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John Millen

Starring: Donnie Yen 
Director: Wilson Yip
Year of original release: 2008
Genre: Biopic
The film
 This film is a semi-biographical martial arts movie based loosely on the life of the wing chun grand master, Ip Man. The screenplay covers Ip's life in the city of Foshan during the second Sino-Japanese war. Plans to make a movie about Ip Man had been floating around in both mainland and Hong Kong film studios for a long time, but it was HK movie mogul Raymond Wong Pak-Ming who finally got Ip Man off the ground with Donnie Yen (right) as the star.  
Much research into the wing chun grand master's early life in Foshan was done before the film began shooting in Shanghai in March 2008.  
 Ip Man was shown in cinemas at the end of 2008 and won great praise from both critics and cinema-goers. The movie took more than US$21 million at the box-office worldwide, even though, for some mysterious reason, it never saw  wide release in North America or Britain. The film was named  Best Film at the 2009 Hong Kong Film Awards.  
Plot
1930s Foshan is the unrivalled centre for the development and practice of martial arts in southern  China. Devotees from  across the country flock there to join one of the flourishing schools in the city's martial arts street. 
Ip Man is one of Foshan's celebrity grand masters. He is  confident of his own talent and has no need or wish to take on students. He prefers to spend his time training and perfecting his own skills.  
When Japanese armies invade China in 1937, Ip sees that his fellow countrymen are almost powerless under the iron grip of their invaders. 
Events force the peace-loving Ip  to use his martial arts ideals to  rescue his homeland.
The wing chun ideal
Today, thanks to  Ip Man (1893-1972) and his disciples, wing chun has  become one of the most enjoyable and effective self-protection  martial arts  in the world. 
Wing chun is now  promoted as a defence system that can be learned by anyone, not just potential martial arts experts and masters.How is it different from other martial arts techniques? Wing chun is often called a 'soft style' because of the minimal effort or physical force a practitioner appears to put into the moves. 
On the surface, wing chun is simple, but it involves top physical fitness and skilful mental relaxation and control. Training involves the mind as well  as the body. 
The main ideal behind wing chun is survival and self-defence, not combat for the sake of combat.  It involves close-range, short hand techniques, low kicks and evasive footwork. It harnesses the body's natural movements and the mind's ability to focus. Size, strength and  aggression have no place in the philosophy of wing chun.
Forever Springtime
Wing chun was originally passed down from teacher to teacher and student to student with no written record of either the philosophy or the moves ever being made. The initial fighting philosophy was developed during the Shaolin and Ming resistance to the Qing dynasty.  
The lack of documentation makes it impossible to pinpoint the start of wing chun, but over the years one legend has gained popularity over others. 
Centuries ago, a young woman Wing Chun (Forever Spring) had the courage to refuse the marriage offer  of a powerful  warlord. Her family and friends were appalled, but the warlord  said he would withdraw his marriage offer and leave Wing Chun in peace if she beat him in a martial arts contest. 
Wing Chun knew it was impossible, and asked for the help  of a Shaolin Buddhist nun. The nun taught her  a secret  martial art that  helped her beat the warlord.  Wing Chun  won her freedom, married the man she loved and  taught him her fighting skills.  Wing Chun's husband named the new  form of martial arts after his wife.  
The second Sino-Japanese war
 In the early 1930s, there was an uneasy peace between China and Japan with each nation eyeing the other with mistrust. For many decades, Japan's expansionist military had had its  sights on an all-out invasion of China  to seize  its  resources and labour,  but Hirohito, the Japanese emperor, knew to wait until the time was right.  
In 1931, the Japanese army invaded Manchuria, gaining a significant foothold on the mainland.  In July, 1937, war was declared between China and Japan. The Chinese were backed  by the United States and the Soviet Union. After the Japanese attacked America's naval base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, the war between China and Japan became  part of the greater conflict of the second world war.  
On August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, and three days later a second  was dropped on Nagasaki. That ended the second Sino-Japanese war and Japan's involvement in the second world war.



Ip Man