History of Chan Family Choy Lee Fut

My name is Chen Yong Fa. I am a fifth-generation direct descendent of Chan Heung, the founder of Choy Lee Fut. I was born in Canton , China . When I was four years old, my grandfather, Chan Yiu Chi, and my father, Chan Wan Hon, taught me the art of Choy Lee Fut.

By remembering conversations with my family elders and referring to my ancestors´ writings, I hope to present a brief history of Choy Lee Fut's origins in this article, so that others might better understand our martial arts system (1).

The first two professors of Chan Heung

My great-grandfather, Chan Heung, came from the town of Ging Mui (2), in the Ngai Sai district, the Sun Wui region of Kwantung province. From the time he was seven years old, Chan Heung´s uncle taught him the martial arts. His uncle was a village elder (3), Chan Yeun Wu. Although he was very young, Chan Heung was strong and learned quickly. In a few years, Chan Heung´s Kung Fu had progressed so well that he was invited to set up a school for his uncle in the city of Sun Wui .

As time passed, his reputation grew and he received many students. One day he discovered that another instructor, named Lee Yau, had been invited to teach in the neighbourhood. Lee Yau was a disciple of the monk Shaolin Ji Sin, and his skill would put all Chan Heung's knowledge to the test. Chan Heung accosted Lee when he was leaving a restaurant and tried to throw him to the ground, grabbing him around the waist. Nevertheless, Lee calmly received the attack, flexed his knees slightly and lowered his Qi and his center of gravity. Chan Heung could not move Lee. Immediately, Lee turned around, lifted his foot to stomp and kick at the same time as Chan Heung, and threw him several meters away.

Lee was curious about his attacker and saw that Chan Heung jumped back on his feet uninjured after his fall. Lee paid Chan Heung a compliment and wanted to know what school he belonged to and why Chan had attacked him by surprise instead of challenging him properly to combat. Chan Heung felt ashamed and answered that the attack was his own idea, intended to test his ability, and that he didn't want to involve his teacher in what was his own mistake.

The answer amused Lee and left Chan Heung surprised.

Days later, Chan Heung heard that Lee had made a comment about him: how could anyone as young and strong as Chan Heung, who had so much intelligence and ability, waste his life and talent because his vanity impeded him from improving his abilities.

Chan Heung realized that, truly, there is no limit to the art of Kung Fu, and he immediately left his post as chief instructor and registered at Lee´s school. Chan Heung was Lee´s disciple for 5 years and brought his abilities to new heights.

The monk, Choy Fook

One day Lee Yau Shan and Chan Heung heard about a hermit monk named Choy Fook , who lived in a temple on Mount Law Fou. This monk had a great reputation in Chinese medicine. Lee told Chan Heung that if the monk had skill in “DIT DAT” (bone and muscle treatments), he would also be skilled in martial arts. The curiosity bug bit them and they decided to leave immediately and visit the monk. Arriving at the gate of the temple, they found a man old in years although tall and muscular, who had a penetrating look. He said he was a disciple of the monk Choy Fook and invited both visitors to enter the temple and have tea while they waited for the return of his professor who was making his daily visits.

While the two visitors waited seated, the old man cut wood to boil water with his bare hands (4). Lee´s curiosity was awakened. He commented to Chan Heung that this old man's Kung Fu was very good, and that he was demonstrating it for their benefit. This meant that they had to respond with some of their own tricks. Lee got up and walked to a stone rice grinder (5) standing next to the temple stairs. He cleaned away the earth around the stone, backed up and kicked the rice grinder into the air. The old man looked on, amused.

Then he went to the grinder and, using his hand, cut off one of its corners, pulverizing it and throwing the powder at Lee, announcing that he was really Choy Fook and that the powder was a reminder for intruders who didn´t behave properly.

With an unfailing respect for Choy Fook, Lee thanked the elder and left immediately, leaving Chan Heung. Being an innocent sort in the world of martial arts, Chan Heung realized that this was an opportunity to improve his training under another master of superior abilities. At once, he knelt before the monk and asked Choy Fook to accept him as a disciple. Choy Fook looked at him in silence, noting the manner and characteristics of the young man, and concluding at last that the request was genuine. He smiled and told Chan Heung that if he wanted to be his disciple, he had to observe the following three instructions:

Chan Heung was happy to see that the rice grinder returned easily to its old place, and he became a disciple of Choy Fook. During the next ten years, Choy Fook taught Kung Fu to Chan Heung with great discipline and precision. He would take days to master each new technique, and Chan Heung had to learn each movement with speed, precision, power and understanding before going on to the next. Chan Heung found that his Kung Fu improved notably and that it was quite different from what it had been before. The techniques of Choy Fook (using the naked fist, a staff or a training doll made of wood, etc.) were interminable and filled with changes, just like Nature. A combination of hard work, dedication, natural ability and the karma of a good teacher, enabled Chan Heung to complete his training in 10 years.

Chan Heung bids goodbye to Choy Fook

One day Choy Fook organized a banquet for Chan Heung and proceeded to say goodbye. During the festivities, Choy Fook revealed his own origins to Chan.

He came from the monastery of Fukien Shaolin. He related that when he was there, the Ching dynasty´s army invited 36 monks from his monastery to help put down the rebellion in Tibet , which had been going on for 3 years. Within three months, the monks got the situation under control.

Noting the martial powers of the Shaolin monks, the Ching government invited them to join the army as soldier monks, but they rejected the offer. Then, fearing future opposition, the government decided to eradicate the entire Shaolin monastic order, setting fire to the whole temple complex. This was the twenty-fifth day of the seventh moon, in the eleventh year of the reign of emperor Jung Jing (7).

All the monks perished, save six. Choy Fook was one of them, but he escaped with his head on fire and bore a scar that earned him the nickname “Rotten head.” Later, he was able to reach Mount Law Fou in Kwatung, where he hid.

Choy Fook went on to say that the Shaolin combat arts were developed by the monastery's founder, the monk Ta Mo (Bodhidharma), and were later improved by the monk Gok Yuen and other masters from outside, who had also been invited to contribute their abilities. Among these were the famous Lee Sau and Bak Juk Fung.

With time and constant experiments, the Shaolin combat arts were refined. Six years of Shaolin combat practice could be considered a small achievement and ten years, a qualified achievement.

Choy Fook said he was not sure if it was his good luck or that of Chan Heung, that the latter had been able to learn all that he could teach him, since he had been resigned to dying, carrying his art with him to the grave. Although he sent Chan Heung home willingly, Choy Fook went on saying that to be a true Shaolin disciple, one also had to seek Buddha´s way, as well as learning Chinese medicine and “the six magical spells.” After hearing this, Chang Heung decided to stay another two years, until he was ready to leave the monastery after twelve years.

When it was time to say goodbye, Chang Heung asked his master about the future. Choy Fook told him that although he was not destined for official court life (to take the martial arts exam), he and his sons would be recognized as leaders while the traditions were kept alive. Among other counsels, Choy Fook gave Chan Heung a double poem, which in time has been proven to be authentic:

“The Dragon and the Tiger met in Paradise

To revive our Shaolin ways

Teach our followers Rectitude

Let each generation keep the Tradition and the Inspiration.”

When Chan Heung said his final goodbye, three of his apprentice brothers accompanied him down the mountain road. They were Jeung Tin Jeung (called “Jeung the valiant”), a monk from Mount Law Fou whose name was Tung Kwan, and a man from his own Sun Wui region, called Chan Chung Nin.

Chan Heung returns to the Sun Wui region

Reasoning that all branches of the martial arts originated in the Shaolin temple, including the famous styles bearing the family names of Hung, Law, Choy, Lee and Chan, Chan Heung thought it would be correct to synthesize all these teachings and give them a name to commemorate and honor the deeds of these great teachers. Instead of calling the teachings “the Chan style” in an egotistical manner, he chose the name Choy Lee Fut, giving the following explanation: Choy, in honor of the monk Choy Fook, who had given him much of his knowledge; Lee, in honor of Lee Yau San, and at the same time commemorating other pioneers, especially Lee Sau, who came, expanded and improved the range of the Shaolin martial arts; and Fut, which means Buddha, to commemorate the Buddhist origin of this art, since the lineage of its three mentors originated in the Shaolin temple.

Three years later, by invitation from his uncle and the local overseas Chan Association, Chan Heung left his town for the Northern Ocean (8). For three years, he taught Chinese people overseas, followed by three years teaching in Hong Kong, and several years at the Kwantung Association in Malaysia and Singapore .

When he returned to Mount Law Fou to visit Choy Fook, Chan Heung discovered that during his absence, the monk had died at the age of 112 years (9). Chan interpreted the fact that he had not seen his master again before his death as a meaningful sign, and chose to do penitence. He took on the task of compiling all Choy Fook´s teachings in a book so there would be a written document to prevent the possibility of misinterpretation and ambiguity entering into the art in later years. He called the manuscript “The Choy Lee Fut Combat Manual”(10).

My great-great-grandfather left his art to his sons Koon Pak and Si Loong (also known as On Pak). Si Loong received only the medical knowledge, the formula and the magic, and died young without a male heir.

My great-grandfather, Koon Pak, left his art to his son Yiu Chi, and he in turn left it to my father, Wan Hon. Nevertheless, it is principally through the efforts of the first three generations that the art of Choy Lee Fut has spread widely through China , Hong Kong , Macao , Greater Asia and the Western World.

My father died in Canton in 1979, and now it is my turn to follow the family tradition of propagating the art of Choy Lee Fut.

Notes.