Ip Man (TV series)

Ip Man is a 2013 Chinese television series romanticizing the life of Ip Man (Mandarin: Ye Wen), a Chinese martial artist specialising in Wing Chun.

Ip Man
Poster
Traditional葉問
Simplified叶问
MandarinYè Wèn
CantoneseJip6 Man6
GenreBiographical romance, period, martial arts
Written byCharcoal Tan
Fan Xiaotian
Zhu Yili
Ren Sha
Directed byFan Xiaotian
Zheng Wei
Hu Kai
Presented byFan Xiaotian
StarringKevin Cheng
Han Xue
Liu Xiaofeng
Chrissie Chau
Song Yang
Yu Rongguang
Yuen Wah
Bruce Leung
Opening themeYe Wen Shuang Tian (葉問霜天) performed by Tu Honggang
Ending themeYi Wen Zai Wen (一問再問) performed by Han Xue
ComposerDai Fang
Country of originChina
Original languagesMandarin
Cantonese
No. of episodes50
Production
Executive producersBu Yu
Chen Hua
Bai Fangcen
Wang Shaochun
Xu Dongliang
Zhu Lihua
Yang Zhuoxing
Charcoal Tan
Wei Ji
ProducersQin Ping
Wu Tao
Chen Qianyi
Chen Xi
Su Ying
Zhao Lei
Yang Fangfang
Jiang Haochen
Liu Yanfang
Xu Zhen
Production locationChina
Running time45 minutes per episode
Production companySuzhou Funa Films and Television
DistributorTVB
Release
Original networkShandong TV
Original release24 February (2013-02-24) –
9 March 2013 (2013-03-09)

Background

Directed by Fan Xiaotian, the series starred Kevin Cheng, who briefly appeared as a younger Ip Man in Ip Man: The Final Fight (2013) which starred Anthony Wong as a middle-aged Ip Man. Han Xue, Liu Xiaofeng, Chrissie Chau, Song Yang, Yu Rongguang, Yuen Wah and Bruce Leung were cast in supporting roles. Wilson Yip, the director of the Ip Man film series (starring Donnie Yen), and Taiwanese television series producer Young Pei-pei served as the artistic consultants. The real-life Ip Man's sons, Ip Chun and Ip Ching, were invited to be the martial arts consultants for the series. The series was shot from July to November 2012 in Kunshan, Suzhou, and was first aired on Shandong TV from 24 February to 9 March 2013. It won the Golden Eagle Award for Best Television Series in 2012.

Cast
  • Kevin Cheng as Ip Man
    • Zhou Jianan as Ye Wen (young)
  • Han Xue as Zhang Yongcheng
  • Liu Xiaofeng as Lin Qingshan
    • Zang Zhizhong as Lin Qingshan (young)
  • Chrissie Chau as Jenny
  • Song Yang as Si
  • Han Zhenhua as Ye Wen's father
  • Zhang Ruijia as Ye Wen's mother
  • Chen Hongjin as Ye Zhun
  • Yu Rongguang as Yu Fengjiu
  • Yuen Wah as Chen Huashun
  • Bruce Leung as Liang Bi
  • Bryan Leung as Master Hong
  • Jiang Kai as Fu Zhengyun
  • Yu Hai as Tong Zhanpeng
  • Kou Zhenhai as Zhang Yintang
  • Pu Chaoying as landlady
  • Liu Yajin as postman
  • Liu Xianchen as Zhang Yongsheng
  • Yuan Bingyan as Qiu Jianyun
  • Xu Xiangdong as Jiang Sheng
  • Li Qingxiang as Lu Changyi
  • Liu Hailong as Yan Chunlai
  • Wang Weiguo as Marshal Zhu
  • Mou Fengbin as Guimen Longyi / Guimen Long'er
  • Yu Yankai as Brother Lu
  • Yang Qianli as Yan Dong
  • Zhou Zhong as Mo Renchao

Production

There was fierce competition among many companies over the rights to the production of a television series about Ip Man since Wilson Yip's movies Ip Man and Ip Man 2 (starring Donnie Yen) came into the limelight. Around June 2012, Suzhou Funa Films and Television acquired the rights to produce the television series. Fan Xiaotian, who previously directed many Chinese television series, was selected as the director, while Hong Kong screenwriter Charcoal Tan was chosen to write the script. Wilson Yip and Taiwanese producer Young Pei-pei served as artistic consultants while the real-life Ip Man's sons, Ip Chun and Ip Ching, were invited to be martial arts consultants for the series.[1]

Shooting for Ip Man began in July 2012[1] and finalized in around November.[2]

After the release of Ip Man, BBC UKChina conducted a telephone interview with Fan Xiaotian about the television series. Fan mentioned that the earlier Ip Man films were too short, and that his purpose in creating the television series was to present a more developed and lively story about Ip Man which allows audiences to explore the character in greater depth. He also felt it was a very opportune time to produce a television series about Ip Man because Wilson Yip's Ip Man movies were very successful and influential, and also because Wong Kar-wai was making The Grandmaster when Ip Man (TV series) was in production.[3]

Fan Xiaotian and Young Pei-pei were keen on recruiting actor Vincent Zhao, who has a background in martial arts, to play the lead character. Taking some netizens' opinions and suggestions into account, the production team also considered casting Han Geng, Wu Chun, Wallace Chung and Wallace Huo in the series.[1] However, the role of Ip Man eventually went to Hong Kong TVB artiste Kevin Cheng. Han Xue was chosen to portray Ip Man's wife Cheung Wing-sing (Mandarin: Zhang Yongcheng). Other cast members include Liu Xiaofeng, Chrissie Chau, Yu Rongguang, Yuen Wah, Bruce Leung, Song Yang and Kou Zhenhai.[4]

In September 2012, the cast and crew of Ip Man appeared at a publicity event in Suzhou to promote the television series.[4]

Broadcasts
RegionNetworkDate(s)
ChinaShandong TV24 February – 9 March 2013
MalaysiaAstro On Demand11 March – 17 May 2013
AustraliaTVBJ12 March 2013 –
Hong KongDrama 210 June 2013 –
SingaporeVV Drama20 July 2013 –
ChinaSichuan TV1–25 August 2013
ChinaGuizhou TV1–25 August 2013
ChinaHenan TV1–25 August 2013
ChinaXinjiang TV1–25 August 2013
ChinaCCTV-119 August 2013 –
South KoreaAsiaN11 September 2013 –
TaiwanETTV Movie11 January 2014 –
ChinaShaanxi TV12 May 2014 –
ThailandTrue4U5 October 2014 –
Hong KongHD JadeTVB Sales Presentation 2014
IndonesiaTrans720 July – 11 September 2015

Home Media

The full Ip Man series is available in Mandarin, with Mandarin subtitles, on popular free video streaming sites in the US.

The first ten episodes of this 50 episode series was released by Cinedigm in North American, on DVD and Blu-Ray on October 10th, 2017. The 45 minute episodes feature Mandarin audio with English subtitles.[5]

See also

References
  1. "趙文卓或出演葉問 [Vincent Zhao may portray Ip Man]" (in Chinese). Sina.com. 12 June 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  2. "電視劇《葉問》殺青鄭嘉穎笑言需要休息 [Shooting for Ip Man television series ends. Kevin Cheng laughs and says he needs to rest.]" (in Chinese). Sina.com. 14 November 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  3. "電視劇《葉問》歐洲播出，「愚公移山」打入主流 [Ip Man television series is released in Europe, 'when there's a will there's a way' spirit breaks into mainstream culture]" (in Chinese). BBC UKChina. 3 May 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  4. "鄭嘉穎韓雪電視劇《葉問》再現武俠情侶(圖) [Kevin Cheng and Han Xue portray a martial arts couple in Ip Man television series (pictured)]" (in Chinese). Sina.com. 17 September 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  5. "Cinedigm Acquires Rights to IP MAN Television Series from KSM". Business Wire. 23 April 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
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