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 Grand Master
Lam Cho was born in 1910 in Ping Chow, a small village in Namhoi
district of Kwangtung province. His parents passed away when
he was still a young boy. He was adopted and raised by the famous
Hung Gar Master Lam Sai Wing who was the top student of the
legendary folk hero Wong Fei Hung. Lam Sai Wing could not have
children of his own so he loved and raised Lam Cho like his own
son, gave him his family name and passed down great bulk of
his Hung Gar knowledge. He also taught Lam Cho the traditional
art of bone setting and healing, known as dit da in Chinese.
After the fall of Chin'g dynasty and in the early days of the
Republic, Lam Sai Wing was invited to live and teach in Hong
Kong. Grand master Lam Cho followed his uncle to Hong Kong and
made the former British colony his permanent home. Soon after
moving to Hong Kong, Lam Sai Wing set up the Southern Martial
Physical Culture Association (Nam Mou Taiyuk Wui) where grand
master Lam Cho assisted his uncle by teaching gung fu and eventually
took over the school.
Grand Master Lam's lifelong journey in Chinese Martial Arts
began when he was still a young boy. He was only 6 years old
when he began training in Hung Gar gung fu under the strict
but caring guidance of his uncle Lam Sai Wing. Extremely talented,
young Lam Cho was not only a natural athlete but also very intelligent
and hardworking. His natural flair combined with his conscientious
attitude towards training allowed him to quickly learn and grasp
the finer points of the art. Under the watchful eyes of his
famous uncle, young Lam Cho diligently practiced everything he
was shown and kept on practicing day after day until he perfected
every single move and mastered everything Lam Sai Wing taught
him. Lam Cho was born to be a gung fu man and destined to be
a great master. Lam Sai Wing taught his nephew everything he
knew, including the traditional art of dit da medicine along
with many secret herbal formulas which was only passed down
to the next successor of the art. Not surprisingly, grand master
Lam Cho is as famous as a dit da healer as he is for his Hung
Gar. Using his first hand knowledge and years of experience
in dit da, Lam Cho sigung has helped and healed thousands of
people all his life and still continues to do so today.
In his teens, Grand Master Lam had already become a well known
and respected figure within the martial arts community throughout
the whole of Southern China and Hong Kong. He was only sixteen
years old when he began teaching the art of Hung Gar. He was
admired by all and called sifu even at the tender age of sixteen.
Initially he assisted his uncle in teaching at his Southern
Martial Physical Culture Association which he eventually took
over. Later, he set up his own gung fu school and dit da clinic
in Hong Kong. Grand master Lam Cho also taught gung fu at the
first branch school of Lam Sai Wing and in 1933 he took over
Lam Saiwing's Branch School Nr. 2 which was formerly run by
his "si dai", younger gungfu brother Dang Hinchoi.
After taking over the second branch school Lam Cho sigung changed
the name of the school to "Lam Cho Gwok Sutt Say" (Lam
Cho's Chinese Martial Art School/society). Grand master Lam Cho was an excellent teacher and taught his art openly to all
those willing to learn. He was extremely accurate in his teaching
and always ensured that his students completely understood even
the hardest aspects of the art. Masses of students from all
over southern China traveled to learn Hung Kuen from Lam Cho.
Sigung had loads of students who in turn became quiet well known
within the Chinese Martial Arts community in Hong Kong and around
the world. Following the footsteps of their master, many of
grand master students went on to open gung fu schools of their
own through out Hong Kong and southern china.
Grand master has been one of the most celebrated gung fu masters
of his time. He often demonstrated his skills and power of his
art to the public and was invited to all important events. In
one such event during the 1930's for the British military, Lam
J0 sigung was invited to perform gung fu in front of hundreds
of foreign and Chinese spectators. The audience was amazed by
grand master powerful performance. The photos and articles about
sigung's amazing performance was published in a London newspaper
as well as local newspapers in Hong Kong. The art of Hung Gar
had now become internationally renown.
On December 8 1941, during World War II , Hong Kong woke up
to find itself in war. The Japanese military had invaded Hong
Kong and a great darkness had fallen up on the people of Hong
Kong. This was the beginning of almost four years of hardship
and deprivation. Grand Master did all he could to help ease
the pain and suffering of the people. People looked up to him
and recognized him as a leading figure within the community.
The cruel treatment by the Japanese military soon resulted with
a civil disorder breaking out in the streets of Hong Kong. Lam Cho sigung came forward as a leader to try to maintain the peace
and lead them to safety. The Japanese well aware of grand master
Lam's status and influence on the public wanted him on their
side. They pressured sigung to work for the Japanese and offered
him many privileges. Lam Cho,however, refused everything offered
by the Japanese which resulted with his studio being burned
down. He was now a wanted man and had no choice but to flee
to China. He eventually ended up in his native village of Ping
Chow. There he taught, Hung Gar gung fu in secret until the
end of the war. Sigung returned to Hong Kong once the Japanese
invasion was over. His deeds and efforts to help those in need
during the hard,haunting times of Japanese occupation are still
remembered to this day.
Back in Hong Kong, grand master re-opened his school and dit
da clinic. He also became the chairman of the Physical Culture
Association, the martial arts consultant for the Paper and Boxes
Association Union and the Dit Da herbalist of the Restaurant
Workers Union. Sigung carried on teaching his art openly to
the public and continued to treat patients using his superb
dit Da skills. Treating the rich he never over charged, treating
the poor he charged a very little or nothing at all.
Grand master Lam Cho is the living treasure of Hun Gar, a true
gung fu genius who has dedicated his entire life to the art
of Hung Gar and has been teaching more than three quarters of
a century. A man of principles and strong moral values, sigung
posses more knowledge and experience in the art of hung gar
than any one of us would ever dream of. Grand Master has contributed
much to the art of Hung Kuen. Thanks to his genius and almost
a century of hand on experience, the style of Hung Kuen has
been enriched and further developed in many different ways.
Using his extensive knowledge and vast experience in gung fu,
sigung added number of different weapon and two-man weapon sets
to the style. Furthermore, he devised the famous Tiger and Crane
two-men/sparring set (Fu Hok Seung Ying Deui Chaak). More over,
Lam Cho sigung also enriched Hung Gar with the principles and
techniques of the Northern styles. He combined power and stability
with speed and mobility.
Today, at the age of 92, Lam Cho sigung is still vigorous and
full of life. Even at such advance age, he still practices gung
fu every single morning, operates a dit da clinic and occasionally
teaches hung gar to some of the students training at his famous
studio and dit dat clinic located in Mong Kok. Grand Master
Lam Cho is one of the most venerable and greatest grand master
Hong Kong has ever seen in its rather short history. An exceptional
man, he has had an incredible life and accomplished much. Despite
all that he has achieved and accomplished in life, sigung is
extremely humble and very much down to earth. Every year Hung
Gar practitioners from all corners of the world travel to Hong
Kong to pay their respects to grand master Lam Cho and train
at his legendary gung fu studio.
Lam Cho sigung no longer takes on students and has retired from
teaching more than 20 years ago. He has passed down his great
legacy to his sons Lam
Chun Fai and Lam
Chun Sing. Like father,like son, both master Lam Chun Fai
and master Lam Chun Sing are exceptional masters gifted with
natural talent who poses decades of experience in their family
art of Hung Gar and dit DA medicine. Grand Master's first born
son, Master Lam Chun Fai runs his own gung fu school and dit
da clinic, located in North Point/Hong Kong. Master Lam Chun
Sing, sigung's youngest son, is in charge of his fathers legendary
studio in Mong Kok where he teaches gung fu. |
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