant named Chow Ching Chung, who hired Yip on the basis of his martial arts reputation.
Yip Man continued teaching in this manner until China succumbed to the communist revolution in 1949. Yip Man felt forcedto flee mainland China and return to British-occupied Hong Kong.
Reaching Hong Kong alone and destitute, facing certain poverty, Yip Man quickly fell back on his martial arts expertise to earn a living. He decided to break with the Wing Chun tradition of limiting instruction to a select few and opened a public Wing Chun school in the union hall building for restaurant workers. Yip Man opening the school on his own, relying soley on his own ideas and resources to get underway. Yip Manencounters an old friend, Chung Choui, who is teaching martial arts at two locations and invites Yip Man to take over the instruction at one of them so that he could support himself. It was Leung Shan who taught kung fu at a school "on the premises of the Restaurant Worker's Union in Hong Kong." There Leung provided Yip Man with a small apartment and saw to his personal needs. Yip Man would often watch the classes Leung hosted every night after the restaurant closed. Yip Man made a habit of poking light-hearted fun at Leung and the White Eyebrow kung fu taught as he watched. After taking this ribbing for some time without reaction, Leung finally became fed up and challenged Yip so as to teach him a lesson. Though Leung was younger and larger than his opponent, he was no match for the Wing Chun Yip Man had spent a liftime perfecting and "was easily defeated." Upon besting him in combat, Yip revealed himself to be a Wing Chun grandmster and took Leung as his first Hong Kong student.
When Yip arrived in Hong Kong he met up with "his good friend Hui Yee, the Chairman of the Restaurant Union," who knew of Yip Man's martial arts background and subsequently invited him to teach martials arts for the Union. Yip Man accepts the invitation and conducts wing chun classes "on the roof of the apartment where the Restaurant Union was." However Yip Man established his teaching practice in Hong Kong, he managed to create with it the seeds of a martial arts revolution that, through the efforts of some of those he taught, would take root in countries spanning the world. Though Yip Man himself never taught outside the Chinese sphere of influence, his disciples carried his wing chun around the globe. Among those who helped spread wing chun, Sifu William Cheung, a student Yip Man taught in his home for a number of years, went on to found the World Wing Chun Kung Fu Association and demonstrate wing chun in the United States and Australia.
Students, took Wing Chun to the United States. Victor Kan Wah Chit, who studied under Yip Man in the 1950s, began teaching Wing Chun in London, England, in 1975. And Leung Ting, whom Yip Man accepted as a private student in the the late 1960s, went on to form the International Wing Tsun Martial-Art Association, an organization which has become, according to material in the Wing Chun Archives, the largest Chinese martial arts organization in existence today, boasting members from nearly fifty countries the world over.
It was Yip Man's personal misfortune that drove him to teach Wing Chun publicly. Had he been able to retain his family fortune, "as a man of property, he probably would have remained a leisurely patriarch practicing wing chun in Fatshan in southern China." Yip Man's loss has become the martial arts community's gain, his misfortune compelling him to preserve and propagate a centuries-old fighting system that without him might well have passed into oblivion unheralded and uncelebrated.

Wong Shun Leung, the Legend

Wong Shun Leung, the Legend By Cliff Au-Yeung and Lewis Luk quoted from Ip Man Ving Tsun 50th AnniversaryTranslated by Buick Yip and David Peterson. Used with Permission.
Preface Since Grand Master Ip Man began teaching the Ving Tsun style of Chinese martial arts in Hong Kong, his lineage has developed for over 50 years, and Ving Tsun has grown from relative obscurity in China, to a practical martial arts system renowned and practiced throughout the world. As such, the achievements and influence of the late Grand Master are well deserving of legendary status. Our teacher, sifu Wong Shun Leung, who learnt from the Grand Master with diligence, intelligence and dedication during the 50s and 60s, representing Ving Tsun victoriously in some 60-70 “comparisons of martial skill” (beimo) in Hong Kong against devotees of many other fighting systems, laid the groundwork for the eventual expansion of Ving Tsun that has taken place. His life story is equally deserving of legendary status. The telling of his life story is possible after his untimely death by virtue of his lifetime of achievements as recalled by his peers, students and friends. Ving Tsun brothers and friends such as Chu Shong Tin, Chan Chi Man, Wu Chun Nam, Leung Man To and Wong Tak Chiu were all more than willing to share their memories of his life to ensure that this essay provide a truthful account of the man and his deeds, thus preventing future rumors or miss-truths emerging which would otherwise cause him to seem supernatural or unbelievable, rather than the practical and realistic person that was Wong Shun Leung. Descendant of a community-minded scholarly family Wong’s ancestral home was the small village of Songma, Hangtaan Town, Sundak (Shunde) County in Guangdong Province (where incidentally, everyone had the surname Wong), and he was born the second son of a respected family. His father, Wong Kay Yat, was a famous doctor of Chinese traditional medicine, well known in the region (prior to WWII, one of the 10 most famous doctors in Guangdong) and just as famous for his expertise in treating women’s health problems after moving to Hong Kong. As part of a family which included an older brother (who passed away early on), a younger brother (who incidentally also studied Ving Tsun from Wong), and six younger sisters, Wong Shun Leung was born in Hong Kong on the 8th June 1935. At that time, the former British colony had a population of less than half a million, and the lifestyle of those who lived there was generally simple compared with the Hong Kong of today. 1935-1952: the Warring Years, where truth was sought through martial art When Wong was a lad, he received adequate family discipline, learning obedience, literature and calligraphy, and was a gifted student who easily picked up both academic and cultural knowledge. He responded especially well to literature, from which he developed an extensive knowledge of Chinese culture and history, and then later on he also expanded his studies to include a Western education by attending an Anglo-Chinese school. At this stage of his life, those who knew him saw how his natural ability to adapt and adjust to his surroundings began to surface. From very early on, Wong developed a strong sense of racial pride, with the true-life experiences of colonial inequality and foreign invasion at the hands of the Japanese in WWII fuelling his hatred of those who hid behind meaningless talk. He despised unjust behavior and had strong principles, which he was prepared to defend. He proceeded to seek the truth through real grit, and martial arts offered an open path by which a young and restless youth could express his personality and opinions. In the summer of 1942, a bunch of boys gathered in discussion, with a boy about his age boasting of being some kind of spiritual superhuman. Wong could not stand such nonsense and argued with the boy, resulting in a reckless fight breaking out between them in which the two boys ending up rolling all over the ground, tearing each others clothing as they wrestled about. At such a tender age, Wong was already exhibiting his fearless desire to defend the truth. According to Wong himself, way before he began actually learning martial arts, he had countless “contests” with many under-qualified sifu, whereby he made them lose face, proving that they had more talk than actual ability. Another story was that while Wong had started learning Wu style Tai Chi from an uncle, he eventually switched to learn some Tai Chi and hard fist forms from a teacher named Wong (no relation). One night while Wong Shun Leung was practising, this sifu Wong and some guests were swapping martial tales with each other when the teacher said that while in the Sichuan Province city of Chengdu, he had witnessed an old master stop a moving car from running over a fallen child by exerting chi through his two palms. On hearing this, Wong put on his jacket and left without as much as a backward glance and never returned, deciding that a person who told such tales could not possibly possess any true gung-fu. Wong had already started to learn boxing while in junior high school, and according to his own account, once knocked out his instructor while sparring in the ring. A few days later, however, the instructor tried to exact revenge by using heavier punches to cause Wong to bleed all over. Feeling that this instructor was especially mean and having such a negative attitude towards a student, in order to avoid further ill feelings or unhappiness, Wong once again quit his training. Wu Chun Nam, who was a classmate of Wong’s from the third year of their high school studies, recalls that Wong Shun Leung already had basic training in both western boxing and Tai Chi by 1952. 1953-1960: meeting the Grand Master While there have been a number of different versions of Wong’s first meeting with Ip Man, the account given below is based on what Wu Chun Nam and Chu Shong Tin recall of Wong’s own account of the events: Ip Man first began teaching at the ‘Hong Kong Restaurant Workers Union’ in 1950. From 1953-1954, the class relocated to Hoi Tan Road in the Shamshuipo district of Kowloon before eventually returning to the original location in 1955. It was around that time, while Wong Shun Leung was in his youth, that he often pitted his skills at western boxing against fighters from various disciplines. In one of these matches, which took place at Kadoorie Hill, an exponent of Tai Chi Praying Mantis defeated Wong, and he swore that he would be back for a rematch in three months. At that time, a friend of his cousin by the name of Law Bing had been learning Ving Tsun for a while, and through him, Wong met several other Ving Tsun practitioners. It is believed that he actually saw Lok Yiu competing successfully in a challenge match and came to admire the Ving Tsun method, so much so that on February 1st 1954, two days before the Chinese Lunar New Year, Wong Shun Leung, accompanied by his cousin, finally came to the school at Hoi Tan Road with a view to become a student of Ip Man. (According to Wong, he hadn’t known the name of the style at that particular time, only that it was a form of boxing from Fatsaan (Foshan) in Guangdong Province. Only after he began studying it, did he learn from Ip Man what it was called.) As it was so close to the Lunar New Year, there were few people present when Wong arrived at the school, just two or three relative beginners. Being young and keen to seek genuine gung-fu, and lacking an understanding of the protocol expected of him, Wong asked if he could try out against those present, not realizing that this could be considered a challenge. Ip Man was polite enough to allow him to go ahead, only to see Wong defeat two of the students easily, one after the other. Without as much as raising his voice, Ip Man gestured to Wong to try out his skills with him saying, “I’ll have a play with you.” Wong Shun Leung began the attack, using his boxing skills to throw punches at Ip Man, but Ip Man calmly faced Wong, hands forward of his body, and using his forward footwork, stepped inside Wong’s guard forcing him back onto the wall. Making use of taan da to nullify Wong’s technique, Ip Man then threw a burst of light punches to Wong’s head and chest, not inflicting any damage, but clearly indicating to Wong that he had been controlled and beaten. Once this has taken place a second and then a third time, Wong was amazed by such skill and control, deciding then and there to become a student of Ip Man. He commenced his training four days after New Year, on the 6th February. It is also worth mentioning that on that first visit, following the exchange with Ip Man, Wong Shun Leung also had a match with senior student Ip Bo Ching, with neither one being able to totally dominate the other. (Translator’s note: When retelling this story in an interview not long before his death, sifu told the funny tale of how, when Ip Bo Ching arrived at the school, Ip Man took him into the kitchen area on the pretext of making him a cup of tea. Sifu’s cousin turned to him saying, “What a nice teacher this man is, …look, he even makes a cup of tea for his student.” Sifu responded, “He’s not making him a cup of tea, …he’s telling him how to come out and give me a hard time!” Apparently the ensuing match was quite full-on, but neither Wong nor Ip came out looking too bad.) Hard work and perseverance leads to success Wong Shun Leung himself recalled that shortly after he commenced his training in Ving Tsun, he began learning how to strike the wallbag. One day, while he was hitting the wallbag, Grand Master Ip Man was talking to Leung Sheung and said, “Look at the way this kid is looking at the wallbag as he hits it, …it’s as if he’s hitting a person, not just a bag. I reckon he’ll create a stink in Hong Kong within a year (Ip Man referring here to Wong stirring up Hong Kong’s martial arts community through challenge fights).” Ip Man of course turned out to be correct, except that it only took Wong three months before he began creating an impression! Chan Chi Man started training under Ip Man in 1955, and was one of the last students of the ‘Restaurant Worker’s Union’ period. According to him, Wong Shun Leung was very dedicated to his training. He imposed a strict training regime on himself, and refused to rest until he had completed his daily programme of techniques and drills. For example, he would strike the wallbag with five hundred punches on each hand, then five hundred times with both palms, or he would move up and down the room throwing punches fifty times in succession, and so the routine went on. He would maintain himself in fighting condition around the clock, always prepared for action, and when working out with his classmates in chi sau practise, Wong was very serious, often treating training sessions no differently from a real fight. Wu Chun Nam was Wong Shun Leung’s schoolmate, as well as being his first Ving Tsun student. He recalls how, in order to find more time for practising, Wong would skip school classes to go to the gwoon, often spending as much as ten hours there. On arriving home at night, Wong would be so exhausted that he couldn’t even eat his dinner, and would simply crawl into bed and sleep. Eventually, Wong weakened himself to such an extent by such a rigorous training routine that both the Grand Master and his father had to prescribe herbal remedies to build his strength back up. Wu often went to Wong’s home to do both schoolwork and practice Ving Tsun. Once, while the two of them were training within a large room in the house, Wong Shun Leung got a little too serious while using the po pai jeung technique, sending Wu flying backwards, smashing an antique bed belonging to Wong’s mother in the process. That of course raised the ire of Wong’s father, resulting in a large portion of family discipline. Contests and challenge matches around the town Masters such as Chu Shong Tin, Chan Chi Man, Siu Yuk Man, and several others, have all mentioned the late Grand Master’s attitude towards his student’s training at that time. He would say to his more experienced students, “After you have practiced for a time, you should go out and test yourself to gauge your level of skill.” In those days, there was little restriction placed by authorities on such semi-open contests, compared with today. As a result, there were several members of the Ving Tsun school who engaged in such “tests of skill” at that time. The one person who had more challenge matches than anyone else was Wong Shun Leung. While he certainly wasn’t the only member of the Ip Man Clan to fight in these matches, according to Wong Shun Leung himself, because of his small stature (around five foot six inches tall, and weighing around 105 lbs), many of his opponents chose to fight him, thinking that he would be an easy adversary (there were no weight classes applying in these challenge matches of the fifties and sixties), thus Wong ended up having somewhere in the vicinity of sixty to seventy such beimo during this period in Hong Kong. Many newspapers and periodicals of the time, such as the ‘Hung Luk’, ‘Ngan Dang’ and ‘Ming Bo’ newspapers, and the popular 70s ‘New Martial Hero’ magazine, reported on Wong’s exploits. Fortunately, some of these reports still exist today and diehard Ving Tsun devotees and those interested in this period of martial arts history, can seek out these accounts for themselves as there are far too many of these stories about the “Gong Sau” exploits of Wong Shun Leung than this brief account will allow for. The 1960s: teaching Ving Tsun as a hobby At the beginning of the sixties, Wong Shun Leung and his family resided on the third floor of a pre-war apartment building at 466 Nathan Road, Mongkok. As Wong Shun Leung was totally engrossed with the study of Ving Tsun, he incessantly sought out training partners to practice with, eventually choosing people to teach and train with according to their body size and strength so as to provide himself with a greatest variety of partners possible. Because his primary goal wasn’t to teach, or to make a living from his training, Wong chose his students very seriously and as Wu Chun Nam recalls, many people of various backgrounds found their way to Wong Shun Leung’s door at that time, becoming his students, such as Yeung Yi Choi, Lo Min, Chang Yip Kau, Lau Man Kwong, Cheung Chan Ching, Wan Kam Leung, and so on. While the relationship between Wong and these people was largely that of a teacher and his students, Wong wouldn’t allow them to refer to him as sifu, preferring that they simply call him Leung Goh (“Big Brother Leung”), which was appropriate as their ages were all quite similar, and Wong also invited several of Ip Man’s students to train at his home, such as (Henry) Pang Kam Fat, Wong Tsok, Chan Chi Man, (Andrew) Ma Hang Lam, and others, so it was inappropriate for Wong to be addressed as sifu. The very first time that Wu Chun Nam took part in a beimo match was on Wong’s rooftop with Wong acting as an official in the proceedings. This was a time of great historical importance in the development of Ip Man’s Ving Tsun in Hong Kong, and was the first time that such a match was recorded on film. On the 10th of May, 1969, Wong Shun Leung officially opened up the first ‘Wong Shun Leung Ving Tsun Gung-fu School’ in the Yaumatei district of Kowloon, on the first floor of a building there, and began recruiting students from the public. We believe that between 1969 and 1971, he conceived the establishment of the ‘Wong Shun Leung Ving Tsun Martial Arts Association’ for the promotion and development of his beloved Ving Tsun. During this time, Wong had many, many people coming to him wanting to be his student, but while this was pleasing, Wong couldn’t accommodate them all, so he would have prospective students register their names and come back at a later date.

Most pictures from Philipp Bayer's site and Gert-Jan Ketelaar's Site. They have some more great pictures if you check them out.

The 1970s: lessons of the past handed down to the next generation Because of reconstruction on the building, Wong moved his school from the original Yaumatei premises to a new location on the 5th floor of another building on Reclamation Street on the 16th August, 1971. He continued teaching at that location until 1975. During that period, he and his students took part in countless tournaments in Hong Kong and elsewhere in the region, with outstanding results. At that time, with the help of friends, Wong moved his school to Granville Road in the Tsimshatsui district and continued the advancement of Ving Tsun. In 1976, Wong Shun Leung left Tsimshatsui and commenced teaching in the front apartment on the 9th floor of 506-508 Nathan Road, Yaumatei. Thus, from the end of the 60s through to the 70s, Wong Shun Leung threw all his efforts into developing and refining his Ving Tsun. He taught many, many talented students during those years, many of whom are now famous Ving Tsun instructors in their own right both in Hong Kong and overseas, such as Wan Kam Leung, Ng Chun Hong, (Tommy) Yuen Yim Keung, (Lawrence) Leung Chi Sing, Ko Kwong Nin, (Gary) Lam Man Hok, Chan Kim Man, Ko Kin, and so on. The 1980s: roots in Hong Kong, flowers all over the world By the end of the 70s and the beginning of the 80s, Wong Shun Leung had come to something of a low point in his life, having struck hard times in keeping his school running. Then, towards the end of the summer of 1983, a German by the name of Philipp Bayer came to Hong Kong with the aim of becoming Wong’s student, and studied the Ving Tsun system under him there. Bayer invited Wong Shun Leung to travel to Germany and Europe, with a view to conduct seminars there for the promotion of ‘Wong Shun Leung Ving Tsun Pugilism’, and he then set about organizing everything on behalf of his teacher. In December of the very same year, an Australian by the name of David Peterson (who also goes by the Chinese name Ding Chaochen) also came to Hong Kong specifically to become Wong Shun Leung’s student in Ving Tsun. From then on, Peterson returned to Hong Kong at least once every year after that until 1992 in order to study at Wong’s school. During that time, Peterson also arranged for Wong to travel to Australia for the purpose of conducting seminars. It really could be said that this presented Wong with a dream opportunity in his lifetime, and both of these students did much to promote Wong Shun Leung and Ving Tsun overseas. Wong took advantage of this opportunity and through his trips to European countries, was able to establish the “Wong Shun Leung Way” in Europe. He then traveled to Europe for seminars every year, staying there for up to two months at a time. As for Australia, Wong first went there in February of 1986 to conduct his inaugural seminars there. In total, between then and 1994, Wong Shun Leung traveled to Australia four more times. One could well say that this was a high point in Wong’s Ving Tsun career, moreover, it remained so on into the 1990s. From the mid-1980s onwards, foreign students from many different nations came to Wong Shun Leung’s school in Hong Kong for training. One of Wong’s student, Cliff Au Yeung (one of the authors of this article), became Wong’s chief translator in order to overcome the language barrier, both in Hong Kong and in his teacher’s travels to Europe for seminars on at least two occasions. Several of Wong Shun Leung’s students of this period, such as Chiu Hok Yin and Li Hang Cheong, became successful Ving Tsun instructors in present day Hong Kong. The 1990s: a Dragon returns home, a Hero goes to heaven The school in Nathan Road had to be closed in 1988 because of rental problems, so Wong began using the ‘Ving Tsun Athletic Association’ premises for running his classes, remaining there until 1997. Mr Leung Man To, a good friend of Wong Shun Leung as well as a famous martial arts researcher especially interested in Chinese wrestling, respected Wong very much indeed for his knowledge, ability and experience in Ving Tsun Gung-fu. With his connections in China, in 1996 Mr Leung organized a seminar in Beijing, China. It had been Wong’s long time desire to reacquaint the Chinese people with the Ving Tsun system, especially since it had become so successfully introduced to Hong Kong by Ip Man, and eventually to the rest of the world, yet little known to the Chinese people in its homeland. By doing so, Wong hoped to see Ving Tsun regain the fame and popularity that he felt it deserved, and so he made his first trip to the capital, Beijing, on August 12th of that year, accompanied by his student Li Hang Cheong and Mr Leung Man To. It was a very successful trip, with many famous Chinese martial artists amongst his audience, while a well known martial arts magazine, ‘Martial Soul’, ran a series of articles about Wong Shun Leung and his exploits. While in Beijing, Wong was also able to demonstrate his theories on the‘ Science of Ving Tsun Pugilism’ as well as presenting his article ‘A Discussion of the Science of Ving Tsun Pugilism’ which described the essence of Ving Tsun theory, based upon his many years of practicing and researching the system. By October of the same year, the ‘Chinese National Sports Control Centre’ and ‘Martial Soul’ magazine, together with the sponsorship of the Hong Kong ‘VTAA’, again invited Wong Shun Leung to Beijing to conduct the first ever such presentation which was named the ‘1996 All China Ving Tsun Gung-fu Short Course’. This historical event was headed by Wong who was accompanied by ten of his Hong Kong and European-based students (these included Chan Kim Man, Ma Chung Sing, Li Hang Cheong, Wong Kwong Yung, Law Wing Tak, Fong Si Lai, Wong Fei, and others), and they all played an important role in bringing Ving Tsun Gung-fu back to the mother country. (Note from the translator: I met si-suk Wong on the street in Mongkok shortly after his return from this trip and he exclaimed, “I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy, but they really tested me out and showed no mercy to this elderly man.”) According to Mrs. Wong, before her late husband made his trips to China, he prepared everything with great care and attention, while at the same time still carrying on with the teaching of his classes. All of this, plus a lot of social activities, left Wong extremely fatigued. On January 12th, 1997, while at a gathering of his Ving Tsun brothers at the ‘VTAA’ , he collapsed into a coma and was rushed by ambulance to the Kwong Wa Hospital where he remained until his death some 16 days later [January 28th 1997, at 3.07 p.m]. During this time, many of his friends, students, both local and overseas-based, came to show their concern of his situation, and ultimately, pay their last respects at his funeral after he passed away on the afternoon of the 28th of January, having never regained consciousness in his 62nd year. [He died at the age of 61. ]

VING TSUN FAMILY TREE

VING TSUN FAMILY TREE


五枚NG MUI

嚴詠春YIM VING TSUN

梁博儔LEUNG BOK CHAU

梁蘭桂LEUNG LAN KWAI



黃華寶 (以拳法易棍法) 梁二娣 (以棍法易拳法)
WONG WAH BO LEUNG YEE TEI
(EXCHANGED THE FIST-FIGHTING (EXCHANGED THE 6 1/2 POINT LONG TECHNIQUES WITH LEUNG) POLE TECHNIQUES WITH WONG)

梁贊
LEUNG JAN
陳華順 梁 碧
CHAN WAN SHUN LEUNG BI

叶问
IP MAN

黄淳梁
WONG SHUN LEUNG

李恒昌
LI HENG CHANG

王志鹏
WANG ZHI PENG

WRITTEN BY THE LATE GRANDMASTER IP MAN

WRITTEN BY THE LATE GRANDMASTER IP MAN
葉問宗師親撰《詠春源流》真跡
The text in Chinese was a rough draft written by the late Grandmaster Ip Man and was supposed to be the preface for the purpose of organizing the "Ving Tsun Tong Fellowship" once upon a time. However, the Ving Tsun Tong Fellowshp had never been come in existence. In stead, the "Ving Tsun Athletic Association" was finally established on 24, August 1967.


The founder of the Ving Tsun Kungfu System, Miss Yim Ving Tsun was a native of Canton China. As a young girl, she was intelligent and athletic, upstanding and manly. She was betrothed to Leung Bok Chau, a salt merchant of Fukien. Soon after that, her mother died. Her father, Yim Yee, was wrongfully accused of a crime, and nearly went to jail. So the family moved far away, and finally settled down at the foot of Tai Leung Mountain at the Yunnan-Szechuan border. There, they earned a living by. All this happened during the reign of Emperor K'anghsi (1662-1722).
At the time, kungfu was becoming very strong in Siu Lam Monastery (Shaolin Monastery) of Mt. Sung, Honan. This aroused the fear of the Manchu government, which sent troops to attack the Monastery. They were unsuccessful. A man called Chan Man Wai was the First Placed Graduate of the Civil Service Examination that year. He was seeking favour with the government, and suggested a plan. He plotted with Siu Lam monk Ma Ning Yee and others. They set fire to the Monastery while soldiers attacked it from the outside. Siu Lam was burnt down, and the monks scattered. Buddhist Abbess Ng Mui, Abbot Chi Shin, Abbot Pak Mei, Master Fung To Tak and Master Miu Hin escaped and fled their separate ways.
Ng Mui took refuge in White Crane Temple on Mt. Tai Leung (also known as Mt. Chai Har). There she came to know Yim Yee and his daughter Yim Ving Tsun. She bought bean curds at their store. They became friends.
Ving Tsun was a young woman then, and her beauty attracted the attention of a local bully. He tried to force Ving Tsun to marry him. She and her father were very worried. Ng Mui learned of this and took pity on Ving Tsun. She agreed to teach Ving Tsun fighting techniques so that she could protect herself. Then she would be able to solve the problem with the bully, and marry Leung Bok Chau, her betrothed husband. So Ving Tsun followed Ng Mui into the mountains, and started to learn kungfu. She trained night and day, and mastered the techniques. Then she challenged the local bully to a fight and beat him. Ng Mui set off to travel around the country, but before she left, she told Ving Tsun to strictly honour the kungfu traditions, to develop her kungfu after her marriage, and to help the people working to overthrow the Manchu government and restore the Ming Dynasty. This is how Ving Tsun kungfu was handed down by Abbess Ng Mui.
After the marriage, Ving Tsun taught her Kungfu to her husband Leung Bok Chau, and he passed his kungfu techniques on to Leung Lan Kwai. Leung Lan Kwai passed it on to Wong Wah Bo. Wong Wah Bo was a member of an opera troupe on board a junk, known to the Chinese as the Red Junk. Wong worked on the Red Junk with Leung Yee Tei. It so happened that Abbot Chi Shin, who fled from Siu Lam, had disguised himself as a cook and was now working on the Red Junk. Chi Shin taught the Six-and-a-half Point Long Pole Techniques to Leung Yee Tei. Wong Wah Bo was close to Leung Yee Tei, and they shared what they knew about kungfu. Together they correlated and improved their techniques, and thus the Six-and-half-point Long Pole Techniques were incorporated into Ving Tsun Kungfu.
Leung Yee Tei passed the Kungfu on to Leung Jan, a well known herbal doctor in Fat Shan. Leung Jan grasped the innermost secrets of Ving Tsun, and attained the highest level of proficiency. Many kungfu masters came to challenge him, but all were defeated. Leung Jan became very famous. Later, he passed his kungfu on to Chan Wah Shan, who took me as his student many decades ago. I studied kungfu alongside my kungfu brothers such as Ng Siu Lo, Ng Chung So, Chan Yu Min and Lui Yu Jai. Ving Tsun was thus passed down to us, and we are eternally grateful to our kungfu ancestors and teachers. We will always remember and appreciate our roots, and this shared feeling will always keep our kungfu brothers close together. This is why I am organizing the Ving Tsun Fellowship, and I hope my kungfu brothers will support me in this. This will be very important in the promotion of Kungfu.