 Grandmaster Te Cong, his son and students Master Te Cong was seen as the father of Vietnam Wing Chun. For long time he worked protecting the business cargo on the route Qui Chau-Van Nam to Vietnam. During this time there was a Vietnamese accompanied him and this man was considered the first disciple of Te Cong. He taught some disciples who all later turned into Wing Chun masters. In Hanoi Te Cong taught some Vietnamese disciples and seven of them were grouped into the first class. Beside the disciples appearing in the historic picture maintained by Mr. Do Tuan, master Te Cong also taught master Ngo Si Quy, a violist, whose Wing Chun branch has been rather spread well in the recent 15 years.
In the picture: the child standing beside Master Te Cong was his son, the first man on the left was master Phung who used to be a security guard for business cargo, very brave and hot-tempered. At the old age he worked as guard for the Vietnam-Cuba high school, he passed away at the age of 90 and chose his closed disciple - Do Tuan, a painter, his successor. Next on the picture were master Lam, Nghi... and the last man was master Tien, the most slender figure with a indulgent face, he lived in 35 Gia Ngu street and contributed a lot for Wing Chun Hanoi. Probably the training equipments such as wooden dummy, wooden head etc came from master Tien and master Phung. Before 1954 master Tien taught some disciples, among them still “playing” Wing Chun are master Phan Duong Binh, aka “vermicelli” Binh. A rumor told he could fold his body and lie down in a basket !. His other students are master Nham, Le, Sinh and Xuan Thi...
In 1955 master Te Cong migrated to the south of Vietnam. He taught few more disciples there and passed away at the age of 84.
Following the remaining trace of master Te Cong, I (the author) met many people who used to know him and still maintain many interesting anecdotes, now these are well respected by Wing Chun practitioners.
(Huyen Tam) |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 05 November 2007 )
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