dear mr morris.

Joseph Cheng was a legend amongst the wing chun community in the 80's in England. Please tell me about his skill and is he still alive?
what is your opinion of the other wing chun teachers?
Thank you.

Taken from another forum

"Was in Chinatown, London on the weekend and picked up a copy of '108 Wooden Dummy - secret techniques of Wing Chun' by Joseph Cheng - originally re-released in 1976 on Paul Crompton books, and now re-released on the same label. Its a good book with very clear pictures of the dummy form.

The book also has an insert which confirms that Joseph Cheng is dead - I know many people have asked this question in the past."

Hope that helps answer part of the question.

I met Joseph in 1970 after being sacked from the LKK and effectively quitting karate. He gave me an insight into something much more substantial than the karate I'd been practicing. Out of that, through his knowledge of the Fujian systems, he identified goju-ryu as an offshoot. This encouraged me to begin what would be a 30 year research into the Fujian systems and their connection to Goju-ryu.

Joseph was a very charismatic person. He was a great performer and his Wing Chun skills were second to none. I'll always fondly remember him. I think he introduced me to everybody in Chinatown who was anybody! Really great guy. In fact, when I got Earlham Street in 1972 I made him head of the Wing Chun division, and we parted company in around 1975 when the club was full-contact and I think Joseph was getting security work with Arabian princes.

I heard some years ago from Yap Leong that he was dead. The circumstances of his death as I understand them, are tragic. But I don't know the full details, and if anybody does, I would prefer they don't post them publicly out of respect.

He was a great martial artist, and when I got the news I was gutted.

I don't know whether this is common knowledge, but Joseph was also a great magician. He'd apparently worked in a circus, he could juggle and do all sorts of things.

One of my fondest memories was when he invited me to train with Lee Sim, who ran a restaurant in Chinatown. We were really close.

I'm working on an updated bio for my website, and I'll be writing more about Joseph in that.

With regard to the other part of your question. I only knew Joseph Cheng, and I knew of Paul Lam and Victor Khan, who were also great Wing Chun practitioners. But having left Wing Chun behind in 1975 I really haven't followed the current trend.