Chinese: 梁相
Pinyin: Liáng Xiàng
Cantonese: Leung Sheung
Commonly Cited Dates: 1918–1978
Also Known As: “Biu Jee King,” 標指王
Overview
Leung Sheung was one of Ip Man’s earliest and most important Hong Kong students. He helped create the conditions that allowed Ip Man to establish Wing Chun in Hong Kong after 1950.
He worked in the Hong Kong Restaurant Workers’ Union, where Ip Man taught his first Hong Kong Wing Chun classes. Leung Sheung became Ip Man’s first publicly known Hong Kong student and a central figure in the early growth of the branch.
His students later established schools in Hong Kong, North America, Europe, and elsewhere.
Early Life
Leung Sheung was originally from Nanhai, Guangdong.
Most lineage sources give 1918 as his birth year. Some recent oral-history accounts give 1919. His date of birth should therefore be treated as uncertain within this one-year range.
After the Second World War, he moved to Hong Kong and worked in the restaurant industry.
Lineage biographies state that he studied several southern martial arts before meeting Ip Man. These included Dragon-style boxing, Pak Mei, and Choy Li Fut.
The public record does not provide a complete list of Leung Sheung’s early teachers, training periods, or curriculum. His pre-Wing Chun background should be understood as a broad martial foundation rather than a fully documented lineage. [1]
Martial Arts Background
Leung Sheung encountered Ip Man through the Hong Kong Restaurant Workers’ Union.
The Ving Tsun Athletic Association records that Leung Sheung, Lok Yiu, and Liu Ming were union staff members and Chinese martial-arts enthusiasts. Through the union secretary, Lee Man, they met Ip Man and invited him to teach Wing Chun at the union. [2]
Leung Sheung became one of the first students in Ip Man’s initial Hong Kong class. He remained committed when many early students left because of financial and personal difficulties.
His previous southern martial-arts experience likely helped him understand and apply Ip Man’s Wing Chun. The extent to which his earlier arts directly altered his later Wing Chun cannot be established from surviving evidence.
Teachers and Lineage
The central lineage is:
Leung Jan → Chan Wah-shun → Ip Man → Leung Sheung
Ip Man also received instruction from Ng Chung-so, a senior student of Chan Wah-shun:
Leung Jan → Chan Wah-shun → Ng Chung-so → Ip Man → Leung Sheung
A further traditional line associated with Ip Man is:
Leung Jan → Leung Bik → Ip Man → Leung Sheung
Leung Sheung did not receive Wing Chun from Leung Jan directly. He learned it from Ip Man in Hong Kong.
His earlier study of Dragon-style boxing, Pak Mei, and Choy Li Fut belongs to lineage biography. The exact teachers and technical influence of those arts remain uncertain.
Career and Major Events
Leung Sheung worked in Hong Kong’s restaurant industry and served in leadership roles within the Hong Kong Restaurant Workers’ Union.
In 1950, he helped bring Ip Man to the union to teach Wing Chun. This first class became the foundation of Ip Man’s Hong Kong career.
The early union class included Leung Sheung, Lok Yiu, Liu Ming, and other workers. As interest increased, Ip Man expanded his teaching locations and later taught in other parts of Hong Kong. [3]
In 1953, after a union election in which Leung Sheung lost his leadership position, Ip Man moved his class to Hoi Tan Street. Later accounts state that Ip Man returned to the Restaurant Workers’ Union after Leung Sheung regained the position in 1954. This detail comes from later biographies and should be treated as well-supported lineage history rather than independently verified archival fact.
In 1967, Ip Man directed seven students to establish the Ving Tsun Athletic Association. Later histories identify Leung Sheung as one of the founding students. [4]
Leung Sheung died in 1978.
Teachings and Methods
Leung Sheung taught the Wing Chun he learned from Ip Man.
His branch preserves the standard Ip Man curriculum:
Siu Nim Tao
Chum Kiu
Biu Jee
Wooden Dummy
Six-and-a-Half-Point Pole
Eight-Cut Knives
Chi Sao
San Sao
He became known as the “Biu Jee King.” This is a traditional title of respect that reflects his reputation for skill in Biu Jee and close-range Wing Chun. It is not a formal rank.
Later Leung Sheung-line teachers often emphasize position, sensitivity, timing, practical application, and directness. These are later teaching descriptions of the branch. They should not be treated as a complete or exclusive statement of Leung Sheung’s own teaching method.
Students and Influence
Leung Sheung taught a number of influential students.
Well-known students and later transmitters include:
Leung Kam-tong
Kenneth Chung
Leung Ting
Lam Shu-shing
Cheng Chuen-fun
Ng Wah-sum
These teachers and their students helped establish Leung Sheung-line Wing Chun outside Hong Kong.
Leung Kam-tong became an important preserver of the line in Hong Kong. Leung Ting first studied under Leung Sheung and later developed the international WingTsun organization. His claim to a later direct relationship with Ip Man has been disputed by some members of the Ip family and other Ip Man branches.
Legends and Controversies
Leung Sheung is often called Ip Man’s “first student in Hong Kong.” This is broadly accurate in the public history of Ip Man’s first Hong Kong class.
Early class membership was fluid. Lok Yiu and other union members also trained during the first period. “First student” should be understood as an honorific description of Leung Sheung’s seniority and central role, not as proof that no one else trained before or alongside him.
The title “Biu Jee King” is also a lineage reputation title. It reflects how later students remembered his skill. It does not provide an objective ranking against every other Ip Man student.
Claims that Leung Sheung alone saved Ip Man’s Hong Kong career are too simple. He was crucial, but the survival of Ip Man’s school also depended on Lok Yiu, other union members, later students, and the wider Hong Kong martial-arts environment.
Legacy
Leung Sheung played a key role in the survival and growth of Ip Man Wing Chun in Hong Kong.
He connected Ip Man with the Restaurant Workers’ Union, remained an early committed student, supported the expansion of classes, and trained students who carried the line forward.
His importance is practical and historical. Without the first Restaurant Workers’ Union class, Ip Man’s later Hong Kong teaching career may have developed very differently.
Related Encyclopedia Entries
Wing Chun
Ip Man
Ving Tsun Athletic Association
Hong Kong Restaurant Workers’ Union
Lok Yiu
Wong Shun-leung
Chu Shong-tin
Moy Yat
Leung Ting
Leung Kam-tong
Kenneth Chung
Lam Shu-shing
Biu Jee
Chi Sao
Wooden Dummy
References
- Leung Kam-tong Wing Chun, “About Grandmaster Leung Sheung”
- Ving Tsun Athletic Association, “History and Development”
- Hong Kong Commercial Daily, “Grandmaster Ip Man and Hong Kong”
- Ving Tsun Athletic Association, “About Us”
- Benjamin N. Judkins and Jon Nielson, The Creation of Wing Chun: A Social History of the Southern Chinese Martial Arts. SUNY Press, 2015.