The real Ip Chun is in the movie. He is the oldest son of the real Ip Man.
The film focuses on Ip Man s early life and the story of how he learnt Wing Chun. In contrast, Ip Man and Ip Man 2 focus on the events in his life that took place during the Second Sino-Japanese War and after he moved to Hong Kong.
As a child, Ip Man learns Wing Chun from Chan Wah-shun together with Ip Tin-chi and Lee Mei-wai. After Chan s death, Ip continues to learn Wing Chun from his senior, Ng Chung-sok, before eventually leaving Foshan to study in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, Ip is bullied and humiliated by foreigners, who look down on him. During that time, he meets master Leung Bik, who is actually the son of Leung Jan, Chan Wah-shun s teacher. Ip learns a different style of Wing Chun from Leung and his prowess in martial arts improves tremendously.
Ip returns to Foshan years later and falls in love with Cheung Wing-shing, the daughter of the vice-mayor of Foshan. However, he would later discover that he needs to overcome obstacles to be with her. At the same time, Ip reunites with his fellows and Ng Chung-sok sees that Ip had mastered a new style of Wing Chun from Leung Bik, which differs from Chan Wah-shun s orthodox style. Both of them start to have disagreements over how the art should be practised.