History and Lineage of Chan Family Choy Lee Fut

Chan Heung - Founder of Choy Lee Fut  

Chan Heung Founded Choy Lee Fut in 1836 when he combined the knowledge gained from his 3 teachers. Chan Heung started training with his uncle Chan Yuen Wu at a very young age and had learned all his uncle had to teach him by the time he was a teenager. He then started training with a teacher from another village, Lee Yau San. Lee Yau San had great skill and was a disciple of Gee Sim. Again, he learned quickly and was ready to move on after 10 years of training, when he sought out a recluse monk named Choy Fook. Choy Fook’s skill and knowledge was immense, he trained with him for 13 years before returning to his home village of King Mui. It was there that he put together and catalogued everything he had learned from his three teachers and named it Choy Lee Fut. Choy after Choy Fook, Lee After Lee Yau San, and Fut (Buddha in Cantonese) after Buddha to commemorate the Buddhist influence of the art, as all three of his teachers could trace their teachings back to the Shaolin (Sil Lum) Temple. 

The tiger and the dragon met in heaven,

to revive our Shaolin ways.
Teach your followers righteousness,

let each generation uphold and enliven.

  Remembering its origin and holding on to its tradition

is the essential spirit of Choy Lee Fut.