SIFU FRANK MCCARTHY

Sifu Frank Joseph McCarthy a.k.a. Jew Hung Loong has been doing martial arts for the most part of his life. Both his father and older brother were black belts in Karate, and they were his main inspiration to travel along the same path. He started with Karate, then moved on to Tai Mantis, and eventually on to Tai Kwan Do, all before the age of 13. Still, none of these styles were what he was searching for, so he quit the lessons and sticking to his street fighting abilties for the time being.

After moving from the Mission district to the Sunset district, Sifu McCarthy eventually joined the Tien Loong Gung Fu Club which was basically just across the street from where he lived. Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut was exactly what he was looking to study.

As a child Sifu Frank grew up around Latino's, African American's, and Asians, and rarely any Caucasians. However, outside of the Mission District there was an obvious rift between Chinese and Non Chinese. Sifu McCarthy had no idea that the usual case Chinese Gung Fu schools would turn away non Chinese from learning Chinese martial arts. Because of this he knew it would only take time before they (the Chinese at the Tien Loong Gung Fu club) accepted him since he wasn't your typical "CAUCASIAN." It was the same way for him while living in the Mission District where he would actually get into a lot of street fights for not being a so-called minority. In that type of situation he learned how to adapt and blend into his surroundings, eventually becoming a product of his environment.

However, over time the Chinese disciples under Grand Master Salvatera slowly began to accept him. Since Sifu McCarthy lived on the same street, he stopped hanging out with street thugs and devoted all his time (outside of High School) to practicing gung fu.

Unfortunately, a couple of years later Sifu McCarthy's younger brother was struck by a car and put into a coma for 2 weeks. Mixed with the passing of Sifu McCarthy's mother, then the accident with his younger brother, these tragic incidences cause their family to split up and Sifu McCarthy and his brother were placed into Foster Homes until they were 18 years old.

For Sifu McCarthy this unfortunate situation eventually took him too far tocontinue his training under Grand Master Salvatera. But, until that time he would do what ever it took to make it to class and participate in the Lion Dances. During his time away from the Tien Loong Gung Fu Club, Sifu McCarthy was spreading Choy Lee Fut's name whereever he was living. But the time away from the gung fu studio cause Sifu McCarthy to get involved with street gangs where he used and refined the gung fu he already learned.

Meanwhile, Sifu Frank hooked up with a couple of friends who were also martial artists, all from different styles. Although he couldn't actively practice at the Tien Loong Gung Fu Club he practiced everything he learned and stayed only with the Choy Lee Fut style. Whenever he and his two friends (Harry Salas and Alan Bartolome) got together it was nonstop sparring no matter where they were be it in the kitchen, living room, in a mall, or even out in the streets. "We used go out cruising and we’ be throwing punches at each other in the car until we got to a red light. Then the cars doors would swing open and all 3 of us would spill out into the streets in a flurry of kicks and punches. People who saw this was like ‘what the hell? Then we’d just pile into the car when the light turned green and keep on going until the next light and it would start all over again. That is one of the reasons we became known as the 3 Deadly Dragons" adds Sifu McCarthy.

In 1987 only two months after turning 19 years old sifu McCarthy was involved in a serious accident where he ended up paralyzed from the waist down resulting from a 50 ft fall. He broke 3 parts of his back, almost died within the first 3 hours of surgery, and was told he would never walk again. This tore him up inside because aside from walking, he would never be able to practice gung fu again, which for him was even more devestating news.

Still, Sifu McCarthy has been a survivor since childhood, and turning to his figther within along with Mental Gung Fu, a form of meditation that originally was meant to aid him in memorizing his gung fu techinqiues he managed to revive his legs and did what everyone believed he wouldn’t. On January 11, 1988 he walked out of that hospital in only two of the expected 6 month recovery stay there, turning all of his doctors into liars.

Around 1991, Sifu McCarthy’s recovery from his accident had come to a stand still. He walked with two canes and literally was taking one step at a time. His recovery wasn’t moving fast enough so he decided that gung fu was going to become his savior. On the two canes, he returned to the Tien Loong Gung Fu Club and asked regardless of his physical condition to be let back into the school. Grand Master Salvatera then took him personally under his wing and foresaw all of his training first hand.The first stage of Grand Master Salvatera’s plan was to start over from scratch, and made him practice the various Choy Lee Fut horses which eventually began to rebuild the strength in his legs as well as stability. Then it was the running horses mixed along with the Hung Sing Chut Sing Kuen stances which slowly helped him to regain his mobility and the confidence to try and take it to the next level. And the final phase of Grand Master Salvatera’s plan was basically forms practice retraining him from scratch how to maneuver in the Choy Lee Fut manner.

Over time as he progressively got stronger and stronger, Sifu McCarthy began to compete against world class performers, even managing to take home a few 1^st and 2^nd place trophies in the process. Little did his competitors know that he wasn’t nearly ready to compete, but sifu McCarthy was determined to get back to normal as much as possible so he never let them know about his condition.

Sometime in the mid 1990's Sifu McCarthy earned the title of Sifu under Grand Master Dino Salvatera. Ever since, he has worked hard at promoting Professor Lau Bun’s legacy by reaching out to other Hung Sing Kwoon’s around the world, reminding them that they still had one of their own in America. According to Sifu McCarthy, the Hung Sing Lineage in America was locked away tightly within the walls of Chinatown, behind the scenes and out of sight from the non-chinese public for decades, so no one outside of San Francisco really ever knew we existed, especially in Asia until I began my co-respondance.

In the mean time Sifu McCarthy began teaching small groups of people. Included in his students was a man named Henry who is in a wheel chair, partially paralyzed from the neck down, whose dream was to learn martial arts but because of his handicap believed it would never happen. Henry couldn’t open his hands so Sifu McCarthy worked with his limitations and taught him to use the crane techniques, elbows, upper cuts and even sow choys, as well as various blocking techniques. Sifu McCarthy also taught Henry how to use his electric wheelchair as a weapon if needed.

Then in October of 2001 Sifu McCarthy along with two of his classmates and Grand Master Salvatera took a trip to China to Participate in the 150^th anniversary of the organization of the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon. There, Grand Master Salvatera has managed to retrace Professor Lau Buns roots to which to have been proven to be true and authentic Fut San Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut by the Fut San elders. During their trip, Sifu McCarthy was faced with a unique opportunity, and with the blessings Grand Master Salvatera, he took Master Lok Gee Hung as his Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon Sifu, who was a senior student of the late Ho Cheurng.

GRAND MASTER DINO SALVATERA

History

  Grand Master Dennis "Dino" Salvatera is  the current head master of the Yuen Hai/Lau Bun lineage of the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon.  This lineage is responsible for being the very first gung fu school to be established on American soil (circa 1921), specifically teaching the Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut system.  Today its the oldest existing school of chinese gung fu in the United States.

GM Salvatera was born in San Francisco's Chintatown at the Chinese Hospital.  He was born in 1945, and raised during a very racially turbulent period in America's history.  Westerners didn't take too kindly to Asians, and often mistreated them.  And since GM Salvatera was of a racially mixed background, and physically smaller than most his own age, he often had to defend himself from bullies of all walks of life.

Due to the circumstances, GM Salvatera had to become a fighter from a very young age.  Many of his friends were already in street gangs, which was very common within the inner city.  It was in 1958 in fact that through one of his friends who was a student of Professor Lau Bun that GM Salvatera received his first exposure to the Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut system.

Professor Jew Leong was the 1st inheritor of Professor Lau Bun's Hung Sing Kwoon.  And after the passing of Master Bing Chan, GM Salvatera and a group of his classmates decided they wanted to continue their gung fu training, and chose Professor Jew as their new sifu. This way they never went outside the family to keep up with their learning.

 After shaking off the after effects of his former life, GM Salvatera chose to delve into learning gung fu full time.  Under Professor Jew, he trained every day for at least 4-5 hours a day, even if no one else showed up.  It was appearant that gung fu began to take on a positive role in his life. Instead of going out and getting into trouble, he would focus on refining and perfecting his gung fu religiously.

Over time, GM Salvatera was becoming the main attraction in Hung Sing street peformances held all over the San Francisco bay area.  Some of his more notable peformances were when he demonstrated the Kwan Do, Double Hatchets, or even his 5 animal internal form.

In 1970, at the age of 25, Salvatera began to privately teaching with his first student (Yusef Hannibal).  But  his reputation as a good teacher grew, and many wanted to come and learn from  GM Salvatera. Over time,  the demand was so great  GM Salvatera decided he would need a bigger  place to teach. So, at the advice of his first student, he began teaching  members of the Black Muslims, the Black Panthers, and other youths and adults at the Famous Glyde Memorial Church. At the same time, he was teaching San Francisco¡¯s version of the "Red Guard" at the old historical Hungry I.

Approximately 1975, with the encouragement of his students and friends, Salvatera opened his own school in the Sunset District in San Francisco, calling it the "Tien Loong Gung Fu Club".  Although he had his own group of student now Salvatera continued to make it a point to keep returning  to Professor Jew to  study at the Hung Sing Studio as often as he could and regularly returned to assist his Sifu in supervising all the lion dance performances.

A milestone in GM Salvatera's martial arts career happened at the turn of the century when he and a small group of students travelled to China to uncover their roots by visting the birthplace of Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut.  Not knowing what to expect, GM Salvatera and his students intended to make a good impression on the members of the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon, and set up a little demonstration where the elders of the Fut San HSK instantly recognized Professor Lau Bun's Gung Fu as true and authentic, directly coming from Fut San.

The very next year in October of 2001, GM Salvatera and his school was invited back to participate in the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon's 150'th anniversary celebration where he and a couple of his students were directly involved in the opening ceremonies at one of the original Hung SIng Kwoon's which was owned by Tong Sek.  At the same time he and his students were presented with a rare opportunity of taking new sifu's from the birthplace itself.

In October of 2001 Grand Master Salvatera was instrumental in re-introducing Professor Lau Bun and the long forgotten son (Yuen Hai) to the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon who in turn welcomed Grand Master Salvatera back into the family with open arms re-installing Lau Bun to his rightful place in the family tree of the original Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon. Since then he (GM Salvatera) continously returns to Fut San to train under his sifu Ho Cheuk Wah. Gm Salvatera not only teaches Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut from the Lau Bun and Chan Ngau Sing lines, outside of China he is the only person teaching Choy Lee Fut from the Wong Sei lineage in the United States.

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.

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!!!!!

From Victory to the Hung 洪勝 to Glorious Victory 鸿勝

Hung Sing

From Victory to the Hung 洪勝 to Glorious Victory 鸿勝

By Frankie McCarthy

It’s a well known fact that the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon (佛山鴻勝蔡李佛)as founded by Jeung Hung Sing was one of the most famous  martial art schools to emerge from southern China during the last 60+ years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Today (160 years later), the Hung Sing  鴻勝 name continues to hold a high level of prestige amongst the older generations of southern Chinese martial teachers and students. Even the government of Fut San recognized Jeung Hung Sing’s major contributions not only to gung fu, but, for protecting their country against foreign invaders as well. Now, you can find a Hung Sing “鴻勝”school on virtually every continent of the world. But, not many people remember or even know the true root to the Hung Sing name itself. 

In every Chinese martial art community around the world its safe to say the Hung Sing “鴻勝” Chinese characters as we know it today are highly recognizable. However, reaching back to 1851 this Hung Sing “鴻勝” wasn’t the original name being used in those days.  It came later and  was used as the replacement characters and installed somewhere between 1867 when Jeung Hung Sing returned to re-open his school in Fut San, or, in 1875 when Chan Heung passed away. Either way, not too many students of today’s generation are aware of the origin of this name and naturally assumed it was the one given to Jeung Yim by the monk Ching Cho (Green Grass Monk). 

The answer to the question of “where did Jeung Yim’s Hung Sing name come from?”, was discovered in one of the books published in 1866 by a certain European Free Mason, who, was interested in the Chinese secret society.  In this case, the author personally documented what he found on the flags of the society by hand.  The truth about its origins came in the form of a slogan consisting of only 4 Chinese words found on one of those flags. The only trick is, it takes someone with inside knowledge of the society to know what to look for and how to decipher it. Hiding things in plain sight to conceal its true meaning from prying eyes was a common practice amongst the Chinese secret societies.

From the moment the Qing government destroyed the Shaolin Temple (Circa 1760),  killing the monks within it, overthrowing the Qing has been one of the Hung Mun’s primary goals since its existence.  This is where the secretive slogan of four words come into play. The  meaning behind it was “the Hung Mun will be victorious in overthrowing the Qing government.”  You can arguably claim that the slogan was more in line with a prediction of victory more than anything else.  Still, because of the government mandate that anyone presumed to be a member of the Hung Mun were to be decapitated on the spot, they were forced to hide this prediction within an obscured slogan.

The original Hung Sing (洪勝) name given to Jeung Yim by the Green Grass Monk meant Hung Victory and can also be translated as Victory to the Hung, as in Hung Mun.   It was  derived from the Hung Mun slogan and used as synonym for it.  In addition to this, the Hung Sing (洪勝)  name  shares the exact same  greater meaning of “the Hung Mun will be victorious in overthrowing the Qing government” with the four worded slogan.  Furthermore, this name wasn’t something created by Jeung Yim as it was already in use elsewhere, nor, was it exclusively used by him.  For instance, a  洪勝堂 (Hung Sing Tong) already existed in the mountains of Guangxi where 60 out of 100 secret society tongs contained the word Sing ”勝”or Victory in their names.

 In 1867 Jeung Hung Sing returned to Fut San to re-open his school that was closed down by the Qing government.  Somewhere between 1867-1875 Jeung Yim needed to change the name of his school in order to avoid futher trouble with the law.  According to certain Chan Family Choy Lee Fut members he asked Chan Heung for help in choosing a new name, but, since there are no records of this its difficult to verify.  Regardless, he changed his schools name to 鴻勝 (Hung Sing) while keeping the “Hung”pronunciation by replacing the original “洪” (Hung) character with. 

 Jeung Yim’s decision to use this character was well thought out for a few of reasons.  First, the new “鴻” (Hung – lit. Trans. - Great Wild Goose) character didn’t have a visual connection to the outlawed secret society to a spectator.  However, there is more to the new character than meets the eye.  Secondly, on the left side of both characters “洪 & 鴻” the three water drops (氵) are found. This was a hidden symbol used by the secret society.  Thirdly, another secret symbol used by the tong founded by the Green Grass Monk was for the word Sau meaning “Longevity.”  The new “鴻” (Hung – lit. Trans. - Great Wild Goose) character also has a connection to the word “Longevity” since this is what the Wild Goose represents within the Chinese Culture.

Masters like Lui Chun, Yuen Hai, and Lee Yan were Jeung Yim’s students when the school was using the original 洪勝 (Hung Sing-Hung Victory ) name, while in 1884 Chan Ngau Sing began training with Jeung Yim when the school was already using the new 鴻勝 (Hung Sing – Great Wild Goose) characters.  From that point to the present, the old name had long been forgotten and the new one gained fame throughout the world.    Today, you can find a 鴻勝 school on virtually every continent on the planet.  And, since 2001 the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon  (佛山鴻勝蔡李佛), the birthplace of Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut, has re-emerged into the martial world the legacy of Jeung Yim is once again regaining its popularity.  I know if Jeung Yim was watching over us he’d be extremely proud to see his fighting method flourishing like it is, Long Live Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut.

America's KungFu Patriarch

A Native of Toi San, China, Professor Lau Bun was born in 1891 during the Ching Dynasty.   He started learning gung fu (Hung Ga) as a kid.  However, he switched over to the Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut system after losing a friendly match of skills with one of his friends.  Professor Lau's friend was a student of Yuen Hai, who was apart of the oldest group of senior disciples of Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon founder Jeong Yim.  When Professor Lau was young he was determined to become a disciple of the elder Yuen Hai.

It took some coaxing, but Lau Bun was eventually successful in convincing Yuen Hai to take him as a new student.  Yuen Hai and his wife was moved into Lau Bun's Toi San home where he began to teach the Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut system to his newest disciple.  Eager to learn, Lau Bun absorbed as much of the Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut system as he could, including herbal medicines. 

Lau Bun was taught the Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut system as it was developed during his time.  But unfortunately Yuen Hai passed away in Lau Bun's home leaving behind his wife and son.  Yet, his learning just didn't stop there.  Yuen Hai's wife turned out to be part of a famous northern stylist family but she never had a student to pass on her gung fu to.  Yuen Hai Si-Mo chose Lau Bun  to pass on a traditional Shaolin form called Um Ying Kuen (5 Animals) which is still passed on today through  Grand Master Doc Fai Wong,  Grand Master Dino Salvatera, and  Sifu Frank McCarthy. 

 
Within the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon,  Lau Bun would have called Chan Ngau Sing-the first successor-Si Sook (Uncle) since Yuen Hai was Chan Ngau Sing's senior by more than 20 years.

Professor Lau Bun arrived to the United States under the paper name of Wong On Low during the early 1920's.  For some time, he resided in Los Angeles and recognized that there was no one teaching gung fu within the Chinese Community there.  During his stay, he began to teach Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut in Southern California when there were no other gung fu teachers in America at that time.

At the time, there was a well known chinese benevolent association set up in the United States to assist their newly arriving countrymen.  Lau Bun also joined this association where he was eventually brought to San Francisco.  This benevolent association then hired Lau Bun to be their Chief Gung Fu instructor-amongst other duties.  So, between 1931 to 1939 Lau Bun began privately teaching the Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut system in America. And also just like in Los Angeles, Lau Bun was the only gung fu master in the whole San Francisco bay area until the likes of Wong Ark Yuey, and T.W. Wong.

In 1939, the demand for learning gung fu rose, and Lau Bun officially opened- to the Chinese Community only- the first established gung fu school on American soil.  At first he called his school Wah Kue (Strong Chinese), but later changed it to reflect the schools true lineage.  In fact, Lau Bun was also responsible for establishing the first American Branch of the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon.

Being raised during the era of the Ching, Lau Bun was the type to remain in the background, unseen and hidden within the shadows.  For him, it brought less attention and drama.  Over time within the martial arts community, Lau Bun began to gain an underground sort of fame, often referred to as being a part of a  rare breed of "authentic gung fu masters."  Many had come to pay their repect, others came in hopes of learning, ALL left with the same responce...."the Real Deal!"

However, Lau Bun had a strict rule against teaching outsiders (anyone non chinese).  But, from time to time he may have bent the rules a bit.  Waiting for confirmation are stories of how there were a few NON Chinese Lau Bun did teach, like the legendary actor Anthony Quinn.  Yet Masters like Ed Parker, Adriano Emperado, and even Ralph Castro has mentioned that Lau Bun has made some lasting effects on them,  even after just one meeting.  So, to return the favor, many had agreed to keep quiet about Lau Bun who didn't want all that attention.

Still, every once in a while throughout the year, the general public would get a glimpse into part of the Chinese culture rarely shown outside the chinese community.  Most Americans believe Bruce Lee to be America's first introduction to Chinese Gung Fu.  Little did they know that right in the heart of Chinatown lay the first and oldest gung school in America.

Outside of Chinatown, few had ever heard of Lau Bun.  But within the confines of Chinatown, Lau Bun was a local hero.  He protected Chinatown, settled disputes, and healed the sick.  Within the martial arts community, he is recognized as being America's gung fu partriarch.  Unfortunately, in September of 1967 the Hung Sing and Martial arts community was hit hard by the loss of a great gung fu master when Lau Bun passed away from a massive coronary.  

Under Lau Bun was some very very good martial artists.  He produced such well known masters as Jew Leong, and Doc Fai Wong.  However, Jew Leong stepped forward and assumed the responsibility of continuing Lau Bun's legacy.

Is the concept of "MASTERING" gung fu LOST on the current generations?

 Is the concept of "MASTERING" gung fu LOST on the current generations?

When i first started learning Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut back in the early 1980's I can honestly say i was trained the old school way.  That's the right way, in my opinion.  For example, although i knew how to block kick and punch prior to learning Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut my sifu had me start out with the basics.  First it was horse stance training.  There was about 5 different stances i needed to learn and develop since this was the foundation to everything  I was going to learn.  After that I'd learn the first few opening moves of a hand form.  I was then expected to go find a corner and practice those few moves over and over and over and over and then practiced them over again.
I can't lie, at first it was boring as all hell.  Practicing the same few techniques repeatedly over the next few months till i could do them in my sleep.  At times i'd even wonder if i was wasting my time.  For a beginner it could be a little rough because he can see what the others are learning and wants to learn that too.  Unfortunately, he's not there yet so he has to keep practicing those moves.  it really can try a persons patience and make him question why he's learning it in the first place.
it was always a great feeling when Sifu would give you some new moves.    then it starts all over again and before you know it, you're done with the form. It usually took about a year to complete a form and a student is expected to perfect it over the next year before learning another one.  This was the kind of training you get from a true old fashioned non commercialized gung fu school.  In a commercial school you'd learn it all on a timely schedule and students usually were promoted regardless of the fact if they deserved it or not.
Today, the current generation of young individuals are undisciplined, have no loyalty,  impatient and possess a sense of entitlement.  These people have no concept of what true gung fu is even if it bit them on the butt.  What the don't realize is that the true meaning of gung fu is skill earned through hard work over time.