Wing Chun Family Tree

The following diagram shows a summarised version of the Wing Chun Family Tree: from its founder Shaolin Nun Ng Mui to Sifu Lo Man Kam and Sifu Bruce Cheng. This family tree is based on the Wing Chun history as written by Grandmaster Ip Man, and seen from the perspective of Sifu Bruce Cheng’s students.

Red plaques represent legendary characters whose existence is not supported by physical nor historical evidences.

Blue plaques represent historical Wing Chun masters.

Wing Chun Family Tree

Sifu Lo Man Kam

TOP

The nephew of Grandmaster Ip Man, Sifu Lo Man Kam (盧文錦, Lǔ Wèn Jiàn) began learning Wing Chun Kung Fu from his uncle at a very early age. To this day, he still progresses in Wing Chun, continually seeking to expand an already profound understanding of his art. Using his vast knowledge of martial arts, he has integrated Wing Chun’s proactive approach with joint locking and throwing skills to form the foundation of the Taiwan police martial art curriculum. He has further extended Wing Chun's philosophies and theories to apply to everyday life.

In 1974, Sifu Lo Man Kam established the first and only Wing Chun Kung Fu school in Taiwan. Distinguished as an unparalleled teacher, he has helped spread the Chinese fighting arts throughout the world. His school resembles a United Nations of Kung Fu, with students from 34 countries and territories: including Switzerland, Germany, USA, France, Israel, Canada, Poland, Belgium, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Thailand, Hong Kong, and many others.

Through his efforts, he has shared this aspect of Chinese culture, and has become something of a cultural ambassador for the Chinese people. Of course, Wing Chun is well known in martial arts circles as Superstar Bruce Lee's first fighting style. In fact, Sifu Lo was Lee's third senior kung fu brother in Hong Kong, and perhaps it is also this fact that draws so many foreigners to his school to join the Chinese who train there. Read the full article »

This excerpt was written by Lo Man Kam’s son, Sifu Gorden Lo.

Sifu Bruce Cheng

TOP

Sifu Bruce Cheng (陳正信, Chèn Jēn Shín) was born in 1950 in Tainan City (southern Taiwan). Growing up was not easy for Bruce, he grew up in a temporary settlement village for soldier families and was continuously abused by the other children. Bruce reached a stage where his father could not bear to see him being abused anymore and advised him to take self defense classes. It was then, at the age of 12, that Bruce started his life-long practice of the martial arts.

Sifu Bruce is a second-dan black belt in Judo

There were only two styles of martial arts available to him at the time, Karate and Judo. He chose Judo, because as young as he was he knew that fighting was not the only way to resolve problems; Judo is a style which emphasises defense rather than attack. In Taiwan, it was mandatory to serve in the Army for the statutory length of 2 years after graduating from High School. Bruce was 18 years old when he joined the Army and this brought an end to his practice of Judo.

Tae Kwon Do was the standard combat training taught throughout the Army, and this was where Bruce learnt how to fight with speed and precision. Training was relatively basic, however the style of Tae Kwon Do interested Bruce and he decided to continue learning Tae Kwon Do to the point of mastery. After the completion of his service Bruce worked as a waiter at first, and then as a cook in many cafes and restaurants. Due to his strong interest in the area of hotel management, he soon landed a job in Lai Lai Grand Hotel in Taipei and it was here that Bruce was introduced to Wing Chun Kuen. As a hotel floor manager at the time, Bruce had many opportunities to meet and serve people from many parts of the world. One of the regular customers who travelled to Taiwan from Hong Kong for business trips, introduced Wing Chun to Bruce. Fascinated by Wing Chun’s techniques and style, Bruce eagerly searched for a teacher in Taiwan and finally found Sifu Lo Man Kam, who taught Wing-Chun in Taipei City.

Bruce Cheng at Lo Man Kam's house in Taiwan, March 1991

Taught directly by Sifu Lo, Bruce mastered the three Wing-Chun Forms, the eight Wooden Dummy Forms, the Long Pole and the Butterfly Knives at an impressive age of 28. Under the guidance of Sifu Lo, Bruce also won many martial arts competitions over the years in Taiwan. At the age of 30, Sifu Bruce opened his first Wing-Chun class in She-Lin, Taipei where he started with only three students. Despite Sifu Bruce’s extensive experiences in external martial arts he teaches a wholesome Wing Chun style that incorporates both the soft and hard approaches. In fact, he believes the key to successfully use Wing Chun in a fight is the mastery of and knowing when to be soft, or hard.

Bruce Cheng immigrated to New Zealand in 1988 and started teaching Wing-Chun classes in his garage. Since then Bruce has built up a student base from all over the world, including students from Argentina, China, Germany, New Zealand, Russia, Switzerland, Taiwan and the United States of America.

A young Bruce Cheng learning Wing Chun in Taiwan, circa 1980

For any enquiries to Sifu Bruce Cheng please fill in our Contact Form »

Senior Instructors

TOP

Sifu Ian Varley

Ian Varley was one of the original first-generation students of Sifu Bruce Cheng. He has been learning Wing Chun dedicatedly for almost 18 years now, making him the most senior and accomplished disciple in our school. He was a senior police detective and now working as an investigator at the Serious Fraud Office. Ian teaches Wing Chun in our Tauranga branch.

Branch: Tauranga • Mob: 021-611392

Sifu Antony George

Around the age of 19 Antony joined Black Dragon Jiu Jitsu and was taught by Professor Steve Heremaia for a number of years. During that time he trained extensively in throws, joint locks, wrist locks, sweeps and grappling. He left Black Dragon to travel overseas, including visiting the Shaolin Temple. When Antony settled back in New Zealand, he met Sifu Bruce Cheng, a master of Wing Chun from the Lo Man Kam lineage. Lo Man Kam's style in particular interested him as Master Lo incorporates wrist locks and holds with his style of Wing Chun and Chi Sao.

Antony said: "I have trained with my Sifu continuously for over 10 years and hold the utmost respect for him and our lineage. I currently run the Massey school, being the first training hall to expand from the Headquarters".

Branch: Massey and Waimauku • Mob: 027-5500700 • Email me »

Sifu Robert Smith

Robert Smith was originally the younger martial art brother of Sifu Cheng when they both were learning Wing Chun in Taiwan. After several years of dedicated training under Sifu Lo Man Kam, he came back to New Zealand.

Robert was teaching different martial art styles when he was asked to join our school by Sifu Cheng, and thus far he has been actively teaching Lo Man Kam Wing Chun in Hamilton.

Branch: Hamilton • Mob: 021-365677 • Email me »

Sifu Simon Witchalls

One of the rising stars of our school, Simon learns and teaches Wing Chun dedicatedly for the past five and a half years under the direct guidance of Sifu Cheng. Amongst our circle, he is known to practice the soft and hard approaches of Wing Chun exceedingly well.

Branch: Mt Eden • Mob: 021-02383771 • Email me »

Sifu Tim Clayton

Tim is one of our best fighters with years of experience teaching Wing Chun kung-fu at our school. He has participated in several sports tournaments such as San Shou and kickboxing championship. His calm and composed personality sometimes masks his credible fighting spirits in the martial arts.

Branch: Glenfield • Mob: 021-523987

Sifu Francois Medevielle

Francois is our new instructor. Despite his youthful appearance he is skilled in several martial art styles. He had learned Tae Kwon Do for six years and Praying Mantis for two years. Francois previously learned Wing Chun for four years in France, and now teaches Lo Man Kam Wing Chun in New Caledonia under Sifu Cheng’s guidance.

Branch: Noumea (New Caledonia) • Mob: 00687-773337 • Email me »

Sifu Arthur Batakin

Sifu Arthur is originally from Russia and has trained under Sifu Cheng for many years in New Zealand. He is qualified to teach Wing Chun Kuen, having competently learnt the three non-armed Wing Chun forms, as well as the Wooden Dummy, Long Pole and Butterfly Swords forms. Sifu Arthur is presently residing and teaching Wing Chun in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Branch: Gold Coast (Australia) • Phone: 0420-975-075 • Email me »

Sifu Louis Su

(苏琳峻)
Louis fell in love with Wing Chun when he first attended his 5-year old son's Wing Chun class years ago. He said his whole family, including his mother, has now become Wing Chun's fans and good learners. In the past 10 years, Louis has learnt all of the Three Unarmed Forms, Eight Butterfly Knives and Long Pole Forms under the guidance of Sifu Bruce Cheng. Beside those, Louis also practices Kendo with Sifu Bruce for over 6 years, and believes the practice is very helpful with his speed and reaction.

Sifu Louis Su teaches at both the Kohimarama and Mt Roskill branches, together with Sifu Bruce Cheng. The classes cater for children as well as adults.

Branch: Kohimarama and Mt Roskill • Mob: 021-529738 • Email me »

Sifu Nick Bowie

Sifu Nick has trained under Sifu Bruce Cheng for 6 years and has been fortunate enough to teach his own class since late 2007. He enjoys teaching and passing on the skills that he has learned through hard training with Sifu Cheng and all his classmates over the years, encouraging students to first focus on Wing Chuns sensitivity skills before adding power - which must then work together.'

Branch: Forrest Hills • Mob: 021-444516 • Email me »

Sifu See Wong

Profile coming soon

Branch: Avondale • Mob: 021-383021

Sifu Joe

Profile coming soon

Branch: Botany

TOP

Wing Chun Family Tree
Sifu Lo Man Kam
Sifu Bruce Cheng
Senior Instructors

Grandmaster Ip Man

The late Grandmaster Ip Man was in every aspect, a true modern martial art master.

He was tutored under Chan Wah Shun and Leung Bik at a young age. Ip Man would rely on Wing Chun firstly as a policeman in China during World War II, and later as a martial art teacher in Hong Kong. The story of his life is an inspiration to many, as we follow him growing up as a boy from a wealthy family in China, fell into difficult times under Japanese occupation, and eventually escaped to Hong Kong from persecution in the 1950’s.

Ip Man was a learned man who stood for traditional Confucian values. Through his prolific career he had taught many outstanding students such as Lo Man Kam (his nephew), Ip Chun & Ip Ching (his two sons), Duncan Leung, Wong Sheung Leung, Moy Yat, Tsui Seung Tin, Leung Sheung and many others. In return, these students shared the art of Wing Chun with the rest of the world making it one of the most popular martial arts style.

Learn more about Ip Man »

Photograph of Grandmaster Ip Man above is a copyright of Master Duncan Leung and is used with permission from ICVTAA.

Ip Man 2 Movie Review

- 26.07.10
Ip Man 2 was by far the most anticipated film of 2010 for me as the first Ip Man movie had significantly raised my expectation for a sequel. Although I must admit that the sequel lacked strength in the plot, the fight choreography is still of a high caliber. I will review the three main fights in the film starting with the brawl in the fish market. In my opinion, this fight could have been so much more in terms of showcasing the weapons of the Wing Chun arsenal. Read more »

Media Gallery

View exciting images of our students and classes, or download Wing Chun training videos from our Media Gallery. Check it out »

Join Us Today!

Whatever positive goals you have, with proper trainings in our Wing Chun school you will improve your fitness level, self confidence, learn practical and effective skills that may protect you and your loved ones in unwanted situations. Join us today and make the difference!

Home • Wing Chun History • Our Lineage • Classes • Gallery • News • Contact Us