Newsletter No. 370

No. 370, 4.1.2011 3 T he moment you step into the headquarters of the New Asia Chinese Kung Fu Society inside the Leung Hung Kee Building, you will feel like you have entered a kung fu museum. You see a black wooden plaque bearing the club’s name, dragon heads, lion heads, a wooden dummy for practising fist moves, books on martial arts, and an arsenal of weapons: swords, broadswords, staffs, spears, you name it. Outside the building, a dozen martial arts practitioners are sweating it out in the floodlit square, swinging broadswords, waving staffs, and spinning spears. Among people in red T-shirts, black pants and yellow kung fu sashes, a man in full black stands out. He is Master Joe Kwong, instructor of the society. ‘I came to CUHK to help my teacher Lee Koon-hung teach kung fu in 1979,’ said Master Kwong. The late 1970s saw the heyday of the kung fu craze begun by Bruce Lee. ‘My teacher was a famous figure in the martial arts community. In those days, kung fu was so popular that when we opened a class, students would flock to us. We had about 80 students. The roads outside were full of students during class-times. My teacher asked some of his senior students to help him teach. I was one of them. At that time I had taken classes from him for five or six years already.’ After Mr. Lee Koon-hung emigrated to the US in the early 1990s, Master Kwong took on the mantle of instructor of the society. Today, students have a much wider choice of entertainment and martial arts has lost some of its lustre. The scene of 80 students practising now exists only in memory. Master Kwong said, ‘In order to recruit more members, the society had to rack their brains to think of gimmicks, such as teaching chopstick throwing.’ That’s right, throwing chopsticks as if they are darts the way it is done in movies. Incidentally, Master Kwong used to be a full- time kung fu ‘entertainer’ who performed lion dance and kung fu at Ocean Park, as well as what he described as hardcore qigong ‘entertainment’, such as walking bare- feet on knives, snapping an arrow with the throat, and of course, throwing chopsticks. He does not want his students to learn such performances because they are dangerous, except maybe chopstick throwing. However, he said, you need to know your kung fu before you can learn how to throw chopsticks. He explained, ‘If you don’t build up your body, you won’t have the strength and speed to throw chopsticks. You’ll hurt yourself.’ The society has western members. Swedish exchange student Thor- Amadeus Morillas (p. 2, right) has learnt from Master Kwong for three months. He said, ‘I did not know anything about kung fu before this. But I had watched kung fu movies and read comics, so I was very interested in it. Then when I arrived in Asia, I decided to take the opportunity to learn it. It’s fun.’ The society has also teachers among its members. One of them is Prof. Lam Hon-ming (left). When he first saw the practice session at the square, he was fascinated by the variety of weapons and the lion dance. Then he asked Master Kwong, ‘Is it possible for someone who hasn’t done any exercise for a long time to join?’ Master Kwong told him that members of the society were all of different levels; everyone could learn at his own pace. Professor Lam feels that practising kung fu is a good way to tone up his body and relieve stress. ‘I got rid of 20 pounds in two years. I also enjoy doing something with my daughter regularly when she’s young.’ His daughter Eos (right) had suffered from a life- threatening illness when she was five, and Professor Lam thought that letting her exercise on a regular basis would boost her health. After learning some kung fu moves, he showed them to Eos at home and she happily mimicked them. Professor Lam then brought her to Master Kwong, who agreed to take her in as one of his youngest students. It has been 30 years since Master Kwong taught at the society as his teacher’s assistant. He said that he does it because he wants to promote Choy Lee Fut. ‘Now that 蔡李佛拳為南派功夫，據說是清朝廣東新會人陳享 所創。陳享曾先後學習佛家拳、李家拳和蔡家拳， 融會貫通三家拳法後自成一派，稱之為蔡李佛拳。 此派拳械套路眾多，包括小梅花拳、脫戰拳、龍行劍、 虎尾單刀、九節鞭等。蔡李佛除了盛行於廣東外， 在美加等地也流傳甚廣。 Choy Lee Fut (aka Cai Li Fo) was founded by the Cantonese master Chan Heung in the Qing dynasty. Before Chan invented his own style, he had learnt Buddhist kung fu (Buddhist translates as ‘fut’ in Cantonese or ‘fo’ in Mandarin), Lee family kung fu and Choy family kung fu. He blended all the styles into a system which he named Choy Lee Fut. The Choy Lee Fut system comprises a wide variety of bare-hand and weapon forms. It is popular in both Guangdong province and surprisingly, North America. In martial art novels, the hero always has a few coups de maître up his sleeve. When asked what his is, Master Kwong replied, ‘There is no such thing in kung fu. Training hard is our coup de maître. If you don’t train hard, no technique will be useful.’ It applies to learning or research too, doesn’t it? In a corner of the society room sits a picture of his late teacher Lee Koon-hung. Before every class, Master Kwong pays tribute to his teacher by burning incense sticks. Remembering one’s roots is a very Chinese thing. What Master Kwong teaches is more than the art of fighting; it is culture. we have movies about Ip Man, everyone knows what Wing Chun is. But if you don’t practise martial arts, you may not know what Choy Lee Fut is.’ The most rewarding thing for him is seeing his students win competitions. ‘I always tell them to find their favourite fist or weapon form. When they master it, they can use it to strengthen their body; they can also use it to do demonstrations and in competitions.’ As for Master Kwong himself, his favourite is a weapon form called the ‘Mixed Spear’, though it does not belong to the Choy Lee Fut repertoire. His teacher Lee Koon- hung had appeared in a few movies where he made the acquaintance of kung fu artist cum famous actor Shih Kien. Shih taught Lee some of his own kung fu forms, including ‘Mixed Spear’. ‘I loved it as soon as I learnt it. I won the championship of the spear category three times with it in martial arts competitions.’