CHAPTER II

WHAT WAS THE REAL SIGNIFICANCE
FOR USING THE “FUT” NAME

Ching Cho didn’t exist in the Chan family CLF history, only in the Hung Sing CLF history – WHY? It all comes down to WHY the word “FUT” was used in the CHOY LAY FUT name and the logic behind it. This was explained in CHAPTER IV (The CLF Controversy) “Why The Name Choy Lay Fut Was Adopted” and “The Logic Behind The Name Choy Lay Fut”. Sifu Chan Yong Fa, the great great grandson of Chan Heung (the great ancestor and grandmaster of the Chan family martial arts), in his written biography on Chan Heung’s legacy has clearly explained why Chan Heung chose the name “CHOY LEE (pronounced LAY in Cantonese) FUT” for the martial arts he created. He chose to use the names CHOY and LEE in honor of his teachers Choy Fook and LEE Yau Sarn and to commemorate the Buddhist origin of the art, he adopted the name FUT (Buddha) since all three of his mentors could trace their lineage back to the Shaolin temple. Chan Yong Fa never revealed what martial arts style Chan Heung’s first teacher Chan Yuen Wu taught him. Since Chan Heung wanted to pay homage to the BUDDHIST (FUT) origin of the martial arts taught to him by his three teachers, why didn’t he just name it the FUT Gar (Buddhist style) martial arts?

Why would someone who wanted to pay respect to his teachers, name his own style using ONLY the names of 2 of his teachers but NOT that of his first teacher? Why would he want to omit the name of his other teacher and substitute it with the word FUT? If a father, an accomplished kung fu master, taught his son martial arts for years and then have him further his training under two other reputable masters and in time his son decided to create his own martial arts, wouldn’t he be deeply offended if his son only named his creation after the names of his other two teachers and left his name out and used another name instead!?

* THE LOGIC FOR ADOPTING THE NAME “CHOY LAY FUT” IS CLEARLY EXPLAINED IN THE HUNG SING CLF HISTORY. PLEASE READ “WHY THE NAME CHOY LAY FUT WAS ADOPTED” IN APRIL’S UPDATE ON THIS WEBSITE.

WHY WAS THE NAME “CHOY LAY FUT” A MISNOMER?

The “Fut Gar Jing Jung” name was the original name for the Hung Sing martial arts taught by Cheung Yim (Cheung Hung Sing). “Fut Gar Jing Jung” – meaning original art of Fut Gar (reference to Shaolin) was the most appropriate words used to describe our martial arts. The name “Choy Lay Fut” was a misnomer and there’s an explanation for that. The early generation of elders knew the true meaning behind the “Fut Gar Jing Jung” name. The use of the word “FUT” was not to denote Buddhism as many people presumed because the real essence of Buddhism has nothing to do with fighting and killing – it was against the religious order. However, the Shaolin Temple, although supposedly a Buddhist monastery, was associated with such offensive arts. “Choy Lay Fut” was a term that people (martial artists of other styles) used to describe our fighting style for they had discovered that the Fut Gar Jing Jung was the synthesis of 3 of the popular martial arts of the Shaolin monks – the FUT GAR, CHOY GAR AND LAY (LEE) GAR.

Because the “Choy Lay Fut” name became so overwhelmingly popular, it was later officially adopted to alleviate further confusion. However, in honor of their teacher, many of Cheung Hung Sing’s disciples preferred their martial arts to be known as HUNG SING martial arts after their beloved sifu’s name and that of their school, the HUNG SING GWOON. Hence, the name Hung Sing became synonymous to Choy Lay Fut pugilism and Cheung Hung Sing’s martial arts became known to the latter generation of Hung Sing disciples as HUNG SING CHOY LAY FUT. All this is fully detailed in the information contained in CHAPTER IV under the headings “When Was The Name CHOY LAY FUT First Adopted”, “Why The Name CHOY LAY FUT Was Adopted” and in the first paragraph of “The Logic Behind The Name CHOY LAY FUT”.


CHAPTER III