In the early 1970s, Bruce Lee chose to test his skills against his original kung fu instructor – Wong Shun Leung – in a classic, “teacher vs. student” sparring match. The fight happened after the actor had established himself as a martial arts superstar in Hong Kong. The result of the fight was disagreed upong by bother parties — although witnesses argue there was a clear victor.
Due in large part to the popularity of the Ip Man movies starring Donnie Yen, one of the most well-known details about Bruce Lee’s early life is that while living in Hong Kong, he was a student of the famous Wing Chun grandmaster. However, despite their well-documented relationship, which has been portrayed a few times on the big screen, Bruce Lee was only Ip Man's student in a formal sense — Ip Man was not the person primarily responsible for Lee’s training. When Lee joined his school, Ip Man assigned his senior student, Wong Shun Leung, with the task of teaching Bruce Lee martial arts. It was with Wong – and not Ip Man – that Lee learned most of what he knew about Wing Chun. In a letter written to Wong in 1970, Lee acknowledged that though Ip Man was still technically his master, Wong was really the one who taught him kung fu.
Lee remained in touch with Wong, even after moving on from Ip Man’s school, going to Hollywood, creating Jeet Kune Do, and acquiring students of his own. When his first big martial arts movie, The Big Boss, was released in 1971, Lee contacted Wong and asked his opinion on how his skills had grown over the years. According to Bruce Lee: A Life by Matthew Polly, Wong offered some constructive criticism about Lee’s moves in The Big Boss, which then led to a challenge. Following the completion of Way of the Dragon, Lee brought Wong to his home to discuss his next picture, Game of Death. It was then that Lee revisited their previous talk and convinced him to do some light sparring.
Wan Kam Leung, a student of Wong’s and a witness to the fight, claims that Lee struck Wong in the face, who managed to touch his hand against Lee’s throat. This caused a brief disagreement, as Lee thought he had won by striking the first blow, whereas Wong maintained that the throat strike trumped Lee’s own attack. The sparring continued for a while longer, and once it was over, the two engaged in a friendly argument over who won, with neither being willing to admit that the other was better.
Since then, comments from Wan have shed more light on the fight. He says that Lee was the real winner, and that Wong would have collapsed had Lee executed a kick with his full strength, considering that his legs were “really powerful”. Wan also revealed that after the match, he had to use Chinese herbal ointment to massage Wong’s badly bruised arms, which he had kept hidden from Lee. So it would seem that just like the ending to a classic kung fu movie, Bruce Lee’s fight with Wong Shun Leung ended with the student finally overtaking the master.