A perhaps more accurate version of the story is that Ku Ju-chang visited the circus with some of his students and asked to see the horse. When the circus promoter realized that Ku Ju-chang was one of China’s premier martial artists, he immediately apologized for issuing the challenge and retracted it on the spot. He then took Ku Ju-chang to see the animal. Ku Ju-chang ran his hands across the horse’s back and under its belly, commented on the smoothness of its coat, and left without further incident. Several days later a rumor erupted that the horse died soon after of internal bleeding, as a direct result of Ku Ju-chang’s iron palm technique.
Ku Ju-chang survived both the Japanese invasion of China and the turmoil that was to follow. He continued to teach Pek Sil Lum until he died in his mid-sixties. He was survived by several students, one of whom was Lung Tze-hsiang. When the Chinese Communists assumed power on the mainland in 1949, Lung Tze-hsiang moved to Hong Kong, where he later taught Lai Hung.
It should be noted that many teachers nowadays use Pek Sil Lum as a general term to denote the melange of styles and techniques that emerged from the interaction of the Five Northern and Five Southern Tigers during this watershed period in the history of Chinese martial arts. In addition, there is another branch of Pek Sil Lum that was transmitted through Yen Shang-wu, who, along with Lung Tze-hsiang, studied under Ku Ju-chang; this style differs slightly from the one presented here, but, we wish to emphasize, it is by no means less valid or “traditional” (Fig. 5). As a result, there is currently some variation between the Pek Sil Lum taught from one school to the next. Suffice to say, however, if the school’s lineage extends directly back to Ku Ju-chang and features the ten core forms, it is part of the Pek Sil Lum family.
Chapter 4
Sifu Lai Hung
Lai Hung (Fig. 1) was born into troubled times in a troubled country—the year was 1938 and the place was China. At the time of Lai Hung’s birth, China had been mired in a desperate struggle against the invading Japanese army for just over thirteen months. In that brief period, the well-equipped and modernized Japanese forces had stormed Beijing, smashed through heavy resistance in Shanghai, and laid waste to Nanking, forcing the Chinese government to beat a hasty retreat to the remote province of Szechwan. The effect of these hostilities on ordinary Chinese citizens was severe—food and other necessities were scarce and violent death was an everyday occurrence.
China’s war of attrition against Japan lasted until August 14, 1945, when, in the wake of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the Japanese emperor ordered his nation’s forces to lay down their arms. But China’s troubles did not end along with the Sino-Japanese War. Immediately after the Japanese surrender and withdrawal from Chinese soil, a civil war broke out between the Nationalist forces under Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists under Mao Tze-tung. This internal struggle raged on for another four years, exacerbating the already intolerable conditions in China.
The hardships faced by the young Lai Hung, who until the age of ten had never known a life in which there was not war and suffering to be endured, no doubt influenced certain aspects of his character. These character traits, shared by many through history who spent their formative years in a similarly harsh environment, included persistence in the face of adversity, determination, self-discipline, and an ability to withstand pain, hunger, and discomfort. Interestingly enough, it is perhaps precisely those traits, born out of the adversity he faced early in his life, that made possible Lai Hung’s later achievements in the martial arts arena.
Lai Hung’s father worked as a bodyguard and was an avid student of the Chinese martial arts. Having lived through periods of great turmoil himself, the elder Lai believed in the necessity of knowing how to defend oneself. Soon after Lai Hung’s eighth birthday, his father arranged for him to commence his martial arts training with a famous master named Lee Nam. Sifu Lee taught a practical and powerful style not unlike Choy Lay Fut known as hung t’ou fo wei. Around this time, Lai Hung also received instruction from two other well-known teachers, one of whom was nicknamed “Master Iron Palm” and the other “the Iron-Headed Mouse.”
In 1949, the Lai family emigrated to Hong Kong, where both Lai Hung and his father found work at a shoe manufacturing company. Soon thereafter, Lai Hung sought instruction from the famous teacher Lung Tze-hsiang (Fig. 2). Lung was one of a few senior students who were recognized as legitimate successors to Ku Ju-chang. At the time, the Hong Kong Athletic Association served as an informal headquarters for martial arts instruction and training in Hong Kong, and Sifu Lung’s classes were held there. Under Sifu Lung’s guidance, Lai Hung embarked upon his study of traditional Pek Sil Lum, classical Chinese weapons, Yang-style t’ai ch’i ch’uan, and various forms of ch’i kung.
Initially, Lai Hung’s mother objected to his martial pursuits. Years of poverty and food shortages had left Lai Hung skinny and frail, so naturally his mother was concerned that his training would lead to injury. But within a few months of joining Sifu Lung’s class, she noticed dramatic improvements in his posture and overall health. From that time on, she fully encouraged his desire to learn Chinese kung-fu.
In the period immediately following World War II, Hong Kong emerged as a fertile environment for the continued development and expansion of the Chinese martial arts. This was primarily due to the fact that dozens of famous masters from all over China fled to the island territory when the Communists assumed power on the mainland. Young students like Lai Hung benefited enormously from this chain of events. For the first time in history, accomplished practitioners of every conceivable style found themselves living together in a very small, interdependent community. Although this situation produced plenty of conflicts, it also resulted in an unprecedented degree of collaboration between these martial arts patriarchs. As a result, Lai Hung and his fellow pupils enjoyed an unusual amount of interaction with a variety of instructors.
When Lai Hung was seventeen, a famous Choy Lay Fut practitioner by the name of Li Ch’ou was invited to participate in Sifu Lung’s classes. Li Ch’ou and Lung Tze-hsiang were actually brothers in the kung-fu lineage—Li Ch’ou was a disciple of T’an San, and in the years when T’an San and Ku Ju-chang were exchanging students, Lung Tze-hsiang had also studied Choy Lay Fut under T’an San. Lai Hung eagerly took advantage of the opportunity to learn this relatively new martial arts style. He soon discovered that he enjoyed