" The Dragon, Tiger and Phoenix, met in heaven to revive our Shaolin ways"

"Teach your followers righteousness, let each generation up hold and enliven"

This website is dedicated to promotion and preservation of the traditional 
Chinese Martial art of Choi Lee Fut kung fu

Masters of
Choi Lee Fut
Chan Heung
Chan Koon Pak
Jeong Yim
Chan Yiu Chi
Tam Sam
Ho Hgau
Chui Cheung
Chan Hon Hung
Tse Wing Bun
Lee Koon Hung

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Choi Lee Fut Articles
1. Choi Lee Fut 
Kung Fu
2. Chan Heung`s 
Ten Rules
3. The White Crane of Choi Lee Fut
4. The Choi Lee Fut Wooden Dummy
5. No Substitute For Skill

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Choi Lee Fut kung fu is one of the most popular and effective Chinese martial arts, which owes much of its origin to the Shaolin kung fu system and has quit a Colourful history that spans over one hundred and eighty years. It is through the exploits of its creator that one can get a better understanding and appreciation for this highly regarded fighting system. Chan Heung, the founder of Choi Lee Fut kung fu, was born (according to the Western calendar) on the 10 of July, in the year 1806 in King Mui Village in the Sun Wui district of Canton Province. As a young child, he would often accompany his Uncle Chan Yuen Wu, on his travels from village to village teaching kung fu.
Chan Yuen Wu was a practitioner of Siu Lum (Shaolin) kung fu. By the age of fifteen, under Chan Yuen Wu's tutelage, Chan Heung was able to defeat any challengers from nearby towns and villages. One day Chan Heung heard that another skilled teacher by the name of Lee Yau San who was a former Monk had been asked to teach in a neighbouring town. Determined to learn more kung fu, Chan Heung set out to find Lee Yau San.
On finding Lee, Chan Heung decided to put Lee to the test by attacking him as he was leaving a teahouse but Lee easily repelled Chan Heung's attack.
After his defeat Chan Heung resigned from Chan Yeun Wu`s school and enrolled in Lee Yau San's school and within five years he mastered the technique's of Lee's kung fu. After five years of teaching Chan Heung, and seeing how diligent he was as a student, and how hungry he was to learn More, Lee told Chan Heung of a monk named Choi Fook who was famous for his kung fu and knowledge of dit da medicine (muscular and skeletal injury treatment).
So Chan Heung set out to find the old monk who was living in the Lau Fu Shan Monastery on Mount Lau Fu. Early one morning, while Chan Heung was practising his martial arts, striking a heavy bamboo bush and kicking small rocks in to the air, breaking them into small pieces before they touched the ground. Suddenly with out any warning, a monk appeared and asked him if that was the best, he could do. The monk then pointed a great stone of approximately eighty pounds in weight and asked Chan Heung if he could move the stone a distance twelve-foot. Chan Heung concentrated all his strength on striking the rock with his foot, sending it a few feet away. When not seeing his request fulfilled, the monk put his own foot under the heavy rock and I sent it in to the air with hardly any effort, was surprised with this demonstration of skill. Chan Heung realised that the monk was in fact Choi Fook and immediately requested to be taken as the monk’s martial arts disciple. Choi Fook examined him in silence taking in the young man’s features and mannerism, and decided that his request was genuine. But if Chan Heung wanted to be his disciple he had to obey certain conditions: He had to stay at least ten years until the end of his learning: It was forbidden for him to use his kung fu to kill or harm. Of course Chan did not have to think twice about the offer and promptly kneeled before his new master.

These were the conditions that Choi Fook ordered Chan Heung to follow:

1) Chan Heung must stay with him in the monastery for an apprenticeship of at least ten years.

2) Chan Heung must not use skills to kill or main and must never be boastful of what he attained.

3) Chan Heung must kick the rice grinder back into his original resting-place.

Much to Chan Heung’s delight, the rice grinder easily fell back into place, and so he became Choi Fook’s disciple. For the next ten years, Choi Fook taught Chan Heung kung fu with great discipline and precision. Each new technique took days to learn, and Chan Heung had to master each movement with speed, accuracy, power and understanding before the next could be taught. Chan Heung found that his kung fu improved remarkably, and was very different from what it had been. The knowledge passed down by Choi Fook, whether bare fist, the staff or wooden dummy was endless and full of subtle changes like nature itself. A combination of hard work, dedication, natural ability and the karma of a good teacher allowed Chan Heung to complete his training in ten years.
When his ten year apprenticeship with Choi Fook came to an end Chan heung bade his master farewell and left the Monastery to return to his home village. Once Chan Heung Settled back in King Mui Village, he began to teach his fellow clansmen all that he had learned. After refining his skills and combining what he had learned from all three of his teachers, Chan Heung had now put together a superior fighting system.
To honour his mentors, Chan Heung instead of selfishly calling it the Chan style, he chose the name Choi Lee Fut, giving the following explanation: Choi in honour of the monk Choi Fook, Lee in honour of Lee Yau San and Fut, meaning Buddha, to commemorate the Buddhist origin of the art. Because all of his three mentors could all, trace their lineage back to the Shaolin temple.
Three years later in 1839, the first opium war broke out between China and Great Britain, and Chan Heung decided to join in the battle to defend his country by training the local militias to fight against the British importing opium to China. After China's defeat in 1842, he returned home. Then at the invitation of his uncle and the Chan Family overseas association, Chan Heung left his village for the northern ocean. He spent three years there teaching in the overseas Chinese communities, Chan then travelled on the southern ocean (Malaya & Singapore region).
On his return to King Mui village Chan Heung decided to make a written record of his all of his learning in one book for posterity, and preventing any misinterpretation or ambiguity from creeping into the style He named the manuscript " The Manual of Choi Lee Fut Fighting Arts".
At the age of sixty-three, he returned to his home in King Mui Village. At that time, his first son, On Pak was in charge of his training school in Yuen Fook Temple in King Mui. His second son, Koon Pak and his first disciple, Loong Chi Choi were both in charge of the school in Kong Moon. The school in Fut Shan was under the direction of his devoted follower Cheung Yim. This has resulted in the fast expansion of the "Choi Lee Fut" style, which represents the belief, the skill, the power, and the devotion of their predecessors Choi Fook, Lee Yau Shan and Chan Heung. Chan Heung died on August 20,1875. Peacefully, he was buried in King Mui Village and was to be remembered by all of his followers there after.

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Chan Heung Gong
The Founder of 
Choi Lee Fut 
 

My Sifu, Edmund Ng

This page contains my profile, 
About Me
  My Choi Lee Fut lineage