Lie Tjeng Hok
Peranakan Chinese farmer from Kampung Dadap near Tangerang, chief founder of pencak silat Beksi, who combined a Chinese family martial art with Betawi ones.
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IndonesiaBiography
Lie Tjeng Hok was a Peranakan Chinese and a farmer from the village of Kampung Dadap in Kosambi district in Tangerang Regency in Banten Province. He is described as the chief founder of the Beksi style, who taught students around Kampung Dadap. We have not been able to verify in the sources his dates of birth and death or the year the style arose.
He created Beksi as a mixed martial art: he combined techniques of a Chinese family martial art with Betawi martial arts. His Betawi teachers were Ki Jidan and Ki Miah, also written Ki Maimah.
The school's genealogy lists other persons in the early development of the style, mostly with the surname Lie or Lim: Lie A Djam, Lie Tong San, Lie Loen Nio, The Tong Sie, Lim A Poh, Lim A Liong, Lie Do Ton, Lie Djie Te and Lie Djie Tong; the last of them continued teaching near Kampung Dadap. His gifted Betawi student was Ki Muharli, listed among the key people in the spread of the style. A Peranakan-Betawi student of the school, H. Gozali, taught Beksi in Petukangan and Batujaya; his students were Kong H. Hasbullah, Kong M. Nur, Kong Simin and Kong Mandor Minggu.
From Kampung Dadap, Beksi gradually spread to Petukangan Selatan in South Jakarta and to Batujaya in Tangerang. Most schools teach 12 basic forms (Betawi jurus), each with advanced variants; the common forms of most schools are Beksi, Gedig and Tancep. In 2016 there were approximately 120 Beksi silat clubs in the Greater Jakarta area.