Leung Bik a question for fun

[hunschuld]

Time for something different

Leung Bik was he really Leung Jan/s son did he even exist. Was Leung Bik the adopted family name of a Leung Jan student such as Fung Wah? It was the practice that if some one decided to teach you their art, could be any profession,they would adopt you into their family and give you a family name. Also the difference between standard student and disciple was this adoption and naming. Sifu means father/teacher.

This leads to my question. Bik means to press or crowd. one of wing chun basic fighting principals is to crowd /press/get close to the opponent. So would you think it logical to name a wing chun disciple after a core wing chun skill?

And no Leung Bik was not YKS don't even go there.

 

[jlq]

There is no need to speculate on this matter - it is a fact that Leung Bik did exist. He even has family descendants alive today. He is recorded in the Leung family Juk Po ("family record") his date of birth and death are a matter of official record. The only question is whether or not he actually ever met Yip Man and if he did, how much could he have taught him. The timeline is a bit problematic.

 

[jlq]

Also, it is a common mistake to make connections between romanised Chinese words. The "Bik" in Leung Bik Wo is not the same word as the "Bik" you are referring to. The Chinese characters are different, so this sort of kills the thought experiment...

 

[hunschuld]

Also, it is a common mistake to make connections between romanised Chinese words. The "Bik" in Leung Bik Wo is not the same word as the "Bik" you are referring to. The Chinese characters are different, so this sort of kills the thought experiment...

Does not kill it on the contrary you provided great information. For decades the loudest voices, usually those with an agenda that is my wing chun is better than Yip Man wing chun, disputed his very existence so the fact that there is proof he existed is both good and sad that this is not better known among the wing chun community.

 

[jlq]

Well, there is a lot of stuff which is not widely known, unfortunately. If so, a lot of the very imaginative speculations and attempts at dot connecting would not even happen in the first place. The creativity of certain people is quite astounding!
A copy of some of the pages of the Leung family Juk Po has been on display in the Yip Man Tong in Lawcun, Laamhoi, since about 2015 or so (if memory serves me right), and Mr. Tang Gwong Man, who is probably THE most prominent martial arts researcher of Southern arts, wrote about this in his blog years ago. So, it is not exactly new knowledge, just not so accessible unless one knows where to look.

 

[Callen]

For decades the loudest voices, usually those with an agenda that is my wing chun is better than Yip Man wing chun, disputed his very existence so the fact that there is proof he existed is both good and sad that this is not better known among the wing chun community.

Aside from the public records on display at the Yip Man Tong, in like 2016 or so, the Foshan Wushu Association also had a project where they researched all the current lineages in the Foshan area. They eventually discovered a 1926 issue of the Foshan Jingwu Monthly that published several biographies from the same era. One of the biographies was about a man named Feng Xiaoli, a practitioner who recorded that he had learned Wing Chun from Leung Jan’s son Leung Bik. When researching Xiaoli’s age and family history, the Foshan Wushu Association concluded that his Wing Chun training began roughly in the early 1880's.

This obviously predates Yip Man’s story of Leung Bik, giving additional evidence that points to the validation of Leung Bik’s existence.

 

[jlq]

Aside from the public records on display at the Yip Man Tong, in like 2016 or so, the Foshan Wushu Association also had a project where they researched all the current lineages in the Foshan area. They eventually discovered a 1926 issue of the Foshan Jingwu Monthly that published several biographies from the same era. One of the biographies was about a man named Feng Xiaoli, a practitioner who recorded that he had learned Wing Chun from Leung Jan’s son Leung Bik. When researching Xiaoli’s age and family history, the Foshan Wushu Association concluded that his Wing Chun training began roughly in the early 1880's.

This obviously predates Yip Man’s story of Leung Bik, giving additional evidence that points to the validation of Leung Bik’s existe