Master Lai Hung is a legendary martial artisan and almost every person in the martial arts circle of Southeast Asia and America knows his name and his reputation as a straightforward and outspoken person. 

“To be a kung fu master,” Master Lai Hung has said, “one has to be good at not only teaching the theories of fighting and teaching the application of the moves, but also at enduring punches.” “In teaching actual combative moves, while the teacher always takes pains to hold back his punches in order to protect his student, the students do not know how to hold back their hands, therefore the teacher is time and again hit by his students fists or kicks.” “Though this situation makes an exhausting job for the teacher, it allows the students to make rapid progress.” 

Master Lai Hung is a master of both the Northern Shaolin and the Choy Lay Fut styles. He believes in the importance of actual combat, and he took part in numerous Chinese and overseas tournaments and competitions of varying intensities. His feats during these various competitions are known and respected throughout the martial arts world. 

‘Daredevil Hung’, (Di Darm Hung), is Master Lai Hung’s nickname, which he earned because he is a fearless person who has the courage and will to do what he thinks is right! Straightforward and honest, Master Lai Hung is courageous enough to criticize injustices in the martial arts circle. His outspoken nature and frankness have offended certain people, but it has also won him praise and commendations from many martial artisans. 

Master Lai Hung was born in 1938 in Sunhing County, Kwantung Province. His father first instructed him in the martial arts when he was a small boy. Master Lai Hung had a natural ability for athletics, and he trained persistently and diligently. When he graduated from primary school, at the age of twelve, his interest in the martial arts had grown very strong and he very quickly enrolled in the Chinese martial arts training course taught by the Chinese Athletic Association. He trained with Sifu Loong Tse Cheung to learn the Northern Shaolin system, ‘Buk Siu Lum’, and Tai Chi, as well as the use of various traditional weapons. Sifu Loong Tse Cheung was one of the students of the famous Grandmaster of Buk Siu Lum, Ku Yu Cheung. 

Master Loong Tse Cheung

Master Lai Hung’s father was so impressed with his son’s aptitude and ability in the martial arts that he engaged the well-known and respected practitioner of the Choy Lay Fut style, Sifu Chen Chin, to tutor him at home after his school classes. This rapidly increased his progress and achievements in the martial arts, and he continued to train hard with this Sifu until he was seventeen years old.  

In 1955, Master Lai Hung next began training with Master Lai Chou of the Buk Sing Choy Lay Fut style.  Master Lai Chou was one of the personally tutored disciples of Great Grandmaster Tarm Sarm, founder of the Buk Sing branch of Choy Lay Fut. Master Lai Hung’s cleverness and diligence enabled him to make remarkable achievements in his martial arts training, and this was highly valued by his teachers. 

In 1957, when only nineteen years old, Master Lai Hung was already an accomplished martial arts instructor. In that year, the ‘Southeast Asian Chinese Martial Arts Tournament’ was to be held in Taiwan. Master Lai Hung was totally enraptured with the martial arts, and naturally felt he could not afford to miss this opportunity to compete, and immediately both he and his colleague Chan Woo Leung entered their names in the Tournament.

Master Lai Hung, left, and his fellow colleague
Chan Woo Leung aboard ship on the way
to  the Southeast Asia Chinese Martial Arts
Tournament in 1957.