Article from Screenrant with some additional details on Bruce’s last interactions with Wong Chun Leung.

“The sparring continued for a while longer, and once it was over, the two engaged in a friendly argument over who won, with neither being willing to admit that the other was better.”

What Happened When Bruce Lee Challenged His Original Kung Fu Master

They’ve basically added a few more comments from Wan Kam Leung, one of Sifu Wong’s top students and someone who was there for these interactions (there is footage of Wan sparring with Wong on the set of Enter the Dragon).  I met him a few years ago at a Sifu Gary Lam function at Lam’s studio in LA (before masks!).  Sifu Wan  was very impressive and interesting to watch up close.  His modified version of Wing Chun is hard to describe but very functional!  He has added a lot of controlling actions that are part Chin Na and in part more reminiscent of internal styles like Tai Chi, with an absorb character.

Here he is in action.

Steven Moody with Wan Kam Leung and Gary Lam

“A study of human reaction time shows that it takes too long for a
response message to reach the part of the body that should respond if the
attacker is within touching distance. Unless the attacker telegraphs, it is
impossible to know when the attack is coming, and by the
time it is seen it is too late to move out of the way. In the days of the Wild
West this reflex lag cost a lot of would be gun fighters their lives. Often
they thought that getting the drop on someone meant that the person was
under their control. Many of them were shocked and amazed when their
intended victim drew and fired his weapon before they could discharge
their’s (and I might add dam well dead because they didn’t shoot when they
had the chance). Any modern quick draw artist can do the same thing. They
will let you hold a cocked gun in a situation where you only have to
discharge your weapon before they can draw and fire, and they will beat you
every time because of reflex lag.”

Jesse Glover from Bruce Lee: Between Wing Chun and Jeet Kune Do

[Wong Shun Leung] “told me stories about the sufferings [in Hong Kong during WWII].  He had seen many who fought over left-overs found on the street.  Some even grabbed food directly from children’s months only to be kicked and punched to death by the people around.  The crippled … simply starved to death helplessly on the street.”
Kim Man Au Yeung, Wong Shun Leung Through My Eyes

Wong Shun Leung was born in June 8th, 1935.  In 1931, the Imperial Japanese military perpetrated was later called the “Manchurian Incident,”  in which a Japanese officer sabotaged one of their own railways (not really doing any significant damage).  The Japanese blamed the incident on Chinese “dissidents” (the 1930’s equivalent of terrorists) and used this staged event as a pretext to invade and occupy Manchuria (a big chunk of Northeast China).   In 1937, the Japanese invaded the rest of mainland China and soon controlled the country all the way down to the Shenzen River, opposite Hong Kong.  “Hong Kong” is a region which includes both the island of Hong Kong and a big section of the Kowloon peninsula.

Hong Kong’s population swelled with refugees escaping the Japanese.  The population nearly doubled from 879,000 in 1931 to 1.6 million by 1941.  The Japanese finally got around to attacking Hong Kong itself, then a British territory, on the 8th of December, 1941, the day after they attacked Pearl Harbor.  Hong Kong surrendered by the 26th.  From 1941 to 1945 (when the Japanese unilaterally surrendered after the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki), Hong Kong was under martial law.  This was the Hong Kong in which Wong Shun Leung grew up, as noted in Kim Man Au Yeung’s new book, Wong Shun Leung through My Eyes.

This aspect of the book really opened my eyes to some of the possible motivations behind the hardcore training of Wong and others of his era.  He grew up in a nightmare.  Its hard to imagine how bad it was, but as an example, there was one incident referred to as the St. Stephen’s Massacre.  St. Stephen’s was a British-style university (Ip Man went there).  At this time, it was being used as a hospital.  Japanese soldiers broke in, raped and killed the nurses and killed all the patients.  I’d heard about the Japanese atrocities on the mainland (Nanking for instance) but had not heard about what went on in Hong Kong.  Curious, I looked around and found various sources (such as this page) detailing the events of the occupation.  Basically, there was an untold number of rapes and murders (and who knows what else).

This was the backdrop of Wong Shun Leung’s childhood.  I was motivated to learn to fight by incidents that are pretty small in comparison to any of this.  Imagine the levels of insecurity and rage you would feel as a little kid surrounded by the rape and pillaging of your city!

How is the book otherwise?

Its seems like a (not very good) English translation of a Chinese text.  But this very characteristic makes it interesting in its own particular way.  The phrasing and the allusions to culture are an interesting peek into the “Chinese mind,” and Chinese culture of the time.  There is a infusion of Confucianism and Taoism into the everyday that is very illuminating, if you like me are interested in the mindset and ways of thinking behind the development of Wing Chun.  As a Western non-Chinese speaker, I can probably never know certain nuances about Wing Chun, but this book helps bridge the gap a bit.

Also, this book is probably the best examination of Wong Shun Leung’s Beimo (challenge fights) we’ll ever get.  Kim Man Au Yeung has been able to combine his first hand accounts with media accounts (the fights were covered in the newspapers) to present a detailed picture of Wong Shun Leung’s “career” as a challenge fighter.  In many cases, we get a blow by blow description, as well as an understanding of the social practices surrounding these fights.  We sometimes forget the deep cultural differences between the West and the Chinese – these accounts really allow you to see some of these differences, such as in the formalities of the fights stemming from the clan-like school groups and other sorts of family ties.