First, there was the movie. Hong Kong film Ip Man, based loosely on the life of Bruce Lee's legendary gongfu master, is a knockout hit in Singapore.
Now, there is the sequel: The attack of the Bruce Lee wannabes. The film has kick-started a flurry of interest here in the martial art of Wing Chun, in which the late Ip Man was a grand master.
Wing Chun instructors here say inquiries have increased by as much as tenfold since Ip Man, complete with lightning-quick punches and deadly precision chops, hit town on Dec 18.
Unusually for a gongfu flick, Ip Man, directed by Hong Kong director Wilson Yip, beat Hollywood blockbuster Twilight to the No. 1 spot on the Singapore box-office charts at its opening weekend. According to industry sources, the movie has raked in $2.4 million and counting.
The instructors say they expect a surge in enrolments over the coming weeks as word spreads about the movie, which will screen at Cathay cinemas well into the Chinese New Year. One instructor, 45-year-old Ken Lau, says: 'I usually receive only 10 to 20 e-mails a month inquiring about Wing Chun, but since the movie started screening, I have been getting up to 100 e-mails.'
Another Wing Chun instructor, law professor Joel Lee, 41, says: 'There has certainly been a surge in inquiries but it will take time, especially after the holiday season, for them to translate into enrolments.'
Wing Chun student Kenneth Lim, who works in the property industry, says: 'The movie Ip Man has definitely aroused people's interest in the art. I've had many friends asking me about Wing Chun since the movie came out.'
The 27-year-old, who has been studying the martial art for more than two years, says: 'I like the science behind the art - Wing Chun incorporates laws of physics and bio-mechanics into its moves, and I find it very interesting.'
Indeed, exponent Mr Lau discourages students from learning the art to fight like their 1970s hero Bruce Lee, saying: 'It's the whole journey of learning the art - the training and the application of energy and balance. To complete the whole system takes three to five years.
'The fighting and striking bit is only a small part. You don't need to learn martial arts to know how to strike.'
According to Wing Chun expert and co-author of the book, Complete Wing Chun, Wu Yaowen, 44, the martial art's moves are not based on brute force but on countering an opponent with technique.
Wing Chun is characterised by short arm movements rather than extended ones. Strikes are based on efficiency and economy of effort. A natural stance and upright posture are adopted when fighting to allow for high mobility and stability.
Singapore has only a handful of Wing Chun masters, about three or four, say those involved in the scene. The people practising the martial art here number between 100 and 200, they add.
Mr Lau, who hails from Hong Kong and is a permanent resident here, warns aspiring Bruce Lees that Wing Chun is not as easy as it looks: 'A fancy move you see executed in three seconds may have taken three years to perfect.'
His words are definitely those from the master: Mr Lau was a disciple of Ip Chun, the eldest son of Ip Man.
He has been practising Wing Chun for more than 20 years and is a certified instructor under the Wing Chun (also spelt Ving Tsun) Athletic Association of Hong Kong.
He has about 60 students and runs three classes a week at venues such as Toa Payoh Safra, Singapore Polytechnic and Tessensohn Civil Service Club.
Ip Man, who died in 1972, imported the martial art in the 1950s from southern China, where it had been practised for more than 400 years in various forms. Movie star Bruce Lee was his most famous disciple.
Experts say Wing Chun does not enjoy as high a profile in Singapore as other martial arts such as Korea's taekwon-do and Japan's judo, because these have been institutionalised and enjoy exposure in sporting events such as the Olympics.
Chinese martial arts - except for the more popular ones such as wushu and taiji - are taught within clans and associations or passed down generations in families, and are hence less well- known.
Wing Chun experts here are philosophical about how deeply the new interest in their sport will take hold.
Mr Lau says: 'Just like if there were to be a hit movie on rock-climbing, people will suddenly want to learn it.'
Referring to the hard work involved in learning the art, he adds: 'There is no free lunch. Everybody wants to be Bruce Lee but nobody wants to train like him.'
tanyihui@sph.com.sg
This story was first published in thesundaytimes on Jan 11, 2009.
