A Brief History of Lei Tai Fighting in Hong Kong

An excerpt from my Kung Fu brother - Osmond Lam Kwok Fai's book "Secret Leg Techniques of Wing Chun". A brief history of Lei Tai fighting in Hong Kong with with a Wing Chun slant. The English version of the book is slated to be published in the Fall to coincide with the release of Yip Man 3. Translated from the Chinese by yours truly.  

In the 1950s and 60s, apart from personal duels, martial artists would also go overseas to measure themselves against other martial artists and accumulate experience. 

On the 22nd January in 1957, the Chinese National Boxing Association organised the first "Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau Guoshu Competition" at Sanjun Stadium in Taipei. From the Hong Kong and Macau side, the team leader Chan Duk Siu led ten elite martial artists to take part, and each person paid 300 dollars in travel costs. The team consisted of Wing Chun "King of Sparring" Wong Shun Leung, Wu Style lineage holder Chen Tin Hong, Northern Shaolin [ ] Gap Soo, Dao Style Yuen Cheung, Rougong Style Liu Tze Keung, Tai Chi's Woo Shing, White Crane's Chan Tze Yuen, Choy Li Fatt's Chan Wu Leung and Lai Hung, Mantis Tseng Jun Hwa, and others. The consultanting team included a collection of great masters such as Grandmaster Yip Man, Rougong Style's Ha Kwok Cheung, Shaolin Hapgar's Wu Yeen Ming, Buddha Style's Chan Ging Wun,  Hung Kuen's Mok Yee, Choy Li Fat's Lee Chou, and the "Three Fu's of White Crane" - Kwong Boon Fu, Luk Chee Fu and Chen Hak Fu.  The winners and results of this  "Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau Guoshu Competition" were closely watched by the public. But the most attention was focused upon the regulations of the competition. One these regulations were successfully implemented, they would be the rules relied upon by future Guoshu competitions and would allow these competitions to be held more frequently and would help in the promotion of Guoshu.

After the competition was over, the participants and old masters from Hong Kong and Macau felt that there were many areas that could be improved upon, one of which was the method of scoring. The regulations had one rule which stipulated : "If a competitor is able to knock down or throw down his opponent to the floor (if the elbow does not touch the ground it is not counted as a knockdown) he receives 3 points"; another rule stipulated "In a single match of three minutes (and according to rumour was later reduced to two minutes) the one who strikes harder and strikes the opponent more times is awarded two points". That meant that no matter how many times a competitor struck the opponent in a round, the points would never be as many as if he threw the opponent once. For those who were unfamiliar with jiujitsu or shuai jiao, it was an obvious disadvantage. It was said that "The King of Sparring" Wong Shun Leung when faced off with the Taiwanese "King of Kicks" Wu Ming Jer, Wong maintained a furious attack, but because the opponent's head and body were protected, he was not cowed. However in the end Wong, was kicked by Wu and fell down, which gave the opponent three points, and led to Wong losing the match.

Apart from the scoring system needing to be improved, everyone felt that the organisers should have taken the fighters' health into account. For example, the competition made it such that one fighter had to fight three times consecutively in a single day, with three different opponents, and this unquestionably utterly exhausted the fighter. As this was a martial arts tournament and each fighter would give it their all, minor injuries were unavoidable, but if one sustained internal injuries it would not be immediately obvious. As the organisers arranged for the competitors to to fight again within a few hours or forfeit, this truly showed a disregard for human life. In the case of Master Hu Shing who trained in Tai Chi, he had already won two stages, but he had sprained his wrist, the convention did not allow him time to rest and recuperate, and insisted that he had to take part in the final competition. All he had to do was compete and under the rules where he had already won two of the three matches this meant that he would automatically win, but as he was already injured and and did not want to damage his reputation [by losing], he decided to forfeit and gave up the title. 

This overall winner of the Meet was Chen Rung Chien, the silver medallist was Wu Ming Jer, and third prize went to Kao Sen Wang, who were all from Taiwan. After the event, the results were analyzed by the Hong Kong media and martial arts community, the reason for Hong Kong and Macau's loss to the North could be attributed to several points. First, there was no transparency in the way that the Taiwanese organised the draw, each competitor was assigned a number instead of a name, but there was no announcement beforehand which competitor had which number, once the number was chosen then the Taiwanese would announce who would be competing, leading many on the Hong Kong side to suspect that the Taiwanese had already secretly prepared the pairings beforehand. 

Secondly during the weigh-in there was no one from the Hong Kong-Macau side present, so when the  weights were announced there was a great deal of suspicion. Also in the pairings there was also a discrepancy in the weights of the participants. For instance, pairing the 148 pound Woo Shing against the 190 pound Taiwanese Kao Sen Wang, there was a difference of 40 pounds in the weight, and Woo Shing was at a great disadvantage in terms of body size. Another unfair point was pairing the better Hong Kong fighters against each other, so they would wear each other down, and in the round robin would have exhausted themselves, but for the Taiwanese it was felt that when they fought each other, the winner had already been decided in advance, and with only a few blows a winner was determined. So in the finals the Hong Kong fighter's stamina was not up to the Taiwanese. 

As for the Hong Kong-Macau side there were a few competitors who retired because they did not like the regulations, there were a few who too old and were barred from competing, and some wanted just to observe the setup and did not have any intention of competing, and this weakened the Hong Kong- Macau side; in addition the Taiwanese competitors combined Guoshu and Japanese Jiujitsu, and many were ex-military with very strong constitutions, all those reasons combined to give Taiwan every advantage and they were the big winners. 

Although the Hong Kong side did not win any prizes, they did record wins against the Taiwanese during the competition, like the Tai Chi master Cheng Tin Hung, he defeated the Head Coach for the Taiwanese joint forces (air, sea and land) and three times Wushu Champion Yu Wen Tung. Although Cheng Tin Hung was injured and did not go the second round, his performance demonstrated the power of the Hong Kong side and his performance was a credit to the Hong Kong team. 

Putting aside who was right and who was wrong, the author believes the competition also brought a lot of benefits to the Hong Kong martial arts, as it provided an opportunity for everyone to better understand the techniques and rules of fighting in the ring. Fortunately the proceedings were recorded on film, and was made into a documentary called "A Meeting of Masters  - A Special on the Taiwanese -Hong Kong - Macau Competition" which was released in Hong Kong on 12th February 1958. It was said that Bruce Lee could not believe that his kung fu brother Wong Shun Leung lost to Wu Ming Jer in the first round, so he used the opportunity to view the footage to figure out what happened. According to his good friend the director Little Kirin, Bruce Lee watched the movie eight times during the four days it was being shown in the theatres, as he wanted to figure out how Wong had lost in the fight and figure out Wing Chun's weakness against other styles in the ring, to figure out how to improve his own techniques. 

After this Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Competition, incidents where Hong Kong martial artists went abroad to fight were few, and most fights remained on the level of personal duels, until May 1959, the Singapore National Guoshu Association, to celebrate the founding of Singapore a hundred and fifty years ago, arranged the "The First South East Asian Guoshu Invitational", and this again raised the interest of Hong Kong martial artists in lei tai fighting.     

At that time the Chief Editor of the "Tin Tin Daily" Wai Gei Sun, using his status as the Head Coach of the Tin Tin Athletic Association, led the young talent to compete. At that time the Dah Shing Pek Kua Master had a disciple that he was especially proud of called Chan Kuan Tai, (a famous action star in the 70s and 80s), and was encouraged by his master to compete. The twenty three year old Chan Kuan Tai had an ideal body at 65kg. and in five rounds he won five times, and won the title for Lightweight A division and shook the whole martial world. Subsequently in an interview he remembered how he prepared for the fight, and he especially prepared techniques for the ring from Karate, Shuai Jiao, and Thai Boxing. He believes that he won that time because he placed an emphasis on physical fitness, in a three minute round from a fitness aspect, he he a sixty-forty percent advantage over his opponent. 

From the interview the author believes that Chan Kuan Tai had absorbed the lessons of the earlier "Taiwan-Hong Kong- Macau Competition". Before the competition he trained his body hard and in arts such as karate, shuai jiao and Thai boxing, this allowed him to more easily read the movements of opponents from different countries, but also allowed him to understand the secret of winning in the ring. According to him, his fellow fighters also followed this training plan in subsequent competitions, and with his practical experience in the ring he was able to give pointers to his brothers on defence, so he was able to win the title four consecutive times. From this it can be seen that although a good foundation in one style is important, but the tricks of fighting in the ring are an important part that cannot be neglected. 

After a few experiences fighting overseas, the Hong Kong martial community had gained a better understanding of the regulation of fighting in the ring. They saw the Singapore National Guoshu Association had put on a colourful competition, but in Hong Kong they did not have a single association, even less the ability to put on a big competition. At that time Asian arts such as Karate, Judo, Tae Kwon Do and Thai Boxing (at that time called freestyle fighting) were very popular in Hong Kong and attracted many young people to train, having seen this the Guoshu community had the idea of promoting Hong Kong Guoshu. 

At the end of the 1960s, a Tai Chi Master - Yeung Ging Shuen was celebrating his wedding anniversary at the Geen Kwok Restaurant on the sixth floor of the Chung Wah Department Store Building and he invited a number of famous masters such as Kwan Tak Hing and Lee Ying Arng, and the people from Singapore's Hung Shing Kwoon. Master Kwan felt saddened that Hong Kong not have a unifying association for Guoshu, with the community splintered into many groups, and he intended to set up the Hong Kong Guoshu Association to unify all the different schools. Although there were supporters and detractors at the dinner, but at the end they were able to set aside their differences and prejudices, and agreed to set up the Hong Kong Chinese Guoshu Association. 

The Hong Kong Chinese Guoshu Association started fundraising on 9th of November 1968 and was registered on 8th August 1969 and was officially founded on 16th May 1970 (note: the Hong Kong Chinese Guoshu Association officially changed its name to the Hong Kong Chinese Guoshu Lion Dance Association on the first September 1970.)  The founders were Kwan Tak Hing, Lee Ying Arng, Lung Kay Ming, Chan Han Chung and eight other masters. The first official gathering of members took place at the King Wah Restaurant. After its foundation, the members intended to hold their first lei tai competition. 

Actually prior to the foundation of the Hong Kong Chinese Guoshu Association, different schools, or local groups had held large Guoshu competitions, but most were based on demonstrations. For example in October 1955, Yau Ma Tei Resident's Benefit and Improvement Association had a fundraising event that lasted three nights "All-Hong Kong Northern and Southern Guoshu Master's Demonstration Competition" The competition involved the Guoshu associations of all the large workers unions (like the banquet hall and cafe workers union, restaurant workers union, etc.), most large Guoshu Sports Schools, Boxing halls, etc. they all sent representatives to show off their skills. In the winter of 1969, Wing Chun's Leung Ting, held the first Wing Chun Demonstration Competition at at the then Hong Kong Baptist College, attending were Grandmaster Yip Man, Inspector Tang Sang, and Yip Man's disciples like Koo Sang, Wong Chuen, etc. There were also many instructors from other schools such as Dao Style's  Yip Tin Duk who received invitations. 

Although these demonstrations held by local organizations and schools had the benefit of promoting Guoshu techniques, but they were restricted to different schools, and were at the end of the day just performances, and were unable to demonstrate the effectiveness of their techniques in the ring. From the time that the Hong Kong China Guoshu Association was founded, members had harboured the desire to arrange a lei tai competition, and through the competition hastily arranged by Inspector Tang Sang, "The First Chinese Martial Arts [Public Sparring] Competition", as a pretext for fundraising for the main organization, it was held on the 27th February 1971 in the Concert Hall in City Hall, and gathered many masters from different styles to spar on the platform. But due to the legal restrictions at the time it was still a "Sparring Demonstration"

In order to promote the event, the Wing Chun world held a "All-Hong Kong Wing Chun Qualifying Competition. This was organized by Inspector Tang Sang at Ma Mei Ha village in Fan Ling, New Territories at the Tang Clan Ancestral Temple, and through this they were able to select the competitors for the Competition. Two of the author's Sibak Ho Pak Cheng and Wong Kim Chung also qualified in this preliminary competition. Having been favored, Wong Kim Chung did not let Yip Man and Chow Sigong down and won in the finals.  It was said that there needed to be a selection, because Wong Shun Leung's disciple had opened with a Mun Sau stance during the previous competition, but was immediately kicked by his opponent and retired with a broken wrist. At that time it was rumoured that Yip Man feel humiliated, so he decided that the competitors had first to qualify before they could represent the Wing Chun School. This was probably because the students in those days did not have adequate preparation or experience of fighting on the platform,  and did not adapt their techniques accordingly. Of course the author has always believed that Wing Chun is not a form of kung fu or sport for fighting in the ring, but it is a form of self defence for street fighting. 

For a Wing Chun practitioner to win in the competitions was a good thing, but Yip Man had grander goals, but he hoped that his students would have a better result in the next competition. Thus in 1972, before the "Third Chinese Martial Arts [Sparring] Competition" he invited Tang Sang to organise the one time "Yip Man Cup" qualifying competition, to select the Wing Chun representatives. This time the qualifiers took place at Ma Wei Ha village in Fan Ling, in the Tang Villa Main Hall, at that time Yip Man's disciples like Lok Yiu, Pang Kam Fat, Ho Kam Ming and Chow Sze Chuen all turned out to support. Yip Man encouraged each disciple to select two students to come and compete. The authors's kung fu uncle Chan Wai was selected by Chow Sigong, to spar with other Wing Chun practitioners. 

According to Chan Wai, each pair of competitors were only required to fight a single round to decide the winner, and it was incumbent upon the Adjudication Committee consisting of Wing Chun Masters on who would be selected to represent the style. Chan Wai was very fierce and courageous, and his level of techniques were high, and impressed all the judges, who all wrote down his name as a representative for the larger competition. With a smile, Chan Wai mentioned that at time only Chow Sigong did not vote for him, because he did not want to be viewed as prejudiced, so he humbly chose someone else. Eventually Chan Wai was selected with high ratings to compete along with Ho Kam Ming's student Lee Siu Hung. 

Talking about 1972, many people will not forget that on 18th June, on Tsui Ping Road in Kwun Tong and Kotewall Road in Mid- Levels in Hong Kong, there were two incidences of buildings collapsing because of landslides, leading to the deaths of 156 people, and 117 injured. Hong Kong was abuzz with talk of a charitable fundraiser for the disaster, and the Hong Kong Chinese Guoshu Association did not was be seen as left behind, and used the proceeds of the "Third Chinese Martial Arts [Sparring] Competition" as a donation, and this was praised by all quarters. 

The competition was held on the 6th August 1972 at City Hall in Central and lasted over two days, apart from Wing Chun sending Chan Wai, Li Siu Hung, Hung Chung and Tam Kam Hing, the other styles such as Da Shing Pek Kua, Eagle Claw, Tai Chi, Choy Li Fut, Hung Kuen, Bak Mei, White Crane, Tang Sau Do sent their representatives to get together and compete.      

In those days the regulations first required that each person would first be weighed, and would then be assigned to different classes. In the case of the twenty two year old Chan Wai, he was approximately 105 pounds, and he was assigned to the lightweight class, and his opponent was decided by the luck of the draw. 

The competition was of three rounds with two victories deciding the winner. Each round was 2 minutes, and three rounds decided the winner. If there was a competitor that was injured such that the bleeding would not stop, he was forbidden from continuing in the competition for his own safety. According to the memories of Chan Wai, in those days the rules allowed kicking but kicking of the genitals was forbidden, and one could hit the head, everyone wore a helmet, chest and crotch protection and they wore 4 ounce boxing gloves. The referee blew on his whistle, and Chan Wai flew forward, both hands and feet extended, using speed to overcome his opponent, and used all his techniques at once, and within two minutes had beaten his opponent until his mouth and nose were bleeding, but as his opponent opted to continue, they finally went to the full three rounds, beating his opponent and taking the title and a golden flag. 

Due to the many different classes, the competition was based upon victory in a single match, and that was the end of the competition. So there were more than ten different winners in more than ten classes. Many thought that winning in such as way was not representative of the skills, thus under the pressure from the participating organisations, the Hong Chinese Guoshu Association in October 1976 during the "Eleventh Chinese Guoshu [Sparring] Competition] there were three tiers of prizes, gold, silver and bronze medals, and later a golden shield and golden cup were also added, to attract more participants. 

From 1971 onwards ring fighting in Hong Kong underwent a thirteen year Golden Age, for the most part the competition was organised by the Hong Kong Chinese Guoshu Association, each year the competition was held twice and it usually took place over the Saturday and Sunday over the weekend at the Southorn Playground in Wanchai and the admission tickets cost 15 or 20 dollars. For several years the winners had specially trained in techniques for fighting in the ring, and incorporated the techniques of their own style, so each match was exciting and attracted a large audience, and the number of fans increased daily, which led to the matches being held more often, and started to involve other martial arts associations and began to be held in different formats, it was really a case of a hundred flowers blooming. For instance, the Hong Kong Chinese Gush Association in association with the "New Martial Hero" magazine held the New Martial Hero Cup in 1978, and another organisation - the Hong Kong Kung Fu Association also held a competition once a year. 

The lei tai fighting competitions spread everywhere, but the regulations varied, like the type of protective gear that could be used, the weight classes, there was no unifying structure. Until the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s, some organisations gave up using the three foot high raised platform structure, and changed to the boxing ring enclosed with ropes, and did not require that competitors wear helmets and protection, this encouraged close contact fighting, and attracted even more fans looking for visceral excitement. 

The ring fighting was a noisy and colourful event that was eagerly awaited every year. However on the 31st September 1979 there was a fatal accident, which shocked the fighting community. At that time the Hong Kong Kung Fu Association held the "Fourth Guoshu Competition" on the second night during the 17th match-up, in the Middle A Class bronze medal match, Lam Chung Cheng from the Lama Style was fighting Bak Mei's Chan Ming Duk. After the match started, Lam initiated a left sweeping kick and it just happened to strike Chan's neck. Unfortunately this was the second time that the competition did not require the competitors to wear protective helmets, having been kicked by Lam, the unprotected Chan collapsed to the ground, and expired in the ring.  

This tragedy shocked the martial community, and the community took responsibility and donated 26640 dollars to express its condolensces. As a result of this incident, several of the organisers and committee members including Tai Chi Master Sim Mang Ho were detained by the police for questioning. 

This incident led the community to rethink the safety of the leitai fighting setup, and they improved upon the existing regulations, so that from the 70s until the middle of the 80s there was a great emphasis on safety. However from the mid 80s until the late 80s, lei tai fighting started to decline, with one of leading causes was the entry of Muai Thai fighters which opened the eyes of fans, showing them a faster and more brutal form of free fighting, converting many of the die hard Guoshu fans. Also seeing how advantageous Muai Thai was in the Ring, many Chinese martial artists converted to studying Muai Thai, and fought in Muai Thai matches, leading to an outflow of talent. 

There were those who did not want Chinese Guoshu to be overshadowed by Muai Thai, or were concerned about their loss in profits, and they lobbied the British government to place additional regulatory requirements on Thai Boxing. There were those who said in those days there were more and more Guoshu academies but Thai boxing schools also tried to get in on the action, and some martial arts organisations saw that there was profit to be had in promoting competitions, organised more and more free style fighting competitions, which then led to the Colonial government to keep a close watch on developments. The number of people training in martial arts increased exponentially, in an [economically fragile] environment, crime figures began to rise, and the general security started to decline. The Government, legislators and citizens natural began to place the blame for the decline in security to the riding trend in training in martial arts. 

The author does not wish to debate whether the government and legislators were overzealous in their approach towards martial arts. But on 1st January 1985, the government stipulated that all competitors in free style fighting competitions must wear protective gear, this greatly reduced the thrill of watching ring fighting, and led to an exodus of fans, who went to watch international competitions. 

As a result, the methods used to combat the incursion of Thai style free fighting, also affected the Hong Kong Chinese martial arts, and led to a new dark age in let tai fighting and the promotion of martial arts. The Colonial Government also placed new restrictions on the venues available for free style fighting, which affected the development of lei tai fighting, which led to many competitions playing to silent and empty venues. Although there continued to be a base of silent support amongst martial arts fans, in the last ten years, the recent wushu and kungfu craze has been promoted by movies and schools of the various styles, and this has led to a new crop of people who have come to train. Especially with  the screening of Donnie Yen's "Yip Man" movie, there has again been a world wide outpouring of love for Wing Chun, and can be compared to the earlier craze for Bruce Lee. As someone who loves martial arts in Hong Kong, seeing the martial community regain some of its former glory, I feel great happiness for both our seniors and for those who are treading in our footsteps after us.