Chan Hon-chung (1909 – March 1991) was a

Hung Ga Hung Ga (), Hung Kuen (), or Hung Ga Kuen () is a southern Chinese martial art belonging to the southern Shaolin styles. The hallmarks of Hung Ga are strong stances, notably the horse stance, or "si ping ma" (), and strong hand techniques, not ...

Grandmaster, former producer, choreographer and actor. He was a student of the

Chinese martial artist Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common ...

Lam Sai-wing Lam Sai-wing (1861? – 1943) was a Hung Gar martial artist. He was a student of the Chinese martial artist, acupuncturer and folk hero of Cantonese ethnicity, Wong Fei-hung. "Since my young years till now, for 50 years, I have been learning f ...

. He was also the founding chairman of the Hong Kong Chinese Martial Arts Association, the most important Chinese martial arts association in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

Early life

Chan was born in 1909 in Hingning,

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

. At the age of 19, he arrived in Hong Kong to participate in martial arts training under

. After many years of training, Chan has finally established his own school, the Hon Chung Gymnasium in 1938. Before setting up his own school, he has helped the Chinese army in Shun Teh county to train army and swordsmen to fight against Japanese invasion in 1936. Chan entered the entertainment industry in the late 1940s to 1950s and worked as producer, choreographer and actor in the making of his sigung

Wong Fei-hung Wong Fei-hung (born Wong Sek-cheung with the courtesy name Tat-wun; 9 July 1847 – 17 April 1925) was a Chinese martial artist, physician, and folk hero. His recent fame was due to becoming the subject of numerous martial arts films and televis ...

film series which starred

Kwan Tak-hing Kwan Tak-hing, MBE (27 June 1905 – 28 June 1996) was a Hong Kong martial artist and actor best known for his portrayal of martial artist folk hero Wong Fei-hung in at least 77 films, between the 1940s and the 1980s. No one else in cinema his ...

in the titular role .

Hong Kong Chinese Martial Arts Society

In 1969, a group of Chinese martial artists came to Hong Kong from

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

to discuss holding a Southeast Asia Chinese martial arts competition. The leader of the Singapore group suggested Hong Kong should have an association to coordinate and expand the Chinese martial arts community. Every style and school of Kung Fu agreed it was a good idea and Chan was elected as the chairman of the association. Chan was awarded a medal by Queen Elizabeth II in 1973 for his leadership and contribution to the Chinese martial arts community. He was the only Chinese martial artist honored by the Queen during colonial Hong Kong.

Incident

The Chairman single handedly fought off four young armed robbers. It was late in the evening on the Chinese New Year’s Eve in 1973, Chan and his wife were preparing for the new year’s celebration for the next day at his tailor shop. Chan’s wife went checking on the doors when they were about to leave the premises and this was when she faced four robbers with knives and then shouted for help. It was a natural instinct for Chan to stand in front of those armed robbers to protect his wife. The young robbers were surprised to see the fast and powerful fighting skills from this elderly man and within minutes they all fled with injuries. Chan got a slight injury on his belly from this battle but those young robbers were surely not in good shape after the incident.

Death

Chan continued to lead the Hong Kong Chinese Martial Arts Association until he died in 1991.

References

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External links

*http://hkmdb.com/db/people/view.mhtml?id=27812&display_set=eng *https://web.archive.org/web/20171011130734/http://hungkuen-jingchung.net/forum/discussion/20/chan-hon-chung-i-demand-perfection *Real Kung fu magazine UK 1 Vol 2 A Kung fu master honored by the Queen 1909 births 1991 deaths Chinese male martial artists Chinese Hung Gar practitioners Sportspeople from Guangdong Hong Kong male film actors 20th-century Hong Kong male actors