Wong Jack-man (born 1941 – December 26, 2018) was a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

martial artist Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...

and teacher. He was best known for his controversial duel with

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...

in 1964.

Early life

Born in 1941 in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, Wong was a master of

Taijiquan Tai chi (), short for Tai chi ch'üan ( zh, s=太极拳, t=太極拳, first=t, p=Tàijíquán, labels=no), sometimes called "shadowboxing", is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits and meditation. Ta ...

Xingyiquan Xing Yi Quan is classified as one of the internal styles of Chinese martial arts. The name of the art translates approximately to "Form-Intention Fist", or "Shape-Will Fist". Xing Yi is characterized by aggressive, seemingly linear movements ...

and

Northern Shaolin In its broadest sense, Northern Shaolin () is the external (as opposed to internal) martial arts of Northern China, referring to those styles from the Northern Shaolin Monastery in Henan and specifically to the style practice by ''Gù Rǔzhāng ...

.Dorgan, Michael
''Bruce Lee's Toughest Fight''
1980 July. Official Karate

Fight with Bruce Lee

Accounts of Wong's fight with Lee are controversial, as it was unrecorded and held privately at

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

in 1964, when both men were in their early 20s. According to

Linda Lee Cadwell Linda Emery Lee Cadwell (born March 21, 1945) is a retired American teacher and writer. She is the author of the Bruce Lee biography '' Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew'', upon which the film '' Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story'' is based, as well as th ...

's wife, Lee's teaching of Chinese martial arts to white people made him unpopular with Chinese martial artists in San Francisco. Wong contested the notion that Lee was fighting for the right to teach whites as most of his students were Chinese. Wong stated that he requested a public fight with Lee after Lee had issued an open challenge during a demonstration at a Chinatown theater in which he claimed to be able to defeat any martial artist in San Francisco. Wong stated it was after a mutual acquaintance delivered a note from Lee inviting him to fight that he showed up at Lee's school to challenge him. According to author Norman Borine, Wong wanted to know the rules of the match and the restrictions on techniques such as hitting the face, groin kicks, and eye jabs, and that the two fought no holds barred after he received no reply from Lee. The details of the fight vary depending on the account. Individuals known to have witnessed the match included Cadwell, James Lee (an associate of Bruce Lee, no relation) and William Chen, a teacher of

T'ai chi ch'uan Tai chi (), short for Tai chi ch'üan ( zh, s=太极拳, t=太極拳, first=t, p=Tàijíquán, labels=no), sometimes called "shadowboxing", is an neijia, internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits and medita ...

. According to Linda, the fight lasted three minutes with a decisive victory for Bruce. Lee gave a description, without naming Wong explicitly, in an interview with '' Black Belt''. :"I'd gotten into a fight in San Francisco with a Kung-Fu cat, and after a brief encounter the son-of-a-bitch started to run. I chased him and, like a fool, kept punching him behind his head and back. Soon my fists began to swell from hitting his hard head. Right then I realized

Wing Chun Wing Chun (Chinese: 詠春 or 咏春, lit. "singing spring"), sometimes spelled Ving Tsun, is a concept-based fighting art, form of Nanquan (martial art), Southern Chinese kung fu and close-quarters system of self-defense. In Mandarin, it is ...

was not too practical and began to alter my way of fighting." Cadwell recounted the scene in her book '' Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew'' (1975): :"The two came out, bowed formally and then began to fight. Wong adopted a classic stance whereas Bruce, who at the time was still using his Wing Chun style, produced a series of straight punches. Within a minute, Wong's men were trying to stop the fight as Bruce began to warm to his task. James Lee warned them to let the fight continue. A minute later, with Bruce continuing the attack in earnest, Wong began to backpedal as fast as he could. For an instant, indeed, the scrap threatened to degenerate into a farce as Wong actually turned and ran. But Bruce pounced on him like a springing leopard and brought him to the floor where he began pounding him into a state of demoralization. "Is that enough?" shouted Bruce, "That's enough!" pleaded his adversary. Bruce demanded a second reply to his question to make sure that he understood this was the end of the fight." This is in contrast to Wong and William Chen's account of the fight as they state the fight lasted an unusually long 20–25 minutes. Wong was unsatisfied with Lee's account of the match and published his own version in the ''Chinese Pacific Weekly'', a

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the wor ...

newspaper in San Francisco. The article, which was featured on the front page, included a detailed description of the fight by Wong, concluding with an invitation for a public rematch if Lee found his account inaccurate or disingenuous. Lee made no public response to the article, closed his school and moved from the area shortly thereafter. In ''Bruce Lee: A Life'' by Matthew Polly, who shares a few insights from his extensive research and interview process, he says that according to David Chin, who arranged the match on Wong's behalf, Lee overwhelmed Wong with his opening series of attacks as Wong was approaching for the customary salute, causing Wong to turn his back and run. Lee chased him around the room until Wong tripped and fell. Lee jumped on top of Wong and rained down punches, forcing Chin to intervene and rescue Wong. Wong later expressed regret over fighting Lee, attributing it to arrogance, both on the part of Lee and himself.

Later life and death

Wong instructed classes in California at the

Fort Mason Center Fort Mason, in San Francisco, California originated as a coastal defense site during the American Civil War. The nucleus of the property was owned by John C. Frémont and disputes over compensation by the United States continued into 1968. In 188 ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and at the First Unitarian Church in Oakland for the better part of five decades before retiring in 2005. Wong Jack-man's top two students continue his legacy of teaching. In San Francisco, Rick Wing who took over his teacher's school after his retirement in December 2005 teaches classes at a private location. In San Rafael and San Anselmo in Marin County, California, Scott Jensen runs the 10,000 Victories School that teaches Wong Jack-man's arts. In Oakland, California, The EBM Kung Fu Academy teaches Wong's lineage. Wong died in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

on December 26, 2018.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Jack-man 1941 births 2018 deaths Shaolinquan practitioners Chinese tai chi practitioners American people of Chinese descent Hong Kong martial artists

Early life

Fight with Bruce Lee

Later life and death

See also

References

Sources