Kung Fu - Choy Lay Fut Buk Sing - A History

STORY OF CHOY LAY FUT BUK SING

Choy Lay Fut was founded in 1836 by Master Chan Heung. Master Chan Heung learnt Shaolin Kung Fu from a young age under the guidance of his uncle Lay Yau Sarn. After 10 years he learnt everything he could learn so his uncle referred him to his senior brother in Shaolin Kung Fu, whose name was Choy Ah Fook. He was a senior monk in the Shaolin Temple before the Manchurians burnt it down. He was also a survivor of the rebel massacre. Chan Heung trained under Choy Ah Fook for 8 years and excelled in learning everything off him. Choy Ah Fook gave him the name of another senior Monk, so he could further his knowledge. Chan Heung left and went back to his home village, everyone was so taken up with what he had learnt, and insisted he started teaching them. Chan Heung got so busy in running an underground movement and teaching Kung Fu that he had little time to go to the third Master to further his martial arts knowledge.

Chan Heung founded Choy Lay Fut in his village in 1836, he named the system from his Masters, i.e. Choy from Choy Ah Fook; Lay in respect of his Uncle Lay Yau Sarn and Fut which means Buddhist, in respect of the Shaolin Temple.

When Chan Heung was teaching in his village, he only taught students with Chan surnames.  Other surnames were not permitted to learn the art. However, Chan Heung did take on a student with a different surname who was chased by the Manchurians and Chan Heung gave him refuge in his school as a cleaner. This student became very good at his Choy Lay Fut and was secretly taught by Chan Heung. When the village elders found out that he was teaching this student, he had to send him away. Chan Heung sent him to Choy Ah Fook’s senior brother in Shaolin Kung Fu, the same Master Chan Heung was meant to have furthered his martial arts knowledge with.

Three years later, this student returned to the village with his newfound knowledge and the name Jeung Hong Seng was bestowed to him from his Master, which meant victory to the Ming Government. He was gladly accepted back by all the villagers. He and Chan Heung continued to exchange knowledge for some time. Later Jeung Hong Seng left for Foshan to start up a school, in respect of his teachers. He called his school Hong Seng Choy Lay Fut and starting teaching the underground movement to rebel against the Manchurians in 1838.

Three generations down the line from Jeung Hong Seng, a Master by the name of Tarm Sarm learnt Hong Seng Choy Lay Fut. He was a 6’ 2” Chinese Master who became very famous. Tarm Sarm challenged many Masters in Kung Fu and was undefeated for 50 years. He lived in the Northern districts of Foshan, called Buk Sing. This is how Buk Sing Choy Lay Fut came into existence. Tarm Sarm had a 3-day duel with a Northern Shaolin Master where neither of them could claim victory. The two became friends and exchanged kung fu knowledge through their respective students.

Tarm Sarm realised that Northern Shaolin was a long range fighting system, so he decided to put more emphasis on extending the techniques in Hong Seng Choy Lay Fut. His favourite saying became “Every inch is an inch of power” Tarm Sarm became famous for being undefeated for 50 years and for his constant sparring matches with other Kung Fu systems. He passed his knowledge to one of his top disciples, Kong On.

Kong On was of a very high calibre, he trained under the founder of jow gar kung fu and taught the Chinese Army. One day Tarm Sarm saw Kong On demonstrating in the street and was so impressed. He invited Kong On over because he wanted to fight his Sifu, on finding out that Kong On’s Sifu had passed away, he accepted Kong On as his student and later became one of Tarm Sarm’s top disciples. Kong On passed all of his knowledge onto his son, Kong Hing who is today still alive and living in Hong Kong.

Kong Hing is a very capable Master and well respected in the Choy Lay Fut Buk Sing circle. He has a strong reputation of defending the Choy Lay Fut name against any other Kung Fu systems and has claimed many victories in real situations. Kong Hing passed his knowledge onto two of his top disciples, Master Vince and Dave Lacey. Masters Vince and Dave Lacey grew up in very turmoil times in Hong Kong. They lived in the roughest neighbourhood in Kowloon and was brought up by their Chinese mother. The Japanese had killed their father on Hong Kong Island in 1941 when they were only a year old.

Their first teacher in Kung Fu was “Bruce Lee”. They trained under his guidance for a year before he left for America. My Sifu’s next teacher was Lai Hung who taught Choy Lay Fut Buk Sing and Northern Shaolin. Lai Hung got too busy defending the title against China and Thailand at a huge tournament held at Macau Island, on neutral ground. Lai Hung defeated four of the top Thai boxers and brought fame back to China with his kung fu. Before the tournament, Lai Hung introduced Vince And Dave Lacey to Kong Hing who was his senior in Choy Lay Fut. Because Sifu Vince and Dave was of half Irish descent and not full Chinese, Kong On who was Kong Hing’s father, did not want to teach them their system of Choy Lay Fut Buk Sing. Kong On was very strict about maintaining the old traditions. He would only allow full-blooded Chinese to learn this kung fu system.

Kong Hing went to the same school as Sifu Vince and Dave Lacey and all three were of the same age. They became very good friends and Kong Hing secretly taught Sifu Vince and Dave Lacey behind his father’s (Kong On) back and later on became Kong Hing’s top two disciples.

Sifu Vince and Dave Lacey immigrated to Australia in 1964 and later founded the first Kung Fu school here in Perth, Western Australia in 1966. The school was located at Barrack Street Jetty and later shifted to Cremone Arcade in Hay Street. In 1977, it was at this premises that Sifu George Michielsen, myself, started my kung fu training in Choy Lay Fut Buk Sing. At the time Sifu Vince and Dave Lacey were the pioneers of Kung Fu here in Western Australia. They were very strict and traditional in their ways of teaching. This was not a school where you could be disrespectful and get away with it, you had to do what the Sifus said without talking back. Now 33 years on, in 2010, I have trained and dedicated my life to teaching the same system my Sifus have passed on to me. I believe I am the only one teaching this system here in Western Australia. It is my dream to keep things as traditional as possible in the modern world we live in and give my students an opportunity to learn things at different levels and also to join different clubs at my school to further their kung fu knowledge in more depth in the areas they chose.

This is a very brief history of how the Choy Lay Fut Buk Sing system came into existence. More information can be obtained on my Master’s website buksing.com

Kung Fu has enabled me to make a commitment to change aspects of my life that I am not happy with; eg smoking. Not only am I remaining healthy, I am learning a beautiful art. My six year old son is now training in Kung Fu and he lives it. It has help several aspect of his life and my wife and I have found him to focus more, is keen to train and love training with me.

W. Elliot

Training

At the Chinese Kung Fu and Tai Chi Academy we are very traditional in our training in the Choy Li Fut code of kung fu; our classes involve good cardio strong foundations together with fast footwork and rapid techniques ranging from long range hand and foot strikes to devastating close range elbows and knees as well as many blocking techniques, as well as hand forms and weapon forms. Choy Li Fut was made to suit anyone no matter on size, age, fitness or sex. Our Instructors are friendly and skillful people who will help you to maximize and get the most out of your training at the Chinese Kung Fu and Tai Chi Academy.

Lion Dance

The Chinese Kung Fu and Tai Chi Academy  also teach traditional futsan style lion dance. Futsan style lion dance is very common among Choy Li Fut Schools around the world we offer this as additional training to the curriculum to improve students self confidence and overall strength and foundations. Students who partake in this training will then be able to participate during Chinese New Year demonstrations for the school which is a great experience and an excellent way to boost confidence; this also helps for students to better understand Chinese Culture and society. Performances can also be booked for your business just contact the school for information via our contact page we are able to accommodate everything from restaurants to schools to weddings.

We invite you to visit our school to experience the art of Chinese Kung Fu.