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The following is an article reprinted in
whole from the 2001 Choi Lei Fut Reunion Program. This article was
written by Pan Yue after an interview with Grandmaster Lun Tse (Lun
Chee). Many of the names of
Masters and places are translated into the English version of Mandarin. FOURTH
GENERATION GRANDMASTER (Choy Lei Fut – Second Generation Buk Sing) At
91 years of age, the elder Lun Chee (or Chee Lun as he is better known
in his adopted country of Canada in Calgary, Vancouver), could still out
pace many young men with his steady and confident strides. The ramrod
straight posture of his six -foot frame would put many slothful
youngsters to shame. His
lucidity and alertness were beyond doubt as he hiked the twisting paths
of memory to bring us vivid description of events that happened nearly
eighty years ago, and even from his childhood days. It provided us with
valuable information on the generation of masters that came after Jeong
Hong Sheng (Cheung Yim or Cheung Hung Sing). Elder
Lun Chee cuts a distinguished picture of an oriental gentleman. He
speaks in firm measured tones and puts across his point without ifs or
buts as a man of authority on the subject he knows best - the history
and fighting techniques of Hong Sheng Choi Lei Fut. He is the closest
living source we can get to the history of Choi Lei Fut gongfu, as he is
the oldest surviving student to the third generation Hong Sheng master,
Tam Sarm. He
personifies the paradoxical mix of an experienced gongfu master who had
seen the world through several eras and a polished gentleman in every
sense. His gallantry was so obviously exemplified in his recent visit to
Singapore. He had as always, in all of his visits to Singapore, made it
a point to pay a courtesy call on our Kwan "Si-mo" –Mrs.
Kwan Mun Keng. That speaks a lot of his respect and how he treasures the
brotherly relationship he had with our late grandmaster Kwan. In his
recent visit, he invited Kwan "Si-mo" to join him and a group
of Hong Sheng Koon members for dinner at a restaurant. The person, who
was assigned to fetch Kwan "Si-mo" from her home, lost his
way. The half an hour wait at the restaurant extended far beyond the
hour. As some of us were afraid that the wait might be too long for the
elder, we took the liberty to order some food for him. He was taken
aback when the food arrived and chided us for doing that. He refused to
touch the food as he insisted that it is highly disrespectful of the
host to start the meal before the guest arrives. He added that this
etiquette must always be observed, especially when a lady guest had been
invited. Naturally, none of us dared to touch the food too although we
were famished by then. That's the Elder Lun Chee whom the Choi Lei Fut
fraternity has come to revere.
Elder
Lun started learning gongfu from Tam Sarm at age 14. In a recent
interview with the Chinese newspaper, Lian Her Wan Bao, in Singapore, he
claimed that it was the thrill of lion dancing that actually attracted
him to join Hong Sheng Tam Koon when he was a boy. The irony of it was
that the martial arts school he joined did not have any lion dancing
lessons until a much later stage. He had by then, found his new love -
Fut Kar Zheng Chong, the most original name of the Hong Sheng martial
arts that was to be later known worldwide as Choi Lei Fut. He
continued his study of fut kar kuen with his teacher throughout his
adult life, until the latter's death at the age of 69. Elder Lun
remembered his late teacher as one who was not only extremely skillful
with his fists but with his written and spoken language as well. He
recalled that his late teacher was a much sought after writer of
petitions for people who had grievances or cases for mention before the
courts of that time. Elder
Lun was already such an accomplished gongfu master in his younger days
that his clansmen and many Chinese associations and societies implored
him to impart his skill to their members, even while he was still
training under his teacher. He declined the invitations as he shunned
publicity and he considered himself still in a learning stage,
benefiting from his master's teaching. However, the clansmen would not
let him off that easily. They wrote to his teacher, Tam Sarm, who
persuaded him to start the gongfu lessons as requested and before he
knew it, the clansmen had a huge signboard made of teakwood that read
"Buk Sing Lun Chee Kwoon". It was hung prominently in place at
the site where they wanted him to start the classes. |
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