East River Fist
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In Guangdong in the 1750s, the closely related martial arts of Bóluó (博羅) and Huìyáng (惠陽) counties, which occupy either bank of the Dongjiang in the prefecture of Huizhou just east of the Pearl River Delta, came to be collectively known by the name East River Fist.
The Dragon style master Lam Yiu-Kwai, the Bak Mei master Cheung Lai-Chuen, the Kwong Sai Jook Lum Southern Praying Mantis master Chung Yu-Chang, and the Chow/Chu Gar Southern Praying Mantis master Lau Shui were all from Huìyáng County. In fact, when Lau Shui passed the Chow Gar mantle to Ip Shui, he gave the full name of his art as the ‘East River Chow’s Praying Mantis Style.’
On the north bank of the Dongjiang in the northwest of Bóluó County is the sacred mountain Mount Luofu. Choy Fook, one of the teachers of Choy Lee Fut founder Chan Heung, is said to have been a monk there. One of its temples, Wa Sau Toi, is linked to both Dragon and Bak Mei and another, the Temple of Emptiness, is where the Mok Gar master Lin Yin-Tang studied meditation and traditional Chinese medicine.
Because this area is part of the Hakka heartland of inland eastern Guangdong, East River Fist is associated with Hakka Kuen, the martial arts of the Hakka people.
A precursor to the anti-Qing Heaven and Earth Society was organized by Ti Xi, one of the Heaven and Earth founders, in Huizhou.
Chung Yu-Chang opened his first school not in his native Huìyáng, but just over the border in Bao'an County in Píngshān (坪山) Town, where his successors Wong Yook-Gong and Lum Wing-Fay hailed from. Lin Yin-Tang was likewise not from Huizhou proper but the neighboring prefecture of Dongguan.
[edit] Notes
- ^ East River Chow’s Praying Mantis Style (東江周家螳螂; pinyin: dōngjiāng zhōu jiā tángláng; Yale Cantonese: dung1 gong1 jau1 ga1 tong4 long4; Hakka pinjim: dung1 gong1 zhiu1 ga1 tong2 long2; literally "East River Chow Family Praying Mantis")
- ^ Temple of Emptiness (沖虛觀; pinyin: chōngxūguān; Yale Cantonese: chung1 heui1 gun1)
