October 1st is the birthday of Yip Man, the renowned Wing Chun Master of the 6th Generation.
The Chinese martial arts are ancient and amazing and contain knowledge that has been passed down for thousands of years. Some of it clearly goes back to very ancient sources (in many Chinese martial arts, including both Wing Chun and Tai Chi, the ancient celestial number 108 is very important, for example).
While the origins of Wing Chun are reportedly more recent (stretching back perhaps to the 1600s), historians agree that this style is connected in some way to the martial arts of the famous Shaolin Temple (Sil Lam in Cantonese).
Yip Man passed on that knowledge to future generations of martial artists, and through his teaching the knowledge of these ancient arts achieved worldwide visibility to a degree never before experienced.
While some sources list his date of birth as October 01, 1893, a book written by his son Yip Chun lists the year of Yip Man's birth as 1894 (Yip Chun also states quite specifically that his father passed away on December 01, 1972, although some sources say December 02 of that year).
In that same book, Yip Chun says (speaking of the things that have since been written about his father):
Regrettably, a lot of the remembrance is artificial. Much that has been written about Yip Man neglected his better points and failed to pass on his knowledge, so missing the opportunity to influence the rest of the world.Most of the articles concentrate too much on describing how good Yip Man's Kung Fu was. This is a fact that cannot be denied, but it must be remembered that for the last twenty years of his life in Hong Kong, due to his well-controlled temperament, he was never in a situation where he needed to use his Kung Fu skill. 24.
Those who knew Master Yip Man describe how caring he was of others and how self-controlled he was, never showing his anger and always remaining calm and courteous.
Now that the martial arts have become world-famous, those who enjoy their study around the world should be grateful to Master Yip Man, whose teaching of Wing Chun in Hong Kong between the years of 1950 and 1972 paved the way for everything that followed.
He helped to ensure the preservation of the incredible treasure of ancient knowledge that he had mastered and whose origins stretch back into the mists of time.
Deep respect.
