Wong Shun-leung

Wong Shun-leung (8 May 1935 – 28 January 1997) was a Hong Kong martial artist who studied Wing Chun Kung Fu under Yip Man (葉問) and was credited with training Bruce Lee.

In interviews, Wong claimed to have won at least 60, and perhaps over 100, street fights against martial artists of various styles, though these numbers cannot be independently confirmed.

Due to his reputation, his students and admirers referred to him as 'Gong Sau Wong' (講手王 or 'King of Talking Hands').

Wong recorded one instructional film entitled Wing Chun: The science of in-fighting.

Wong reportedly trained in several martial art styles in his youth, primarily in Tai Chi and either boxing or kickboxing.

He abandoned boxing because of two incidents: one with his boxing coach and one with Ip Man.

The first incident apparently occurred because Wong accidentally struck his boxing coach during sparring.

The angry coach attacked in earnest, only to be eventually knocked out by Wong; the incident caused Wong to leave boxing.

In another account, however, Wong said he had defeated his boxing coach with wing chun techniques: "I was sparring with my instructor and I hit him very hard, he got real mad and came at me very hard. I fought back with wing chun and he ended up bleeding. Boxing was over for me!"

The second incident came about from Wong's fascination with the stories of legendary wing chun figures, such as Chan Wah-shun (陳華順) and Leung Jan (梁贊).

This interest led Wong to look for a wing chun teacher.

Friends of his older brother took him to meet Ip Man.

According to one version of events, after defeating at least two of Yip's students, Wong had a match with Yip himself and was defeated easily.

Another version is that after Wong faced Lo Man-kam, later Yip Po-ching dealt with Wong.

In any case, Wong joined the wing chun group and eventually came to assist Yip with teaching, with students including Bruce Lee.

Grandmaster Ip Man once spoke to Wong after Lee achieved superstardom "如果没有你的多方鼓励和指导，李小龙断无今日的成就" (Without your guidance and encouragement, Bruce Lee wouldn't be having such achievement").

Bruce Lee once wrote in a letter to Wong, "Even though I am (technically) a student of Ip Man, in reality I learned my Kung-fu from you."

Wong was believed to have carried the letter in his wallet.

In the early 1950s, compared to other Kung Fu styles, wing chun was hardly known.

It was a style of Kung Fu practiced by a minority—mostly members of the Association of Restaurant Workers of Hong Kong.

Different Kung Fu schools met secretly with each other for challenge matches.

Wong was said to have faced opponents from many disciplines—"virtually every style of martial art in the colony."

He defeated many opponents in beimo matches in Hong Kong between the ages of 17 and 32, and his reputation grew as he continued winning these matches.

Some have attributed wing chun's fame in Hong Kong to Wong's beimo reputation.

Students from different schools sometimes visited each other's schools and issued challenge to their top students and instructors.

If a student was able to beat the main teacher or master of a particular school, the school would close down.

According to some of Yip's first-generation students, Wong "reputedly 'closed down' quite a number of schools in that way."

Perhaps the best-known letter from Lee to Wong is that of 11 January 1970, which has been translated into English as an appendix to an article by Wong.

In 1970 Bruce Lee wrote a letter in Chinese to Wong Shun-leung :

In October 1996, National Sports Administration of China invited Wong Shun-leung (together with 12 students) to Beijing to teach and to promote Wong's Ving Tsun to the Chinese peoples, the seminar turn out very successful with nearly 200 registered participants and among them were martial arts experts, enthusiast, police and army individuals.

After the weeklong training with Wong and Wong's students, both organizer and participants unanimously acknowledged that Wong's Ving Tsun is not just an ordinary fighting skill but something deep, significant and highly effective, since then Wong's fighting system became known as 咏春拳学 in Chinese, Ving Tsun Kuen Hok in Cantonese of Hong Kong and Science of Ving Tsun Kung Fu in English, today WSLVT (Wong Shun Leung Ving Tsun) is widespread in mainland China and worldwide.

According to Wong and his students, he became active in beimo (比武): semi-organized bare-knuckle challenge fights in Hong Kong (sometimes known as 'Kung Fu elimination contests').

Supposedly there were no rules, protective equipment, or time limits.

As Wong recalled in an interview, "When I competed, it was in secret. We went into a room, and the door was shut and there were no rules. The government did not allow them. They were illegal, but we didn't care. We fought until the other guy was knocked out."

Beimo competitions were believed to be held anywhere that was found to be convenient.

Some beimo competitions were held on the streets in Hong Kong.

According to Yuen Yim-keung, there were three two-minute rounds with a one-minute rest in between.

The ring was five meters in diameter, which was drawn in chalk, and as a result if the opponent went out of the ring more than three times he would be announced as the loser.

There were also no attacks to the eyes, throat or groin, but everything else could be applied.

Also if there was excessive blood loss, then the injured fighter would be announced as the loser.