History of The Pak Mei Clan
The martial arts of the Pak Mei Clan originated from the Shaolin Buddish Monastery, Sung Shan, Henan Province, China, Buddish Monk Pak Mei, the eldest of the five elders of Shaolin in the Ching Dynasty was regarded as the first generation of the Pak Mei Clan, the Pak Mei Martial Arts were passed from Buddish Monk Pak Mei to Buddish Monk Kwong Wai who was regarded as the second generation, from Buddish Monk Kwong Wai to Buddish Monk Chuk Fai Wan who was regarded as the third generation, from Buddish Monk Chuk Fat Wan to great Grand Master Cheung Lai Chuen who was regarded as belonging to the fourth generation and from Great Grand Master Cheung Lai Chuen to Grand Master Cheung Ping Lam who was regarded as belonging to the fifth generation. The first, second and third generations of the Pak Mei Clan were all Buddish Monks. The Pak Mei Martial Arts did not spread to the secular world until they had been passed to Great Grand Master Cheung Lai Chuen.
The first person to spread wildly and brilliantly of the Pak Mei Martial Arts in the secular world was Great Grand Master Cheung Lai Chuen who was born during the reign of Emperor Kwong Shui at the end of the Ching Dynasty in Weiyang District, Dong Jiang, Guangdong Province, China. He commenced to learn martial arts at the age about Thirteen years and learned three different styles of martial arts in the Dong Jiang area from three famous Kung Fu masters who were Master Shek, Master Lee Yee and Master Lam Ah Hop, the disciple of Buddish Monk Yuk Shing of the Wah Sou Buddish Monastery, Law Fau Shan, Guangdong Province, China. All the three famous Master praised him and indicated that he should establish his own gymnasium to teach students. As Great Grand Master was still young at the time, he preferred not to teach martial arts but went to Guangzhou for good at about the age of nineteen years. In Guangzhou he accidentally got to know a Buddish Monk called Lin Sang and had the chance of having a friendly combat with Monk Lin Sang. Who then defeated him. Great Grand Master humbly requested Monk Lin Sang to accept him as a disciple, but he was refused.
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Later he learned from Monk Lin Sang that the martial arts used to defeat him had been passed to Monk Lin Sang by Buddish Monk Chuk Fat Wan and both Monks toured about in the Guangdong Province from the Sichuan Province and were then staying in the Kwong Hau Buddish Monastery, Guangzhou, Monk Lin Sang brought Great Grand Master to the Monastery and introduced him to Monk Chuk Fat Wan who finally accepted Great Grand Master as his disciple to learn the Pak Mei Martial Arts after having begged lengthily for it, thereafter Great Grand Master followed Monk Chuk Fat Wan to tour about, learn and practice the Pak Mei Martial Arts. After two odd years of hard learning and practice and an account of Great Grand Masterˇ¦s talent in understanding martial arts, Great Grand Master learned all the Pak Mei Martial Arts except the technique gravel shooting and obtained their vitalities. Then Monk Chuk Fat Wan and Monk Lin Sang returned to their Buddish Monastery in the Sichuan Province and Great Grand Master returned to Weizhou to join his mother.
Thereafter Great Grand Master joined the revolutionary team of Wong War Shun against the Ching Dynasty in Dong Jiang area and took part in the revolutionary battle in Wong Fat Kong of Guangzhou. The revolutionists were defeated heavily and most of them lost their lives, Great Grand Master was fortunate for not being killed and he escaped from Gangzhou to his native place.
After the establishment of the Republic of China, in Jiang Men Town of the Sun Wui District, Great Grand Master aided Detective Captain Lui Chan to confront a leader of the salt smugglers, Great Grand Master fight with the leader who was highly proficient in Kung Fu, broke the Leaderˇ¦s arm and arrested him for the Captain. As a result Great Grand Master got his prestige in the Sun Wui District and started his teaching of martial art in Jiang Men Town. In Jiang Men Town Great Grand Master accepted the challenge of Kung Fu Master Chan Sau who had defeated several Kung Fu masters in Jiang Men Town and won him, thus Great Grand Master was further praised by the martial arts community there. Later Great Grand Master tried to solve some problems for one of his students and was forced to involve in a fight confronting more than fifty bad characters, during the fight he knocked down several persons, it was heard that one of them had been punched by him with his phoenix eye fist at the throat and died of the injury. To avoid trouble Great Grand Master was forced to leave Jiang Men Town for Guangzhou.
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In Guangzhou Great Grand Master set up his Kung Fu school to teach Pak Mei Martial Arts again at On Wide Lane, during which time Great Grand Master defeated Kung Fu Master Tsang Wai Pok who had closed several Kung Fu schools in Guangzhou by overcoming the masters thereof. Great Grand Masterˇ¦s victory shocked the martial arts community there and gained his prestige in Guangzhou. A lot of students followed him to learn the Pak Mei Martial Arts causing the jealousy of some of the Fung Fu masters. Ultimately while Great Grand Master was carrying his infant son and walking along a street, a group of seven to eight assassins tried to kill him with knives and guns. Great Grand Master knocked down several of them and took one of them as his shield, it was fortunate that the policemen were accidentally nearby to give assistance and arrested those being knocked down. The incidence was widely reported by the newspapers in Guangzhou and honored Great Grand Master with the title of ˇ§The Fierce Tiger of Tung Kongˇ¨ which made him well know in Guangzhou.
Thereafter Great Grand Master was employed by the Guangzhou Police Training School, the Yin Tong College and the Whampoa Military College one after the other as their martial arts training officer. During his employment in the Whampoa Military College he established a set of technique for fighting by using the rifle fixed with the knife and was responsible for training the famous by saber team apart from performing other duties. Many military officers also personally became his disciples in learning the Pak Mei Martial Arts, such as the Security Commander of the Guangdong Province, General Wai Chun Fook and Colonel Liu Chun Yat who died for China in the Nanking Battle against the Japanese army During the war against the Japanese Great Grand Master was employed as the martial arts trainer of the guerilla band of Leung Kwai Ping in Dong Jiang area. After the war he was employed as the martial arts training officer of the Secret Agents Department in the Guangdong Province.
When Guangzhou was about to be liberated, for being a military officer of the Republic of China he brought with his three sons, Cheung Ping Sum, Cheung Ping Lam and Cheung Ping Fat to migrate to Hong Kong, then some of his disciples also came to Hong Kong. It was from that time onward the Pak Mei Martial Arts were formally brought to Hong Kong and starting to be spread in Hong Kong Great Grand Master passed away in Hong Kong at the age of eighty odd years in 1964. During his time in Hong Kong he only taught about twenty odd disciples, but it has now been developed that members of the Pak Mei Clan can be found in many parts of the world and the Pak Mei Martial Arts may have been passed on to the ninth generation nowadays. Great Grand Master combated with many Kung Fu masters during his lifetime and defeated all of them. Many of his opponents admired the Pak Mei Martial Arts after their failure and became his disciples such as Master Chan Sau and master Tsang Wai Pok aforesaid, and Great Grand Master was very willing to pass the Pak Mei Martial Arts to them.
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After the death of the Great Grand Master, members of the fifth generation of the Pak Mei Clan held meetings and elected Grand Master Cheung Ping Lam as the Head of the Pak Mei Clan. Grand Master Cheung Ping Lam is the second son of the Great Grand Master Cheung Lai Chuen. Great Grand Master taught Grand Master Cheung Ping Lam the Pak Mei Martial Arts since his childhood. Grand Master firstly performed martial arts in the Whampoa Military College at the age of seven years and started to teach the Pak Mei Martial Arts at the age of eighteen years. Amongst the disciples and sons of the Great Grand Master, Grand Master Cheung Ping Lam is the one who spent the longest time to learn the Pak Mei Martial Arts from the Great Grand Master and research the Pak Mei Martial Arts with the Great Grand Master. During the old age of the Great Grand master in Hong Kong, Grand Master usually stayed by his side to make research of martial arts with him and taught for and on behalf of the Great Grand Master some of his disciples the Pak Mei Martial Arts. Grand Master has devoted all his lifetime to martial arts and obtained all the vitalities and importance of the Pak Mei Martial Arts. He has taken up the teaching of the Pak Mei Martial Arts as his life career and frequently teaches the members of the fifth and sixth generations of the Pak Mei Clan the Pak Mei Martial Arts for the purpose of promoting them to the higher level. Thus Grand Master was elected as the Head of the Pak Mei Clan an account of his doings and prestige. He has selected to teach good quality disciples of a smaller number rather than bad quality students of a larger number and teaches his selected disciples of all known by him without reserve. In 1999 Grand Master has attained the age of seventy-three years.
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