Chan Heung

Biography

Chan Heung was born on August 23, 1806 (the 10th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar), in King Mui (Jing Mei), a village in the San Woi (Xinhui District) district of Guangdong province, China. At age seven, his uncle Chan Yuen-Wu, a boxer from the Qingyun temple near Dinghu Mountain, started teaching him Fut Gar, literally 'Buddha Family,' which specializes in palm techniques. Chan Yuen-Woo had received his training from Du Zhang Monk. When Chan Heung was fifteen, Chan Yuen-Wu took him to Li Yau-San, Chan Yuen-Wu's senior classmate.

Li Yau-San had trained under Zhi Shan Monk. Chan Heung spent the next four years learning the Li Gar style under Li Yau-San's instruction. Impressed with Chan Heung's abilities, Li Yau-San suggested he then train with a Shaolin monk called Choy Fook to learn Choy Gar, a northern Shaolin style, as well as Chinese medicine and other Shaolin techniques. Choy Fook had learned his martial arts from Jue Yuan Monk, Yi Guan Monk, Li Sou, Bai Yu Feng, and Cai Jiu Yi.

There is some speculation that Choy Fook also studied under Choy Gau Yee, the founder of Choy Gar. Choy Fook lived as a recluse on Lou Fu mountain and no longer wished to teach martial arts. Chan Heung set out to Lau Fu mountain to find him. Choy Fook had been seriously burned and his head had healed with scars, giving him the nickname 'Monk with the Wounded Head.'

Using that description, Chan Heung eventually located the monk and handed him a letter of recommendation from Li Yau-San. However, Chan Heung was disappointed when Choy Fook turned him down. After much begging, Choy Fook agreed to take the young man as a student, but only to study Buddhism. One morning, when Chan Heung was practicing his kung fu, Choy Fook pointed to a heavy rock and told him to kick it into the air.

Chan Heung exerted all of his strength as his foot crashed against the rock, sending it twelve feet away. Instead of being complimented, Choy Fook placed his own foot under the heavy rock and effortlessly propelled it through the air. Chan Heung was awestruck by this demonstration. Again he begged Choy Fook to teach him his martial arts.

This time the monk agreed, and for nine years Choy Fook taught Chan Heung both the way of Buddhism and the way of martial arts. When he was twenty-eight, Chan Heung left Choy Fook and returned to King Mui village in 1834, where he revised and refined all that he had learned. In 1835, Choy Fook gave Chan Heung advice in the form of a special poem known as a double couplet: '龍虎風雲會, The dragon and tiger met as the wind and the cloud. / 徒兒好自爲, My disciple, you must take good care of your future. / 重光少林術, To revive the arts of Shaolin, / 世代毋相遺.

Don't let the future generations forget about this teaching.' In 1836, he formally established the Choy Li Fut system, named to honor the Buddhist monk Choy Fook who taught him Choy Gar, Li Yau-San who taught him Li Gar, and his uncle Chan Yuen-Woo who taught him Fut Gar, to honor the Buddha from which the art was named. Chan Heung died on 20 August 1875.

Popular culture

In 1988, Hong Kong broadcaster TVB adapted a wuxia TV series of the life of Chan Heung, featuring Meng Fei. The title of the series is 'The Rise Of A Kung Fu Master.' Its first airing was on 18 January 1988 and currently features 20 episodes.