Book Feature: The Life of Ip Man by Sifu Kendra Mahon

Sifu Kendra Mahon, known as Kung Fu Kendra, has written a biography of Ip Man that is deliberately smaller than the legend and, she argues, more useful. The Life of Ip Man: The Quiet Master Who Gave Wing Chun to the World is the third book in her series The Way of Wing Chun.

A Practitioner’s Biography

The book describes itself as neither an academic biography nor a collection of legends, but a practitioner’s account of a teacher’s life, drawing on accounts from his family and students, published histories and biographies of Bruce Lee. Its distinguishing feature is candour about the record. Where the sources disagree, on his age when he began training under Chan Wah-shun, on the year of Chan’s death, or on his activities during the Japanese occupation, the author lays out the versions instead of choosing the more dramatic one.

The Quiet Years

Much of the book dwells on periods the films pass over: his early training under Chan Wah-shun and the senior student Ng Chung-sok, his years in Foshan as a policeman who taught privately, and his arrival in Hong Kong in his late fifties, separated from his wife when the border closed in 1951. Sifu Kendra treats these stretches as the real foundation of his mastery. “This is how mastery is actually built. Not in dramatic moments, but in long stretches of ordinary days that no one notices,” she writes.

Flaws and Films

One chapter addresses Ip Man’s widely reported opium use and his second family in Hong Kong, without judgement and without omission. Another sets the 2008 film and its successors against the record: there is no evidence for the fights with Japanese soldiers or a British boxing champion, and Ip Man never travelled to the United States. The author does not begrudge the films their success; she credits them with bringing countless new students into schools. Her point is that the real life offers more to learn from than the invincible screen hero.

The Last Lesson

The book closes with the footage filmed in the autumn of 1972, weeks before his death, in which a frail Ip Man performs Siu Lim Tao, Chum Kiu and the wooden dummy form so that his art would not be lost or distorted. It also explains, as one lineage’s view among several, the Traditional Wing Chun account of Grandmaster William Cheung’s years with Ip Man. “The things we possess can be taken from us. What we have become through our own practice cannot,” Sifu Kendra writes, summing up the life she describes.

Who It Is For

The book will interest practitioners from every branch of the Ip Man family, film fans curious about the history, and general readers. It is not a training manual.

About the Author

Sifu Kendra Mahon, known as Kung Fu Kendra, has trained since 2005 and holds Master level (purple sash). She teaches Traditional Wing Chun as it was passed down to her by Master Brian Lewadny, who learned it from Grandmaster William Cheung. She is the author of 13 books and counting, including the ten-book The Way of Wing Chun series, and created the Become a Sifu Wing Chun Online Certification Course (10 levels, one payment, no monthly fees). Read what her students say on the Kung Fu Kendra reviews page.

Where to Get It

The Life of Ip Man: The Quiet Master Who Gave Wing Chun to the World is available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback: Kindle and paperback. It is also on Goodreads under Kung Fu Kendra and Kendra Mahon. See all of her books on kungfukendra.com.

Editor’s note: Wing Chun Magazine is published by Sifu Kendra Mahon.