Yip Man's Grave, Fanling

Continuing the process of resurrecting my film- and Bruce Lee-related posts from my old, deleted history blog, here is a post I originally made back in 2011 about how to visit Yip Man's grave in Fanling. It's been a while since I made the effort to go (I think my last trip was around 2014?) but I don't believe very much has changed since then.

Yip Man has been very much in the public eye over the past decade or so thanks to the rather large number (relatively speaking) of films that have been made about him, including four with Donnie Yen, two with Dennis To, an effort from Wong Kar Wai starring Tony Leung, a mainland Chinese TV series, another film with Antony Wong, and a plethora of cheap and quick cynical cash-ins from mainland China. First we had Brucesploitation and now we have Yip Mansploitation. If you're curious about whether the old master is spinning in his grave about all this, you can now go and check.

This photo is on Yip’s grave stone

For those who don't know (in which case this post is probably no interest to you anyway) Yip Man is really considered one of the foremost exponents of the Wing Chun style of southern martial arts. His most famous student is of course Bruce Lee, but from that era of students came a large number of people who really went on to make Wing Chun the internationally recognised art that it is today. No doubt helped along the way by Bruce Lee's own fame. But I will leave all that stuff to the real historians who know much more than me, especially regarding lineages and politics.

Despite all the legend that has been built up around him, we know that Yip was from Foshan and from a wealthy family. At least wealthy enough to be able to send the young man to Hong Kong for study in his youth. He boarded and studied at St. Stephen’s College when it was still based in Bonham Road - on the opposite side of Western Street to King's College - before returning to Foshan to become a police officer, and not returning to HK full time until 1949 when the Communists won the civil war and took control of mainland China.

At the end of his life, Yip was living in Mongkok, on Tung Choi St (see my Bruce Lee Guide to the Rest of Kowloon - Part 2), and passed away there from throat cancer in December 1972. 

Finding Yip Man related things in Hong Kong though is quite difficult. Much like the situation was with Bruce a while back, the HK Government has never taken advantage of Yip Man's now global fame and turned him into any kind of tourist beacon. That's probably a good thing in all honesty. If you want to see anything Yip Man-related, your best bet is to make a trip over to his hometown of Foshan and visit the Yip Man Tong – a museum dedicated to his memory. For people not intending to make that trip though, at least Hong Kong is his final resting place and his grave is located on a hillside behind Fung Ying Seen Koon temple in Fanling.

I had no real idea of where the grave was when I started out to find it on this day (Sep 2011), I just had some rather vague general directions, and in the end it took a while before I found the right path. Luckily, despite pouring rain, hot steamy weather, mosquitoes and even going arse-over-elbow on some slippery leaves (quite apt given that Yip means 'leaf') I finally managed to find the grave. These days it's even marked on Google Maps!

The grave, rather than being hidden from the public, is actually signposted in two places, you just have to be on the right path in order to find the sign posts.

What you need to do is head to Fanling and exit from the station (assuming you arrive by train) and head over towards the Fung Yin Seen Koon temple complex on the opposite side of the highway. Arriving at the main gate you need to bear left and follow the pathway around to the left hand side of the complex until you come to this gate way to “Tin Sam Tsuen”.

One of Fung Ying Sin Koon's buildings in the background

Just keep following this path, it’s a no-brainer really. You’ll come to this next location after a couple of minutes.

There is no other way to go other than to follow the path to the end where you come across some steps with yellow railings that go diagonally up to the right.

See those little brown pots on the lower right? Well, believe it or not they contain bones. When you’re Chinese and wealthy you get a proper burial (as opposed to being cremated and stored as ash in a columbarium) and after spending a few years in a coffin, you are taken out cleaned down to the bone and stuck in one of those ossuary pots. Some people also call them 'Golden Pagodas'.

At the top of those steps you get a lovely bamboo strewn pathway with quite a few graves at your feet. Keep heading straight on – you may even have to duck under the odd bit of fallen bamboo.

It’s along this part of the path that you will see a couple of signs pointing your way. Yes, I know it says ‘GRAYE’ but this is a common type of mistake seen in Chinese signage. The engraver probably didn't read/write English well enough to know the difference between the letters and carved a Y instead. It looks like the same guy carved the second one because it's got the same mistake.

If you are interested in what the Chinese writing says, it is (reading L- R ): 詠春葉問宗師墓地 - wing6 chun1 Yip6 Man6 jung1 si1 mou6 dei6.

We know what Wing Chun (詠春) and Yip Man (葉問) are. Jung Si (宗師) is the Cantonese for someone of great learning who is revered, and Mou Dei (墓地) is a graveyard or plot within a graveyard. Anyway, Chinese lesson over, so let’s move on.

You’ll soon come to a skinny looking set of steps that again lead of at an angle. Walk up them and after about a minute you’ll see this clearing on your right hand side. This is where you need to head to because the grave is just here (it’s the one above the white one you can see in the picture).

I'd say the grave gets frequent visitors because it's been really clean the two times I have visited. If it's not family members going up there then I am sure it may also be Wing Chun practitioners going to pay their respects or just curious people like myself who are interested or perhaps had their interests piqued by all these film shenanigans. If it's a bit messy when you are there, please feel free to use the (usually) nearby broom and give it a bit of a sweep.

Anyway, I hope this helps. Happy hunting.