Kwong Sai Jook Lum

History

According to oral traditions, the Kwong Sai Jook Lum (江西竹林) style traces its origins to the temple Jook Lum Gee (竹林寺; Bamboo Forest Temple), Wu Tai Shan (五台山) in Shanxi province and on Mt. Longhu (龍虎山) in Jiangxi (江西) province. The monk Som Dot (三達祖師), created this new martial art system in the late 18th to early 19th century. He passed the art on to Lee Kun Ching (李官清), later known as Lee Siem See (李禪師); a name that can be translated as "Zen master Lee"). Lee Siem See would travel to Southern China and spread the art amongst the general population. In Guangdong, his student, Cheung Yiu Chung (張耀宗), would later return with him to Kwong Sai (Jiangxi) Province to complete his training at Jook Lum Gee.

Lee Wing Sing (李腎勝) originally trained in Chu Gar before becoming a student of Cheung Yiu Chung. He then continued his training at the Jook Lum Gee, learning a variant of Bamboo Forest Temple Praying Mantis that was somewhat different from (although related to) the art he learned under Cheung Yiu Chung. The lineage of Lee Wing Sing is continued by his family and disciples in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Cheung eventually moved to Hong Kong, the classes were taught by Wong Yook-Kong and this school still exists today. Wong Yook-Kong was described as a large man and in training he placed great emphasis on strength and physical conditioning before moving onto the more internal aspects of the style. One of his favorite training method was to practise with 30 to 60 LB iron rings on his wrist while he perform his forms. As a result, his students also emphasize those aspects in their training.

In the 1920s Lum Sang, one of the youngest of Cheung's students in Hong Kong, was fortunate enough to meet and study with Lee Siem See during one of Lee Siem See's trips to Hong Kong to establish a Buddhist temple (Chuk Lam Sim Yuen). Lum studied and traveled with Lee for the next seven years. In the 1930s, Lum returned to Hong Kong and opened a Kwong Sai Jook Lum Temple Tong Long Pai school in Kowloon. Lum Wing Fay was described as being small in stature, being only 5'2" and 120 lbs. In practise, he placed emphasis on softness, redirection and explosive energy and his students continue to display those traits.