William Cheung

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William Cheung.

William Cheung (張卓興, Cheung Cheuk Hing in pinyin) (born 1940) is a famous Wing Chun Kung Fu practitioner and currently the Grandmaster of his lineage of Wing Chun, entitled Traditional Wing Chun (TWC). He also heads the sanctioning body of TWC, the World Wing Chun Kung Fu Association.

1 Early Years
2 Later years
3 Studies and Writings
4 Meridian Therapy and Healing
5 Controversy
6 Trivia
7 Notes and references
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] Early Years

Much of this historical account is disputed. See also controversy section.

In 1951, at the age of ten, Cheung started his training in Wing Chun Kung Fu under the late Grandmaster Yip Man. From 1954 to 1958 Cheung was a live-in student of Grandmaster Yip Man. Yip Man's training studio was located in his Hong Kong apartment.

Between 1957 and 1958 Cheung won the Kung Fu elimination contests in Hong Kong, defeating opponents with many more years' experience. In early 1954 Cheung introduced Bruce Lee to Grandmaster Yip Man.

In 1959, after completing his training under Grandmaster Yip Man, Cheung left Hong Kong to pursue an academic career at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics.

[edit] Later years

After moving to Melbourne, Australia to teach Wing Chun professionally in 1973, Cheung began operating a very successful Martial Arts School. In 1976 he was elected the President of the Australian Kung Fu Federation.

In 1979, Cheung was sponsored by the USS Oklahoma City (CLG-5), Flagship of the Seventh Fleet, to instruct a select group of officers and enlisted personnel in the unique art of Traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu as part of the ship's Welfare and Recreation program. Instruction took place at the ship's homeport of Yokosuka, Japan at the U.S. Navy Base there and included a strict regimen of close quarter, hand-to-hand combat training over a five week intensive period.

From 1979 forward Grandmaster Cheung and many of his senior students conducted special programs for special law enforcing officers and special operation groups in the Armed Services in U.S.A. and other countries. They taught the military unarmed combat, restraining, disarming assailants, and a firearm retention program.

[edit] Studies and Writings

To promulgate his ideas and stimulate the art of Wing Chun, Cheung has authored a variety of books for the general public. His books include: "Wing Chun Biu Jee", "Wing Chun Butterfly Swords", "Wing Chun Dragon Pole", "Advanced Wing Chun", "How to Develop Chi Power", "Wing Chun Kung Fu" (in French), "A Comparison of Wing Chun and Jeet Kune Do" Volumes I and II (with Ted Wong). He has also produced a number of videos, including "The Wing Chun Way", "Tao of Wing Chun" and "PRO-TEKT: A Personal Protection Program".

[edit] Meridian Therapy and Healing

From his early training in Martial Arts, Grandmaster Cheung has become an expert in Meridian Pressure Points and Meditation dealing with internal energies. Over the last ten years he has used this knowledge to develop many successful programs treating sports injuries and teaching stress management. Grandmaster William Cheung has been honoured by the China Guangzhou Medical University and Hospital Research Institute as a Research Professor for his Cheung's Meridian Therapy (CMT) program. This appointment is for the two year period from January 2000 until January 2002. As the result of these, Grandmaster Cheung's seminars, workshops and treatments are now much sought after all over the world.

[edit] Controversy

As an official successor to Yip Man was not named publicly, some Wing Chun exponents have been involved in the politics of claiming to be the rightful successor. Cheung himself claims to be the only one who was taught what he calls the "Traditional Wing Chun" style, which he says was previously a secret, purer version of wing chun only taught to those expected to become the style's standard bearers. Cheung claims that all the rest of Yip Man's students were taught what he calls the "Modified Wing Chun" system, alleged to be a simpler and less effective style taught to outsiders deemed unworthy to learn the true version. All the other senior students of Yip Man, including the directors of the Ving Tsun Athletic Association (VTAA) and Yip Man's two sons, have disputed Cheung’s claims.

In the 1980s, Cheung made these claims in a series of martial arts magazines, starting a published war of words with other Wing Chun organizations, especially the WingTsun group. He offered to demonstrate the practical (combat) superiority of his system against anybody who wished to try, and he was subsequently challenged to a fight unexpectedly in the midst of a seminar in Germany by a WingTsun fighter named Emin Boztepe.^[1] In taped footage of this fight, it appears the Boztepe was the clear winner of this conflict, though Cheung claims that the footage was edited. The incident has turned into something of an Internet phenomenon.

His claimed start date of 1951 with Yip Man is also controversial [1][2], as he (by his own admission[3]) started after Wong Shun Leung. Wong said his own start date with Yip Man was early 1954, making the 1951 date impossible.

Cheung also claims to have been a live-in student of Yip Man between 1954-1958. Chu Shong Tin lived with Yip Man up until 1955 [4] and there is no mention made in the literature of Cheung living there as well. Considering the start date controversy, it is possible he could have lived with him starting in late 1955 after Chu Shong Tin moved out. In contrast, the VTAA letter described his training as intermittent [5].

[edit] Trivia

Cheung claims that his "Traditional Wing Chun" style taught by Yip Man is very similar to Red Boat Wing Chun^{[citation needed]}.

Duncan Leung, a Yip Man student, says it was William Cheung who first made Wing Chun famous in Australia. "In 1957 another early student of Yip Man, William Cheung, immigrated to Australia. On the way there an incident occurred when he locked himself in the sailor cabin and fought more than 10 sailors. This got into all the newspapers and so Wing Chun was even known in Australia then." [6]

William Cheung is also known for demonstrating "Egg Standing" [7]

Cheung in 1983, was inducted into the "Black Belt Hall of Fame" as Kung Fu Artist of the Year and again in 1989, into the "Inside Kung Fu Hall of Fame" as Martial Arts Instructor of the Year.

On November 22, 1998, he was inducted into the 1998 Blitz Hall of Fame, receiving the award for "Lifetime Tribute for Martial Arts".