Lam Yiu Gwai
| 林耀桂 Lam Yiu Gwai | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1887 Huiyang County, Huizhou, China |
| Died |
1966 Hong Kong, China |
| Style |
Lung Ying 龍形派 (Southern Dragon) |
| Teacher(s) | Daai Yuk 大玉禪師 |
Lam Yiu Gwai 林耀桂 (1877-1966) was the master responsible for the dissemination of Dragon Kung Fu. A Hakka, Lam was born in 1877 in Huìyáng (惠陽) County in the prefecture of Huizhou in Guangdong Province, China.[1]
From a young age Lam learned martial arts from his fatherLam Qing Yun and grandfather Lam Hao Hing and Uncle Lam Hap, like them, he would eventually undertake training from masters on Loh Fu Mountain in neighboring Bo Loh (博羅) County, where he was taught by Chan (Zen) master Tai Yuk of the Wa Sau Toi temple, who knew the Dragon style. He also learned the routines Saam Tung Goh Kiu (“Three Ways to Cross the Bridge”) from the Taoist Wong Lei Giu and Mui Fa Chat Lo (“Plum Flower Fist in Seven Sections”) from Ke Hing Ma.
Good friends since their youth in Huizhou, Lam Yiu Gwai and the Bak Mei master Jeung Lai Chuen later became cousins by marriage and opened several schools together.
Lam Yiu Gwai married and had several children.
In the 1920s, he moved to Guangzhou, where he opened a number of Dragon style schools and met Mok Gar master Lin Yin-Tang, who became a friend with whom he had much in common. Lin Yin-Tang was from the prefecture of Dongguan, which bordered both Huìyáng and Bóluó counties. Like Yiu Gwai, Yin-Tang studied at a temple on Loh Fu Mountain; in Yin-Tang's case, the Temple of Emptiness (沖虛觀), where he studied meditation and traditional Chinese medicine.
After a stroke in the early 1950s, Lam Yiu Gwai moved to Hong Kong for medical treatment where, after another stroke in 1965, he died in 1966.
He passed the art on to his students Wu Hua Tai, Ma Chai, Chan Cheung (Robert Chan), Tsoi Yiu-Cheung, and Chan Dak, in addition to his sons Lam Chan Gwong (林燦光) and Lam Wun Gwong (林煥光), who supervises the Dragon Sign Athletic Association in Hong Kong.