To fully understand the Choy Li Fut history ti is worth taking note of the diagram below first...
Regarding th history of Choy Li Fut, it is actually regarded as both a Northern and Southern Chinese martial arts style fighting system. This is because elements of the style that we see today both originate from the North and South of China.
Choy Li Fut was founded by Chan Heung 陳享 who lived between 1806 to 1875 (pictured). Chan Heung initially followed the Shaolin temple martial arts style, Shaolin Kung Fu, being taught by his uncle. As he grew older, into his teenage yeaars, Chan decided to develop his skills by learning from what he regarded as the 'real' martial artists of China - the monks who were kept hidden in the Shaolin mountains.
Chan spent eleven years on his path to develop his martial arts style and he met three highly respected masters who would become his teachers, these were:
Choy Fook
Li Yao San
Chan Yuen Wu
It was from these three teachers that Chan would create his own unique style of martial arts called Choy Li Fut - named after his two of his teachers above; Choy (after Choy Fook), Li (after Li Yau San) and Fut which means Buddha.
Choy Li Fut 蔡李佛 was founded in 1836.
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