When did Yip Man change the forms?

[Marnetmar]

It's known that Yip Man's Wing Chun forms in Foshan were more or less similar to those of Yiu Choi/YKS, and that he presumably simplified the forms after coming to Hong Kong.

So when did he change the forms? Did the change occur in his later Foshan years shortly before coming to Hong Kong? Did he simplify the forms on the fly when he first started teaching Leung Sheung and Lok Yiu? Is the Leung Bik story real after all, and the Hong Kong forms are the "Leung Bik" version?

Would like to hear your thoughts and speculations.

 

[APL76]

Pure speculation, but my guess is Yip Man modified his forms once he got to Hong Kong, and was faced with the prospect of having to teach Wing Chun in order to survive.

 

[jlq]

It's known that Yip Man's Wing Chun forms in Foshan were more or less similar to those of Yiu Choi/YKS, and that he presumably simplified the forms after coming to Hong Kong.

So when did he change the forms? Did the change occur in his later Foshan years shortly before coming to Hong Kong? Did he simplify the forms on the fly when he first started teaching Leung Sheung and Lok Yiu? Is the Leung Bik story real after all, and the Hong Kong forms are the "Leung Bik" version?

Would like to hear your thoughts and speculations.

1. It is incorrect that Yip Man's forms in Fatsaan were more or less similar to those of Yiu Choi and YKS - the forms he taught then are in fact almost the same as what was passed on in HK - the biggest difference is that in Fatsaan they kept the Sap Zhi Sau (Character 10 Hand) after the Yat Zhi Chung Choi. Other than than basically just one small, inconsequential different. People are just not used to the particular flavour of the Fatsaan students, and think it is something rather different. If you study it in detail, though, you will realize the truth of what I just wrote. If we look at the forms of YK, YC and YKS, we can consider YM man YKS on opposite ends of the spectrum and YC's sets in the middle. This is not strange, given that YC's source of learning was essentially the teachers of YKS and YM...

2. Yip Man stopped teaching his 7 students on Wing Ngon Rd. in 1944 and continued to teach Gwok Fu privately in Zaau Biu Cun (a village) until ca. 1946 (about 1,5 years). After that Yip Man didn't teach students in Fatsaan, so there would have been absolutely no reason for him to change anything.

3. Leung Bik was a real person, but whether or not it is possible for him to have taught Yip Man anything is questionable. Given what I wrote in 1. (the HK and Fatsaan forms are pretty much the same) there is no reason to speculate whether or not the HK forms were from Leung Bik.

 

[Taiji Rebel]

There are a number of different Wing Chun schools out there and the following book is full of great information: