KUNG FU - YIP MAN

Childhood in Futshan and Encountering His First Teacher

Yip Man was born into a wealthy and influential family who were the owners of a farm and two rows of large old-fashioned houses along the whole length of an avenue in the town of Futshan, Guangdong province. In the centre of this estate was the ancestral temple of the Yip clansmen. It was there that the master Chan Wah Shun was teaching Wing Chun Kuen to a few select students.

Yip Man, being the second eldest son of this wealthy family, enjoyed a privileged and carefree upbringing. According to Yip Man's eldest son, Yip Chun, his father was born in the year 1893. However, there is a second set of birthdates of which the sources are various students of Yip Man. These dates mention Yip Man being born closer to 1898 or as early as 1895. Whatever the exact birthdate of Yip Man, at around the age of eleven he started to take an interest in Wing Chun Kuen after watching the martial art classes conducted by master Chan Wah Shun in his family's ancestral temple. Chan Wah Shun rented this site for the purpose of teaching martial arts since he was lacking a gymnasium of his own. Yip Man, being from this wealthy and respected family, was expected to tend to his academic studies in literature, poetry, art and Confucian philosophy. However, Yip Man often snuck off to watch Chan Wah Shun drill his pupils, most of whom were grown men. Watching the practice day after day, Yip Man became more and more intrigued by the martial techniques and skills displayed by master Chan Wah Shun. One day at last, he went straight up to Chan Wah Shun and asked him to be permitted to join his Wing Chun classes. Master Chan Wah Shun thought the boy might only be joking, so he said that every boy in order to be admitted had to pay an initial admission fee of 3 taels of silver and that if the boy had 3 taels of silver, he would admit him. On hearing this, Yip Man rushed back home filled with excitment and pleasure. Soon he brought back 3 taels of silver as required. Master Chan Wah Shun was surprised to see what the boy had done. He asked the boy where he had got the money from. The boy answered that he had already known that he needed 3 taels of silver for admission, so he began to save money some time ago.

According to an interview by a Hong Kong martial arts magazine ('New Martial Hero'), Yip Man was asked about this among other things. His answer to the interviewer's question was that he had to pay 20 taels of silver during the acceptance ceremony in a red envelope as the martial art custom required. Moreover, he had to pay a monthly tuition fee of 8 taels of silver. The interviewer then asked him how much 20 taels of silver were worth according to that time's living standard. Yip Man responded that with 20 taels of silver one was able to cover the wedding costs if the wedding was not conducted in a too expensive manner.

To come back to the main story, Chan Wah Shun did not believe the boy, thinking that he must have stolen the money from somewhere. So he did not accept the boy as his disciple, but instead told him to bring his mother to the ancestral temple to prove that the money really belonged to him. Yip Man had no other choice but to go home and urge his mother to come and see Chan Wah Shun. When mother and son went back to the temple, Chan Wah Shun just wanted to speak to Yip Man's mother personally to ask her whether she really allowed the boy to learn Kung Fu. Chan Wah Shun mentioned that he thought Yip Man to be quite gifted in learning Wing Chun Kuen. Yip Man's mother was very pleased to hear that and said that if Chan Wah Shun agreed to accept her son, she would not hesitate to allow her son to take up studies of Wing Chun Kuen.

From then on Yip Man became the last and youngest disciple of Chan Wah Shun. According to the 'New Martial Hero' magazine, Yip Man said that his master at that time was already 70 years old and that even though a bit weak, he still would correct Yip Man's mistakes with great patience. Besides that, Chan Wah Shun told his other students to instruct Yip Man. That way his Wing Chun techniques improved quickly. Yip Man was only able to train for three years before his master passed away. However, before Chan Wah Shun died, he reminded his eldest disciple Ng Chung So to take good care of Yip Man, his youngest Kung Fu brother. Yip Man continued his studies under Ng Chung So until an incident occured in which Yip Man, only 16 years old, killed someone in a fight. As his parents were very wealthy and had good connections, they were able to send their son almost immediately to Japan in order to avoid further complications with the authorities.