The Venerable Chi Sin Sim Si is a legendary Chinese martial artist, said to have been one of the

Five Elders In Southern Chinese folklore, the Five Elders of Shaolin (), also known as the Five Generals are the survivors of one of the destructions of the Shaolin temple by the Qing Dynasty, variously said to have taken place in 1647 or in 1732. The or ...

, survivors of the destruction of the

Shaolin Temple Shaolin Monastery (少林寺 ''Shàolínsì''), also known as Shaolin Temple, is a renowned monastic institution recognized as the birthplace of Chan Buddhism and the cradle of Shaolin Kung Fu. It is located at the foot of Wuru Peak of the So ...

by the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

(16441912). He is linked to many southern Chinese martial arts including the five major family styles of

Hung Hung may refer to: People * Hung (surname), various Chinese surnames * Hùng king, a king of Vietnam People with the given name Hung include: * Hung Huynh, Vietnamese-American chef, winner of the third season of the television show ''Top Chef'' ...

, Lau and Choy gar, Lee gar and

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 ...

, Ng Ga Kuen/Ng Gar King and

Wing Chun Wing Chun (Chinese: 詠春 or 咏春, lit. "singing spring"), sometimes spelled Ving Tsun, is a concept-based fighting art, form of Southern Chinese kung fu and close-quarters system of self-defense. In Mandarin, it is pronounced "Yong Chun. ...

History

Chi Sin is said to have originally been a resident monk of the Original Northern Song Shan Shaolin Temple in

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

. He was a survivor of the destruction of a

Southern Shaolin Temple Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

situated in

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

. Others say that Chi Sin and the other Five Elders escaped the burning of the temple at Quanzhou 泉州 in Fujian. They went their separate ways and Chi Sin built the second southern temple at Jiulian Shan 九連山 (Nine Lotus Mountain), also in Fujian. Chi Sin was a revolutionary who planned to overthrow the Qing Government. However two of the Five Elders,

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 g ...

and

Fung Dou Dak Fung Dou Dak is said to have been one of the legendary Five Elders, survivors of the destruction of the Shaolin Temple by the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912). Some of the legends say that Pak Mei and Fung Dou Dak joined forces with the Qing army ...

joined forces with the Qing army and destroyed the second southern Shaolin Temple with a huge army outnumbering the monks 10 to 1. Chi Sin, the Abbot of the temple, was killed by Pak Mei in a duel during the attack. Chi Sin features prominently in "Legends of Southern Shaolin” 南少林傳奇 written by Chiew Sek (Cantonese) and published in 1993. All of the legendary figures of Southern Shaolin and more widely, southern Chinese martial arts ('Nanquan/Nam Kuen') 南拳 are in some way associated with the legendary figure of Chi Sin such as

Fong Sai-Yuk Fong Sai-yuk (or Fang Shiyu) is a semi-fictional Chinese martial artist and folk hero from Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province of the Qing dynasty. Fong was also associated with Hung Hei-gun and the Five Elders of the Southern Shaolin Mona ...

方世玉,

Ng Mui Ng Mui ( Chinese: t , p ''Wú Méi''; Cantonese: ''Ng5 Mui4'') is said to have been one of the legendary Five Elders—survivors of the destruction of the Shaolin Temple by the Qing Dynasty. According to legend she is sa ...

, Luk Ah Choi陸阿采, Lei Jou Fan 李祖寬, Wu Wai Kin 胡惠乾 and Hung Hei Gun 洪熙官 to name a few. Chi Sin has been portrayed in many Chinese martial arts movies.

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Chi Chi or CHI may refer to: Greek *Chi (letter), the Greek letter (uppercase Χ, lowercase χ); Chinese *Chi (length), ''Chi'' (length) (尺), a traditional unit of length, about ⅓ meter *Chi (mythology) (螭), a dragon *Chi (surname) (池, pin ...

Qing dynasty Buddhist monks 17th-century Buddhist monks Chinese duellists Chinese Wing Chun practitioners {{PRChina-martialart-bio-stub

History

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