Theist17

I'll admit my bias right up front. I'm a student in his lineage, as passed on by both Ip Chun and Ip Ching, to Tony Massengil. I teach, leading a training group in this lineage.

Ip Man's life only loosely resembles the plots of the movies. He was a well-do-to man and well-known martial arts instructor in Foshan just before the communists came hunting intellectuals, professionals, landowners, and martial artists (who tended to be rebels), so he takes the family and runs to HK, where he laid low and began teaching again when he could. He kept gangs from oppressing the people, he taught people to defend themselves in times of trouble; he was a good man.

His opium habit doesn't help, and his wife always supported him. There's one story (ill-supported) of him shoving her into a wall during an argument over money, of which I'm aware, and he loved one of the sons better--depending on which brother you ask--so, it's not exactly black and white.

Ip Man was an incredible martial artist and teacher. His character, aside from the opium (which was not a lifelong thing), was good overall. His contributions to the world of Wing Chun and, by extension, modern martial arts are immeasurable. Without him, we wouldn't have Wong Shun Leung, who was a boxer who came to his school to challenge them. He lost miserably--a champion boxer--and began to learn.

It was Wong who was directly in charge of Bruce Lee's training, supervised by Ip Man. Bruce took Wing Chun and his style of applying it and adapted it further, specializing in one lead side and distance-oriented footwork, ultimately giving us Jeet Kune Do. The philosophies he gave in later years were learned at Ip Man's school, and shaped by his teaching.

Every modern art respects that philosophy. Without Ip Man, modern combat looks pretty different.

Edit: Also, Bruce Lee knew maybe a couple of styles other than Wing Chun, of which I'm aware. There weren't many other teachers he had outside of the art, so he's not just another face in the crowd. Bruce borrowed from old-school western boxing and fencing for his distance footwork for JKD, as well as some Western-friendly metaphors for the center line and ways of attack. He also knew some judo and karate, as well as a couple of animal style form sets.

Edit 2: Seriously? Gold for this? I mean, okay.

Make note of this, everybody. The guy who fishes on television for a living doesn't get enough free time to fish at home. This man loves fishing, and is a credit to anglers everywhere.

Rev, autocorrect might have got the better of you there.

I love to tell people the history of my art, and misrepresentation is the enemy of truth. I'm glad to share.

Was it brown?