Ip Man, also known as Yip Man, (Chinese: 葉問 / 叶问; 1 October 1893 – 2 December 1972) was a Hong Kong-based Cantonese martial artist and a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun when he was 20. He had several students who later became martial arts masters in their own right, the most famous among them being Bruce Lee.
In the 1930s, Foshan is a hub of Nanquan, where various schools actively recruit disciples and compete against each other. Although the Wing Chun master Ip Man is the most skilled martial artist in Foshan, he is unassuming and maintains an almost invisible profile. As an independent wealthy man, he feels no need to accept any disciples and instead spends his days training, meeting with friends, and spending time with his family. However, his wife is often resentful of the time he spends training and discussing martial arts with friends and colleagues. Though not a professional martial artist, Ip is respected in Foshan due to the abilities he displays in friendly, closed-door competitions with local masters. Ip's reputation is further enhanced when he defeats an aggressive, rude, highly skilled Northern Chinese martial arts#Northern styles master, Jin Shanzhao, thus upholding the regional pride of fellow Southern stylists and others in Foshan.
Wing Chun master Ip Man and his family move to Hong Kong in the mid-1940s after their escape from Second Sino-Japanese War Foshan. There, Ip desires to open a school to propagate his art, as well as make a living during the difficult times, but he has difficulty attracting students due to his lack of reputation in the city. One day, a young man named Wong Shun Leung appears and promptly challenges Ip to a fight, but is easily defeated. Wong leaves humiliated, only to return with some friends to gang up on him. Ip beats them as well. Stunned and impressed by his skills, Wong and his friends become Ip's first students, bringing more disciples to help the school thrive.
In 1959, Ip Man is settling into his low-profile life in Hong Kong. His elder son, Ip Chun, has returned to Foshan to study, leaving him with his younger son Ip Ching and his wife Cheung Wing-sing in Hong Kong. A young Bruce Lee visits Ip and asks to become one of his students, saying he would be his greatest disciple. After Lee demonstrates his speed, Ip neither accepts nor rejects him, but insinuates for him to leave by opening the door.
While keeping a low profile after his defeat by Ip Man, Cheung Tin Chi gets into trouble after getting in a fight with a powerful foreigner.
因故来到美国唐人街的叶问，意外卷入一场当地军方势力与华人武馆的纠纷，面对日益猖狂的民族歧视与压迫，叶问挺身而出，在美国海军陆战队军营拼死一战，以正宗咏春，向世界证明了中国功夫。
Yip Man's resistance against invading foreigners, along with his romantic relations while under the tutelage of three Wing Chun masters.
In 1949, Ip Man, who has been suffering from chronic gastric pain, travels alone to Hong Kong. He starts by teaching Wing Chun on the rooftop of a building which houses a hotel staff's general association. He meets and accepts new students, including Tang Shing, Leung Sheung, Wong Tung, Lee King and Chan Sei-mui. During that period of time, Ip Man's wife, Cheung Wing-sing, also comes to Hong Kong to join her husband, but returns to Foshan shortly after because life in Hong Kong is hard. The couple never saw each other again because Cheung died not long after returning to Foshan. His son Ip Chun comes from Foshan to Hong Kong to join him.
In 1950, a large number of martial artists entered Hong Kong to open a boxing gym. Among them, Ye Wen did not lose a reputation, causing the attention of Zheng Delong, the owner of the Kowloon.
Ip Man’s promising career as a Policeman is ruined after he is framed for murder and targeted by a mob boss’s daughter.
In 1917 young Ip Man first came to Hong Kong to study, but his peaceful campus life was unexpectedly broken. A shocking hostage situation occurred on the day when the school held an English speech contest. All students in the school were held hostage, and one person was killed every minute. Facing the immediate crisis, Ip Man stepped forward, but unexpectedly discovered that the kidnapper was his master, and his good brother turned out to be an accomplice of the kidnapper.
When Ip Man was studying in Hong Kong during his youth years, he accidentally gets involved in the case of British company Stark Industries' kidnapping of Chinese women to be trafficked overseas. Ip Man steps out and fights the westerners. He fought the British Patton warriors thrice and used Wing Chun to defend the dignity of the trampled Chinese.
一代宗師葉問（鄭嘉穎）生於水深火熱的時代，他畢生追尋與探索武學境界，自身成長蛻變的經歷令葉問最終成就功夫神話，登上武學頂峰。從佛山、廣州到香港，他先後遇上影響他一生的重要人物，包括革命黨人符征雲（蔣愷）、啟蒙老師于鳳九（于榮光）、詠春師父陳華順（元華）……一次次的比武，一次次的受傷，濺起的不僅是葉問的鮮血，還有兒時的訂婚對象張永成（韓雪）的眼淚，但葉問的師兄林青山（劉小鋒）心胸狹窄，因深愛永成，青山經常為葉問製造麻煩，甚至誣陷他是殺人犯，葉問逃往香港遇上第三位師父梁璧（梁小龍），被傳授各種詠春功夫，水平大大提升，葉問留港期間刻意隱姓埋名，仍難逃捲入碼頭鬥爭中，幸得好友阿寺（宋洋）和碼頭西施珍妮（周秀娜）的幫助，雖天天遊走生死邊緣，但同時艱困的環境大大誘發他深藏的武者俠義與凜然正氣，將葉問推上最後的擂臺，重回佛山……