TAN SHING 1970's BUCK SING CHOY LAY FUT LEGEND FIRST SIFU TO TEACH KUNG FU IN PARIS!

NOTE: This article was scanned from an old issue of an unknown martial arts magazine, mid-1970's. Sifu Tan Shing is now deceased, but his legend lives on in many Kung Fu movies now being re-issued by retro - video distributers.
Sifu Tan Shing, who is currently running a kung fu studio in Paris to teach the pugilistic skills of the Ts'al Li-fo Style, is a famous exponent of Pei Sheng Ts'al Li-fo Style and a kung fu movie star in Hongkong. At the Third Southeast Asian Chinese Martial Arts Invitational Tournament held in Malaysia in 1973, Sifu Tan Shing engaged in a fierce combat with the well-known Malaysian pugilist, Kulusanmei. The two contestants, being both superior pugilists, were real rivals. The outcome was that Sifu Tan Shing won the game by scoring higher points and was crowned Champion of the Middle-Weight "B" Class of the Tournament.
In Sifu Tan Shing's name, "Tan" is his family name, "Shing", his given name, is a Chinese word to signify victory.
"My father seemed to have a presenti- ment that his son would grow up a kung fu exponent/' said Sifu Tan Shing with a smile, "when he gave the word "shing", or victory, for his son's name at its birth. He was eager that his offspring should come out the victor in competitions."
At the 3rd Southeast Asian Chinese Martial Arts Invitational Tournament held in Kuala Lumpur in 1973, which saw a line-up of 1,700-odd athletes, Hongkong participants scored an enviable mark: Cheng Tseng-ch'iang won the Championship of the Light- Weight "A" Class, Ch'en Ping-nan of Ch'uan-chi Tag earned Championship of the Light- Weight "B" Class, Tan Shing of the Ts'al Li-fo Style took the championship of the Middle-Weight "B" Class and Hsi Lin-yu of Ta-Sheng P'i- Kua Men was the Champion of the Middle-Weight "C" Class, along with two runners-up and five semi-finalists in the Hongkong team. During the tournament which extended over eleven days, the engagement between Tan Shing and his Malaysian rival, Kulusenmei, was the most exciting and thrilling scene.
Kulusanmei, a very famous pugilist, showed his superhuman bravery by de- fearing his opponents with an ease all along his way to his final encounter with Sifu Tan. He was very popular amongthe audience. Therefore, when the referee declared Sifu Tan Shing the victor after three savage bouts, Kulusanmeii's supporters were upset almost to the point of a commotion.

"Kulusanmei is a remarkable pugilist," noted Sifu Tan Shing modestly, "he is quick in response and first-rate in vigour. His cyclic right and left punches are forcefully menacing. In fact, never has he suffered a defeat at various domestic contests in Malaysia. It was also very gruelling for me to win him by points then." Sifu Tan Shing easily outstripped his first opponent, a Singaporeen athlete, at that tournament. But his second opponent, a Malaysian with heavy punches, proved to be very tough. Sifu Tan tided over, but at the cost of an injury at the corner of his right eye. The injury made a hard time his fighting for three rounds with Kulusanmei and he had to surmount great difficulties before he could win the match, Sifu Tan Shing prefers to use straight punches in combats. (His teacher's father, Grandmaster T'an San II, earned his renown for his creation of cyclic straight punches.)

"I like the straight punch for its multitude of modifications and the celerity with which it changes," said Sifu Tan Shing, "The modifications of the straight punch include yin and yang straight punches , twisting straight punch, right and left straight punches , straight punch, on tip-toe, etc. They are numerous in form and countless in variations. But one thing is common, they are all punches dealt in the middle-line with a slant body." It is a tradition of Chinese chivalrous warriors to uphold justice with prowess.

The saying "A real warrior draws his sword to help the oppressed whenever he comes across injustices." is his motto. Sifu Tan Shing is exactly a man who cannot tolerate injustice. Once he saw several men bullying a young maiden who happened to be a cousin of one of his fellow disciples. He bravely went to her rescue. Then a scuffle followed in which he inflicted injuries to three of the rogues despite the numerical dis- advantage to him. One of the thugs was so heavily pounded by Sifu Tan Shing's straight punches that his left ear wes broken and almost severed, Sifu Tan Shing said: "We learn kung fu with the aims of strengthening our bodies and defending ourselves, still it is bound on us to uphold justice, and eliminate the bullies and help the down- trodden."

The year he left Hongkong for France saw an interesting incident, which has become a gay conversation among the kung fu circles in Hongkong and elsewhere. A certain Mr. Liang, a junior member of the Yung-ch'un School, swaggered that his kung fu could rout any pugilistic skill of the Ts'al Li-fo School. The statement was too impudent to be swallowed by the Ts'ai U-fo School. So the two sides made an arrangement that each side send five pugilists to try conclusions. Liang, the junior member of the Yung- ch'un School, ordered five of hlsfavourite students to enter the lists. But the out- come was that all the five students of Liang were vanquished and wounded by Ts'ai U-fo disciples. Sifu Ten Shing came over to Liang and asked for e comparison of skill with him, to see if Ts'al Li-fo kung fu was really as useless as he had alleged. But Liang was already stunned by the overwhelming triumph of the Ts'ai Li-fo disciples. He was too timid to engage Sifu Tan and he hid himself in a toilet. Thus, Liang, because of his swagger, lost his face before a crowd of a hundred-odd people of the Ts'al Li-fo and Yung-ch'un Schools as well as a host of journalists.

At that time, Sifu Ch'en Mei-kuei , a woman exponent of the Ts'al Li-fo School, was also present at the venue. Miss Ch'an, a disciple of Sifu T'an Fei-peng, who, in turn, was a famous exponent of the Ts'si Li- fo Style and son of Grandmaster T'an San, had a record of defeating a superior judo exponent. Miss Ch'en offered to have a trial of skill with Liang's woman trainees, either one by one or free-for- all or with them all at once. It so scared the woman trainees that they all took flight in haste.

"We members of the Ts'al Li-fo School are never pugnacious or hawkish," said Sifu Tan Shing, "it was just that the junior member of the Yung-ch'un School had insulted our school and left us no alternative but to try conclusions with him. It was really a pity that he should have taken refuge in a toilet!'

Sifu Tan Shing, a native of Canton, settled in Hongkong when he wes eight years old. It was also at that age that he began to learn skills of the Ts'al Li-fo Style with his cousins from his uncle, who was an expert of the Pei Sheng Ts'al Li-fo School. Later on,, he drilled pugilism under tutelage of Sifu T'an Fei- p'eng, son of Grandmaster T'an San of the Pal Sheng Ts'al Li-fo School. At the age of sixteen, he followed his foster father, Sifu Lum Chee, to pursue advanced studies of the exquisite Ts'al Li-fo skill "cyclic straight punches". (Sifu Lum Chee is presently chief of the Pei Sheng Ts'al Li-fo School and First President of the Pei Sheng Ts'al Li-fo General Association: by the way, Sifu Tsang Chiu-yu presented in the article "Break a Suger-Cane in the Air with Palm-Chopper" of this magazine is Chairman of the Association.) That helped him to further his understanding of Ts'al Li-fo Pugilism.

When he was 17 years old, he was invited to be Chief Instructor of Chinese martial arts (kung fu) of the Divisional Police Station of Aberdeen, Hongkong. After that, he became chief instructor of Chinese martial arts of St. Joseph's School, Ling-nan University and the Charity Centre.

After turning l0, he starred the boxing film "The Quick Striker" and began his career as a kung fu movie star. In the same year, he won the Championship of the Middle-Weight "B" Class at the Southeast Asian Chinese Martial Arts Invitational Tournament. After coming back to Hongkong, he played the leading part in the boxing film "The Paris Killer". Presently, Sifu Ten Shing is running a kung fu studio in Paris and a divisional studio in Tours, France.