As to the first part about "isolation". I was just referring to the fact that until the 90's, it was difficult to travel to and from the mainland. For decades, the so called "Bamboo Curtain" limited our knowledge and access.
I'd certainly agree that the 90's opened up a lot of access - but that had more to do with the technology curtain (Internet) being lifted than travel. Books like Complete Wing Chun were able to be written because of the Internet specifically and the contact and transfer of knowledge it facilitated. That was one of the reasons I was able to create the first ever, cross branch/family/etc. discussion list back in '92, that enjoyed (and still enjoys) across the world participation. That's when I myself first became exposed to a lot of the various branches, and not long after found out that most of them were publicly known (in Hong Kong, which is not the bamboo curtain) since the early 70's, specifically thanks to writers like Mok Poi-On.
I sould also say, the "Great grandmaster" thing with regards to Yip Man has always also been odd to me, I usually only hear that reference through Leung Ting branch people.
As far as what I'd like to know about these and other branches of the art? Honestly? Everything!
That's kind of a tall order. Are there any specifics? I would advise browsing a copy of Complete Wing Chun to start with, along with some of these articles and sites:
Yuen Kay San/Sum Nung -
http://www.wingchunkuen.com/sumnung/
Pao Fa Lien -
http://www.w1ng.com/pao-fa-lien-wing-chun-of-foshan/
Gulou/Golao/Koolo - Here's an article on my family's branch of Gulou, there's several different branches there, with the Fung Family (Pien San) being the most prevalent -
http://www.chusaulei.com/martial/articles/articles_gulao.html
Here's a vid of some of the Pien San variation of Gulou Wing Chun that includes a look at mainland style rolling (note that Gulou has no forms, and works entirely via a san sik and san sao method of investigation/training) -
A vid of Cho Ga Wing Chun (Cho family wing chun, malaysian. Note that Cho family has only one form, Siu Lien Tao, which is a very long form that comprises material from the three forms commonly learned in Yip family) -
Here's Pan Nam doing a qigong form from his system -
Here's Pao Fa Lien master Gwok Gai before his death:
Here's another example of Pao Fa Lien -
Here's Andreas Hoffman's weng chun line (which is a compilation of several weng chen sources) -
Hope that's enough to start with and get you going with some specific questions.
