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Jow Lung
While in his late teens, Jow Lung lent his assistance to an elderly gentleman by giving him shelter from a rainstorm. The old man noticed that Lung was a martial artist and asked him to demonstrate his skill. The old man commented that Jow Lung’s movements were powerful but somewhat slow. The old man suggested that he combine speed with his powerful movements. The old man later introduced himself as Choy Gau Gung a practitioner of his family art of Choy Ga and a direct descendent of Choy Gau Lee, the creator of the style. Jow Lung had great respect for his new teacher and dedicated himself to leaning all that he could from him.
In his early twenties, Jow Lung moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to find work. Sadly, the town in which he looked for work was run by a group of gangsters. One day while working Lung noticed the gangsters were bullying the other workers. Jow Lung decided to step in to confront the men and in doing so one of the gangsters was killed by Lung in a fight. Jow Lung fled the town to avoid trouble with the local police and the gangsters. Thereafter he traveled to Kek Lok Si temple where he spent the next five years.
While he was living at the temple the Abbott took an interest in Jow Lung and decided to take him on as a student. The Abbott began to teach Lung Northern Shaolin boxing to help round out his knowledge of combat. Jow Lung proved to be a quick study and after five years of monistic life he decided to return to his beloved Sa Fu village located in the Guangdong province of China. Before returning home, the Abbott told him that if he combined all he had learned into one he would create a system that would be stronger and more effective than any of the three systems could be alone.
Upon his return home, Jow Lung was pleased to discover that his brothers had not been lax in their training as each had improved their skill greatly. Lung took his teachers advice and began creating a new system that would stand out among all others. His opportunity to demonstrate this new creation came when Warlord General Lee Fook Lam held a tournament to find a skillful teacher to train his troops. Nearly 100 masters of various styles took part in the tournament with hopes of attaining the position as Chief Instructor of the Army. After many days of competition, Jow Lung stood victorious and was awarded the position of Chief Instructor.
With his new post secured Jow Lung sent for his brothers to help him train the General’s troops and refine this new system of combat. Sometime later Jow Lung came down with a cold which quickly turned into pneumonia. Soon after, in 1919, Jow Lung passed away at the age of 29. The system which he had just created needed someone to lead it or it would be lost to the world for all time. So, it was decided that Jow Biu would be the one to lead and spearhead the growth of the style that would soon bear the family name.
Jow Biu (1899-1961)
After his brother’s death, Jow Biu wasted no time in spreading and promoting what would be known as Jow Ga kung fu. (The true name of the style was called Hung Tao Choy Mei which means the Head of Hung and the Tail of Choy.) Because of his tireless work, Jow Biu along with his brothers had managed to open nearly 14 schools throughout China before the outbreak of World War II, all teaching the art of the Jow Ga 5 Tigers. (There are now over 80 schools world wide promoting the Jow Ga system.)
Jow Biu’s fame and reputation as a martial artist grew quickly not only because of his excellent skill as a teacher and fighter but also because of his skills as a mediator. In one such case he was asked to mediate a dispute between the famous Hung Ga master Wong Fei Hung and a local strong man named Ching Hua. Because of his success in handling the matter fairly, Wong Fei Hung’s wife Mok Gwai Lan, wanted to adopt Jow Biu into the Wong family.
Jow Biu’s skill and dedication knew no bounds as he began to expand the system he and his brothers had created. This can be seen in the forms Fa Kuen and Lohan Kuen.
The Fa Kuen set (Flower Fist) was created by Jow Biu when he gave an impromptu performance at a banquet in Hong Kong. In essence Jow Biu created the form on the spot out of thin air using various techniques that were already taught within Jow Ga.
In the case of the set Lohan Kuen (Arhat’s Fist), Jow Biu created it shortly after coming to Hong Kong. The set is unlike many of the other sets taught within the style as it uses a special type of Pow Choi (Uppercut Punch): here the arm remains straight as the strike is delivered to the opponents jaw area. This type of punch is commonly seen in such systems as Hop Ga (Knights Clan), Bok Hok Pai (White Crane).
Jow Biu standing center
Until his passing in 1961, Jow Biu taught many promising students the art of Jow Ga kung fu, many of whom became great teachers in their own right. One of these students was influential in bringing the Jow Ga system to the shores of North America; his name is Chan Man Cheung.
Chan Man Cheung (b. 1929)
Grand Master Chan Man Cheung began his training in Jow Ga first under his own father who was himself a student of Jow Biu. When Chan Man Cheung turned eleven years of age his father took him to study directly under Jow Biu. The training under Jow Biu stressed heavy stance work and mastering the basics of the style. Chan Man Cheung would practice three hours a day every day under the watchful eye of his Master until at the age of twelve his hard work paid off as he was accepted as an Indoor Disciple of Jow Biu.
Chan Man Cheung continued his training under his teacher until the start of World War II when many Chinese including Chan Man Cheung and others fled China for Hong Kong, a British colony at that time. Once he found work in his new home he was by a twist of fate reunited with Jow Biu who had himself fled China because of the war sometime earlier. Chan Man Cheung became Jow Biu’s assistant at his school in Hong Kong and assisted his teacher in all aspects of running his school.
Grand Master Chan Man Cheung
After completing his training under Jow Biu, Chan Man Cheung opened his own school and began the tireless effort to promote the Jow Ga system which he continues even to this day.
Because of this Chan Man Cheung had gained quite a reputation in the martial arts community of Hong Kong not only as a fighter, but as an expert in the art of Lion Dancing which earned him the title “Lion King.” Chan Man Cheung’s skill in the art of Lion Dancing was so high that he was chosen to perform the welcoming Lion Dance for Queen Elizabeth during a visit to Hong Kong.
His skill in Jow Ga also led Chan Man Cheung into the Hong Kong film industry where he trained some of Hong Kong’s top stars. The brothers of the famous actor known as Jimmy Wang Yu were students of Chan Man Cheung.
According to Chan Man Cheung he has trained many students in the art of Jow Ga kung fu and of these only five of them were taken as Indoor Disciples. Of these five, only one would go on to become not only his most famous student outside of Asia, but the founder of Jow Ga kung fu in America: his name was Dean Chin.
Dean Chin (1950-1985)
Dean Chin (Chin Yuk Jeun), often called a child prodigy, began his martial arts training at the age of seven, under his uncles who taught him three different styles of kung fu; Hung Ga, Bok Hok Pai (White Crane), and Bok Mei Pai (White Eyebrow). At the age of nine, Dean Chin began his study of the Jow Ga system under Chan Man Cheung at his school in Hong Kong. While studying Jow Ga, the young Chin took an interest in the art of Ying Jow Pai (Eagle Claw) and decided to train in the school of the famous Eagle Claw Master, Lau Fat Man.
Master Dean Chin
With so much knowledge Dean Chin could have easily created his own style but instead chose to dedicate himself to Chan Man Cheung and the Jow Ga system, and was taken as an Indoor Disciple of Chan Man Cheung.
With his training under Chan Man Cheung complete, Dean Chin decided to move from Hong Kong to the United States where he settled in the nation’s capitol of Washington, D.C. in 1964.
Originally Dean Chin moved to the states