Las Vegas Kung Fu

A Critical Examination of William Cheung's Traditional Wing Chun Claims

By Shad Scott MS

William Cheung's Traditional Wing Chun presents an interesting historical claim. According to Cheung, Ip Man taught a modified version of Wing Chun publicly while reserving the original and complete system for a select few students. Cheung further claims that this distinction can be traced back to Leung Jan, who allegedly taught a modified version of the art to conceal the real system from outsiders.

The problem is not that these claims are impossible. The problem is that they require a series of assumptions for which there is little supporting evidence.

One way to evaluate competing explanations is through Occam's Razor. Occam's Razor suggests that when multiple explanations exist, the explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is generally the preferred starting point.

If Cheung's claims are correct, several things must be true.

First, Leung Jan would have had to create or teach a modified version of Wing Chun while secretly preserving the original version.

Second, this hidden version would have needed to survive through a very limited transmission line.

Third, Ip Man would have had to continue this practice by teaching a modified version to nearly all of his students while privately transmitting the complete system to William Cheung.

Fourth, the original system would have somehow disappeared from virtually every other branch of Wing Chun while surviving only within Cheung's lineage.

This is a possible explanation, but it is also a complex one.

A simpler explanation is that William Cheung learned Wing Chun from Ip Man, modified aspects of the art over time, and supplemented areas he felt were incomplete through his own innovations, interpretations, and technical development. Martial arts evolve constantly. Different instructors emphasize different principles, and systems naturally diverge over generations.

This explanation requires far fewer assumptions.

The existence of Gulao Wing Chun raises additional questions. If Traditional Wing Chun represents Leung Jan's original system, one might expect Gulao Wing Chun to share significant similarities with Cheung's art since Gulao was Leung Jan's home village and is often associated with his later teaching. However, Gulao Wing Chun does not resemble Traditional Wing Chun in many key respects.

The same issue appears when comparing Traditional Wing Chun to other non-Ip Man branches such as Yuen Kay San Wing Chun and Pan Nam Wing Chun. These systems differ substantially from Cheung's version as well.

The weapons curriculum creates another challenge for the Traditional Wing Chun narrative.

Not only are the empty-hand forms different, but the wooden dummy form, butterfly knife form, and long pole form are also different. Researchers have struggled to identify clear examples of Cheung's dummy, knife, or pole forms outside of his own lineage. If these methods truly represented an older preserved system, one might expect to find evidence of them elsewhere in the Wing Chun family tree.

Instead, the forms most commonly found across the various Ip Man branches show a high degree of consistency.

This leads to another possible conclusion: the dummy, knife, and pole forms known today may have been created, standardized, or significantly shaped by Ip Man himself.

This does not prove that Ip Man invented them from scratch. Nor does it prove that Cheung's claims are false. However, it does suggest that the available evidence points toward a simpler explanation than the one proposed by Traditional Wing Chun.

Ultimately, the question is not whether William Cheung is sincere. The question is which explanation best fits the available evidence.

At present, the simplest explanation appears to be that Wing Chun evolved over time through the contributions of multiple instructors, including Ip Man and William Cheung, rather than through the preservation of a secret system hidden from nearly everyone else.

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Hello, my name is Shad. I teach Wing Chun Kung Fu Las Vegas and Henderson Nevada area. I have over 20 years experience training in the art. Please contact me to find out more information.