Recalling the Life of Bruce Lee s Teacher. by David Peterson

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Naomi McDonald
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1 Recalling the Life of Bruce Lee s Teacher by David Peterson January 28th 1997 was a very sad day for the martial arts, and indirectly, for fans of Hong Kong cinema, specifically, for fans of the legend that is Bruce Lee. On that day, wing chun kung-fu master, Si fu Wong Shun Leung, 61, teacher and friend of the late martial arts superstar, lost his fight for life following a massive stroke and ensuing coma that had befallen him some 16 days earlier. Considered by many to be a fighter and instructor of unparalleled skill, Sifu Wong was renowned for earning the title of Gong Sau Wong ( King of Talking with the Hands ) after surviving countless beimo, or comparison of skills, throughout the 50s and 60s, emerging every time as undefeated and undisputed champion. These were not tournament fights as conducted in the West, with rules, protective equipment or time limits. Instead, they were full-on fights between representatives of the various schools of 1 / 5

2 combat in Hong Kong, and Sifu Wong is said to have let his hands do the talking by winning the majority of these contests within just three punches! In one such match, arranged by a reporter working for a prominent Hong Kong newspaper of the day, Wong (who stood barely 5 6 tall and weighed in at around 120lbs) easily defeated a visiting Russian boxer named Giko, a giant of a man who weighed over 250lbs and stood some twelve inches taller than the dynamic wing chun exponent. Wong almost single-handedly put this previously low-profile martial art in the public spotlight, gaining great prestige for his teacher, the late grandmaster, Yip Man. Wong s reputation as an invincible fighter also attracted the attention of the young Bruce Lee, who had only recently joined the Yip Man wing chun s chool after having been introduced to the system by his friend, William Cheung, who was later to become a prominent, some might say controversial, spokesman for the wing chun clan. Initially, Lee had trained with his friend Cheung, but when Cheung left for Australia to further his education, Lee became the protegé of Wong Shun Leung who, at almost six years his senior and assistant instructor at the school, commanded the young (around 16 years of age) Bruce Lee s unwavering respect. In the beginning of their student/teacher relationship, Wong found the young Lee to be quite lazy in his approach to training, consequently his progress in the art was relatively slow. It wasn t too long, however, after witnessing first hand the devastating effectiveness of Wong s skills, that Lee began to take his wing chun training far more seriously. In fact, Lee was so keen to learn from Wong that he even found devious ways of monopolising his sihing s teaching time. Wong was, at the time, running training sessions out of his home (his father had helped him to set up a small area for this purpose), as well as helping his teacher Yip Man conduct the classes at the kwoon. After unsuccessfully approaching Wong for private lessons, the young Little Dragon found another method of getting his own way. 2 / 5

3 On more than one occasion, after school was finished for the day, Lee would rush over to Wong s house in order to arrive before his sihingdai. Later on, Sifu Wong would often recount this story to his students, this writer included, saying how Bruce would check that he was indeed the first to arrive, afterwhich he would make up some excuse to leave for a while, whereby he would head downstairs to wait for his classmates to arrive. Sitting on the steps, looking dejected, he would greet his friends with the news that Wong was ill, out on an errand, or otherwise indisposed, then walk with them down the street, even going as far as to help them board a bus for home. Once he was sure that they had all departed the scene, Bruce would double back to Wong s to take advantage of what was now a private lesson. Eventually, Wong became aware of this little ruse and, according to others of that era, gave his young disciple an especially realistic lesson, complete (so the story goes) with black eyes, split lips and a bloody nose! Despite his awesome reputation as a fighter, Wong was not a violent man per se, but he revelled in the chance to test his skills and the effectiveness of Yip Man s art. I didn t actually learn wing chun just to go out and fight. Kung-fu should really be used as a way of protecting yourself in circumstances where you are physically threatened, he was quoted as saying in an interview conducted in Australia some years ago. After I learnt the skills of win g chun from Yip Man, I often had the opportunity to test them. By experimenting with my skills I could discover their limitations and how they compared with other disciplines and so improve myself. It was during this period of experimentation that Wong Shun Leung first introduced Bruce Lee to the experience of the beimo and in the very first of Lee s matches, Wong (who was actually refereeing the fight) coached him between rounds, urging him to continue when it had appeared that Lee was about to give up the fight. 3 / 5

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Bruce Lee s Qi Magazine 22

Bruce Lee s Qi Magazine 22 Qi Magazine 22 Bruce Ted Wong Preserving Jeet Kune Do On 20th July 1973, a famous martial artist and movie star passed away. This was twenty seven years ago but this person is still popular and his image