Leung Ting

In this Hong Kong name, the surname is Leung.

Leung Ting (Chinese: 梁挺; born 28 February 1947) is a Hong Kong martial artist, publisher, choreographer, screenwriter, director, and former actor. He is also the founder of International WingTsun Association. He was a student of Leung Sheung and later become the last student of grandmaster Yip Man.

Leung Ting
Leung Ting (right), with one of his students
Born	(1947-02-28) 28 February 1947 (age 78) British Hong Kong
Native name	梁挺
Residence	Hong Kong
Style	Wing Chun
Teacher(s)	Leung Sheung Yip Man
Other information
Occupation	martial artist, publisher, choreographer, screenwriter, director, former actor
Notable club(s)	International WingTsun Association
Website	www.leungting.com

Leung Ting with his class of students in November 1990

Background

Born in Hong Kong in 1947, he was originally a student of Leung Sheung, and later become a closed door disciple of Yip Man,.^[1] Appointed by Grandmaster Ip Man, Leung served as head instructor on the board of directors for the Ving Tsun Athletic association between Dec 1969 to May 1970, before leaving to found his own Association. Leung Ting is the founder and president of the International WingTsun Association.^[2]

Leung Ting is the founder and president of the International Wing Tsun Association. Appointed by Grandmaster Ip Man, Leung served as head instructor on the board of directors for the Ving Tsun Athletic association from Dec 1969 to May 1970, before leaving to found his own Association.

Leung chose the spelling of Wing Tsun to differentiate his teachings from those of other Wing Chun schools, and to keep them from passing off their style as his own. (There is no standard romanization of Cantonese; the Chinese characters remain the same.)

Among the achievements in his career outside of teaching and writing about Wing Tsun, Leung has been a fight director in some Hong Kong films. Leung was the director and screenwriter for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Kung Fu World! (大踢爆), a humoristic documentary on the history and culture of kung fu. Leung appeared on episode 1 of the first season of the BBC show Mind, Body & Kick Ass Moves; a 10 part series on martial arts masters of the east hosted by Chris Crudelli.

Filmography

• Fight choreographer: Five Deadly Venoms
• Fight choreographer: The Brave Archer Part II
• Fight choreographer: Ten Tigers of Kwangtung
• Fight choreographer: Heaven and Hell
• Fight choreographer: Stranger from Shaolin
• Fight choreographer: Invincible Shaolin
• Fight choreographer: Life Gamble
• Director and screenwriter: 'It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Kung Fu World! (大踢爆)^[3]

Lineage controversy

Some of Yip Man's students have disputed whether Leung Ting could be considered a closed door disciple of Yip Man, some going as far as to question whether Leung ever studied directly under Ip Man, including William Cheung and most notably including Ip Chun, Ip Man's eldest son and co-author of the book written with Leung Ting, 116 Wing Tsun Dummy Techniques (1981). Ip claimed "我老豆最憎最嬲係梁挺呢個人！" (My father dislike this person Leung Ting the most!) and also "唔係葉問徒弟" (Leung Ting is not Yip Man's student).^[4][5] In response to Ip Chun's accusations, Leung Ting organised a public press conference in Hong Kong in May 2010 to showcase photographic evidence of his own close direct relationship with Yip Man.^[6] Existing photo evidence shows that Leung Ting did appear with Yip Man in numerous high-profile events, including the only 2 interviews Yip Man ever conducted,^[7][8] private lessons,^[9] Leung Ting's wedding,^[10] and public martial art demonstrations. Leung Ting publicly threatened to initiate a defamation claim against Ip Chun if an apology and withdrawal of accusations was not received. Ip Chun has since been quiet on this matter.^[11]

In other evidence, in one of the only 2 interviews Yip Man ever conducted before his death, Leung Ting was mentioned by Yip Man as one of his closed door disciples in New Martial Hero magazine 1972, copy 56, page 31, paragraph 2, line 5 - 教師梁挺係其一位封門弟子^[12] (Instructor Leung Ting is a closed door disciple). Photos from the interview show Leung was with Yip man during the time.

The controversy had been in part fuelled by past allegations that a photo Leung presented showing him with Yip Man was altered from a photograph that shows Yip Man with the chief editor of the New Martial Hero magazine.^[13] Leung has denied the head change,^[14] claiming that the editor of New Martial Hero had pasted his own head over Leung's for the article. Evidence shows Leung's photo to be uncropped and at a higher resolution to the magazine's published photo.^[15] Other photo evidence shows Leung at Yip Man's funeral with an armband that apparently denotes a rank other than first generation (i.e., an armband that indicates that Leung was a grand-student of Yip Man's rather than a direct student).^[13]

Other controversy

On 20 November 2009, Leung was acquitted of charges for allegedly assaulting his former girlfriend, Regina Lip Sik-ying, a claim which was later quashed. Lip testified that Leung hit her after a heated argument involving Leung's ex-wife. Leung testified that Lip fell when Leung pulled her down from a window where she threatened to commit suicide to damage Leung's reputation after Leung refused to provide USD$5000 for plane tickets for an abortion, claiming she was pregnant. On hearing the verdict Leung shouted 'Objection!', and even shouted bullshit at the judge during the court case.^[16] On 29 April 2010, the conviction was quashed by Court of First Instance Judge Darryl Gordon Saw. Judge Saw ruled that the medical reports did not support Lip's testimony but did support Leung's. Leung was cleared of all charges.^[17][18]