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Wong Fei Hung or Hwang Fei Hung (traditional Chinese: 黃飛鴻; simplified Chinese: 黄飞鸿; pinyin: Huáng Fēihóng; Cantonese Yale: Wòhng Fēihùhng) (1847–1924) was a martial artist, a traditional Chinese medicine physician, acupuncturist and revolutionary who became a Chinese folk hero and the subject of numerous television series and films. He was considered an expert in the Hung Gar style of Chinese martial arts. Wong Fei Hung is visibly the most famous Hung Gar practitioner of modern times. As such, his branch/lineage has received the most attention and as such recorded in various documents.
As a physician, Wong practiced and taught acupuncture and other forms of traditional Chinese medicine at Po-Chi-Lam (寶芝林), his private practice medical clinic in Foshan, Guangdong province, China. A museum dedicated to him was built in Foshan. Wong's most famous disciples included Lam Sai-wing, Leung Foon, Tang Fung and Ling Wan Gai. Wong was also associated with Beggar So.
According to legend, Wong Fei Hung was born in Foshan on the 9th day of the 7th month of the 27th year of the reign of the Daoguang Emperor (c. 1847), the son of Wong Kei Ying - who was one of the "Ten Tigers of Canton".
Wong Kei Ying had learned his martial arts from Luk Ah Choi (陸阿采), a classmate of Hung Hei Gun (洪熙官) who was the founder of the Hung Gar style of Chinese martial arts. At the age of five, Wong Kei Ying started teaching Wong Fei Hung the knowledge that was handed down to him: Single Hard Fist, Double Hard Fist, Taming the Tiger Fist (伏虎拳), Mother & Son Butterfly Knives (子母雙刀), Angry Tiger Fist, Fifth Brother Eight Trigram Pole (五郎八卦棍), Flying Hook, and Black Tiger Fist (黑虎拳).
At the age of 13, Wong met Lam Fuk Sing, the first apprentice of Tit Kiu Saam in Douzhixiang, Foshan during a martial arts demonstration. Lam taught Wong the "Tour de Force" of Iron Wire Fist and Sling, which helped Wong become a master of Hung Ga. When he was 16, Wong Fei Hung set up his first martial art school at Shuijiao, Guangdong and then opened his clinic Po-Chi-Lam (寶芝林) at Renan Street in Foshan.
Wong was recruited by Jiming Provincial Commander-in-Chief Wu Quanmei and Liu Yongfu to be the medical officer and martial arts drill instructor of the military and local militia of Guangdong. Wong followed Liu Yongfu to fight the Japanese army in Taiwan later. Wong lost his son and Po-Chi-Lam in his later years in a blaze. Wong died of illness on the 25th day of the 3rd month in 1924 at Chengxi Fangbian Hospital in Guangdong. Wong's wife and his students Lam Sai-wing and Tang Sai-King moved to Hong Kong later, where they continued Wong's legacy by teaching his martial arts. Wong's became a legendary folk hero as his real life story was romanticised in print and on screen.
Wong was a master of "Hung Fist". He systematized the predominant style of "Hung Fist" and choreographed its version of the famous "Tiger Crane Paired Form Fist", which incorporates his "Ten Special Fist" techniques. Wong was famous for his skill with the technique known as the "Shadowless Kick". He named the techniques of his skills when he performed them.
Wong was adept at using weapons such as the staff and southern tiger fork. One tale recounts how Wong defeated a group of 30 gangsters on the docks of Guangdong using the staff.
Wong is sometimes incorrectly identified as one of the "Ten Tigers of Canton". His father Wong Kei-Ying was one of the ten but he was not. Wong is dubbed as "Tiger after the Ten Tigers" for his heroic efforts to defend the pride of the Chinese when the Chinese faced oppression from foreign powers.
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