Tags: Martial Artist.
Lam Yiu Gwai 林耀桂 (1877-1966) was the master responsible for the dissemination of Dragon Kung Fu.He was born in 1877 in Huìyáng (惠陽) County in the prefecture of Huizhou in Guangdong Province China.From a young age Lam learned martial arts from his father and grandfather and like them he would eventually undertake training from masters on Loh Fu Mountain in neighboring Bo Loh (博羅) County where he was taught by Chan (Zen) master Tai Yuk of the Wa Sau Toi temple who knew the Dragon style.He also learned the routines Saam Tung Goh Kiu (“Three Ways to Cross the Bridge”) from the Taoist Wong Lei Giu and Mui Fa Chat Lo (“Plum Flower Fist in Seven Sections”) from Ke Hing Ma.Good friends since their youth in Huizhou Lam Yiu Gwai and the Bak Mei master Jeung Lai Chuen later became cousins by marriage and opened several schools together.Lam Yiu Gwai married and had several children.In the 1920s he moved to Guangzhou where he opened a number of Dragon style schools and met Mok Gar master Lin Yin-Tang who became a friend with whom he had much in common.Lin Yin-Tang was from the prefecture of Dongguan which bordered both Huìyáng and Bóluó counties.Like Yiu Gwai Yin-Tang studied at a temple on Loh Fu Mountain; in Yin-Tang’s case the Temple of Emptiness (沖虛觀) where he studied meditation and traditional Chinese medicine.After a stroke in the early 1950s Lam Yiu Gwai moved to Hong Kong for medical treatment where after another stroke in 1965 he died in 1966.He passed the art on to his students Wu Hua Tai Ma Chai Chan Cheung (Robert Chan) Tsoi Yiu-Cheung and Chan Dak in addition to his sons Lam Chan Gwong (林燦光) and Lam Wun Gwong (林煥光) who supervises the Dragon Sign Athletic Association in Hong Kong.