glassman06wtd

Yes in a sense I am repeating what I have heard from my org and I have no reason to dis-believe it, nor cower to the thought. My Si-Fu was a closed door student of Dr. Leung Ting. Leung Ting was a closed door student of Grand Master Yip Man. "Closed door" essentially means coming into the family; not just remaining a student. GM Yip told my Si-Kung this story. He had a two-fold reason for the story. One was to relay that one should keep and open mind, and the other is one should stay humble because there is always someone better out there. There are several versions of the story. I'll tell you the story my Si-Fu told me that was told to him by Dr. Leung, that was told to him by GM Yip Man. GM Yip Man as a young man, who had been traind by Master Chow, went into Hong Kong and built for himself a very impressive fight record. He was well known for being a fighter that no one could lay a finger on. After a certian fight he was approached by a young man, Leung Bik, who said he knew of someone who could beat him. Yip Man relished the idea of fighing a "master", so Leung Bik took Yip Man to his Fathers boat. His father, being Leung Jan, was quickly challenged by Yip Man. Leung Jan asked the young man what stlye he studied. Yip Man responded by telling this elder Wing Chun as he ripped his shirt off and began performing the Siu Nim Tau. After which he told the elder he thought he could beat him in a fight. The elder then invited Yip Man onboard his vessel. Yip Man then launched a number of his most furious attacks each time finding himself in the drink. After realizing he hadn't been able to lay a finger on this elder Yip Man humbled himself before Leung Jan and asked him what this kung-fu he had been beaten with was. Master Leung Jan told him that it too was Wing Chun. GM Yip man then asked Leung Jan to teach him his family version of Wing Chun at which time he became a student of the family, with Leung Jan being his Si-Fu. At his death bed, Leung Jan asked Leung Bik, his son, to finish teaching Yip man in the family way which he did. You of all people know that most sifus at that time and even now, regardless of the Kung-Fu system, had at least 2 ways of teaching. One way was for public students, that is if they took students from the public. Then there was the family way. It was the perogative of the Si-Fu as to whether he would teach a special non-family student the faimily version. Of course very few people would ever have the priveledge of even seeing the family way, much less learning it. GM Yip Man was one of these people. Yip Man stole his Si-Fu's heart by his dedication and natural ability. Leung Jan was more than happy to give him everything. I do not doubt that Leung Jan taught different people different ways. I also do not doubt the Leung Family taught Yip Man the "pure" family fighting style. I agree that GM Yip Mans version's Wing Chun is one of a number of lineages. Re-read my earlier post. You'll see I referred to how Dr. Leung Ting went to various families both in Hong Kong and mainland China in an attempt to understand some of the differences he found over time. Again, as far as modification-as stated earlier, Dr. Leung made very few modifications to the Wing Tsun he learned from GM Yip Man. Good day. glassman

I study Leung Ting WingTsun Kung Fu. I take issue with your idea of what you refer to as tratitional. First of all Yip Man was taught 2 styles of Wing Chun. one style was much better than the other in using the energy of others against them. It was softer-much softer, but it was better-much better. In later years Grand Master Yip Man, while teaching, took it upon himself to teach the Master Chow Version to some, and a mixture of the Master Chow version and the Master Leung version. There is only one person who has learned the unadulterated Master Leung Jan-Bik version-That is Grand Master Dr. Leung Ting. After GM Yip Mans death, Dr. Leung spent 18 years in Hong Kong and mainland China going to all the families in an effort to understand the differences. Also, there were a couple movements in the form that were not matching up to the application. He found, in his travels, very small differences in some of the forms for him to see what was lost even to Grand Master Yip Man. For example, There is a certain type kick in WT that was not found in the form. After careful study Dr. Leung added the kick into the Chum Kiu form where he logically determined it belonged. Years later while visiting a Wing Chun family in mainland China he discovered they had the kick, and it was right where he put it. All in all very few changes were made to Grand Master Yip Mans Leung Jan-Leung Bik version of Wing Chun. Dr. Leung did standardize the system when he went public with it but that is because if one is going to operate a worldwide org than one needs to have some levels and guide lines, which is only practical. Incidently there are differences in the WingTsun of Europe and areas of the US, to that of China/Hong Kong and other parts of the US. The European system has employed some excercises that were not in the system before. US schools also employed these changes and excercises into their programs under the guidance of the former headman, Emin Boztepe. My Si-Fu employed these excercises and changes briefly then after finding they were standing in the way of some important WT principles, he refused to teach these any longer, and went back to the pure Leung Jan-Bik version. Good Day glassman06wtd

You may want to take a look for a WT school in your area also. Don't know if there are any, but here is what you need to do to find one. Go to http://www.leungtingwingtsun.net/ Then click on links. Then select your country. I am assuming it is England. Click on https://www.wtdefence.com Click on club list. Then click on the area you are from. glassman