“Give a phone call to Ho Kam Ming 何金銘 in Macau. Here I have no fighters for you, but see if he can help you.”
-GGM Ip Man to Tang Sang
Grandmaster Ho Kam Ming 何金銘 is one of Yip Man’s best disciples. He devotes his life in studying and refining the art of Ving Tsun and he is one of the few men who had completed the entire system under Yip Man.
Grandmaster Ho was held in high regards by Yip Man. He spent three and a half years to learn the whole system from Yip Man, then he helped Yip Man to teach his classes for another three and a half years. It was during this time when he learned the most advanced skills privately from Yip Man. As a matter of fact, majority of students followed Yip Man for less than two years.
During the seven years Grandmaster Ho was with Yip Man, he trained Wing Chun in the school everyday for at least four hours per day, without taking a single day off. Needless to say, he developed a very close personal relationship with Yip Man.
After seven years of dedicated training, Grandmaster Ho opened his own Wing Chun school in Macau and the Ho Kam Ming Wing Chun Association was established. Unlike many other Wing Chun instructors who chose to teach on a part time basis, Grandmaster Ho taught Wing Chun full time. Passing down the art has been his life time career since that time.
Back in the 1960′s and 70′s, in addition to teaching Wing Chun for self-defense, Grandmaster Ho also trained professional Wing Chun fighters. His full contact Wing Chun teams fought in martial arts tournaments throughout southeast Asia and they had achieved considerable recognition.
During the mid-60′s, as the reputation of the school grew, a famous Chinese martial arts school from Hong Kong called for a formal challenge. Challenge, back then, was a very serious matter since it was a good way to establish a good reputation. Although the challenging school had fought and won over a hundred contests in this manner, they lost completely in this match.
Another notable match was related to the setup of the Hong Kong Chinese Martial Arts Association (HKCMAA). Tang Sang, the organizer of HKCMAA, received a challenge from the already established Chinese Martial Arts Association (CMAA). CMAA would send out three fighters from China, and Tang could pick three fighters from any kind of Chinese martial arts locally in Hong Kong. Tang Sang could setup the HKCMAA only if two of his men won in this three matches game.
While no fighters were willing to participate, Tang Sang at last turned to Yip Man for help. The only thing that Yip Man told him was: “give a phone call to Ho Kam Ming in Macau. Here I have no fighters for you, but you can see if he can help you.”
Three part time fighters were then sent by Grandmaster Ho. The fights were held in the Hong Kong city hall, and it was being broadcasted live on TV. Of no surprises, Grandmaster Ho’s students won all three matches and HKCMAA was setup afterward.
In the late 1970′s, Grandmaster Ho retired from teaching Wing Chun publicly. Since then, instead of teaching in a school, he provided only private training to individuals. He then immigrated to Canada in the 1990′s.
-WingChunPedia
