Ku Yu Cheung learned his martial art from Yim Kai Wun, but to trace the origin of his Northern Shaolin Style Martial Art, one should go back to his father, the great Tam Tui Kicker, Ku Lei Chi. He was a follower of the Shaolin Monastery at Sung Shan. Ku Lei Chi, a native of Founing County, Kiangsi Province, had set up in Nanking an escort office, known as the Lei Chi Escort House, to furnish armed protection to merchant teams (these were security companies, similar to armed guards today). As an outstanding martial artist, his name had spread everywhere, having defeated innumerable roaming swordsmen who had happened to come his way. The heroes of greenwood, too, shuddered at the mention of his name, and where the banner of Lei Chi Escort House fluttered, all would be smooth going. 

As a result, his escort business was booming and the number of escorts he engaged had become more than two hundred. Normally, he was in charge of the everyday routine in his escort house and only in exceptional cases did he care to take the trouble of escorting the merchant teams himself. His wife and children were then in his native village and it was time he got them to join him in Nanking, and he did, enjoying after that a happy family life. 

Though Ku Lei Chi was conversant with the art of fighting, he was, nevertheless, illiterate. This went hard with him, for even to read the accounts of receipts and payments he had to turn to others for help. He had three children, two boys and a girl, the elder son being known as Yu Man and the younger Yu Cheung. He decided that they should not be uneducated like himself. 

As soon as Ku Yu Cheung had attained the age of seven, he was sent to a private school, and not until he was twelve did he begin to pick up the martial arts. The elder brother, Ku Yu Man was not interested in the fighting skills, being by nature quiet. Ku Yu Cheung, was on the other hand, fond of the martial arts and was as clever as he was diligent.  

Ku Lei Chi was well pleased with his two sons. The one, he thought, would reflect glory on his ancestors, while the other could carry on his work. As the saying goes, “A tiger-like father will not have a dog-like son.” He had good reason to be well contented.  

Heaven often begrudges the wishes of men, and Ku Lei Chi was suddenly taken ill and confined to bed for over a month, without any sign of recovering. The doctor could do nothing to cure him and he knew this would be his end. He sent for Yu Man and Yu Cheung to come to his bedside, utterly overwhelmed with grief and his eyes brimming with tears. 

He told them that he had been lying in bed for quite some time and none of the drugs he had taken had been of any good. He thought he might not live long, as he was well on in his years. Now that he had attained what he had wished for, he should not be unreasonable and ask for more. He was quite ready to quit this world, and his only regret, he said, being that he would be unable to hand down to his own son all the martial art techniques he knew. He continued telling them that if they had made up their minds to become martial artists, they could go to Feicheng of Shangtung Province to see Yim Kai Wun and become his disciples.  

Ku Yu Cheung bore this in mind. A few days later, Ku Lei Chi's illness had taken a turn for the worse and he passed away. The whole family was grieved beyond words and Yu Cheung, then fourteen, fell to his knees and wept in sorrow at the loss of his father.

Grandmaster Ku Yu Cheung was known for his
incredible feats of strength. Here he is pictured
bending an iron bar around his arm!