A Year: Day to Day Men: 5th of July

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July 5, 1893 was the birthdate of the Wing Chun master Yip Kai-man, known as Yip Man.

Yip Man grew up in a wealthy family in Guangdong and received a traditional Chinese education. Hie started learning Wing Chun for Chan Wah-shun, a teacher and a healer, when he was twelve. Chan, at that time seventy years old, trained Yip Man for three years until his death; Chan’s second eldest disciple, Wu Chung-sok, continued Yip Man’s training.

At the age of sixteen, Yip moved to Hong Kong with the aid of a relative and attended Saint Stephen’s College, a school for wealthy families. It was at this period in his life that he started learning martial arts from Leung Bik. When he was twenty-four, Yip returned to his hometown, Foshan, and became a policeman. He taught Wing Chun to subordinates, friends and relatives informally and did not open an official martial arts school.

Yip went to Hong Kong later to live with his student Kwok Fu during the second Sino-Japanese War, returning after the war to Foshan to continue his career as a police officer. After the Chinese Communist Party won the Chinese Civil War he left for Hong Kong and started a school there. Some of his students attained proficiency in Wing Chun and were able to start their own schools. Students and descendants sparred with other martial artists to compare their skills; and their victories helped increase Yip’s fame.

Yip died on December 2, 1972 in his Hong Kong apartment from throat cancer, only seven months before the death of one of most famous pupils, Bruce Lee. Yip’s legacy is the spread of the Wing Chun style of martial arts through the world. A number of films based on the life of Yip Man were made; the first one “Ip Man” focusing on his life in the 1930s and 1940s was released in 2008 starring Donnie Yen. “Ip Man2” and “Ip Man3” were released in the following years and again starred Donnie Yen.

Wong Kar-wai’s 2013 film about Yip Man titled “The Grandmaster” is one of the better films. It was created in an almost biographical style, highlighting parts of Asian history. It concentrated more on the end of an era in Chinese martial arts history as the second Sino-Japanese War broke out. Tony Leung, one of Asia’s most successful and recognizable actors, played the role of Yip Man. “The Grandmaster” focused also on the philosophies between martial arts and life, as well as the Yip Man’s life from the 1930s to the 1950s.