Lam Yiu-gwai　林耀桂 (1877–1966) was the master responsible for the dissemination of

Dragon Kung Fu The movements of the Southern Dragon style (traditional name Lung Ying "Dragon Form"; ) of Shaolin Boxing are based on the mythical Chinese dragon. The Dragon style is an imitative-style that was developed based on the imagined characteristics ...

. Lam was born in 1877 in Huìyáng () County in the prefecture of

Huizhou Huizhou ( zh, c= ) is a city in east-central Guangdong Province, China, forty-three miles north of Hong Kong. Huizhou borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the west, Shenzhen and Dongguan to the southwest, Shaoguan to the north, Hey ...

Guangdong Province ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. From a young age Lam learned martial arts from his father

Lam Qing-yun Lam or LAM may refer to: Organizations * Laguna Art Museum, California, US * Leather Archives & Museum (LA&M), Chicago, US * Lam Eng Rubber, a Malaysian manufacturer * Lam Research, American semiconductor equipment company * LAM Mozambique Airline ...

and grandfather Lam Hao-hing and Uncle Lam Hap. Like them, he would eventually undertake training from masters on Loh Fu Mountain in neighboring Bo Loh () County, where he was taught by Chan (Zen) master Tai Yuk of the Wa Sau Toi temple, who knew the Dragon style. He also learned the routines Saam Tung Goh Kiu (“Three Ways to Cross the Bridge”) from the

Taoist Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...

Wong Lei-giu and Mui Fa Chat Lo (“Plum Flower Fist in Seven Sections”) from Ke Hing-ma. Good friends since their youth in Huizhou, Lam Yiu-gwai and the

Bak Mei Bak Mei () is said to have been one of the legendary Five Elders—survivors of the destruction of the Shaolin Monastery by the Qing dynasty (1644–1912)—who, according to some accounts, betrayed Shaolin to the imperial government. He ...

master

Jeung Lai-chuen Cheung Lai-chuen was a Chinese martial artist. He was born in 1882 during the Qing dynasty. He was a student of many great Kung Fu masters and mastered the Li family kung fu, Lei Ga (李家, Lee Style), Southern Dragon Kung Fu, Lau Man Gaau (流� ...

張禮泉 later became cousins by marriage and opened several schools together. Both Lam and Jeung served as combat instructors at the Whampoa Military Academy under the leadership of General Chan Chai-tong陳濟棠. Lam Yiu-gwai married and had several children. His wife taught Dragon Style Kung Fu to women in Hong Kong. In the 1920s, he moved to

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

, where he opened a number of Dragon style schools and met

Mok Gar Mok Gar () is one of the five major family styles of Southern Chinese martial arts. It was developed by a Shaolin monk named Monk Mok Ta Shi () as an inheritance of the Southern Shaolin Fist in Guangdong province in China. It gained fame thre ...

master Lin Yin-tang, who became a friend with whom he had much in common. Lin Yin-tang was from the prefecture of

Dongguan Dongguan,; pinyin: alternately romanized via Cantonese as Tungkun, is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. An important industrial city in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou t ...

, which bordered both Huìyáng and Bóluó counties. Like Yiu-gwai, Yin-tang studied at a temple on Loh Fu Mountain; in Yin-tang's case, the Temple of Emptiness (), where he studied

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...

and

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...

. After a stroke in the early 1950s, Lam Yiu-gwai moved to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

for medical treatment and to reunite with his family where, after another stroke in 1965, he died in 1966. He passed on the art to his students, among others,

Chiu Chung Chiu is a romanization of various Chinese surnames, based on different varieties of Chinese. It may correspond to the surnames spelled in the following ways in Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin pinyin: * Zhao (surname), Zhào () or Zhāo (), from the Cant ...

, Wu Hua-tai, Ma Chai, Chan Cheung (Robert Chan), Tsui Yiu-cheung, Yip Ho-sing, Tsang Gan, Ho Lai何禮, Cho Sam曹森, Lau Hong劉康, Mao Yim繆炎, Lee Fat李发 and Chan Dak, in addition to his sons Lam Chan-gwong () and Lam Wun-gwong (). The Dragon Sign Athletic Association in Hong Kong celebrated its 50th anniversary in November 2019. In addition to Hong Kong and mainland China, Dragon Style Kung Fu is practiced in the United States, London, Canada, Ireland, and Australia. Cho Sam's student, Yip Wing-hong, Lam Yiu-gwai's disciples, Mao Yim, Ho Lai and Lau Hong, would emigrate to New York City. They have taught numerous students in Manhattan Chinatown since 1974. Chiu Chung‘s student Nicholas Costello established the Chiu Chung Lung Ying Academy in Slane, Co. Meath, Ireland and has been teaching there since 1998.

References

Hong Kong martial artists Hong Kong people of Hakka descent People from Huiyang 1877 births 1966 deaths Martial artists from Guangdong Date of birth missing Date of death missing {{HongKong-martialart-bio-stub