THE HISTORY OF NORTHERN EAGLE CLAW IN CHINA & AMERICA.
THE BIOGRAPHY OF MASTER LEUNG SHUM
(The info on this web page is reproduced in part from the booklet produced by the Eagle Claw Association in 1994 for the anniversary of Sifu Shum's 20 years of teaching in America)
|
|
Sifu Shum (left) with Grandmaster Ng Wai Nung (center) and his older training
brother Shum Man Lock in the 1950's. |
In March 1994 Ying Jow Pai, the Eagle Claw Kung Fu school,
celebrated its first twenty years in America. It was in 1974 that Master Leung Shum opened
his Northern Eagle Claw Kung Fu School on 28th Street in New York City, the first and
foremost school that teaches this system in the Eastern United States. Through the past
twenty years, thousands of students have learned and practiced the Eagle Claw system. Some
have studied for twenty years, others only a few months, but all of them have benefited
from the teaching of our Sifu (or teacher), Master Shum, and their lives all have been
changed by him in many ways. Today, twenty years after Sifu Shum started teaching, the
next generation of students, that is, his students' students and their children, is coming
of age and already practicing. The second generation of Sifu Shum's students is carrying
on the Eagle Claw system. |
Above: Sifu Shum in his youth, practicing Eagle Claw in a Hong Kong
park.
|
The Northern Eagle Claw system includes 25 fist forms,
more than 25 weapon forms, over 25 partner (two-men or three-men) sets and the essence of
the system, the 108 locking hand techniques. The techniques of the Eagle Claw system come
from the movements of the eagle: powerful claws, fast eyes, smooth movements and lightning
fast techniques. The "Seven Principles" of Eagle Claw kung fu are Jow Da Cum Na
(clawing and locking), Dim Yut Bye Hei (attacking pressure points and stopping the
breath), Cow Wai Sau Fung (locking), Diu Cow Fing Lau (controlling, pushing and pulling),
Sim Jim Tong Na (twisting, jumping and dropping to the floor), Noi Sup Chung Dit (falling
and techniques using waist) and Fun Gun Chaw Quat (cutting veins and shattering bones). |
Above: Master Shum demonstrates a classic Eagle Claw move. This is a combination arm
pull, neck grab and leg sweep.
|
The history of Eagle Claw
Originally the Eagle Claw system, whose complete history is told in Sifu Shum's book
Eagle Claw Kung Fu: Classical Northern Chinese Fist, was called Elephant style, a system
of hand combat that Ngok Fei, said to be the most brilliant general of the Southern Song
dynasty (1127-1279 AD), taught to his soldiers. The Song court had fled south of the Huai
river, a tributary of the Yang Tse River, before the Jürched (a Siberian people who were
the ancestors of the Manchus, the last rulers of China before the country became a
Republic), who had conquered North China. The Song court set up its capital in Hang Chow.
General Ngok Fei defeated the Jürched every time he fought them. Just hearing Ngok Fei's
name filled the Jürched with terror. Ngok Fei was able to win victory after victory
because he was a clever tactician, and above all because of the kung fu system he taught
to his troops. |
|
Ngok Fei was a junior officer who rose from the ranks
of recruits. He was not only an excellent strategist, but also a scholar and always showed
moral integrity and loyalty to the Emperor. He inspired discipline among his troops, won
the people's support, succeeded in suppressing bandits who were roaming the land, and
defeated the Jürched cavalry with infantry tactics. |
Above: Master Shum in his youth practicing Eagle Claw grappling with
an elder training brother at the Hong Kong school. |
Unfortunately for Ngok Fei, at that time Prime
Min-ister Ch'in Kwei was working out a peace settlement with the Jürched. Ngok Fei's
integrity and popularity were not only jeopardizing the peace accord, but also threatening
a shaky regime, the Emperor being a lackluster ruler. Ch'in Kwei falsely accused Ngok Fei
of insubordination and convinced the Emperor to order him back to the capital. Ngok Fei,
who knew very well what was waiting for him, refused to obey. Three times he disregarded
the imperial command. Finally the Emperor sent him a "gold edict" - an order
that could not be ignored under penalty of death. Ngok Fei had no choice: he headed back
to the capital. Once there, he was immediately thrown into prison where he was murdered.
He was thirty-nine. It is widely believed that Ch'in Kwei engineered Ngok Fei's murder. |
|
Ngok Fei's soldiers, enraged at the grossly unfair
punishment he had suffered, disbanded and continued training on their own. A monk named
Lai Chin, who was already the master of his own system called Faan Tzi, happened to see
Ngok Fei's former soldiers training during his travels. He recognized the value of their
techniques and decided to incorporate them into his own system. Faan Tzi Eagle Claw was
born: today it is known as the Northern Eagle Claw system. |
Great Grandmaster Chan Tzi
Ching's Eagle Claw class in the 1920's. His student, Ng Wai Nung, is seated second from
the right.
|
Above: Great Grandmaster Lau Fat Man, disciple of Chan Tzi Ching and manager of the
Hong Kong Ching Mo Association.
|
Lai Chin taught Northern Eagle Claw to his
student, another monk named Toa Gai, who in turn passed it on to one of his lay students,
Lau Shing Yuo. The latter trained his son, Lau Kai Man, in the system. Originally, the
Northern Eagle Claw system was to remain within the Lau clan and was not to be taught to
outsiders. But Lau Kai Man taught it not only to his nephew in the Lau family, Lau Fat
Man, but also to Chan Tzi Ching, his sister's son. |
Above: Chan Tzi Ching, founder of the Ching Mo Association and one of
the great Eagle Claw masters.
|
Chan Tzi Ching founded the Ching Mo Kung
Fu Association in Shanghai with his friend, Fawk Yun Gop. Other sifus soon joined the
association. Chan Tzi Ching also went to Hong Kong to set up another Ching Mo Association,
but he soon had to return to Shanghai and left the Hong Kong Ching Mo Association in the
care of Lau Fat Man. Sifu Shum's teacher (our Sigong), Ng Wai Nung, trained extensively
under Lau Fat Man. |
Above: The Great Grandmaster Lau Fat Man (left) with Grandmaster Ng Wai
Nung.
|
During the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945),
the Hong Kong Ching Mo Association was closed. Lau Fat Man spent the war teaching in
Canton with Ng Wai Nung. After the war, Lau Fat Man went back to Hong Kong and taught for
five years in the Restaurant Workers' Union. Ng Wai Nung also came back and taught in an
opera actors' club and gave private lessons in both kung fu and tai chi. Later Ng Wai
Nung opened a school on Tai Po Road in Kowloon, where he taught untill his death in 1992.
Great-Grandmaster Lau Fat Man also opened a school and later taught privately until his
death in the mid-1960's. His daughters, Lily and Gini Lau now teach in California. |
|
|