Yip Family Lineage

The father of modern Wing Chun is acknowledged to be the late Grandmaster Yip Man, who lived from 1893 until 1972. Yip Man lived in Foshan, China, where he started his Wing Chun training at the age of six, under his Sifu, Chan Wah Shun, who was taught by the legendary Leung Jan. Yip Man studied Wing Chun for six years until Chan Wah Shun passed away in 1905. Before Chan Wah Shun died he asked Ng Chun Sao to help Yip Man complete the Wing Chun system.

In 1909, whilst studying at St Stephen College in Hong Kong, Yip Man came to know Leung Bik, with whom he studied for four years. Many years passed, by which time Grandmaster Yip Man had returned to Foshan where he married Cheung Wing Sing and they had four children, sons Yip Chun and Yip Ching, and daughters Ar Sum and Ar Wun.

In 1949 Grandmaster Yip Man returned to Hong Kong where he started to teach Wing Chun. His first class opened with around eight students, but it was not long before more schools were opened and the art of Wing Chun spread to the outside world. It was around 1956 that Lee Siu Lung, who later became known famously as Bruce Lee began to study Wing Chun under with Grandmaster Yip Man. In 1962, Grandmaster Yip Man's sons, Yip Chun and Yip Ching, came to Hong Kong, where they resumed their Wing Chun training under the guidance of their father. Grandmaster Yip Man passed away in 1792 at the age of 72.

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Grandmaster Yip Chun, the elder son of the late Grandmaster Yip Man, was born in 1925 in Foshan, China. Yip Chun began his studies in Wing Chun with his Father at a very early age. When his Father left for Hong Kong in 1949, Yip Chun stayed behind to continue his studies at the University.

In 1962, Yip Chun was reunited with his father in Hong Kong, where he worked as an accountant during the day and studied Wing Chun with his father in the evenings. In 1967 Yip Chun himself began to teach Wing Chun. When his father passed away in 1972, Yip Chun carried on Wing Chun in his father's tradition.

Today, at over 80 years of age, Grandmaster Yip Chun continues to teach Wing Chun at the Ving Chun Athletic Association. He also has students that represent his teachings around the world including Europe, America, Australia and South Africa.

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Grandmaster Yip Ching is the younger of Grandmaster Yip Man's two sons and was born in Foshan in 1936. Grandmasterr Yip Ching started his Wing Chun training at around the age of eleven years.

Along with his elder brother, Grandmaster Yip Ching was reunited with his father in Hong Kong in 1962, where he was happy to resume his Wing Chun training with his father. From 1964 Grandmaster Yip Ching began to help his father teach with teaching and as a result gained enormous insight and understanding of Wing Chun.

Grandmaster Yip Ching continues to teach Wing Chun in his father's tradition at the Ving Tsun Athletic Association in Hong Kong and Wing Chun practitioners travel from around the globe to attend his classes. Grandmaster Yip Ching himself often travels abroad to teach Wing Chun and give talks about his late father's teachings.

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Master Samuel Kwok is the founder and head of the Samuel Kwok International Martial Art Association. Master Kwok was born in Hong Kong in 1948, the son of a Church Minister.

Master Kwok began his Wing Chun training in 1967 under Chan Wai Ling in Hong Kong. In 1972 Master Kwok came to study psychiatric nursing in the Uk where he met and continued his Wing Chun education under Lee Sing. Upon returning to Hong Kong in 1978, Master Kwok was introduced to Yip Chun, who offered to teach Master Kwok the Wooden Dummy techniques. After a few years of private tuition by Yip Chun, Master Kwok opened his first school in Hong Kong.

When he returned to the UK in 1981, Master Kwok was appointed the Senior overseas representative on the Yip Chun Martial Art Association by Grandmaster Yip Chun. Due to popular demand Master Kwok started to teach Wing Chun in the UK, later holding inviting Yip Chun and Yip Ching to hold joint seminars across the country.

Now the Samuel Kwok Martial International Martial Art Association is one of the largest Kung Fu organisations in the country with students in Europe, USA, South Africa and Australia. In 1998, master Kwok received a BA honours degree from Manchester University for his services to the promotion of Martial Arts.