Wong Fei-hung

Wong Fei-hung (born Wong Sek-cheung with the courtesy name Tat-wun; 19 August 1847 – 17 April 1925) was a Chinese martial artist, physician, and folk hero. His recent fame was due to becoming the protagonist of numerous martial arts films and television series. The role of Wong Fei-hung has been played by numerous well-known stars of Hong Kong and Chinese cinema, including Gordon Liu, Jackie Chan, Kwan Tak-hing, Jet Li, Vincent Zhao, and Sammo Hung. Even though he was considered an expert in the Hung Ga style of Chinese martial arts, his real public fame was as a physician who practiced and taught acupuncture, Dit Da (Chinese chiropractics) and other forms of traditional Chinese medicine in the now defunct Po Chi Lam (寶芝林; 宝芝林; Bǎozhīlín; Bou-zi-lam), a medical clinic in Canton (Guangzhou), Guangdong Province. Two museums dedicated to him were built in his birthplace in Foshan, Guangdong.
Wong's original given name was Sek-cheung or Xixiang (锡祥; 錫祥; Xīxiáng; Hsi-hsiang; Sek-coeng) before it was changed to Fei-hung (Feihong). His courtesy name was Dat-wan or Dayun (达云; 達雲; Dáyún; Ta-yun; Daat-wan).
Wong was born in Luzhou Hamlet, Lingxi Village, Xiqiao Country, Foshan, Nanhai County, which is a present day part of Foshan City, Guangdong Province, during the reign of the Daoguang Emperor in the Qing dynasty. His ancestral home was in Luzhou Hamlet, Lingxi Village, Xiqiao Country, Foshan, Nanhai County, Canton Prefecture, Guangdong Province, which is now part of Xiqiao Town, Nanhai District, Foshan City.
At the age of five, Wong started learning Hung Ga from his father, Wong Kei-ying. He often accompanied his father on trips from Foshan to Guangzhou, the provincial capital of Guangdong Province, where his father peddled medicine and performed martial arts in the streets. When he was 13, he encountered Lam Fuk-sing (林福成; Lin Fucheng), an apprentice of "Iron Bridge Three" Leung Kwan, in Douchi Street in Foshan Town. Lam taught him how to use the sling and the essential moves of the martial art Iron Wire Fist. Later, he learned the shadowless kick from Sung Fai-tong (宋輝鏜; Song Huitang).. Wong Fei-hung was very personable like his father, and made many friends in the martial arts and medical worlds, like the 10 Tigers of Guangdong. With these friendships and chance meetings, he was exposed to vast amounts of knowledge that were openly shared with him. He was able to enhance his father's teachings to formulate a style that included much of what is seen in Southern Chinese Styles today.
In 1863, Wong started a martial arts school in Shuijiao (水腳) in Saikwan (Xiguan), which is the present-day location of Liwan District, Guangzhou City. His students were mainly metal labourers and street vendors. In 1886, Wong opened his family's medical clinic, Po Chi Lam (寶芝林; Baozhilin), in Ren'an (仁安), which is the present-day part of Xiaobei Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou City. In legend, around the 1860s or 1870s, Wong was recruited by Liu Yongfu, the commander of the Black Flag Army, to be the medical officer and martial arts instructor for the regular soldiers and the local militia in Guangzhou. He also followed the Black Flag Army to fight the Imperial Japanese Army during the Japanese invasion of Taiwan in 1895.
In 1912, the Republic of China was established following the collapse of the Qing dynasty. During the chaotic early years of the Republican era, many businessmen who operated places of entertainment in Guangzhou decided to hire guards (or bouncers) to protect their businesses on-site in case trouble broke out. As Wong was trained in martial arts, he was hired by various businesses to be one of such guards.
In 1919, when the Chin Woo Athletic Association opened a branch in Canton, Wong was invited to perform at the opening ceremony. In the same year, Wong Hon-sam, one of Wong's sons, who was working as a bodyguard in Wuzhou, Guangxi, was murdered by a rival known as "Devil Eye" Leung (鬼眼梁), who was apparently jealous that Wong Hon-sam was better than him in martial arts. Wong was so affected by this incident that he stopped teaching his other sons martial arts.
Between August and October 1924, Wong's medical clinic, Po Chi Lam, was destroyed when the Nationalist government was suppressing the uprising by the Guangzhou Merchant Volunteers Corps. Wong felt so dejected and saddened by the loss of Po Chi Lam that he fell into depression and became ill. He died from illness on 17 April 1925 in Chengxi Fangbian Hospital (城西方便醫院), which is the present day location of the Guangzhou First People's Hospital (廣州市第一人民醫院) at Panfu Road in Guangzhou's Yuexiu District. He was buried at the foot of Baiyun Mountain.
Wong's fourth wife, Mok Kwai-lan, and his sons, along with his students Lam Sai-wing and Dang Sai-king (鄧世瓊; Deng Shiqiong), moved to Hong Kong and opened martial arts schools there.
Wong's grave location is currently unknown. It is believed that his grave, along with others within the cemetery were long expunged for future developments.
Wong was a master of Hung Ga. He systematised the predominant style of Hung Ga and choreographed its version of the Tiger Crane Paired Form Fist, which incorporates his Ten Special Fist techniques. Wong is famous for using the Shadowless Kick. He named the techniques of his skills when he performed them.
Wong was adept at using weapons, such as the staff and southern tiger fork. One tale, possibly fictional, recounts how Wong defeated a group of 30 gangsters on the docks of Guangzhou with a staff.
Among Wong's students, the more notable ones include Lam Sai-wing (林世榮; Lin Shirong), Leung Foon (梁寬; Liang Kuan), Dang Fong (Deng Fang), and Ling Wan-kai (凌雲階; Ling Yunjie).
Wong is sometimes incorrectly identified as one of the "Ten Tigers of Canton". His father, Wong Kei-ying, was one of the ten but Wong himself was not. Wong is also sometimes referred to as the "Tiger after the Ten Tigers".
According to a folklore, So Chan also taught Wong Fei-hung in drunken boxing.
After his first wife died of illness in 1871, Wong was widowed for 25 years. In 1896, he married his second wife and had two sons and two daughters with her. Some time after she died of illness, Wong remarried again in 1902. His third wife bore him two sons before falling victim to a deadly illness. His fourth and final wife stayed with him from 1915 up till his death. The personal names of his first three wives are unknown. He had four known children.
At present, there is no information on Wong's two daughters.
Wong had at least three grandsons and six granddaughters. His descendants currently live in Australia, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
In 1996, the Wong Fei-hung Lion Dance Martial Arts Museum was built in his hometown in Foshan.
A Wong Fei-hung Memorial Hall was built in 2000 and was officially opened in January 2001 in his honour in Foshan, Chancheng District. The exhibits cover his entire life, including his martial arts and medical careers. The hall contains a reconstruction of Po Chi Lam.
The first alleged photo was said to have been provided by his fourth spouse Mok Kwai-lan to Leung Ting of the Real Kung Fu (真功夫) magazine in 1976. Decades later, it was first exhibited at the Wong Fei-hung Memorial Hall in 2000 and was controversially seen and even promoted by martial artists as a photo of Wong Fei-hung. This was dismissed in 2009 by New Martial Hero's article that the man in the photo was of that of his fourth son, Wong Hon-hei.
In 2005, another alleged photo of Wong Fei-hung once taken by one of his students Kwong Kei-tim (鄺祺添) was discovered by the museum staff in Hong Kong. The man in the photo bears a close resemblance to his son, whose photo was the first to be often mistaken for his own father's back then. His fourth spouse Mok Kwai-lan once stated that her husband was quite superstitious and believed that having photos taken of oneself would shorten one's lifespan, so Wong only had one picture of himself taken in his lifetime, namely the one taken by his student Kwong.
Over 100 films and television series featuring Wong have been produced since 1949, mostly in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong actor Kwan Tak-hing starred as Wong in over 70 films between the 1940s and 1980s and earned himself the nickname "Master Wong". Other prominent actors who portrayed Wong on screen include Jet Li in the Once Upon a Time in China film series and Vincent Zhao in the television series Wong Fei Hung Series.
The Chinese folk song "On the General's Orders" (将军令; 將軍令; Jiāng-Jūn-Lìng; Zoeng-Gwan Ling) is popularly associated with Wong Fei-hung because it was used as the theme song in various Wong Fei-hung movies. It was the opening theme of the 1978 film Drunken Master, starring Jackie Chan. In the Once Upon a Time in China film series, the song's title was changed to A Man Should Better Himself (男儿当自强; 男兒當自強; Nán-Ér-Dāng-Zì-Qiáng; Naam-Ji-Dong-Zi-Koeng). It was sung in Cantonese by George Lam and its lyrics were written by James Wong. Jackie Chan sang the song in Mandarin in the second film. The version "A Man Should Better Himself" is the best known rendition of the song to date.
A rearranged version was rewritten and sung by Dayo Wong as the theme song of Men Don't Cry.