Fingers that knocked away the chamber of a pistol Yip Man pad little attention to fame and fortune, never showing himself off before other people, and making little or no mention of his heroic deeds in his youth. Yet there were one or two incidents about him that are worthy of mention. These were retold by some eye-witnesses, but with inevitable exaggeration. It was the custom of the people of Fatshan to hold a procession of floats once a year, in which all the wealthy tradesmen, industrialists and eminent people of that town all took part. They organised teams of floats to show themselves off for publicity. The festival usually attracted not only local people, but also sightseers from many neighbouring towns. On the day of the festival, onlookers oured into the streets though which the procession of the floats would pass. It became very difficult for aspectator to find a spot from which he could have a good view of the show. It was during one of these occasions in Fatshan that Yip Man and several young female relatives, were among the spectators for the show. Standing not far away from them was a soldier. Yip Man had a special dislike of this soldier, bearing in mind that in those days, people who joined the services were either vagabonds or outlaws, and that good youth as people said, would never become soldiers. Yip Mans female companions were luxuriously dressed, and their beauty and graceful manner attracted the attention of this particular soldier. The soldier annoyed Yip Man as he appoached them and insulted the ladies, speaking disrespectfully to them. Yip Man accused him of having bad manners, which resulted in a fight between the two men. To the surprise of the soldier, Yip Man was not the delicate scholar he expected. This inrudiated the soldier, who drew his pistol and pointed it at Yip Man. At this critical moment Yip Man wasted no time. He quickly snatched the pistol and knocked away the chamber of it with his powerful fingers, leaving the soldier standing frightened and dumbfounded. Before the soldier had time to recover from the shock, Yip Man and his companions were already gone. This incident was later retold by many eye-witnesses, but with much exaggeration, even to the point of saying that Yip Man had broken the barrel of the pistol into two halves. In fact Yip Man was only to be praised for the strength of his fingers and the speed of his actions.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 09:31:12 +0000
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