Grandmaster Yip Kin (葉堅大宗师)

Grandmaster Yip Kin (葉堅, 1883–1968)

Grandmaster Yip Kin was born in 1883 during the Qing Dynasty. He first resided in Au Wu Hamlet and later relocated to the neighboring Wang Hong Tau village in Pak Wan San (白云山). Over the years, he trained under four distinguished martial arts masters:

1. Soh Kai Ming – Wing Choon system

2. Yip Hap Seng – Yin Yang Ba Gua Staff (阴阳八卦棍)

3. Cho Fei Hoong – Mastery of five traditional weapons, including the flying sabre (飞铊)

4. Yik Kam – Specialist in ancient Chinese opera weaponry

Seven years after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Yip Kin migrated to British Malaya in 1918, at the age of 35. He settled permanently in Kuala Lumpur, where he quickly gained a reputation for his martial prowess. One widely remembered incident involved him fending off a group of 30 gangsters using only a classical wooden bench (黄头凳) during a scuffle at a food stall near the mines where he worked. His fearlessness and skill made him a local legend.

In 1926, at the age of 43, Yip Kin established his own martial arts school, Lotus Hall (莲花堂), in the Pudu district of Kuala Lumpur. Over the next four decades, he devoted himself to teaching and preserving the Wing Choon system. His most dedicated student was his grandson, Yip Fook Choy (叶福财), to whom he eventually passed down the full Wing Choon lineage.

Grandmaster Yip Kin passed away in 1968 at the age of 85, leaving behind a profound legacy in the world of traditional Chinese martial arts in Malaysia.


 

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