Hung Sing is not run by Grandmaster Doc Fai Wong, there are many different schools and associations that are part of the Hung Sing Family, in fact there are two versions of the Hung Sing Schools, the original Chan family and the Fut San version. Doc Fai Wong has trainied in both versions and teaches both version together in his own association. There are many many teachers all around the world who have been training longer the Doc Fai Wong, yet none of them would ever claim to run the Hung Sing line. Grandmaster Chan Yong Fa of Sydney Australia (Chan Heung's Great Great Grandson) is regarded as a world authority on the style.
my appologies; you are of course right, is it the international plumblossom foundation that GM Doc Fai Wong runs, i get confused with all the different branches and federations etc, I don't mean to disrespect other masters.
All i have herd about is Doc Fai Wong, cold you help clear up my ignorance. i know there are many grandmasters etc.. i was just wondering if Chan Yong Fa is a 5th generation direct grandmaster, how did Doc Fai Wong become so popular? I read in a article that Doc Fai Wong has one of only nine dragon tridents in the world. is this true, as you would expect Chan Yong Fa who is said to be the keeper of the style to own it and the original choi lee fut manuscripts. I find stuff like this particulary interesting and have infinite amounts of questions.
Both Grandmaster Doc Fai Wong and the late Master Lee Koon Hung are probaly the most well known Choy Lee Fut teachers in the world, they both have lots of schools all over the world, and have done the most to popularise the style world wide. Doc Fai Wong in particular, is very famous due to his quite extensive instructional video library and thru his column in 'Inside Kung Fu' magazine. In regard to Grandmaster Chan Yong Fa being the keeper of the style, that is a very very touchy subject, especially on other fourums. Many Choy Lee Fut masters dispute these claims, yet wether or not they are true or not, you cannot dispute the fact that he has extensive knowledge of the system, not to mention like you said the knowledge in the family manuscripts. Like you wrote Grandmaster Doc Fai Wong, is one of the few people worldwide that not only own a Nine Dragon Trident but know the form. I found the below page to be very informative(with Doc Fai Wong) http://64.224.111.216/archives/kki/1986/mar86/weapons/weapons.html
E-Premier That's a good question with a simple answer. Sifu Chan Wing Fa probably has not felt the need to spread the art as far and wide - until recently - as the other mentioned Masters. That's just an educated guess, but skills and popularizing something are not directly connected. Also, making something, anything, popular is almost always easier in the US than anywhere else in the world. It is a blessing there have been Masters in the US who have been very successful in their attempts to spread the art. That benefits us all. There is no point in going down the road "who's best". I am not saying anyone has, yet, but I am mentioning that just as a precaution. However, as anyone would realize, an inheritor of a family style would of course be the authority of that style. There is no need to even support that, it is so self-evident. There are only four (as far as I remember being told) family style martial arts, where the current Grandmaster can trace his lineage in a straight line to the founder, left in the world anymore. Choy Lee Fut is one of them. But Choy Lee Fut is Choy Lee Fut and the essence of it can be found just about anywhere. When a student (well, a high ranking Master at that point) rises up to a level where only Sifu Chan Wing Fa could be of help to him anymore, they will have already met each other by then. Less talk, more kung fu... //mika
A lot of people on these forums believe in cross training there MA with another that focuses on different skills, e.g striking at and a grapling art etc.. From what i am told and have seen in my year of CLF, is that Choy li fut is a complete system. It has long range and close combat techniques, as well as joint locks, take downs, throws and ground fighting, there is conditioning, emphasis on speed and trapping etc.. in addition to its 36 weapons. My Question is, Do any of you guys feel the need to cross train? if so what with and why? I'm guessing most people do yang style t'ai chi.
mixed TMA englishpremier you asked about whether CLF people mix or not.. I think I fit in that category... My sifus village style has CLF/Hung ga/Southern Sil lum as bases. N ow some speak of Hung gar as the body and CLF as a tail...two different approaches that mirror each other in many ways. Speed versus power. Deep versus shallow. Lots of crossovers but also lots of differences. These styles are not all that old...look at how young CLF is. SOmeone decided that there was something needed and then developed a system that they thought was complete. Well different bodies/ideas/capabilities = different styles. Personally I like doing sets like sui moi fah and get a rush from the speed/whip of CLF. You know that there is one Hung gar lineage that does Tid Sin as the first set!! Wonder who really has it backwards! Cheers, Powchoy
Hi to all CLF Brothers and Sisters, I'm new to this forum and am so happy to see so many CLF practitioners.
I also do CLF here in Vancouver, Canada under sifu Hilbert Yiu. I train in the Koon Pak and Yiu Chi lineage.
Pantherfist you forgot about me??? We've spoken on numerous occasions lol. Yes, I practice Choy Lay Fut as well under Sifu Mak Hin Fai in Seattle Washington, Hung-Sing branch. If you ask me, I plan on practicing Tai Chi for internal training, as well as Muay Thai for much more extensive elbow and knee strikes. I've been experimenting lately with using much more knees and elbows that your usual CLF combinations, and I've found that they work well when combined with various other long-ranged attacks and lots of Chop Choys as well.
just wondering why is it that CLF seems to have bad rep. Whenever i've been asked and have mentioned I do choy li fut to teachers of other styles they seem to turn their nose up at. From people i have spoken to in my class they say Choy li fut traditionally has a bad reputation anyone have any insight into this?
I think the bad rep may come from past generations of aggressive students testing out the lastest techniques they have learned against other stylists, (at least from my sifu's old school in HK and my si hings) From my experience CLF has a bad rep for getting into 'trouble' as appose to a bad rep in the poor style sense.
