Editing Ip Man (section)

==Life in Hong Kong==
Ip, his wife Cheung, and their daughter arrived in Hong Kong through [[Portuguese Macau|Macau]] in 1950.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} His wife and daughter later returned to Foshan to retrieve their identity cards. Due to the [[Frontier Closed Area|closure of borders]] between China and Hong Kong in 1951, Ip and Cheung were separated for good, with Cheung remaining in Foshan until her death.

After having moved to Hong Kong, the 56-year-old Ip Man struggled with unemployment. Ip's only prior experience was as a policeman in Foshan, but he was either unable or refused to join the [[Hong Kong Police Force]]. Ip's friends were able to help him get a job at a restaurant, where he would make new associates via the Hong Kong Restaurant Workers' Association. The association also had a club for martial artists, led by [[Leung Sheung]], but Ip Man didn't want others to know that he was a martial artist.<ref name="John Little, Danny Xuan 2015">{{cite book |author=John Little, Danny Xuan|date=2015 |title=The Tao of Wing Chun: The History and Principles of China's Most Explosive Martial Art |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=dS6CDwAAQBAJ|location= |publisher=Simon and Schuster|page= |isbn=9781632209955|quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Benjamin N. Judkins, Jon Nielson|date= 2015|title=The Creation of Wing Chun: A Social History of the Southern Chinese Martial Arts |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=H7s0CgAAQBAJ|publisher= State University of New York Press Press|page= 227|isbn=9781438456959|quote=.}}</ref>

Ip is known to have been addicted to opium, and after moving to Hong Kong, he was able to buy it on the black market. Opium was very expensive at the time, so Ip had to earn a steady income to smoke opium while supporting his family in Foshan.<ref>Ken Ing: Wing Chun Warrior, p. 109-110. Blacksmith Books, 2010. {{ISBN|9789881774224}}</ref><ref name="Matthew Polly 52–53">{{cite book|author= Matthew Polly|quote=Destitute and rumoured to have an opium habit, Ip Man began teaching Wing Chun as a way out of poverty.|pages=52–53|title=Bruce Lee: A Life|date=4 June 2019 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9781501187636}}</ref>

Ip began teaching Wing Chun in the early 1950s, to escape poverty and to allegedly feed his opium addiction.<ref name="Matthew Polly 52–53"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Rawcliffe |first=Shaun |date= 2012|title= Wing Chun Kung Fu: The Wooden Dummy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fZh8AwAAQBAJ|publisher= Crowood|page= |quote=Wing Chun Kung Fu has a long history but it has only been taught openly since the 1950s when Grandmaster Yip Man revealed the secrets of the art and began to teach large numbers of students in Hong Kong.|isbn=9781847975072}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url = http://www.foshanmuseum.com/ymt/ymt.htm |title = Ip Man Tong virtual tour |website = foshanmuseum.com| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111128031909/http://www.foshanmuseum.com/ymt/ymt.htm|archive-date = November 28, 2011|date = November 2011 | language = }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.kwokwingchun.com/about-wing-chun/ip-mans-wing-chun/interview--with-grandmaster-yip-man/| title = An Interview with Grandmaster Yip Man| date = January 22, 2014|website = www.kwokwingchun.com|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191029214756/http://www.kwokwingchun.com/about-wing-chun/ip-mans-wing-chun/interview--with-grandmaster-yip-man/ |archive-date = October 29, 2019|access-date= 2019-01-25}}</ref> His earliest students
consisted mainly of "poor and uneducated" members of the Restaurant Workers' Association<ref name="John Little, Danny Xuan 2015"/> and "restless and angry young men", who were attracted to Ip Man's charismatic personality and the prospect of getting tougher in order to survive the dangerous environment of 1950s Hong Kong.<ref>{{cite book|author= Matthew Polly|quote=[Ip Man] quickly acquired a coterie of angry young men, who were attracted by his talent, even temper, and quick wit.|page=53|title=Bruce Lee: A Life|date=4 June 2019 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9781501187636}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Benjamin N. Judkins, Jon Nielson|date= 2015|title=The Creation of Wing Chun: A Social History of the Southern Chinese Martial Arts |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=H7s0CgAAQBAJ|publisher= State University of New York Press Press|page= 241|isbn=9781438456959|quote=The art, at is heart, revolved around the very real specter of violence. Kowloon in the mid-1950s was a violent place and young martial arts students of the period insisted on making it even more so through their challenge fights and petty gang rivalries. It was the promise of becoming stronger and more formidable that attracted many new pupils in this period. [...] Wong Shun Leung, William Cheung, Duncan Leung, Hawkins Cheung and Bruce Lee were all restless young men who sought to perfect the art of Wing Chun to become tougher and more respected.}}</ref> Initially, Ip Man's teaching business was poor in Hong Kong because Ip's students typically stayed for only a couple of months. He moved his school twice, first, to Castle Peak Road in [[Sham Shui Po]], and then to Lee Tat Street ({{lang|zh-Hant|利達街}}) in [[Yau Ma Tei]] by where only a few of his former students follow and continue to train under. One of the notable student was Grandmaster Chow Tze Chueng,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Great Grand Master Chow Tze Chuen – International Wing Chun Organization HQs |url=http://iwco.online/iwco/grandmaster-chow-tze-chuen/ |access-date=2025-01-04 |language=en-GB}}</ref> the teacher of Sifu Donald mak.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grand Master Donald Mak – International Wing Chun Organization HQs |url=http://iwco.online/iwco/gm-donald-mak/ |access-date=2025-01-04 |language=en-GB}}</ref> By then, some of his students had attained proficiency in Wing Chun and were able to start their own schools. They went on and sparred with other martial artists to compare their skills, and their victories helped to increase Ip's fame.

Around 1955, he had a mistress from [[Shanghai]], who was referred to by his students simply as ''Shanghai Po'' ({{lang|zh|上海婆}}). Ip and this mistress had an extramarital son named Ip Siu-wah ({{lang|zh-Hant|葉少華}}). In Foshan, his wife Cheung died of cancer in 1960. Ip never formally introduced his mistress to his other sons, who eventually arrived in Hong Kong to reunite with him in 1962.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Creation of Wing Chun|publisher=SUNY Press|year=2015|isbn=9781438456959|location=United States|pages=247}}</ref>

By the 1960s, Ip Man was becoming more famous in the Hong Kong community. This allowed him to attract wealthier and better-educated people to become his students. In 1967, Ip and some of his students established the Ving Tsun (Wing Chun) also pronounced as "Wing Chun" Athletic Association ({{lang|zh-Hant|詠春體育會}}).<ref>{{cite book |author=John Little, Danny Xuan|date=2015 |title=The Tao of Wing Chun: The History and Principles of China's Most Explosive Martial Art |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=dS6CDwAAQBAJ|location= |publisher=Simon and Schuster|page= |isbn=9781632209955|quote=... by the 1960s, [Ip Man] was becoming known outside the [Hong Kong Restaurant Workers' Association] community, and was attracting wealthier and better-educated students to his classes who could better comprehend the deeper underpinnings of his art. With their support, he established the Ving Tsun Athletic Association.}}
</ref><ref>Ip Ching, ''Ip Man: Portrait of a Kung Fu Master'' (Springville, UT: King Dragon Press, 2001)</ref><ref>''Ip Man Wing Chun 50th Anniversary Journal'' (Hong Kong: Wing Chun Athletic Association Limited, 2005)</ref> The main purpose of the Ving Tsun Athletic Association was to help Ip tackle his financial difficulties in Hong Kong,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vingtsun.org.hk/Origin.htm|title=Origin of Ving Tsun|website=www.vingtsun.org.hk|access-date=2 December 2015}}</ref> which was due to his regular use of [[opium]].<ref>Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit: A Biography, Bruce Thomas, p. 208 "Both Bruce's father and even his wing chun master Yip Man were no strangers to the opium pipe."</ref> One of his former students, Duncan Leung, claimed that Ip used tuition money to support his opium addiction.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/KE16Ad02.html|title=Asia Times Online :: China News, China Business News, Taiwan.|author=Ing|first=Ken|date=16 May 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170402144637/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/KE16Ad02.html|archive-date=April 2, 2017|url-status=unfit}}</ref> Ip's mistress died of cancer in 1968, and their son later became a Wing Chun practitioner like his half-brothers.

<gallery widths="200" heights="145">
File:Ip Man Wing Chun Association.jpg|The original Ip Man Wing Chun Association in Hong Kong, around 1960
File:The age of 18 Bruce Lee and Ye Wen.jpg|Ip Man and [[Bruce Lee]]
</gallery>