This December, Master Chen Yong Fa will be leading a training tour to the Chan ancestral village. The tour will be called “Return to the Origin, Pilgrimage & Training Tour of China 2001.â€
The tour begins December 1st, ending December 18th and will include training directly under Master Chen as well as demonstrations of Ancestral or Village Style Choy Lee Fut. Included in the tour is a visit to Lo Fu Shan and King Mui Village where students and elders of the village will demonstrate.
This is a great opportunity to study with Master Chen Yong Fa as well as see and experience the birthplace of Choy Lee Fut.
I was in King Mui Village more than 10 years ago. I wonder what it is like now.
At that time, the house where Chan Heung lived was still standing and still lived in by one of his descendants. The Ancestrial Hall where he first taught CLF to the villagers was there but was turned into a school hall. I was told by one of the elders of the village that there used to hang a tiger skin from the beast killed by Chan Heung with his bare hands and also the famous Nine Dragon Trident, a weapon unique to CLF. But both these artifacts were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.
There were still people practising CLF in the village but they do the movements is a way a lot less refined than us - a kind of raw boxing style that is very interesting to watch. Their forms were short and sharp, to the point, less circular but more powerful. It was interesting to compare the old with the new, what was kept in China and what was being taught overseas. I am sure like anything else, CLF evolves all the time.
Do you have to be a student of Chen Yong Fa to join the tour? Can any CLF practitioners come?