History
According to William Cheung (Cheung Cheuk Hing), the person responsible for the divergence between traditional and modified Wing Chun was Leung Jan who lived two generations before Yip Man. Leung Jan taught Wing Chun to his two sons and also his neighbour Chan Wah Shun. Leung feared that the bigger and stronger Chan would try to claim the Wing Chun lineage after Leung's death. Thus, Leung taught him a modified, less effective version while reserving the pure, traditional form for his sons. Chan surprisingly still defeated the two sons and assumed Grand-Mastership of the Wing Chun lineage.
Yip Man eventually became Chan's student. Yip Man learned from Chan for four years before moving to Hong Kong to study at college. There he encountered a kung fu practitioner who revealed his identity as Leung Jan's surviving son, Leung Bik. Leung Bik claimed there had been a divergence in Wing Chun teachings and he then taught Yip Man what he called the "traditional" Wing Chun system.
Yip Man would eventually open his own Wing Chun school. As Cheung insists, Yip Man decided to pass on the system to one student only. Yip Man taught the claimed "modified" version to his students (Which includes Bruce Lee And Ip Man's sons Ip Chun and Ip Ching) and chose to teach the "traditional" version to Cheung.
Read more about this topic: Traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu
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