HUNG SING WORD PLAY

HUNG SING WORD PLAY

Lineage wars are but one of the many touchy subjects plaguing the Chinese Martial Arts today and egotism is the other.  This is an extremely common theme found in famous styles  like  Wing Chun, Hung Gar, and  especially Choy Lee Fut.  Although, at times a little debate is good to keep the blood flowing.   In the bigger scheme of things it truly doesn't do anyone any good and only serves to further the divide that already exists.  Eventually, the only people that truly suffer are the future unsuspecting generations.  

For many years now, factions of two of the three major branches of Choy Lee Fut (Chan Heung & Jeung Hung Sing)  have been involved in heated debates online over history, personalities, names and dates as well as other trivial matters.  One of the big debates that began in or around 2001 was over the Hung Sing name.  While Chan Heung was credited for establishing the gung fu system of "Choy Lee Fut"  his public persona eclipsed the name of his school.  In reality it never really played an integral part of CLF's fame. In fact, the "Wing Sing Tong" received more notoriety than the name of Chan Heung's school.  

Jeung Hung Sing was the founder of the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon (est. 1851).  He was also the founder of a branch of Choy Lee Fut called "Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut." This branch was developed separately from that of Chan Heung's Choy Lee Fut.  There are absolutely no forms taught within this branch that were created by Chan Heung.  This would explain why there are no pictures of Chan Heung on the walls of the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon or any of its sub-branches.

Historically speaking,  Chan Heung's name has always been synonymous with  that of "Choy Lee Fut."  The "Hung Sing" name was always synonymous with Jeung Yim, hence the Jeung Hung Sing  alias.  However, in the recent past the "Hung Sing" name became the topic of choice in some online debates.  Certain high profile Choy Lee Fut teachers began claiming that Jeung Hung Sing was not the founder of the "Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon" and even went so far as to write articles about this subject.   They said Jeng Yim's lineage wasn't telling the truth because back in 1848 Chan Heung's student by the name of Chan Din-Foon 陳典桓 initiated the first Hung Sing Kwoon in Fut San (佛山).

 The motives behind that claim is clear in that they wanted to discredit Jeung Yim's  "Hung Sing" lineage by placing him in  Fut San 19 years (1867) after Chan Din Foon opened his Hung Sing Kwoon back in 1848 for Chan Heung.  Perhaps they didn't believe anyone was smart enough to see through their trickery?!  What do I mean by trickery?  For one, they never told anyone about Jeung Yim previously establishing his own  Hung Sing Kwoon back in 1851 sixteen years earlier. Lastly, they were playing off of the ignorance of the "Gwai Lo's" extremely limited -if any- understanding of the Chinese Language.

 

The name of Chan Heung's school in King Mui was called "Hung Sing." Sure, this leaves the question of "well, if Chan Heung's school was called Hung Sing then how is Jeung Yim the founder of the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon?"  Yes, "Hung Sing" was the name of the schools of both Chan Heung and Jeung Yim.  However, the trickery begins with not including the actual translation of the name.  Just because they were pronounced the same, doesn't mean they were the same school.

For example, the actual translation of Chan Heung's "Hung Sheng" (洪聖) was "Holy One."   Even though this name has its roots in the Hung Mun secret society it wasn't the same a Jeung Yim's "Hung Sing" (洪勝)  meaning "Hung Victory" or even "Victory to the Hung." Aside from the pronunciation, the two names are completely different in  both appearance and definition.  This is where the sneaky ones bank on the language barrier expecting you to always be the "Dumb Gwai Lo."  That was the genesis of the "Hung Sing word play" game.

By using the English translations of the "Hung Sing" name instead,  you will come to understand the attempted trickery.  According to Chan family history, in 1848 Chan Din Foon 陳典桓 opened the "Holy One School" (佛山洪聖舘: Hung Sing)  in Fut San.  In 1851 Jeung Yim opened his "Hung Victory School" (佛山洪勝舘: Hung Sing) also in the city of Fut San.  Therefore, when comparing  "Fut San Holy One School" (佛山洪聖舘: Hung Sheng) to the "Fut San Hung Victory School (佛山洪勝舘: Hung Sing)" even the blind could see they are not the same school regardless of pronunciation.  So, it is entirely safe to proclaim Jeung Hung Sing as the "uncontested founder" of the Fut San Hung Victory School (佛山洪勝舘: Hung Sing).  

Another form of Hung Sing word play is found in an alarming trend as of late which  is the alteration of the "Choy Lee Fut" name by lineages directly linked to Chan Heung.  Historically, Chan Heung was the founder of what is known as "Choy Lee Fut" gung fu.  Jeung Hung Sing was the founder of a different version of Choy Lee Fut called "Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut".   The reason behind the "Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut" name is that Jeung Hung Sing separately developed a type of "Choy Lee Fut" that wasn't created by Chan Heung. His method was primarily "Fut Gar Jing Jung" (original Fut Gar or Buddhist family) referring to the Shaolin Temple. Then it contained the creation period material of Chan Heung's Choy Lee Fut and the little of the Lee Gar that he learned from the Monk Lee Yau San.  The material passed down within Jeung Hung Sing's lineages doesn't contain forms that came from Chan Heung.  At best, the only thing we share is the basic seeds that make up the Choy Lee Fut system.    

 

From what I can recall, the Chan Family was the primary source of information on Choy Lee Fut for many many years.  With that said, Choy Lee Fut was very popular for a long time.  The information on Jeung Yim and his lineage were basically nothing more than a few sentences at best.  So, for a time Jeung Hung Sing's lineage played the background while Choy Lee Fut had its time in the sun.  Even Tam Sam's Buk Sing Choy Lee Fut was gaining more popularity over the Hung Sing lineage.  Yet, it seems as soon as the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon re-emerged to celebrate it's 150th anniversary we began to step out into the light as it was our turn to gain some popularity as well.  

In saying, since the arrival of the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon many many students from around the world flocked to the Fut San to pay respects to this historical treasure.  Aftewards, I've been noticing as of late that a few "Choy Lee Fut" schools have been adding "Hung Sing" to their Choy Lee Fut name.  What was once before "So and So's Choy Lee Fut" is now being called "So and So's Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut".  I was thrown off a bit because I know the style that Chan Heung created wasn't called "Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut" it was just simply called "Choy Lee Fut."  Isn't that being totally disrespectful to Chan Heung's Choy Lee Fut legacy?   

   

 

I mean in the future people will start to believe that Chan Heung created "Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut" causing even more divide within this great style and leaving future generations super confused, even more than they are today.  Are they students of Choy Lee Fut or Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut?   Then the new problem will be "who founded Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut first, Chan Heung or Jeung Hung Sing?"  Will the original style of "Choy Lee Fut" just become a distant memory?  I know one thing, if i was Chan Heung, I'd be rolling over in my grave saying "what are these suckers doing to my system?"

The Political mess of Choy Lee Fut needs to be put to sleep.  i mean the entire family of the three major branches (Holy One, Hung Victory/Glorious Victory, and Northern Victory) needs to know their own roots as well as the others in order to know who we are today.  Chan Heung, Jeung Hung Sing and Tam Sam deserve better than what we, their descendants are doing for them.  It's time to clean up the mess and unite or else the divide will only continue to grow.