Wing Chun Movie DVD: “The Legend is Born – Ip Man”

In the movie “the legend is born”, the Chi Sau that Sammo Hung does is different. Why is that?

Answer: Wing Chun is a rich and diverse martial art with over 250 years of history.

Like many things in life it migrated geographically and evolved with each new generation of sifu. (Just think how many different kinds of spoken “English” there are in the wold).

Even within the Ip Man lineage of Wing Chun his students developed slightly different styles for Chi Sau and Wing Chun forms.

When you look outside the Ip Man lineage the differences can be quiet a bit more drastic.

So it’s possible in the movie the Chi Sau looks different because:

1) It’s a movie and they have to make it look and work better for the camera and the story.

2) The on-site Wing Chun adviser is from a different lineage than what you study.

3) It’s a movie and the actors where just “playing” Chi Sau but don’t really know it or didn’t have enough time to really learn good Chi Sau.

4) A combination of the above.

In any case, I really liked “the legend is born”, even though I also found the Chi Sau weird looking.