Chan Heung

Quick Facts

Date of Birth8/23/1806

Date of Death8/20/1875

Country of OriginChina

Also known asDin Ying, Daht Ting

Biography

Chan Heung was a Chinese kung-fu master from southern China and founder of the Choy Li Fut style. He was born on 23 August 1806, the tenth day of the seventh lunar month, in King Mui (Jingmei) village in Xinhui County, Guangdong. According to Wikipedia he died on 20 August 1875, while the Plum Blossom International Federation gives his age as 69.

His uncle Chan Yuen-wu raised and taught him from the age of seven. According to the Plum Blossom International Federation, his uncle sent him at seventeen to Li Yau-san for four years, while Wikipedia says fifteen. He then studied under the monk Choy Fook on Lau Fu Mountain, eight years according to the federation and nine according to Wikipedia, and also studied Buddhism. He returned to the village at 28 or 29 and spent the following years refining the techniques.

According to the Chinese heritage portal, Choy Li Fut arose in 1836. The Xinhui County government says Chan Heung combined the methods of three families and founded the Hongsheng Hall in the Yuanfu ancestral hall. The portal records 193 forms, the Chan family over 180. By tradition, the name of the style honours his teachers.

From 1848, according to the federation, his first students spread the style across southern China. In 2008 Choy Li Fut was entered on the Chinese national list of intangible cultural heritage. The Chan family names his son Chan Koon-pak and grandson Chan Yiu-chi as further bearers of the lineage.

Early life

Chan Heung was born on 23 August 1806, the tenth day of the seventh lunar month, in the village of King Mui in Xinhui County in Guangdong Province. According to an article by the Xinhui County government, his students still celebrate his birthday on this day. From the age of seven he was raised and taught by his uncle Chan Yuen-wu, who according to tradition came from Shaolin. Wikipedia says that his uncle taught him the palm-focused Fut Gar style.

Training and teachers

According to the Plum Blossom International Federation, his uncle sent him at seventeen for four years to Li Yau-san, his senior fellow student, while Wikipedia says fifteen years. Li Yau-san recommended him to the monk Choy Fook on Lau Fu Mountain, who according to tradition first refused him and accepted him on condition that he study Buddhism. According to Doc-Fai Wong, Choy Fook had the Buddhist name Ching Cho.

He studied with Choy Fook for eight years according to the federation and nine according to Wikipedia. According to the federation he returned to the village at 29 and spent two years refining the techniques he had learned, while Wikipedia gives his return in 1834 at the age of 28.

Contribution and innovations

According to the official intangible cultural heritage portal of China, Choy Li Fut came into being in 1836 in the village of Jingmei. An article by the Xinhui County government says that he combined the boxing methods of three families and, at the invitation of the village elders, founded the Hongsheng Hall in the Yuanfu ancestral hall. Wikipedia says that the name honours his teachers Choy Fook and Li Yau-san and his uncle.

The heritage portal records 193 forms, of which 39 are barehanded, 54 in pairs and 64 with weapons. The Chan family states on its website more than 180 forms and counts the form Ng Lun Choy among the basic ones. According to Doc-Fai Wong, in 1848 Chan Heung sent his first students to open the Hung Sing school in Foshan.

Philosophy and principles

The official heritage portal says that Chan Heung promoted overcoming the barriers between families and schools and stressed martial virtue. As the motto of the style, the portal attributes to him the sentence that remembering the source is the foundation of Choy Li Fut and perseverance its spirit.

Legends and documented facts

Tradition tells that Chan Heung could not move with a kick a stone that Choy Fook had lifted with his foot, and the monk then accepted him as a student. Wikipedia gives the story without a source. Doc-Fai Wong writes that a novel from the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries named Jeong Yim as a co-founder as well, which cannot be supported by the records.

The sources differ on whom the name of the style honours. The heritage portal gives the surname of his teacher, Wikipedia three teachers, and the article by the Xinhui County government names Chen Yuanhua instead of the uncle. We have not resolved the dispute.

Legacy

According to the Plum Blossom International Federation, his first eighteen students began teaching across southern China in 1848, and Lung Ji-choi opened the first school outside King Mui in Xunzhou. His son Chan Koon-pak (1857–1916) ran the Hung Sing school in Kong Moon from 1898 and in 1906 opened a school in Guangzhou. The Chan family names Chan Heung, Chan Koon-pak, Chan Yiu-chi, Chan Wan Hon and Chen Yong Fa as bearers of the lineage.

In 2008 Choy Li Fut was entered on the Chinese national list of intangible cultural heritage. In November 2024 about 250 students from 17 countries gathered in Jingmei for a memorial ceremony, and an international Choy Li Fut heritage centre opened there.

Teachers, students and family

Associated Martial Arts

Quotes