What is the difference between TWC and Yip man Red boat Wing Chun [Archive] - Southern Shaolin Global Kung Fu Discussion Board

sihing

10-24-2004, 02:25 AM

I'm not sure what is meant by Yip Man Red Boat Wing Chun, but TWC(Traditional Wing Chun) is referring to a term that GM William Cheung uses to distinguish his system of Wing Chun from the others, and I believe he has trademarked it. The story goes as follows, according to the way I understand it. William Cheung started training in Wing Chun under Yip Man at the age of 10 or so, sometime in 1951. He was well liked by Yip Man and was one of his favorite students. Eventually Cheung got involved in challenge matches, along with the older Wong Shun Leung. Mostly due to these two men, the Wing Chun reputation spread. Bruce Lee was a friend of William Cheung and asked him to bring him in to the Wing Chun school to learn how to fight, this is the introduction of Bruce to formal Martial Art training. Now because of Cheung's constant fighting and his father being a police officer, he was not getting along with his parents so he lived with Yip Man for several years. It was at this time, according to Cheung, that he was introduced to a different form of Wing Chun that was not being taught to the students in the school. Yip Man related to a young William Cheung that his first teacher was Chan Wah Soon, who learned directly from Dr. Leung Jan the famous fighter and doctor. After learning WC from him he participated in many challenge matches. While in Hong Kong attending college, back in the early 1900's, Yip Man heard of an old but good fighter living on a ship in the harbor. Yip Man went to challenge the old man and was easily defeated, this surprised Yip Man immensely, and he went back to see the old man with wine and food to try and win him over so he could learn from him. Eventually the old man revealed his true identity, Leung Bik the younger son of Dr. Leung Jan. Leung Bik then related the story of how and what Chan Wah Soon learned from his father, and that basically Dr. Jan did not teach the true original Wing Chun to him but modified it, because Chan was not from his family. Yip then spent 3 or 4yrs learning this version of Wing Chun from Bik, and then returned to Fat Shan to run the family business. In the late 40's when the communist took over China, Yip had to leave the country for Hong Kong. With little money he had no choice but to teach Wing Chun to earn a living.

The version of Wing Chun that Cheung claims to have learned from Yip Man in private has different footwork and strategies/concepts throughout the system than the standard version coming from Yip's other senior citizens. The are many differences between Cheung's TWC and most of the WC out there today. The forms are different, TWC uses the central line concept instead of just the centerline concept, no pigeon toed stances, more chi-sao exercises, etc etc...

For more details you can visit Phil Redmond's website, www.wingchunkwoon.com , as he is a recognized Master of Cheung's system living in Detroit. He is a very open minded person and will freely give you more information about the TWC system.

James