Choy Lee Fut

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蔡李佛
Choy Lee Fut
Cantonese Yale: choi léih faht
Mandarin Pinyin: Cài Lǐ Fó
Also transliterated: Choy Li Fut
Choy Lay Fut
Choi Lei Fut
Choy Lai Fut
Choy Ley Fut
Choi Lei Faht
Tsai Li Fo

Like other southern Chinese martial arts, Choy Lee Fut features Five Animal techniques based on the tiger, dragon, crane, leopard, and snake but is distinguished from other southern styles by long, swinging, circular movements and twisting body motions more indicative of northern styles.

As a Southern Shaolin style with Five Animal techniques, Hung Kuen is a close relative of Choy Lee Fut and is said by some Choy Lee Fut branches to be the style that Chan Yuen-Wu taught founder Chan Heung. The stances of Choy Lee Fut are as wide as those of Hung Kuen, but higher—though not as high as those of Wing Chun, another southern Chinese martial art—trading off some of the stability and root of Hung Kuen stances to allow more mobile footwork. In order to generate the characteristic whipping power of Choy Lee Fut, the hips and shoulders must be decoupled. Though Hung Kuen also features whipping power, particularly in its crane techniques, the hips and the shoulders are more frequently locked in the same plane, resulting in a "harder" form of power. Hung Gar and Wing Chun both hold the torso perpendicular to an opponent, to allow for the full use of both arms. By contrast, Choy Lee Fut holds the torso at an angle to the opponent to reduce the target area exposed to him.

Choy Lee Fut is a characterized as a "soft-hard", "external" style. The curriculum was designed so that anti-Qing rebels could quickly gain practical proficiency and also incorporates a wide range of weapons. Several common movements have specific sounds (kiai) associated with them—for example, "sik" when throwing punches, "yik" when punching from horse riding stance, "wah" was used when using a Tiger Claw and "dik" when kicking—supposedly so that friendly forces could recognize each other in battle and to force the practitioner to coordinate his breathing patterns with his movements.

Like many martial arts, Choy Lee Fut has diverged into several lineages that differ not only in terms of training and emphasis but also on what they see as the true history of the style.

The popularity of Choy Lee Fut is strong in Hong Kong, Canada, the United States, and growing elsewhere. In the late 20th century, the style was popularized in the Canada and the United States.



Contents

[edit] The origins of Choy Lee Fut

Chan Heung (陳享)[1] was born in Guangdong Province, China in 1805 or 1806. At the age of six or seven, he began to study Kung Fu from his uncle, Chan Yuen-Wu (陳遠護),[2] a master of Southern Shaolin. So proficient as an adolescent that he could defeat any challenger from nearby villages, Chan Heung was ready to learn more. So he began training under another Southern Shaolin master, Lee Yau-San (李友山),[3] founder of Lee Gar, the Lee Family style. After only four or five years of training, it became apparent that Chan Heung was ready to move on once again. So Chan Heung set out to find Choy Fook (蔡褔),[4] who is said to have been a monk on Luofu Mountain. After several years of training under Choy Fook, Chan Heung returned to his home village of Ging Mui (京梅)[5] in the county of Xinhui.

[edit] The origins of Choy Lee Fut according to the Cheung Yim branch

Cheung Yim (張炎)[6] was an orphan cared for by his uncle. According to Huang Shenjiang, manager of the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon manager, the uncle's name was Cheung Kwan and Cheung Yim was at this time a disciple of Lee Gar master Lee Yau-San. When Cheung Yim was twelve, his uncle had obligations that meant he would no longer be able to take care of Cheung Yim.

So he took Cheung Yim to his old friend Chan Heung in the hope that Chan would be able to take the boy in as a live-in student. However, village rules forbade Chan Heung from teaching martial arts to non-family members. Unable to take care of the boy by accepting him as a student, Chan Heung instead hired Cheung Yim to do odd jobs at his martial arts school. Cheung Yim took the opportunity to observe Chan Heung’s lessons and practiced in secret what he had gleaned (cf. Yang Luchan). One night, Chan Heung came upon Cheung Yim practicing. Impressed by the boy’s motivation, Chan Heung taught him secretly for several years before the other villagers found out and expelled Cheung Yim.

So in 1831, at the age of seventeen, Cheung Yim left Ging Mui, but not before Chan Heung gave him a letter of introduction and instructions to seek out the monk Ching Cho (青草)[7] at the Zhajian Temple on Mount Bapai in Guangxi Province. Absent the distractions of secular life, Cheung Yim was able to give himself over completely to the things that the monk Ching Cho had to impart: his knowledge of Fut Gar Kung Fu and traditional Chinese medicine, a commitment to the overthrow of the foreign Manchu Qing Dynasty, and a new name, Hung-Sing (鴻勝), which reflected that patriotic ideal.

Cheung, now Cheung Hung-Sing, returned to Chan Heung and shared with his first teacher the things he had learned from his second. Chan Heung hired Cheung once again, this time as a teacher rather than as a menial/clandestine student, enabling Cheung to stay for the year or two until he left to open his own school in Foshan in 1839. Because it incorporated the Choy Gar style from Choy Fook, the Lee Gar style from Lee Yau-San, and the Fut Gar style from the monk Ching Cho, their new style became known as Choy Lee Fut.

[edit] The origins of Choy Lee Fut according to the Chan Family branch

At seven years old, Chan Heung began learning martial arts under his uncle Chan Yuen Woo. Yuen Woo was a famed master from Shaolin Temple, and taught his nephew the Buddha Style Fist or Fut Ga Kuen.

After years of study with his uncle, Chan Heung had become a consummate warrior by the early age of 15. To further his skills, Chan became a student of Lee Yau San, a Shaolin practitioner of the Lee Family Fist. Yau San was Yuen Woo's sihing or elder brother at Shaolin Temple.

Becoming proficient in the Lee Family style, Chan Heung was then referred to the Shaolin monk Choi Fook to further his martial arts knowledge. After years of intensive study with the Buddhist recluse, Chan Heung revised what he had learned and formed a new system. He combined his knowledge of 3 martial arts systems and called it "Choi Lee Fut" in honour of his teachers.[8]

Three styles that constitute Choi Lee Fut are as follows.

Chan Yuen Woo and the Buddha Style Fist Chan Heung learned the Buddha Style Fist, or Fat Ga Kuen, from his uncle Chan Yuen Woo. Yuen Woo was a famed master of Shaolin Temple.

[edit] The three sources of Choy Lee Fut

[edit] Choy Fook 蔡褔

Depending on the branch of Choy Lee Fut, Choy Fook is said to have been a master either of Northern Shaolin or of Choy Gar (蔡家),[9] which was created by Choy Gau-Yee and is said to have the longest range of the five major family styles of the southern Chinese martial arts.

Either way, Choy Fook is considered a source of Choy Lee Fut's long-range northern characteristics like its swift, mobile footwork.

Choy Fook is said to have been a descendant of Choy Gar founder Choy Gau-Yee, possibly his son.

[edit] Lee Yau-San 李友山

Said to be a student of Jee Sin while others believe him to be a student of Li Sik Hoi-one of the 5 Ancestors of the Hung Mun, Lee Yau-San is known not only as a teacher of Chan Heung, and recently discovered of Cheung Hung Sing as well, but as the founder of Lee Gar (李家)[10] which, like Choy Gar, is one of the five major family styles of the southern Chinese martial arts.

The prominence of the leopard punch hand formation within Choy Lee Fut may be the influence of Lee Gar, a middle-range style which emphasizes leopard techniques.

[edit] Fut Gar 佛家

Fut Gar (佛家),[11] literally "Buddha Family," specializes in palm techniques and for this reason is also known as Buddha Family Palm, Buddhist Palm, or Buddha Palm. Monk Ching Cho Woe Serng was responsible for spreading the Fut Gar system throughout Guandong. Both the left and right hand are used in attack and defense. Long and short-range footwork is employed.

[edit] Technical characteristics of different branches

[edit] Chan Family branch

Chan Family Choy Lee Fut emphasizes a soft, loose, flexible waist and faces the opponent at an angle to reduce the target area exposed.

[edit] Cheung Yim branch

Though still characterized by the whipping power indicative of Choy Lee Fut, the Cheung Yim branch maintains a closer alignment between the hips and the shoulders, imparting a "hardness" to its power, though not to the extent of Hung Kuen.

[edit] Buk Sing branch

Founded by Master Tarm Sarm and Northern Shaolin Master Ku Ji Jeung, Buk Sing Choy Lee Fut focused on direct combat rather than forms and weapon routines.

The Buk Sing lineage features a shorter syllabus comprising only a handful of routines—Sup Jee Kuen (十字拳), Ping Kuen (平拳), Kau Da (扣打), Seung Gaap Daan Gwun (雙夾單棍)—as compared to the dozens in the syllabuses of the other branches.

Buk Sing techniques are generally 'rawer' and more aggressive than their equivalents in other branches of Choy Lee Fut. In fighting the focus is on blitzing the opponent with rapid, advancing movements rather than engaging with him.

One example of Tarm Sarm's approach is the "side body" (偏身) stance, which takes the idea of reducing one's exposed target area by to its logical conclusion: turning the torso 90° away from the opponent.

[edit] Notes

  Chinese Pinyin Yale Cantonese  
^ Chan family Hung Sing 洪聖 Hóng Shèng Hung4 Sing3
^ Cheung Yim Hung Sing 鴻勝 Hóng Shèng Hung4 Sing1
^ Chan Heung 陳享 Chén Xiǎng Chan4 Heung2
^ Chan Yuen-Wu 陳遠護 Chén Yuǎnhù Chan4 Yun5 Wu6
^ Lee Yau-San 李友山 Lǐ Yǒushān Lei5 Yau5 Saan1
^ Choy Fook 蔡褔 Cài Fú Choi3 Fuk1
^ Ging Mui 京梅 Jīngméi Ging1 Mui4
^ Cheung Yim
Cheung Hung-Sing		 張炎
張鴻勝		 Zhāng Yán
Zhāng Hóngshèng		 Jeung1 Yim4
Jeung1 Hung4 Sing1
^ Ching Cho 青草 Qīngcǎo Ching1 Chou2 literally "Green Grass," his monastic name
^ Choy Gar 蔡家 Cài Jiā Choi3 Ga1 literally "Choy Family"
^ Lee Gar 李家 Lǐ Jiā Lei5 Ga1 literally "Lee Family"
^ Fut Gar
Fut Gar Jeung
Fut Jeung		 佛家
佛家掌
佛掌		 Fó Jiā
Fó Jiā Zhǎng
Fó Zhǎng		 Fat1 Ga1
Fat1 Ga1 Jeung2
Fat1 Jeung2		 Buddhist style; literally "Buddha Family"
Buddhist Palm; literally "Buddha Family Palm"
literally "Buddha Palm"

[edit] Masters of Choy Lee Fut

Chan Family masters:

  • Chan Heung (1806-1875)
  • Chan On Pak (1845-1901)
  • Chan Koon Pak (1857-1916)
  • Chan Yiu Chi (1892-1965)
  • Chan Wan Hon (1929-1979)
  • Chan Yong-Fa (1951-Present)


Cheung Yim masters:

  • Cheung Yim (1815-1893)
  • Samuel Siu Ming Lee (1950-Present)

Buk Sing masters:

  • Tarm Sarm (1873-1942)
  • Chan On (1917-2005)
  • Vince Lacey (Lay Wing Sung) (?-Present)
  • Shane Lacey (Lay Shun Lay) (?-Present)
  • Dave Lacey (Lay Dai Wai) (?-Present)


Masters of other branches:

  • Chan Cheong Mo (1862-1953)
  • Chan Ngau Sing (1864-1926)
  • Wu Qin (1895-1942)
  • Hu Yuen Chou (1906-1997)
  • Chan Yen (1918-1993)
  • Jew Leong (1926-present)
  • Wong Gong (1928-)
  • Lau Bun (1871-1967)
  • Paul Chan (1932-present)
  • Doc-Fai Wong (1948-)
  • Larry Johnson (1943-)
  • Tat-Mau Wong (?-present)
  • Daniel Tomizaki (?-present)

[edit] References

    [edit] External links

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