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Our Gung-Fu Family Tree

When it comes to Chinese boxing, most of what we "know" or believe to be true about our gung-fu ancestors is contained in legends and stories. Among branches of the same family tree accounts can change, and can be the source of confusion for students and of contention for some sifu. This page will talk about the generally held family tree of our style and will point out where the followers of Sifu Yee begin to trace their gung-fu inheritance.

	It is commonly held among the many schools of Hung-Ga that the story of this legendary style begins in the Southern Shaolin Temple with a monk named Gee Shim Sim Si. It was said that this mysterious monk came from the better known Northern Shaolin Temple. A master of Tiger style and Long Fist, Gee Shim is said to have expanded the gung-fu already in the Southern Temple by blending it with his own. There are no written records of this man, and we cannot know now his real name. We only have the name he took as a Buddhist monk, and cannot be sure who he really was or if he was the true originator of the style.

Hung Hei Guen	The man credited with naming our style is another figure very much clouded in mystery - Hung Hei Guen. It is said that after killing a Ching official, he took refuge in the Southern Shaolin Temple. Already an expert martial artist, he became the lay disciple of Gee Shim. When the Ching destroyed the temple, Hung Hei Guen escaped and began to train other lay followers in his gung-fu. We have no solid information on this prominent figure in the history of our style. We know, for example, that Hung Hei Guen is not even his real name.
Luk Ah Choi	The man with whom Sifu Yee's follower's now trace their lineage is Luk Ah Choi. It has been said that he was a junior training brother to Hung Hei Guen in the Shaolin Temple and later finished his training under Hung Hei Guen. He taught Wong Kai Ying, father of the famous Wong Fei Hung, and a senior member of the Ten Tigers of Guan Dung.
Wong Fei Hung	Wong Fei Hung is possibly the all-time best known martial artist to come out of China. He was a member of the Ten Tigers of Guan Dung, a celebrated healer and great boxer who was never defeated. He reorganized the martial art that he learned growing up and added to it over time to give us the orthodox Hung Ga that we have today.
	Tang Fung was an inner-door disciple of Wong Hung. He was nick-named Lo Wan Ku or "Old Square Mind" because he stubbornly adhered to what he learned from his teacher. He was a great boxer and an outstanding lion dancer.
	Yuen Ling, yet another great boxer in his own right, was Tang Fung's best student and inheritor of Tang Fung's lineage.
	My teacher, and the current holder of the Tang Fung lineage is Master Yee Chee Wai(Frank Yee). My sifu, in addition to being a great boxer and healer, has successfully trained many champions in forms, fighting and lion dance. Sifu Yee is also a tireless gung-fu researcher and historian.
	Sifu James D. Angielczyk is a long-time student, and an inner-door disciple of Master Frank Yee.