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My Wing Chun Influences
My Wing Chun knowledge comes from a
variety of influences. The most complete version was taught to me by Dr. G.K.
Khoe. The most refined version was taught to me by Kenneth Chung.
In the late 1960's I was
impressed with Bruce Lee in the
TV series Kato.
Then in 1972 I saw
Bruce Lee's book Wing Chun Kung Fu written by
James Lee. Years later I met his
son Greg Lee who was trying to produce volume two however someone who had the
photos for the second volume wouldn't release them.
In 1976 I met
Patrick Chow in Vancouver. He said he was a private student of the late
Grandmaster Yip Man. He was very good and easily defeated people who had many
years of martial arts in various styles. I was impressed with the elegance and
economy of the art. One of his students was challenged by a group of Choy Lee Fut trouble makers but he easily defeated them. I learned maybe a year of Wing
Chun from Patrick. In Patrick's training we would do the slow part of the Siu
Lim Tao form for a solid hour.
Then I met
Johnnie Yu a Hong
Kong student of Moy Yat who taught me the first three forms of Wing Chun. He
wasn't as good as Patrick but still a lot better than Me.
Then I moved to
Victoria and met Mark Lee who taught me 7 months of Wing Chun. His teacher was
Roland Wong a number two fighter for some dangerous Hong Kong organization. Mark
was very good with short range elbows, very powerful and economical but nothing
compared to his teacher Roland Wong. Roland was soft as a piece of string but
could hit like a truck. Roland's teacher was
Jiu Wan a student of Yip Man but he
also learned independently in Fatsan.
I was lucky to
learn the complete system of Wing Chun from
Dr. G.K. Khoe. He was an exceptional
teacher, also a chemical engineering professor, who learned privately from
Yip Man's private student Wang Kiu. Wang Kiu could talk day and night about Wing
Chun. Wang Kiu and Wong Shun Leung used to hang around together. I was fortunate
to have attended a few seminars by Wang Kiu.
In 1982 I met
Eddie Chong. He was much better than me and told me about his teacher
Kenneth Chung.
It was ten years later that I finally met Kenneth Chung. A two hour private
lesson from Ken in San Francisco proved to be a real eye opener. I knew a lot
but my details were lacking to put it mildly.
I had the pleasure
to meet Wong Shun Leung and
Tsui Sheung Tin when they visited Victoria. I
managed to get the local TV station to do a show featuring these two masters.
Both were very nice and willing to answer any questions. They didn't mind
debate. Both had some very good skills.
I met a
Lok Yu
student by the name of Winston Wan however he no longer teaches. But he used to
teach for Lok Yu. He handled me like a very good Chess technician.
I read on the
Internet that Emin Boztepe was a very skillful fighter. So of course we invited
him up to Canada. Well what a discouragement that was. But also inspirational.
He very much pointed out out defects. Some people got so upset they quit
altogether. But what can you expect when you go up against a professional. I
found the experience very valuable. A bitter taste of reality is a good
experience every once in awhile.
I attended a
seminar by Chung Kwok Chow in Vancouver. One good point was that he was very
courageous to try his Wing Chun out against anyone. If he lost, he used it as
just an experience to learn more. He was one of the more organized teachers and
very friendly.
Well I also had the
pleasure of meeting Jessie Glover. He also had a realistic slant to his fighting
and could certainly handle my skills. His basic handwork was in my opinion still
Wing Chun even though he didn't call it that. He definitely was a handful too.
In the late 1980's
I produced a Wing Chun newsletter called Wing Chun Viewpoint and sent it
everywhere. During this time I had the pleasure of talking to many other Wing
Chun people sometimes only on the phone. I heard wise words from
Hawkins Cheung,
Duncan Leung,
Stephen Leung,
Frank Spangler, some students of
William Cheung and
various other people.
From my experience,
for learning Wing Chun it's still best to stick with one teacher and learn all
he or she has to offer. Then later if your so inclined then meet lots of other
people and share hands (but only if you can keep the lineage ego out of it).
Everyone has something useful to offer. Of course some people are very
exceptional.
Note: The late
Grandmaster Yip Man generated many more quality instructors. It seems almost
everyone he taught tuned out to be an instructor. The mentality and age of his
students varied so the Wing Chun from all of his students is quite varied. Maybe
one can say that Yip Man's art is really distributed among all of his students.
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