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.