Yip Man - Early Life

Early Life

Yip was born to Yip Oi-dor and Ng Shui, and was the third of four children. He grew up in a wealthy family in Foshan, Guangdong, and received a traditional Chinese education. His older brother was Yip Kai-gak, his older sister was Yip Wan-mei and his younger sister was Yip Wan-hum.

Yip started learning Wing Chun from Chan Wah-shun when he was 13. Since Chan was 70 at the time, Yip was Chan's last student. Due to his teacher's age, Yip learned most of his skills and techniques from Chan's second oldest disciple: Ng Chung-sok. Chan died three years after Yip's training started and one of his dying wishes was to have Ng continue teaching Yip.

At the age of 15, Yip moved to Hong Kong with help from his relative Leung Fut-ting. One year later, he attended school at St. Stephen's College—a secondary school for wealthy families and foreigners living in Hong Kong. During Yip's time at St. Stephen's, he saw a foreign police officer beating a woman and Yip intervened. The officer attempted to attack Yip, but Yip struck him down and ran to school with his classmate. Yip's classmate later told an older man who lived in his apartment block. The man met with Yip and asked what martial art Yip practiced. The man told Yip that his forms were "not too great". The man challenged Yip's Wing Chun against the man in chi sao (a form of training that involves controlled attack and defence). Yip saw this as an opportunity to prove that his abilities were good, but was defeated by the man after a few strikes. Yip's opponent revealed himself to be Leung Bik, Chan Wah-shun's senior and son of Chan's teacher, Leung Jan. After that encounter, Yip continued learning from Leung Bik.

Yip returned to Foshan when he was 24 and became a policeman. He taught Wing Chun to several of his subordinates, friends and relatives, but did not officially run a martial arts school. Some of his better known informal students were Lok Yiu, Chow Kwong-yue (周光裕), Kwok Fu (郭富), Lun Kah (倫佳), Chan Chi-sun (陳志新) and Lui Ying (呂應). Among them, Chow Kwong-yue was said to be the best, but he eventually went into commerce and stopped practicing martial arts. Kwok Fu and Lun Kah went on to teach students of their own and they passed down the art of Wing Chun in the Foshan and Guangdong region. Chan Chi-sun and Lui Ying went to Hong Kong later but neither of them accepted any students. Yip went to live with Kwok Fu during the Second Sino-Japanese War and only returned to Foshan after the war, where he continued his career as a police officer. Yip left Foshan for Hong Kong in 1949 after the Chinese Communist Party established the People's Republic of China on the Chinese mainland. Yip was an officer of the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party), the Communists' rival in the Chinese Civil War.