Cheung Yim/Hung Sing came to KingMui Village seeking refuge from the Manchu authorities, possibly for avoiding conscription and he persuaded Chan Heung, the clan teacher in KingMui village, to take him in and teach him in fighting skills, Calligraphy and Literature.

THE SWEEPING BOY
Through determination the young Cheung Yim managed to excel after two years of private instruction. At the time, Chan Clan strictly forbade the acceptance of non-"Chan" disciples. Undaunted, Cheung Yim/Hung Sing found excuses to be employed as an odd-job man at Chan Heung's school where he was secretly taught martial arts. For many years he swept the steps outside the school, a ruse to display himself to the villagers as nothing more that a cleaner, all the while secretly learning Chinese boxing. Later when the village elders found out that Master Chan was giving Instructions to an outsider, they pressured him to expel Cheung Yim. Reluctantly Sifu Chan had to abide by the Rules of the Village and in 1831, after writing a letter of introduction for Cheung Yim to become a disciple of Grandmaster Ching Cho Wor Seung (Green Grass Monk) who was one of the monks who escaped from the Burning of the Shaolin Temple, then, hiding away in the Pa Pai Mountain, not far away from the Chan Village. Cheung Yim bid farewell to Master Chan and officially continued his Martial Arts training under the monk Ching Cho. After five years Cheung Yim became a brilliant master of the Shaolin Fighting Arts and a practitioner of Chinese herbal medicines.

Prior to Cheung Yim/Hung Sing departure, Monk Ching Cho gave him an alias. He was henceforth known as CHEUNG HUNG SING. The literal translation Sing meaning "TRIAD VICTORY" (The Triad was a Righteous Revolutionary Organization during that
period) of which implied a congratulation that the Hong School would gain victory - the Hong School was then an active agitator to the Manchu Government. It is of historical note that Monk Ching Cho further urged Cheung Hung Sing to to assist his
former Sifu Chan Heung and establish his own martial arts school and help in the revolutionary work of overthrowing the Ching Dynasty.

THE BIRTH OF Choy Lay Fut TECHNIQUES
As requested by his teacher, Cheung Yim/Hung Sing returned to the KingMui village. By this time, the village elders had re-evaluated their opinion of Cheung Yim (now Cheung Hung Sing) and began to express great respect for the renowned fighting master "Hung Sing". He was retained as a coach in the village and taught martial arts alongside Chan Heung. Theirs was no longer a master-disciple relationship, but a very unique one; They accorded each other the respect of fellow disciples, learning from each other.

Both Chan Heung and Cheong Hung Sing synthesized the martial skills of their 3 masters and in In 1836 they founded their own school of pugilism which was named Choy Lay Fut in commemoration of their masters: Choy Fook and Lee Yau San, plus "Fut Gar" Kung Fu - The Shaolin fighting art of the Buddhist Palm which was taught to Cahn his Uncle Chan Yuen Woo, and then to Cheong Hung Sing, who also learnt it from Monk Ching Cho.

Every school of pugilism had to have their own style of salutation. So Chan Heung and Cheung Hung Sing developed a series of fast successive movements as the Choy Lay Fut salutation. In actual fact, these movements with esoteric names were personifications of a poem which contain revolutionary sentiments. The poem consists of 4 stanzas with a main character in each stanza. If the 4 main characters were brought together in sequence, it would read: Overthrow the Ching - Restore the Ming.

THE FOUNDING OF FOSHAN HUNG SING GWOON
He opened a kwoon (Martial Arts School) and
called it "Choy Lay Fut Hung Sing Foundational Kwoon". Cheung Hung Sing later
spread Choy Lay Fut Kung Fu in Tai San Province and was known to the people as
Choy Lay Fut Hung Sing.

Chan Heung remained in the village as chief instructor where he continued to pass on his skill to his descendants and fellow clansmen while Cheung Hung Sing left and founded the first "Choy Lay Fut Hung Sing Foundational Kwoon" in the county of Foshan in 1839. It attracted many students as well as challengers from other martial arts schools. In operating martial arts schools in China those days, one had to be prepared for challenges thrown by masters of other disciplines. It was survival for the fittest. Cheung Hung Sing later spread Choy Lay Fut Kung Fu in Tai San Province and was known to the people as "Choy Lay Fut Hung Sing."

Cheung Hung Sing defeated his challengers, some of which became his disciples (one of them was Chan Ngau Sheng who was a master of several fighting arts system), others left in shame, still others left with bruised egos and harboured grudges.

THE DEATH OF CHEUNG HUNG SING
By 1846 the popularity of Choy Lay Fut had eclipsed the martial arts hub of Guangdong. It created much displeasure to some Kung Fu masters as it affected their livelihood in the teaching of Kung Fu. Among them were a few who had been defeated by Cheung Hung Sing before· They took the opportunity to instigate others and on hearing Cheung's impending visit to the Chan Village they plotted to eliminate him.

As scheduled, Cheung was on his way to board the ferry when an argument broke out between two burly men at the pier. It soon led to an exchange of blows. Seeing that nobody intervened, Cheung stepped forward to mediate and pacify both of them when suddenly they directed their blows at him. And almost immediately Cheung was surrounded by a group of men who had disguised as labourers working at the pier. They were armed to the teeth with the weapons which they had surreptitiously hidden among the bales of rice and goods stacked along the apron·
Cheung recognised most of them as he had defeated them before. He knew that he was ambushed and a bloody fight ensued. The only weapon Cheung had was an umbrella he carried. Three of his assailants were killed and a number of them wounded. The rest fled on seeing Cheung's irrepressible ferocity despite being slashed.
Cheung was bleeding profusely when he struggled back to Hung Sing Gwoon where he died shortly· He was about 33 years old at the time of his death.
On learning of his beloved teacher's sudden demise, Chan Ngau Sheng went on rampage in Foshan seeking those who were responsible for Cheung's death. The culprits went into hiding and dared not emerge fearing Chan Ngau Sheng and the rest of Cheung Hung Sing's disciples' revenge. Finally, in desperation some of them sought refuge with the Manchu Government and charged that Foshan Hung Sing Gwoon was the headquarters for anti-Manchu revolutionaries. That led to a major clamp-down on Choy Lay Fut practitioners and the closure of Foshan Hung Sing Gwoon by the Manchu Government in 1848.

DISSEMINATION OF Choy Lay Fut
Cheung Hung Sing's students scattered throughout China but before they fled they agreed that for purpose of authenticating Choy Lay Fut's practitioners' identities and to avoid detection by the government, they should henceforth adopt rigidly the Choy Lay Fut salutation and the secret code initiated by Cheung Hung Sing and Chan Heung i.e. in practising the Choy Lay Fut pugilism they should yell "yik" for the punches thrown and "tick" when executing kicks. (By then, a great number of Chan Heung's disciples had also migrated to other counties and cities and it was by such means that they managed to identify each other and assisted fellow-disciples in those difficult time.)

Acknowledgements: Much of this came from a history written by A.K.H.Poon (Hon Secretary for the Singapore Hung Sing Gwoon.

Other information was taken from many handwritten/typewritten documents originating at the Buck Sing Gwoon.