Everyone says that Hung style, Lau style, Choi style, Lei style and Mok style are five famous styles in Southern Chinese martial arts. Among these, the Hung style has the most disciples. In the past fifty or sixty years, the Hung style exponents such as Wong Fei Hung, Lam Sai Wing, Taam Man and others have become famous among younger practitioners in Southern China.

Wong Fei Hung is a famous Hung style practitioner. A lot of anecdotes, novels, newspaper articles and publications were written about him, even movies were made, to amuse fans of Chinese martial arts. So it’s not necessary to talk about him endlessly.

Wong Fei Hung excelled in the “Iron Thread Set” (Tit Sin Kyun) and the “Ng Long’s Eight Diagram Long Pole” (Ng Long Baat Gwa Gwan). Moreover, he was very skillful with the flying spike. Onlookers always praised his skill of flying spike as the acme of perfection. As for the “Iron Thread” form and the “Ng Long’s Eight Diagram Long Pole” form, he learnt it from Lam Fuk Sing. As for the flying spike, he learnt it from an old beggar who was from the other province. Lam Fuk Sing was the disciple of the great master of Hung style, Tit Kiu Saam, who is the leading character of this novel.

Tit Kiu Saam was born towards the end of the reign of Ching Emperor Ga Hing, lived during the reign of Emperor Haam Fung and Emperor Tung Ji, and died in the 12th or 13th year of the reign of Emperor Gwong Seui.

At the time, martial arts in Gwongdung province flourished like never before. Ten famous fighters of Gwongdung province who were highly skilled in martial arts became known in the pugilistic world as “Ten Tigers of Gwong Dung”. These Ten Tigers were Tit Kiu Saam, Wong Yan Lam, “Beggar” Sou, Taam Jai Gwan, Wong Kei Ying, “Iron Finger” Chan, “Black Tiger” Sou, Wong Ching Ho and others.

Tit Kiu Saam, who was famous for his “Iron Bridges” , superb martial skills, strong forearms and stable stances, was one of these heroes.
As for his death, he studied the “Thirty-six Points Copper Ring Pole” form under the monk Yun Gwong at Hoi Chong temple and fell ill from constant overtraining. Because Tit Kiu Saam was an opium addict, monk Yun Gwong order him to give up smoking. Tit Kiu Saam obeyed his order and decided to get rid of this addiction completly. He practiced pole techniques diligently but since he was already old and didn’t have enough strength, Yun Gwong ordered him to revert to smoking. Tit Kiu Saam said, “A real man keeps his promise. If I don’t even have the determination to quit smoking, how could I achieve great things? If I die because of giving up smoking opium, then I’m willing to die!” Despite the chronic illness, he vowed to rather die than to revert to smoking and practiced with the pole as before. So he died. Although Tit Kiu Saam was in his seventies, he still kept an open mind and practiced very hard. It shows his deep love for martial arts and his upright character.

• Original: Ngo Si Saan Yan, Foreword to his book Great Master of Hung Kyun Tit Kiu Saam (Hung Kyun Daai Si Tit Kiu Saam)
• Translated by: Petr Vrána. Please check out his website Lao Ma.

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