In ancient times, many countries used military forces as the way to decide the fate of political powers. In ancient China, the rise and fall of every dynasty was determined by the might of the military forces. In the process, weapons were used and fighting skills slowly developed into various schools of Martial Arts, the art of self-attack and defense. However, with the successful inventions of mo
dern weapons such as guns, cannons and explosives had made Martial Arts lost its influence control slowly due to the fact that despite how highly skilled any martial arts school is, it is still not possible to fight against them. The Hung fist style has more than 300 years of history. During this period it had produced many famous experts within the art. From ancient times, famous Hung Kuen experts like Grandmasters Hong Hei Gun (洪熙官), Fong Sai Yok (方世玉), Tik Kiuh Saam (䥫桥三), Leong Nga Kwan (梁亚坤), Reverand Saam Dak (三德和尚), Tung Cin Gam (童千金) and Wu Wai Gon (胡惠乾), to close recent time Hung Kuen experts like Lok Ngaa Coi (陸亚采), Wong Kei Ying (黄麒英), Wong Fei Hong (黄飛鴻), Lam Sai Wing (林世榮), Sung Siu Bo (宋少波)and others, just to mention a few. Traditionally famous Hung Kuen expert, Wong Fei Hong was once a military instructor in Guangdong province of China under the Qing Dynasty Black Banner military garrison and later The Republic of China Huang Pu military school. His instructions in the military school had contributed to the wide spread of the art. Lam Sai Wing is Wong Fei Hong’s first generation successor. Grandmaster Sung Siu Bo learned the traditional Hung Kuen in Hong Kong from Great Grandmaster Lam Sai Wing. He became the master of the art during his generation and came down to South East Asia to spread Hung Kuen in Singapore and Malaysia. In Singapore, he taught the art at Gang Zhou Association. Grandmaster Sung Siu Bo became Wong Fei Hong’s second generation Hung Kuen successor in Singapore. Grandmaster Sung Ciu Yun (宋超元), the nephew of Grandmaster Sung Siu Bo who followed his uncle to South East Asia when he was a teenager and both of them eventually set foot in Singapore. Grandmaster Sung Ciu Yun learned Hung Kuen and Chinese medicine from his uncle Grandmaster Sung Siu Bo and later became Wong Fei Hong’s third generation Hung Kuen successor in Singapore. Grandmasters Sung Siu Bo and Sung Ciu Yun started teaching Hung Kuen after 1946 at Gang Zhou Association. At the same time, Grandmaster Sung Ciu Yun also practise his skills as a Chinese Physician specializing in bone fracture at his house in Chinatown. They trained the first batch of Hung Kuen students in Singapore. In the earlier history of Singapore, Gang Zhou Association was founded by the Cantonese immigrants in Singapore. Majority of the recruited students were Cantonese and most of Gang Zhou Association’s activities involved mainly the Cantonese. In 1954, Grandmaster Sung Ciu Yun set up the Lin Nam Chinese Physical Martial Arts School at Chinatown, recruiting a large number of fourth generation disciples, who became the second batch of Hung Kuen students in Singapore. At the same time, when People’s Park Complex located in Chinatown was still under construction, there were a team of young construction workers including Master Wong Ngaa Hung (王亚雄) and Master Lam Shu Fu (林書富) working at the construction site. Both of them signed up for the evening class of the Lin Nam Chinese Physical Martial Arts School, and became official students of Grandmaster Sung Ciu Yun. Since then, practitioners whom had learned Hung Kuen from the Gang Zhou Association and Lin Nam Chinese Physical Martial Arts School helped spread the art across Singapore and Malaysia. Later on, when Chinatown was undergoing major landscape reshaping, Lin Nam Martial Arts School was forced to move. Students had to be dispersed. In the 70s, Master Lam Shu Fu and the fourth generation Hung Kuen practitioners set up the Shaolin Hong Quan Athletic Association to continue spreading the Hung Kuen art. In 1975 the school was officially registered and the new training ground was inside Xiang Chang Huo Building. Eventually, Master Lam Shu Fu handed over the administration of Shaolin Hong Quan Athletic Association to Master Wong Ngaa Hung who continued the teaching of Hung Kuen. Master Wong Ngaa Hung became the Chief Instructor of Shaolin Hong Quan Athletic Association and also became Wong Fei Hong’s fourth generation Hung Kuen successor in Singapore. In 2014, The named Shao Lin Huong Chwien Athletic Association (少林洪拳体育会) is officially changed to Singapore Shaolin Hung Kuen (少林洪拳體育會).
