By Mark Pollard | Published March 6, 2008

Wong Fei-hung (aka Huang Fei-hong) is one of the most revered folk heroes in China, particularly among residents of Guangdong Province and Hong Kong where he came to be immortalized on screen more often than any other historical figure in the world. Although he died long before his fame spread into the film arena and elsewhere, this figure has come to epitomize the ideal Chinese hero.

For the past 70 years, mostly fictional exploits of Wong Fei-hung and his top martial arts students have been retold in serialized novels, TV series and in over 100 martial arts films. Wong has been repeatedly portrayed by such illustrious screen-fighting legends as Kwan Tak-hing, Jackie Chan and Jet Li. While relatively little is known about his personal life, this celebrated kung fu expert and healer has become a symbol of Chinese pride and has left an indelible mark on Hong Kong cinema and the martial arts world.

In Chinese kung fu, one’s martial arts lineage is of nearly equal importance to one’s family lineage. The handing down of kung fu techniques from sifu (teacher) to student is of grave importance as many of the forms and techniques widely used today can often be traced back to a single figure. Such is the case for the Southern Fist technique which would become the basis for Wong Fei-hung’s Hung Kuen or Hung Fist style, a branch of Southern Shaolin kung fu.

Avid kung fu movie fans have likely seen at least one movie dealing with the destruction of the Southern Shaolin Temple. While the facts of this event and even the existence of the temple itself remain shrouded in myth, it is known that the Qing Dynasty began to look on the martial arts-trained monks of Shaolin as a potential threat and this forced many of the temple’s students to take their training underground.

Through years of rigorous and highly disciplined training these monks had become highly skilled in unarmed and armed combat. They had been recruited by emperors and warlords to fight invaders and Japanese pirates. In addition, they had for years trained emperors and generals in their fighting arts. Shaolin had long been seen as an ally of the government but during the Qing Dynasty, the temples became havens for rebels.

In the mid-1700s, the Manchu government reputedly sacked the Southern Shaolin Temple and the surviving monks and lay students scattered throughout Southern China, particularly in the Guangdong region. One such student of notable skill was Hung Hei-kwun who settled near the city of Guangzhou and began teaching martial arts. His most successful student was Luk Ah-choy. Luk, himself a monk handed down his skills to Wong Tai. Wong Tai handed down his knowledge to his son, Wong Kai-ying. Wong Kai-ying became the father of Wong Fei-hung and in due time passed on what had become the family’s martial arts to his son.

Wong’s father was himself a folk hero of considerable distinction. He was a member of the Ten Tigers of Guangdong, all martial descendents of the Southern Shaolin Temple. Although it is unlikely that they interacted with each other much, if at all, the Ten Tigers of Guangdong were reputed to be the greatest fighters among their generation in Southern China. Like Wong Fei-hung, their exploits became the subject of popular stories.

Wong Fei-hung was born in 1847 at the end of the Qing Dynasty, by some accounts in Foshan, a city within Guangdong Province which borders Hong Kong in Southeast China. According to an alternate legend, his father would not teach Fei-hung martial arts for fear that it might endanger his life. Still desiring to learn, Fei-hung purportedly took lessons from his father’s master. More likely, Wong learned directly from his father.

Related Topics:
Gordon Liu  •  Hung Fist  •  Jackie Chan  •  Jet Li  •  Kwan Tak-hing  •  Lau Kar-leung  •  Man of Determination  •  Videos  •  Wong Fei-hung