The Life of My Father, Tsui Kwun Yun
Born in 1932, my father Tsui Kwun Yun, a native of Nanhai, Foshan, Guangdong, grew up in a family of martial artists and began training at a very young age. When he was 6 years old, he started studying Choy Lee Fut with my grandfather Tsui Choeng.
In 1964, his martial brother Chan Kau recommended him to start working at the Tai Hang Tung Community Center in Kowloon Tsai. In 1968, he founded a school at Rainbow House in Kowloon, and named it «Tsui Cheung Martial Arts Institute» in honor of my grandfather’s kindness. In 1971, this kwoon was moved to the top floor of the Xin’an Building and on the second floor of the Fu Building, he opened a clinic of «die da» medicine.
In 1972 he joined the «Hong Kong National Chinese Martial Arts Association» and became a permanent member. In 1980, he was elected as the association’s first vice president.
The National Federation sent his disciples to participate in all the competitions they organized where they won many gold, silver and bronze medals, gold shields and other awards. In the same year, the National Federation sent a team to participate in the Fifth International Chinese Martial Arts TournamentIn the same year, the N organized by Malaysia, and the following year took the team to Taiwan to compete.
In 1996, he established the «International Kung Fu Federation Choy Lee Fut» and was elected president for life.
In 1997, he established the «Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut Tsui Choeng Chinese Martial Arts Association» where he served as an «eternal supervisor». Since 1998, he traveled to Foshan many times to teach Choy Lee Fut to the Hung Sing Kwoon disciples.
In 2000, he was invited by his disciple Zyu Syu Tong to visit Houston, and also visited the Republic of Venezuela in South America, where he was warmly received by the president of the local Olympic Committee, senior government officials from the military and political circles, and by his disciple Chan Kam Fai, along with all his students. He was allowed to visit the Olympic Committee in the capital, Caracas. There he taught Choy Lee Fut, which made the style flourish in South America.
After returning to Hong Kong, he traveled to Foshan many times to contact Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut’s colleagues for the reopening of Futsan Hung Sing Kwoon. After much effort, in 2001, with the approval of the Foshan government, a historic building on Funing Road, Pujun District, was donated and named «Futsan Hung Sing Memorial Hall». In October of the same year, the 150th anniversary of the creation of the Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut was celebrated, this coincided with the opening of the «Hun Sing Kwoon»so a grand opening ceremony was held. My father, my mother, and all their disciples came to celebrate the occasion. The scene was one of unprecedented emotion.
My father spent half a century promoting Choy Lee Fut and his disciples have spread it across continents. His ambition and desire was for his Choy Lee Fut teammates around the world to carry on the tradition, pass on the legacy, and become internationally known.
Text written by Tsui Zi Loeng, Tsui Kwoon Yun´s son
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Remembering my master Tsui Kwoon Yun, my gratitude to him is as big as a mountain*
At 7:05 p.m. on July 29, 2014, my mentor Tsui Kwoon Yun passed away at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Hong Kong where the efforts to reanimate him proved ineffective. Looking at my mentor’s sleeping face with tears in his eyes, watching his breathing gradually stop and his heartbeat completely lost, I felt extremely sad and helpless. I couldn’t hold him back and could only watch with sadness how my mentor left me. But my master’s goodness and teachings will remain in my heart forever.
In the summer of 1997, my sifu took his peers and disciples from the International Kung Fu Federation Choy Lee Fut to Foshan to trace his roots and those of his ancestors. He gave us his full support and helped reopen Futsan Hung Sing Kwoon. He also met my first Sifu, the Master Ho Cheung. The two admired each other and forged a deep friendship.
Under Master Ho Cheung’s recommendation, I was able to join the disciples of Sifu Tsui Kwoon Yun and study more Choy Lee Fut. For more than ten years, I received great affection from my sifu and also received all his teachings from him. At that time you still couldn’t travel freely to Hong Kong and Macau, so I couldn’t go to Hong Kong very often to learn from my teacher.
To urge me to practice hard and train me to be talented, my sifu worked tirelessly and often went to Foshan to guide me in practice and to teach me martial arts. From the Hung Sing in the Enguang neighborhood, through my workplace, the park near my house, to the Hung Sing Kwoon on Xiang’an Street all theese places were marked with my teacher’s footprints and sweat.
To improve my level of teaching, I personally went to Shen Cun Elementary School, the fifth elementary school and other schools where I taught Choy Lee Fut, there he guide my work as a teacher. My master personally showed me the teaching methods and how to explain myself, which made me understand a many things and benefited me a lot. To help me to carry out the work in the Hung Sing Kwoon, my sifu often took me to participate in celebrations of other kung fu schools around the world. He introduced me to many well-known high-level Choy Lee Fut teachers and gradually established friendly cooperative relations with the headmasters of Foshan kung fu schools, laying a good foundation for exchanges and cooperation between the Foshan Hung Sing Kwoon and comrades from the rest of the world.
My master didn’t seek fame or money, but he still dedicated his whole life to the Hung Sing Kwoon! His greatest wish was to continue the Hung Sing Kwoon and pass on the Choy Lee Fut from generation to generation! When Sifu was sill, I visited him many times during his hospitalization, and what he told me most was that I should develop and disseminate Choy Lee Fut to the next generations.
My gratitude to my master is as big as a mountain, and his request must not be ignored! I will remember my Sifu’s last wish and do my best to transmit and carry forward the Choy Lee Fut. I will teach the martial arts learned from my master to comfort his spirit in heaven.
Disciple: Leung Wai Wing
*»en zhong ru shan 恩重如山«: Expresion that means «a debt of gratitude as heavy as a mountain».
Translated by María Arias Antoranz 何天萍