[6] He discovers from his reporter friend Liang Gen that, because he is a foreigner, he needs a referral letter from the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association to enroll Ching into an American school.
The association's chairman, Tai Chi master Wan Zonghua, refuses to write the letter as Ip is unbothered by Lee's actions, whereas the other grandmasters openly disapprove.
While leaving the school after a meeting with the principal, Ip sees Wan's teenage daughter, Yonah, undergoing a racist attack from a rival cheerleader, Becky, and her male friends.
Ip steps in to rescue her and escorts Yonah home, where Wan is upset that she got into a fight.
Upon seeing Frater in the hospital, Geddes barges into the Association building and uses his strength and karate prowess to brutally defeat all the grandmasters present.
Due to a tip-off by Billy, a subordinate of Walters and student of Lee, the Association is evacuated by the time the INS conducts its raid.
The older Ip apologizes to his son for striking him, and promises to teach Ching kung fu when he returns to Hong Kong.
A weary but determined Ip instructs his son to film him as he demonstrates Wing Chun on a wooden dummy.
In addition, several actors appear in cameos as characters from the previous films in a flashback sequence via archive footage, including Lynn Hung as Cheung Wing-sing (張永成), Ip Man's deceased wife; Gordon Lam as Li Chiu (李釗), a police officer from Foshan; Huang Xiaoming as Wong Leung (黃梁), Ip Man's first student; Sammo Hung as the late Hung Chun-nam (洪震南), an asthmatic Hung Ga master; Mike Tyson as Frank, an American property developer; Sarut Khanwilai as Suchart, a Thai Boxer; Zhang Jin as Cheung Tin-chi (張天志), a former Wing Chun master who was defeated by Ip Man in a duel; the late Darren Shahlavi as Taylor "The Twister" Miller, an English boxing champion who was defeated by Ip Man; and Simon Yam as Chow Ching-chuen (周清泉), Ip Man's old friend.
[12] Producer Raymond Wong said he paid Yen "a hefty amount of money" to return for the fourth film.
[15][16] Filming locations included China,[17] Pensby High School, Crosby Beach and Preston, Lancashire.
"[23] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 62 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.