William Cheung


William Cheung or Cheung Cheuk Hing, born October, 1940, is a Hong Kong Wing Chun kung fu practitioner and currently the Grandmaster of his lineage of Wing Chun, entitled Traditional Wing Chun. He also heads the sanctioning body of TWC, the Global Traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu Association. Cheung is responsible for introducing Bruce Lee to his master Ip Man when they were teenagers in Hong Kong.

Early life

In the 1950s Cheung grew up in Kowloon, where fighting skills were considered a measure of self-worth and pride, At age 11, Cheung's challenge matches were on the school playground and his fighting style was Tai Chi Chuan, which was not sufficient to elevate him among the youth of Hong Kong. This fighting was a concern and frowned upon by his father who was a police inspector; hence Cheung avoided becoming involved in gangs. By his teenage years however the challenge fights continued, and—as they are inextricably linked to extortion rackets of secret societies—Cheung's high-achieving family saw him as a source of embarrassment.
A turning point in Cheung's life was when a gang leader who was undefeated in combat challenged an old man who was rumored to fight in a little–known Kung Fu style of a woman. Cheung witnessed the challenge and watched as the thin old man who was Ip Man quickly defeated the gang leader. Impressed by the old man's skill, Cheung visited Ip Man and became his student. Over the next few months Cheung became a favorite of Ip Man and became a live–in student for 3 years, before leaving Hong Kong.
During his time living with Ip Man, Cheung introduced a then 15–year–old famous child actor, Bruce Lee, whom he first met at Lee's 9th birthday to Ip Man. Cheung and Lee became friends and training partners. After several months of training every day they both became more involved in street challenge fights until one day Cheung fought a triad leader and seriously wounded him. This prompted Cheung's father to send him away from Hong Kong to put him out of harm's way; however, the problems followed him, and he and his family decided that it was better for his safety to migrate to Australia to begin a new life.

Accomplishments

Teaching accomplishments

After moving to Melbourne, Australia to teach Traditional Wing Chun professionally in 1973, Cheung established his Wing Chun studio in Melbourne's CBD. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, his studio attracts hundreds of new students each year. Cheung also trained students in the USA, including some who became successful in their martial arts careers, such as Eric Oram who went on to train Robert Downey Jr. and Christian Bale in preparation for their Hollywood movie roles. He also trained Anthony Arnett who has been winning martial arts tournaments since 1974 and has won grand champion multiple times some of which were for 3 years and 6 years running in different tournament circuits.

Martial arts

After being involved in duels with several triad members he had defeated in China, Cheung had reason to fear for his life, so he decided to migrate to Australia in 1957. On the way there an incident occurred when he was forced to fight more than 10 sailors who were set up by the triads that sought revenge. Cheung sustained several stab wounds from the fight as some of the men were armed.
In 1984 Cheung set a world speed punching record of 8.3 punches per second at Harvard University in Boston.

Awards

Over a 28-year period Cheung has been featured on the front cover of 35 magazines between 1982 and 2010, the first being Inside Kung Fu in October 1982 and the most recent Martial Arts Illustrated in April 2010.

Academia

Cheung attained a Bachelor of Economics from the Australian National University, after graduating from secondary school in Hong Kong. Cheung is a certified Doctor of Chinese Medicine under the Chinese Medicine Registration Board of Victoria, and a member of the Australian Chinese Traditional Orthopaedics Association Inc. He has also been invited as a Guest Professor to Foshan Sports University, and as a Senior Research Professor of the Bone Research Department to Beijing Chinese Medical University.

Writings

Cheung has produced a number of videos, including The Wing Chun Way, Tao of Wing Chun, My Life with Wing Chun, Wing Chun – Advanced Training and Applications, City of Dragons, CMT – Cheung's Meridian Therapy and PRO-TEKT: A Personal Protection Program.