The Legend Is Born: Ip Man
2010 film by Herman Yau
The Legend Is Born: Ip Man (Chinese: 葉問前傳) is a 2010 Hong Kong biographical martial arts film based on the early life of the Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man, directed by Herman Yau and starring Dennis To in the title role. The film was followed by a sequel in 2013, Ip Man: The Final Fight. Though not made in collaboration with Wilson Yip's Ip Man or Ip Man 2, The Legend is Born features several actors who appeared in Yip's films, including Sammo Hung, Louis Fan, and Chen Zhihui. The film also features a special appearance by Ip Chun, the son of Ip Man. Released as Ip Man Zero in German and Dutch-speaking areas.
Plot
As a child, Ip Man learns Wing Chun from Chan Wah-shun together with his adopted brother Ip Tin-chi and their mutual friend Lee Mei-wai, who later develops unrequited feelings for Ip while Tin-chi develops unrequited feelings for Mei-wai. After Chan's death from an illness, Ip Man continues to learn Wing Chun from his senior, Ng Chung-sok, before eventually leaving Foshan to study in Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, after a field hockey match, Ip and his schoolmates are racially insulted by a Westerner, which Ip takes offence to. When the Westerner slurs them in Chinese, a further incensed Ip challenges him to a fight and proceeds to defeat him soundly. Following the incident, Ip's notoriety and popularity skyrocket.
“The Legend Is Born: Ip Man” enters the record as 2010 film by Herman Yau. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Legend, Born and film can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3125235. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2010 and 2013.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Legend Is Born: Ip Man” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.