History of Choy Li Fut Kung Fu

Choy Li Fut was founded in 1836 by Chan Heung, a well known and highly skilled martial artist of that period. Also known as Din Ying and Daht Ting, Chan Heung was born on August 23, 1806 (7 moon 10th day of 1906 of the lunar calendar), in King Mui (Jing Mei), a village in the San Woi (Xin Hui) district of Guangdong province. His martial arts career began at age seven, when he went to live with his uncle, Chan Yuen-Woo.

Chan Yuen Woo, also a native of King Mui village of San Woi (Xin Hui) district of Jiang Men city in Guangdong province was the distant uncle of Chan Heung, founder of Choy Li Fut Kung Fu. He learned his Kung Fu from a monk named Duk Jeong who resided in the Hing Wan Monastery of Ding Woo Mountain of Guangdong province.

Chan Yuen Woo's Kung Fu is the Fut style of Chan Heung's Choy Li Fut Kung Fu system. The word Fut in Chinese means Buddha and refers to the Shaolin roots of the style because the original system came from Duk Jeong the Buddhist monk from the Southern Shaolin Temple .

Chan Yuen Woo's Buddhist open hands techniques are very famous. His striking techniques are: Fut-Sam-Jeung, Tsang-Jeung, Gong-Jeung, Dan-Lan, Seung-Twei-Jeung, Fung-Jeung, Yeung-Kiu, Ding-Jeung, Tuet-Jeung, Yum-Yeung-Jeung, Jit-Jeung, Dip-Jeung, Hop-Sup-Jeung, Dot-Jeung, Kwa-Pak-Jeung, Peet-Jeung and many others. Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong's Plum Blossom Federation is still teaching Chan Yuen Woo's famous form the "Buddha Palm" hand form.

Li Yau San's kung fu teacher was Ji Sin, a legendary monk from the Shaolin Temple. Li was also the founder of the Li style kung fu. His famous techniques are the powerful footwork and southern strong fist like the: jong chui, kup chui, dot chui, jit-fu chui, dau-fu chui, chin-ji, pek chui, biu-jong and the fu-jau (tiger claw). The forms handed down from Li Yau San still taught in the Plum Blossom Federation are: Continuous Dual Kicking Form or Yin Yeung Twei Lin Wan and Iron Arrow Long Fist Hand Form or Tit Jin Cheong Kuen.

Li Yau San besides teaching kung fu, he also practiced medicines. He resided in San Woi (modern day Xin Hui), Guangdong province of China and opened a dit-da herbal shop for helping the district citizens to set broken bones and to treat injuries.

Chan Heung, founder of Choy Li Fut Kung Fu came to Li Yau San's shop with his first kung fu teacher Chan Yuen Woo to ask him to be his second kung fu teacher. Since Li Yau San and Chan Yuan Woo were good friends, Li accepted Chan Heung as his student. After three years of intensive training, Li Yau San believed Chan Heung had mastered his Li style of kung fu and Chan Heung's uncle Chan Yuen Woo's Fut style of kung fu, he thought Chan Heung should continue to learn from Choy Fook, the monk who had returned from the Northern Shaolin Temple. He wrote a letter for Chan Heung to go to Mt. Luo Fu to search for Choy Fook and study the Choy style of kung fu.

The only problem was that the monk, Choy Fook, no longer wished to teach martial arts. He wanted only to be left alone to cultivate his Buddhism. Realizing that reaching his highest potential in kung fu meant finding the monk and becoming his disciple, Chan Heung set out on the long trek to Luo Fu mountain.

Choy Fook's Buddhist name was Ching Chou (Green Grass). His head had been seriously burned when he took his Buddhist vows and had healed with ugly scars. This gave him the nickname "Monk with the Wounded Head." Armed with that knowledge, Chan Heung sought out anyone on Luo Fu mountain who could help him find Choy Fook. Finally, he located the monk, and handed him the letter of recommendation from Li Yau-San. After waiting patiently to be accepted as Choy Fook's disciple, he was stunned when Choy Fook turned him down After much begging from Chan Heung, Choy Fook agreed to take the young man as a student.

After nine years of studying with Choy Fook, when he was twenty-nine, Chan Heung left the monk and went back to King Mui village, where he spent the next two years revising and refining all that he had learned from Choy Fook. In approximately 1835, Choy Fook gave Chan Heung the following advice (translated):

"The Dragon and the Tiger met as the Wind and the Cloud,

My Disciple, you must take good care of your future,

To revive the arts of Shaolin,

Don't let the future generations forget about this training."

After extensive training under the expertise of these three Shaolin monks and following the advice given by Choy Fook, Chan Heung had now developed a new system of kung fu. In 1836 he formally established the Choy Li Fut system, naming it in honor of two of his teachers, Choy Fook and Li Yau-San, and used the word Fut, which means "Buddha" in Chinese, to pay homage to his uncle, Chan Yuen-Woo and to the Shaolin roots of the new system.