Great-Grandmaster Yuen Hai
The New Tai Shan City (Toi San)
Yuen Hai (aka Yuen Fook) native of San Woi, Kwangtung province, was
nicknamed Yuen Dai because he was the first son of his family (Dai means
elderly). He learned Choy Li Fut Kung Fu directly from the headquarters of
Hung Sing Studio in Fut San from Jeong Yim . After Jeong Yim passed away,
his senior kung fu brother Chan Ngau Sing took over the Hung Sing Studio in
Fut San, he became an assistant instructor in the Hung Sing Studio. After
few years went by, Chan Ngau Sing suggested that he go to another part of
Kwangtung province to promote Choy Li Fut. Finally he decided to go to Toi
San (modern day Tai Shan) to teach the Fut San lineage of Choy Li Fut.
In Toi San, he taught in different nearby villages in the family clan
temples. One day he met a lady from a foreign province. This lady was also a
high level Shaolin Five Animal Kung Fu master from Fukin Province (modern
day Fujian). Because Yuen Hai's first wife died many years earlier, he and
his son lived together in Toi San. His son also assisted him in teaching
classes for the villagers. He finally decided to take the Fukinese lady to
be his second wife. One day Yuen Hai's son had an argument with his
stepmother, he threw a front kick at her. The stepmother grabbed his leg
with a Dragon Claw technique pulled and threw him off across the room.
Unfortunately, Yuan Hai's only son ended up handicapped for the rest of his
life.
Because his name was so famous in Toi San, one of the rich overseas
Toi-Sanese businessmen from Indonesia came back to Toi San to hire him to be
his bodyguard and took him back to Indonesia to work for him. After the
contract completed Yuan Hai return to Toi San. At that time, he gave private
lessons to the rich families whose fathers were in the United States of
America. Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong's first Choy Li Fut teacher Lau Bun's
father was in California. Lau Bun's family had money to hire Yuan Hai to
give private instructions to Lau Bun. Because of Lau Bun's diligent training
and because he treated his teacher's family so well, his Si-mo, Mrs. Yuan
taught him the Shaolin Five Animal Form. After Yuan Hai died, Lau Bun became
his successor in Toi San.