“Martial arts is important. But teaching how to be a better person, this is more important.”

We have Ip Man fight choreographer and kung fu expert Leo Au Yeung on the show today. Leo is a Hong Kong-born Wing Chun expert who teaches in London. From an early age, he was taught the close-combat Wing Chun style by Ip Chun – the son of legendary kung fu master, Ip Man, who would go on to teach a young Bruce Lee. Over the years, Leo has become a close friend of Ip Chun, working for a time as his English interpreter. We talk about Ip Chun’s teaching methods as well as his now iconic father. In 2008, through his connection to Ip Chun and the film producer and Wing Chun practitioner Checkley Sin Kwok-lam, Leo was asked to be involved in a film which would depict the early life of Ip Man. The subsequent movie, Ip Man, starred Donnie Yen in the lead role with action supervised by Sammo Hung and was a huge international hit.

In 2010, Leo was asked to be involved in another Ip Man movie, The Legend is Born: Ip Man, a prequel to the original 2008 film. This is Leo’s favourite Ip Man film in terms of accurately depicting the philosophy and methods of the Wing Chun system, which was created by a Buddhist nun who was said to have survived the burning of the Shaolin temple by the Ching dynasty in the late 17th century. Ip Chun appears in the film as Leung Bik – Ip Man’s master – and features in a Wing Chun sequence choreographed by Leo. Leo also choreographed and appeared in the 2013 film, Ip Man: The Final Fight, with Anthony Wong in the title role.

With so many Ip Man movies, Leo and I have a discussion about how he feels the films portray not just the man, but also the style he practiced. Leo is continually working to promote the style in the UK and beyond. He has recently released a web series of tutorials called The Internal Path of Wing Chun, which you can watch for free via his channel on YouTube. You can also follow him on Twitter @WingChunLondon, and keep up to date with any latest news by logging on to his website, chinesekungfu.co.uk. And, in case you were wondering, the musical interludes on this podcast are from the 1972 Bruce Lee classic, Fist of Fury.

Leo Au Yeung (right) with his Wing Chun teacher and Ip Man’s son, Ip Chun

Leo Au Yeung with Sammo Hung

Yuen Biao and Leo Au Yeung

Images from chinesekungfu.co.uk.