The truth about the age difference between Jeung Hung Sing and Chan Hung.

The truth about the age difference between

Jeung Hung Sing and Chan Hung.

by Sifu Frank McCarthy

All across the board it is unanimously agreed upon that Jeung Hung Sing was only 12 years old when he first came to train under Chan Heung.  His age is very significant in properly placing him within the family tree of the Choy Lee Fut system.  For years, there was some controversy over his actual birth date because no one really knew what age he passed away either.  However, many new revelations about the founder of Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut came with the re-emergence of the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon in 2001.  For example, we now know he was married, a father, and he had a duel with Wing Chun's Master Leung Jan.

With all of the new information coming out of the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon, we came to learn that Jeung Hung Sing died at the age of 69 years old in the year 1893. To figure out his birth year the logical thing to do at that time was subtract 69 years from 1893  which turned out to be the year 1824.  The unanimously agreed upon age of Jeung Hung Sing was 12 years old and that would have placed him in the year 1836, the exact same year Chan Heung established his Choy Lee Fut system.  In 1836 Chan Heung was only 30 years old, making him 18 years older than Jeung Hung Sing.  Yet, after reading the accounts of some Choy Lee Fut schools it will leave you scratching your head. 

In some accounts originating from Chan Heung's lineages they would have you believe that he was much older than Jeung Hung Sing.  In fact, I've witnessed certain individuals interested in the history as well try to keep as much distance between them as possible in order to seem more credible. One of the ways they try to do this is by labeling Jeung Hung Sing as one of the last batch of Chan Heung's students in the year 1867.  By doing this they are attempting to invalidate everything Jeung Hung Sing achieved prior to that year. 

 In 1867 Chan Heung was 61 years old and by trying to place Jeung Hung Sing as his student within this time frame only, their objective becomes extremely clear.  They wanted to paint a picture of a much younger Jeung Hung Sing learning from a much older version of Chan Heung. However, that just wasn't the case.  The twelve year old Jeung Hung Sing was training under a 30 year old Chan Heung. This means there was only an 18 year difference between them and not something like 40- 50 years as they wanted everyone to believe.

At the age of twelve years old Jeung Hung Sing would have viewed Chan Heung as a grown up but certainly not as an elderly person.  He trained under Chan Heung for five years until he was seventeen years old. Within that time, it's alleged that Chan Heung travelled around promoting his gung fu and he took Jeung Hung Sing along with him. This in fact makes sense because according to my lineages history Chan Heung was responsible for the young man during this time.  And five years is indeed sufficient enough time to gain a solid understanding of Choy Lee Fut's foundational material.

Now, the only known documentation of Jeung Hung Sing in Chan Heung's archives only mention that Jeung Hung Sing returned to Fut San in 1867 to re-open the Hung Sing Kwoon. The way it is written seems to infer that Chan Heung was the person who originally sent Jeung Hung Sing to the city of Fut San to assume control of a Choy Lee Fut school that recently closed due to the master going blind.  At the same time, ignoring the fact that historically Jeung Hung Sing is reported to have established his school in 1851. 

Additionally, in 1864 Chan Heung was 58 years old and Jeung Hung Sing was 40 years old when the both of them fled to hong kong after the Tai Ping Rebellion was over.  It was here that they reunited for the first time after 26 years.  By this time, Chan Heung was well aware of Jeung Hung Sing's accomplishments and since they were both members of the Hung Mun branch that was founded by the Green Grass Monk  he treated him like a brother instead of a former student. 

According to the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon history, Jeung Hung Sing taught Chan Heung some of the Fut Gar Kuen he learned from the Green Grass Monk.  And, because he was influential in the further evolution of Chan Heung's creation our lineage refers to Jeung Hung Sing as a co-founder of sorts because of his contributions.  However, this seemed to upset a few students under the Chan Heung banner.  They began falsely accusing the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon lineages of trying to rewrite the history as THEY knew it.  The only problem was, much of what they were trying to tell us about our own history didn't fit or add up at all.

Another Issue regarding the ages of both Jeung Hung Sing and Chan Heung was we two separate birth dates for Chan Heung.  The King Mui lineages state he was born in 1806. The Fut San sources claim his real birth year was 1815. If this latter date is correct that makes Chan Heung only 9 years older than Jeung Hung Sing instead of an 18 year difference.  I've also heard it said that they(King Mui)  changed Chan Heung's birth year to make him look much older than Jeung Hung Sing.

During my research I happened to come across a PDF file online that outlined Chan Heung's life.  In the article it mentioned that Chan Heung was of a certain age when some kind of event took place.  When I counted backwards from the date given, by their own account Chan Heung was born in 1815.  I mentioned this on a kung fu forum and then next thing I knew the original author omitted that section immediately afterwards.  The only explanation he gave was he made a mistake.

 In conclusion, truth always prevails in the end.  The Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon lineages have never budged in what has been taught to us in regards to our history.  Nor  have we ever tried to rewrite anything. The only thing we are doing is telling our side of the story as it was passed down to us via our elders.  We are a proud bunch of students, masters and grand masters striving to keep our legacy intact and unadulterated.

Long Live Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut aka Hung Sing Kuen!!!!!