Great-Grandmaster Jeong Yim
Doc-Fai Wong at the Famous Toast Ancestors Temple, Zu Miao
Jeong Yim was one of the outstanding students of Chan Heung, founder of the
Choy Li Fut system . Jeong Yim worked very hard in Choy Li Fut Kung Fu
training under Chan Heung. He was also a very intelligent young man, this
made the system's founder take notice of him. After a few years of learning
Choy Li Fut, in 1867, Chan Heung appointed him to take over the Hung Sing
Studio in Fut San (modern day Fo Shan), which was established in 1848 by
Chan Din Yao and Chan Din Fune, two of Chan Heung's first students.
Jeong Yim's efforts made the Hung Sing Studio very famous. During the annual
celebration of the Toast Ancestors Temple (Zu Miao), Jeong Yim always
brought a strong Choy Li Fut Kung Fu demo team to do lion dancing and kung
fu forms exhibitions. Soon the Hung Sing Studio's name was getting famous in
Fut San's martial arts circles. Because of Jeong Yim's successful business
and his famous name, many kung fu masters became jealous and challenged him
to matches. Jeong Yim defeated all the challengers making him even more
famous. At the time, the people only knew Jeong Yim's family name of Jeong
and the school name of Hung Sing; therefore the people in Fut San thought
his name was Jeong Hung Sing.
Jeong Yim trained many outstanding students to carry on his teachings later
on. Chan Ngau Sing took over the Hung Sing Studio after Jeong Yim died. Yuen
Hai (aka Yuen Fook) went to Toi San to teach and Loi Chaun taught in Canton.
Many other students remained in the Fut San area to assist in Chan Ngau
Sing's headquarters for teaching the branches of the Hung Sing Studio in Fut
San. Because Jeong Yim died young, he had very few forms to teach. The Sup
Ji Kau Da and the Ping Kuen hand forms; Hung Sing butterfly knives and the
Seung Gup Dan Staff are the major sets in the Fut San's lineage.
Back to the old days, the Chinese respected the teacher and it was not
appropriate to question your teacher's background or the history of the kung
fu system. After a time, the students thought their teacher, "Jeong Hung
Sing", was the founder of the Hung Sing Studio. In Canton, there was a kung
fu storybook writer whose pen name was Nim Fut San Yen. He wrote a fictional
storybook about the Fut San's Hung Sing Studio. After that book was
published, all the Hung Sing students in Fut San treated the book as though
it were the history of their kung fu system. This book also lead them to
believe that Jeong Yim and Chan Heung were the co-founders of the Choy Li
Fut system. However, as there are no dates nor are there correct names of
the places, there is really nothing to verify the validity of the story.
Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong's teacher Hu Yuen Chou was a student of Chan Ngau
Sing who was the successor of Jeong Yim. Chan Ngau Sing knew the facts of
the true history, of course, and was also a friend of Nim Fut San Yen the
author of the fictional book. From Chan Ngau Sing and the fictional author
we know the true history of the Hung Sing Studio in Fut San.
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The Famous Toast Ancestors Temple | Group at the Toast Ancestors Temple |