BRUCE LEE VS. IP MAN: WHO WOULD WIN? HERE'S WHAT HONG KONG'S WING CHUN MASTER SAYS
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| A Bruce Lee statue as seen in Hong Kong's Avenue of Stars. (B1 Photo/Thomas Rizal) |
Hong Kong. Bruce Lee and his master, Ip Man, have become legends in the martial arts world.
Ip Man was the grandmaster of the kung fu martial art of Wing Chun. He had taken young Bruce Lee under his wing. Ip Man’s story even got adapted to four movies starring the famous Hong Kong actor Donnie Yen as people wanted to get to know Bruce Lee’s teacher better.
But then comes the question: Who would win in a fight: Bruce Lee or Ip Man? Hong Kong’s Wing Chun master Robin Tsang recently spoke with The Jakarta Globe’s sister publication Beritasatu.com on who he thought would be the winner.
“I don’t have a definite answer. I really don’t know. I have never really thought of it before. To me, these two are like heroes,” Robin said in his martial hall in Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong on Wednesday local time.
Robin admitted that he really looked up to Bruce Lee. To him, Bruce Lee is more than an incredible martial artist but also an inspiring individual.
“I watched his movies back when I was younger. He was the reason why I started to learn Wing Chun. I was very inspired by his physical prowess: his fast kicks, his strong punches, and the fact that he was able to take down bigger opponents,” Robin said.
Robin told Beritasatu.com that he was impressed by Bruce Lee’s way of thinking. The San Francisco-born martial artist is known for his quote of the need to “empty your cup so that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality.”. It teaches one to be open-minded if they truly wish to learn something.
“If your cup is filled, how can you receive the coffee that I’m offering to you? This philosophy has taught me to always be open-minded so I can think objectively,” Robin said.
At the same time, Robin considered Ip Man a “true martial artist and fighter.”. Despite being only around 160 centimeter-tall, Ip Man had left a huge legacy in the martial arts world. Robin has heard many stories of Ip Man from the latter’s former students who are now aged between 80 and 90 years old. Robin’s very own teacher, Leung Ting, even trained under Ip Man.
“His former students would often talk about how fast and amazing Ip Man was, especially how he could effectively use his opponent’s strength against them. Just take a look at the pictures of [Ip Man’s students]. Many of them were much bigger than [Ip Man], but they still remained loyal and respected him,” Robin said.
Wing Chun: Using Opponent’s Strength Against Them
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| Wing Chun master Robin Tsang trains in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong on Jan. 15, 2025. (B1 Photo/Thomas Rizal) |
Beritasatu.com had visited Robin’s martial hall as part of a tour sponsored by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB). Aside from the Bruce Lee versus Ip Man debate, Robin also talked of the art behind Wing Chun.
“It is more than physical strength. Wing Chun is also for the thinkers. It is more than a kung fu style, but the philosophy of life. Every motto is applicable in our everyday lives,” Robin said.
What sets Wing Chun apart from the other forms of martial arts is that it lends itself to people who are smaller and physically weaker. A core principle of Wing Chun’s fighting style is using an opponent’s force against them. Robin even explained this principle with a hilarious analogy.
“Imagine I ran out of cash. I then befriended Bill Gates. When we dined together, I told him that I had forgotten my wallet, so I asked [Bill Gates], ‘Could you pay off the bill?’. The principles are the same. We ‘borrow’ or use our opponent’s strength to our advantage,” Robin said.
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LADY KUNG-FU SPEAKS | AN INTERVIEW WITH ANGELA MAO
RARE IMAGE SHOWS BRUCE LEE IN A FORGOTTEN FIGHT WITH BODYBUILDING LEGEND
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| Getty |
Bruce Lee’s Enter The Dragon was one of his biggest blockbuster movies released in the 1970s. From dialogues to actions, everything about the film fascinated the audience. Even after so many years, the world continues to cherish the master’s legacy through this film. Recently, a social media post recalled the forgotten fight between the film’s villain Bolo Yeung and hero Bruce Lee that never made it to the screen.
On April 22, a Facebook fan page of the master posted a picture of Bolo Yeung and Bruce Lee in remembrance of the forgotten fight between the two legends. It was this showdown that convinced the legendary bodybuilder of Lee’s impeccable strength.
Time travel to the unseen fight between Bolo Yeung and Bruce Lee
The picture posted by the fan page on Facebook was a still from an iconic fight scene in Enter The Dragon showing the two legends bare-chested. Lee never had a direct beef with Yeung in the story, hence, they never fought each other on camera. However, the post’s caption indicated the untold story of the fight that took place off-camera between the two legends. It wrote, “Bruce Lee’s the forgotten fight of the untold story in Bruce…”
The story goes that Yeung never got a chance to fight Lee in the film, but he wanted to test Lee’s strength. So, he once asked the master for a sparring showdown after the pack-up. As they began discussing the conditions of the fight, they got into a heated debate. Eventually, it led the two legends into a fight. Although Yeung grabbed Lee by his bulky shoulders, Lee easily came out of it. After this, the Little Phoenix immediately began punching Yeung in his chest. Apparently, the master hit him in his solar plexus which made it impossible for the bodybuilder to resist Lee’s fighting prowess. It shell-shocked him and he gave up eventually.
That incident made Yeung respect the master’s strength in the several interviews he later appeared in. Moreover, in one of the media interactions, Yeung revealed an interesting story about Bruce Lee.
Bruce Lee was once challenged into a fight by an extra
In a resurfaced interview, Bolo Yeung revealed Bruce Lee’s persona. He stated that although he had impeccable strength, he never took advantage of it off-camera. However, since Lee’s fighting prowess was so fascinating, he was often challenged by extras to fight them.
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Yeung stated, “Bruce didn’t want to fight but he felt he was forced to”. Hence, when the fight began, it did not last long. All that Lee had to do was kick him in his head which concluded the fight. “Bruce was too fast”, Yeung added. That incident also impressed the bodybuilder to a great extent about the master’s strength.
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LIVING LEGACY: THE EVER- CHANGING WORLD OF JEET KUN DO INSTRUCTION
A surefire way to start a controversy is to create a top-10 list — in any field. Similarly, if you want to start an argument in the martial arts community, try telling a Bruce Lee follower who is and isn’t qualified to teach jeet kune do. You can relax. This article doesn’t attempt to do any of that. Rather, my intent is simply to identify individuals who have contributed and are still contributing to the ever-changing world of JKD instruction.
Early Days
Lee considered himself a “scientific street fighter.” He spent countless hours researching other arts, not to replicate their moves but to discover the best ways to counter any form of aggression offered by those styles. He also understood the importance of strength and conditioning and proceeded to build his body to maximize his abilities. Most important, he tested each technique in full-contact fighting to determine which ones to keep and which ones to discard.
The end result of Lee’s research was JKD, a martial art that really isn’t a style. It’s meant to be a personal expression of the individual’s ability. The more he engaged in R&D, the more confident he became that the art of fighting was best taught one-on-one or in small groups. Although he once envisioned owning a chain of schools, he came to realize that JKD was not meant for the masses. In January 1970, he closed his schools and, in his own words, “disbanded the teaching of jeet kune do.” Regarding his reason for stopping, he said he feared that “students would take the agenda for the truth and the program as the way.”
Lee continued to move forward, however — so much so that the JKD of the 1970s didn’t mirror the JKD of 1967, when the term was coined. One of his personal students, legendary screenwriter Sterling Silliphant, recalled that Lee was constantly developing his system, “which he continued to evolve right up to the time he died.” Because Lee taught different things to different people at different times, interpretations of JKD can and do vary. Those who like the jeet kune do/kali/silat blend tend to favor the Inosanto method.
Those who prefer the strong wing chun influence often trace their lineage to the likes of Jerry Poteet and Steve Golden. Those who follow in the footsteps of Ted Wong or Joe Lewis typically have less association with wing chun and focus on the latter-stage kickboxing approach with an emphasis on testing via full-contact sparring. Now let’s look at those lineages and the people who propagate them.
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FIFTY YEARS ON, BRUCE LEE'S LEGACY SQUARES UP TO MODERN LIFE HONG KONG
Fifty years after the death of Bruce Lee, who galvanised the imaginations of generations of young people worldwide with feats of kung fu immortalised on screen, it sometimes seems as if his legacy of the martial art he practised is fading in Hong Kong.
Born in San Francisco but brought up in the southeast Asian financial hub which would make him famous, Lee died of cerebral edema (brain swelling) aged 32 on 20 July 1973, just six days before the release of Enter the Dragon, his most popular film.
“He was exceptionally talented and it’s a shame he passed away at such a young age,” says 60-year-old Dorothy Tam, whose hair is now greying, as she punches a sandbag in a small martial arts school covered with bamboo scaffolding in western Kowloon.
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| Sebby Peng, three-and-a-half years old, studies at the Mindful Wing Chun School (Reuters) |
Captivated by the skill displayed in Lee’s performance, Tam, who was just 10 at the time, became a lifelong admirer.
But only in 2019 did Tam overcome her initial apprehension towards Hong Kong’s male-dominated martial arts scene to start learning Wing Chun, the southern Chinese style of the martial art in which Lee had trained.
“Martial arts are not solely about fighting,” Tam adds. “My instructor often emphasises that self-defence is about avoiding conflict and focusing on self-improvement.”
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| Nima King, 38, teaches Amber, seven, the principles of Wing Chun (Reuters) |
Lee’s contributions to martial arts, film, and philosophy have inspired legions of global fans but the legacy that endured for half a century is sometimes seen as a relic of the past in the former British colony.
On his return from Hollywood in 1971, Lee made four Hong Kong films in just two years, among them Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon.
He helped popularise Kung Fu through such blockbuster films and a hit American television series, The Green Hornet, but Wing Chun exponents have struggled to win disciples.
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| A man walks near photos of Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man and his student Bruce Lee, at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum (Reuters) |
The swift pace of life in one of the world’s most expensive cities often conflicts with the time and effort required to master the traditional martial art, while soaring rents make it tough to set up schools.
“The rent is very expensive, and student tuition fees are not enough to cover that,” says Dennis Lee, chairman of the Ving Tsun Athletic Association, where Tam practices.
“How can you make it your career?”
The association holds classes and social events and arranges annual memorial ceremonies such as grave-sweeping for Ip Man, under whom Bruce Lee studied at the age of 13. But of late, attendance at such rituals has been dropping off.
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| Students practice nearby grandmaster Ip Man’s bronze statue, at a Wing Chun school (Reuters) |
Set up in 1967 by seven Hong Kong disciples of Lee’s influential teacher, the association functions out of a flat bought to serve as its headquarters, staying mostly unchanged for six decades, with original brown tiles still intact.
One of Lee’s most famous maxims, “Be water, my friend,” from an interview in 1971, inspired 2019’s pro-democracy movement.
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| Heung Yee Kuk Yuen Long district secondary school students attend a nunchaku performance event by the sea, in a tribute to Bruce Lee in Hong Kong (Reuters) |
It provided a template for months of wildcat protests citywide against Beijing’s tightening grip on Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Even though he has been dead for 50 years, Lee indirectly influenced King’s career, the instructor says.
“It’s not just about the movies. We respect that spirit. And that’s why we’ve got to work hard to keep preserving it,” he adds. “That’s Bruce’s legacy.”
- Jessie Pang, Tyrone Siu, Joyce Zhou
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