It's unsettling when you think about someone that you haven't thought about in a long time, and then when you do, they pass away soon after. Last weekend, my phone blew up with news of the passing of Grandmaster Chan Sau Chung. I was thinking about him earlier that week because I'm doing a bit of research on the sword set of my foundation style, Bak Sil Lum. That form, Pek Kwar Dan Do, is shared by Bak Sil Lum and Grandmaster Chan's style of Tai Shing Pek Kwar. Years ago, I worked with him on producing an instructional video on that sword form.

Grandmaster Chan was on our March+April 2001 cover. He was introduced to us by Grandmaster Lily Lau, who always knows who's who in the martial world of Hong Kong. I only had a marginal awareness of who he was at the time.

Tai Shing Pek Kwar is Da Sheng Pigua in Mandarin (大聖劈掛). Tai Shing means "Great Sage" and it's an homage to one of China's mythic warrior heroes, Sun Wukong, the Monkey King from the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West. Pek Kwar means "hanging chop" referring to an axe-like splitting strike. It's the same Pek Kwar in the aforementioned sword form Pek Kwar Dan Do, and Piguaquan is its own unique Northern style of Kung Fu. The two styles of Monkey and Pigua were fused by Chan's master, Kan Tak Hoi, who came from a family of Pigua practitioners and then was taken in by Kau Sze, a Tai Shing master, upon Kan's father's death. Chan was renowned for his Monkey style Kung Fu, earning him the honorary title of "Monkey King." He produced several international full-contact fighting champions and among his students was our January+February 2012 cover master, Chan Koon Tai, a veteran movie star from the golden age of Kung Fu films. I interviewed Chan Koon Tai for that cover story (see Kung Fu Gallant), but didn't delve into his relationship with Chan Sau Chung. To be honest, I might have been too starstruck to go there at the time. However, Chan's legacy was discussed in his own cover story, Monkey King Chan Sau Chung's Journey to the West: The Real History of Tai Shing Pek Kwar, Monkey Style Kungfu.

The most striking thing about Chan Sau Chung was that he was a small short man. He only stood about 5 feet tall and had a slight frame, strong but not overtly burly, not at all what you'd expect from a Kung Fu grandmaster with such a remarkable legacy. I'm always more impressed by smaller-framed masters. Big burly people don't really need Kung Fu to be decent fighters. Size does matter. It matters a lot. So when you meet a master that's not so big, you know that they aren't just overpowering people with their physicality. That's skill. That's real Kung Fu.

The year after Chan Sau Chung was on our cover, his son ,Chan Kai Leung, was our July+August 2002 cover master. That was a unique issue because it showcased another Chinese classic novel, Outlaws of the Marsh. The cover story, Wu Song Breaks Manacles: (Wu Song Tuo Kao) Rare Kungfu Form Inspired by Outlaws of the Marsh Has a Comeback, focused on a unique form that trains fighting while handcuffed, inspired by one of the warrior heroes of that novel. As part of that cover project, Grandmaster Chan and his son worked with us to produce four instructional videos: Pek Kwar Continuous Fist, Di Tang Siping Fist, Nine Continents Staff, and Willow Leaf Broadsword. The Willow Leaf Broadsword was the same form as the Pek Kwar Dan Do that I practice. Chan's Nine Continents Staff was also the same form as Guo Jow Chai Mei Guan (Nine Province Eyebrow-Height Staff). With weapons forms, it's not uncommon to see cross-fertilization within different lineages of Kung Fu. Several styles share these two weapons forms; they are also practiced in some schools of Hung Gar and Choy Lay Fut as well.

Working on Grandmaster Chan's videos gave me a unique perspective because I also worked on instructional videos for both this sword and staff for my own master, Kwong Wing Lam. Naturally, there are variations between Chan's Tai Shing Pek Kwar version and my Bak Sil Lum version, but it's easy to see that it's the same root pattern. Grandmaster Chan acknowledged that my practice had a derivative version and insisted that his was the original. Given the namesake, I was willing to grant him that, although having the original version isn't necessarily the best. Consider having the original iPhone versus having the latest version. And just like with smart phone functions, both Tai Shing Pek Kwar versions of these weapons have less moves than the Bak Sil Lum versions, but that isn't to say that either is superior. If anything, the comparison is fascinating for Kung Fu practitioners like me who like to take deep dives into weapons.

Unfortunately, those Tai Shing Pek Kwar videos are no longer available. During the conversion from VHS to DVD formats, several of our TC Media International-produced videos were not converted. Back when the conversions happened, it was a significant investment to convert and duplicate every title, and given the breadth of the TC Media library, several of the videos that weren't top sellers dropped to the wayside. Grandmaster Chan's passing reminded us that we still haven't made those Tai Shing Pek Kwar instructional videos available on DVD. Perhaps we shall if there's enough interest.

I think the last time I crossed paths with Grandmaster Chan Sau Chung was our 10th Anniversary Gala. That was an exhausting event for me personally, and I have no memory of interacting with the Chans during that. I do remember there was an issue about where they should be seated. Any promoter who has staged a martial banquet of such magnitude knows that table seating can be a chess game. From petty rivalries to time-honored family feuds, there's always some masters that don't want to sit near other masters. The request didn't come from the Chans, but from another party that wanted to distance themselves from the Chans. It's posturing and politics, part and parcel of being part of the martial community. There was actually an issue with my own Dragon Crew, some volunteers for our 10th that I culled from my Bak Sil Lum brothers, and another individual, so far be it from me to judge. Fortunately, all went smoothly for all parties concerned. I only mention it here because, honestly, that's all I remember about my last meeting with Grandmaster Chan. I was curious about what bad blood might have elicited that, but I never found out, and it was so long ago now that it seems so inconsequential.

To be dubbed as "the Monkey King" is far from a singular honor. The Monkey King figures so prominently in Chinese culture that most any monkey style master of some repute might glean that moniker. However, Grandmaster Chan Sau Chung earned the nickname within the Hong Kong martial arts community, and that is no small achievement by any measure. It was an honor to have met an incarnation of the Great Sage, Monkey King Chan Sau Chung.