Lam Yiu-Kwai
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Lam Yiu-Kwai | |
|---|---|
| Chinese: | 林耀桂 |
| Pinyin: | Lín Yàoguì |
| Wade-Giles: | Lin Yao-Kui |
| Yale Cantonese: | Lam⁴ Yiu⁶ Gwai³ |
| Hakka pinjim | Lim² Yao⁵ Gui⁵ |
Lam Yiu-Kwai (1877-1966) was the master responsible for the dissemination of Dragon Kung Fu. He was born in 1877 in Huìyáng (惠陽) County in the prefecture of Huizhou in Guangdong Province, China.
From a young age Lam learned martial arts from his father and grandfather and, like them, he would eventually undertake training from masters on Luofu Mountain in neighboring Bóluó (博羅) County, where he was taught by Chan (Zen) master Tai Yuk of the Wa Sau Toi temple, who knew the Dragon style. He also learned the routines Saam Tong Gor Kiu (“Three Ways to Cross the Bridge”) from the Taoist Wong Lee Giu and Mui Fa Chut Lo (“Plum Flower Fist in Seven Sections”) from Ke Hing Ma.
Good friends since their youth in Huizhou, Lam Yiu-Kwai and the Bak Mei master Cheung Lai-Chuen later became cousins by marriage and opened several schools together.
Lam Yiu-Kwai married and had several children.
In the 1920s, he moved to Guangzhou, where he opened a number of Dragon style schools and met Mok Gar master Lin Yin-Tang, who became a friend with whom he had much in common. Lin Yin-Tang was from the prefecture of Dongguan, which bordered both Huìyáng and Bóluó counties. Like Yiu-Kwai, Yin-Tang studied at a temple on Luofu Mountain; in Yin-Tang's case, the Temple of Emptiness (沖虛觀), where he studied meditation and traditional Chinese medicine.
After a stroke in the early 1950s, Lam Yiu-Kwai moved to Hong Kong for medical treatment where, after another stroke in 1965, he died in 1966.
He passed the art on to his students Ma Chai and Tsoi Yiu-Cheung in addition to his sons Lam Chan-Gwong (林燦光) and Lam Wun-Gwong (林煥光), who supervises the Dragon Sign Athletic Association in Hong Kong.
