Member of the Plum Blossom Federation

Chan Heung

Choy Li Fut 蔡李佛 was founded in 1836 by Chan Heung 陳享, a well-known and highly-skilled martial artist of that period. Also known as Din Ying 典英 and Daht Ting 逹庭, Chan Heung was born on August 23, 1806 (7 moon 10th day of 1806 of the lunar calendar), in King Mui 京梅 (Jing Mei), a village in the San Woi 新會 (Xin Hui) district of Guangdong 廣東 province. His martial arts career began at age seven, when he went to live with his uncle, Chan Yuen-Woo 陳遠護. Yuen-Woo was a famous boxer from the legendary Shaolin temple in Fujian 褔建, China. From Chan Yuen-Woo, Chan Heung learned the art of Southern Shaolin kung-fu, and became so proficient at it that by age fifteen he could defeat any challenger from nearby villages. By the time he reached his seventeenth year, Chan Heung was ready to assimilate more martial skills. So Chan Yuen-Woo took him to Li Yau-San 李友山, Yuen Woo's senior classmate from the Southern Shaolin temple.

It was apparent to Li Yau-San 李友山 that after only four years of training, Chan Heung was again ready to move on to higher levels. Li Yau-San suggested a Shaolin monk who lived as a recluse on Lau Fu 羅浮山 mountain as the best teacher for Chan Heung. The only problem was that the monk, Choy Fook 蔡褔, no longer wished to teach martial arts. 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 Lau Fu mountain.

Choy Fook's Buddhist monk name was Ching Chou 青草 (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 爛頭和尙 ." Armed with that knowledge, Chan Heung sought out anyone on Lau Fu mountain who could help him find Choy Fook 蔡褔. After waiting patiently to be accepted as Choy Fook's disciple, Choy Fook agreed to take the young man as a student�but only to study Buddhism. ...for eight years Choy Fook taught Chan Heung both the way of Buddhism and the way of martial arts.

When he was twenty-nine, Chan Heung 陳享 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. 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 蔡褔 and Li Yau-San 李友山, and used the word Fut 佛, which means "Buddha" in Chinese, to pay homage to his uncle, Chan Yuen Woo 陳遠護, and to the Shaolin roots of the new system.

Chan Yuen Woo's Bio:

Chan Yuen Woo, 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.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 bio:

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 taught in the Plum Blossom Federation.

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 Yuan 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. 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.