Lo Man Kam was born in Fosan In the Canton region of Southern China on May 25th, 1933. His uncle was the famous Yip Man, Wing Chun’s last Grandmaster and a police officer with Chiang Kai-shek’s government. When Chiang Kai-shek’s leadership collapsed amidst clashes with the Chinese communist government, Yip Man, his sister and her children, including Lo Man Kam, fled to Hong Kong. Lo Man Kam then studied Wing Chun with his uncle from 1950 to 1960. In 1960 Yip Man asked Lo Man Kam to go to Taiwan, to find a Job with Chiang Kai-shek’s new government there, and hopefully to teach the Taiwanese people Wing Chun at some time In the future. Lo Man Kam did travel to Taiwan, joined an intelligence organization within the Taiwanese Army, and began teaching Wing Chun in Taipei in 1974. At 18 years of age, a very enthusiastic Chien Yen became his disciple soon after.

With a keen interest in learning to fight well, a love of Chinese Kung Fu movies (some of which he has starred in himself) and a long career In the film and television industry, Sifu Chien Yen has practised Wing Chun for about 40 years and has taught the style In Japan for about 30 of those years. He currently teaches In the Kanto area of Japan and frequently travels to Taiwan to continue his relationship with his teacher Lo Man Kam.

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Wing Chun Kung Fu has existed for approximately 300 to 400 years. Stemming from Southern China it spread to Hong Kong during the last century, and asserted itself as being the most efficient fighting style. Grandmaster Yip Man was responsible for the emergence of Wing Chun in Hong Kong. He is famous not only for his fighting skills, but also as the teacher of many renowned fighters. He taught Bruce Lee, Wong Shun Leung and William Cheung among others.

Wing Chun has many features which make it practical and reliable in physical combat. Wing Chun is extremely economical and compact. There are no excessive or flamboyant movements. Essentially Wing Chun is simple, effective and direct. Wing Chun is designed for use at close quarters, which is the fighting range most commonly encountered in reality. Attack and defence are simultaneous and use is always made of the shortest distance between one and one’s opponent.

Wing Chun is not dependant on flexibility, size, weight or strength. The original founder of Wing Chun was a woman and the best practitioners are often only slight in build. In Wing Chun strikes are delivered in a relaxed manner. The power of these strikes is generated from technique, using the strength inherently found in ones joints and skeletal structure.

Rather than being premeditated the use of techniques is determined by reflex and opportunity. This is a factor which makes Wing Chun seem so fast – one does not ‘think’ about what one is doing, movements are made upon feeling what the situation dictates one should do. Essentially they are automatic. These reflexes are developed through a unique training method called ‘Chi-sao’.

There are many stories about the origin of Wing Chun.

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One of them is that the nun Ng Mui visited the Shaolin Temple and learnt some high level kung fu to add to what she possibly already knew. Later, when the Manchu’s raided the Shaolin Temple and burned it to the ground, she went into hiding. Some time after that she taught what she had learned to a young woman named Wm Wing Chun who was being bullied in her small village and so the name of the style was born.

There is another story that Ng Mui watched a between a crane and a snake and incorporated some of the movements she saw into her kung fu. lt’s fairly certain that Ng Mui was a knowledgeable woman who crafted her kung fu to suit her stature as a woman.

So we believe that Wing Chun has it’s roots in the higher levels of the Shaolin Temple, perhaps even in the tall pagoda which houses the Buddhist scriptures and ancient teachings of the temple.