Ng Yim Ming - famous Tibetan Hop Gar leader and Chinese Army General

[diego]

Actually, my grandfather was killed on 1972, specifically on the evening of March 13, 1972, at his Kung Fu studio (now the Kongming Glass Co. and Powell Florist) at 1230 Powell Street, Chinatown, San Francisco. My grandmother Fannie, father, little sister, and I were eating at the Asia Garden Restaurant (now called the New Asia Restaurant) about two blocks away, on 772 Pacific Avenue; and my mother and two maternal uncles were working there. Ironically, but sadly, my grandfather's wake was at Cathay Wah Sang Mortuary (now a park) across the street.

Lawrence

I don't mean to sound stupid but march 9-14 is always an ill date for me...strange, but I believe in Fate karma and all that.

My condolences, that's a tragic memory.

[ljeung]

Thanks for sharing, Phil Gelinas Kaido's black belt who learned some of your grandfather's techniques mentioned Alexander "Kaido" Polintain's father who's name I don't know was the one that helped him with his paperwork coming to America...in exchange he taught Kaido...or something, it's a cool little mystery in my household

Do you train Hop Gar?

James

ps

do you have the sword master film he starred in? I would love to find it on youtube...

Hi James,

Hmm, I have never heard of Kaido. My mother and some of her siblings tell me that they and my grandmother was the ones who helped my grandfather with his paperwork. My grandmother initially refused, because my grandfather had been very unfaithful to her. But after they told her that he was getting old and that he could die before seeing his grandchildren, she relented and signed the paperwork. He finally immigrated to the United States in 1969.

Most of the people that my grandfather associated with were Cantonese Chinese and spoke Cantonese, except for Tony Galvin and my oldest uncle's second wife, who was British. I will ask my mother and her surviving siblings who Kaido is.

No, I unfortunately do not train Hop Gar (the only thing I can train is astronomy, math, and physics.)

No, unfortunately, I do not have the sword master film he starred in. I would love to find it, too. In fact, my mother told me that he had acted in many films (so did she and my oldest uncle), but I have never seen any of his films (nor my mother's or uncles, for that matter.) I hope that the Hong Kong film industry did not allow the films to decompose. I would like to show them to my children, nephews, and nieces, Sifu Ng's great-grandchildren.

Lawrence

[ljeung]

I don't mean to sound stupid but march 9-14 is always an ill date for me...strange, but I believe in Fate karma and all that.

My condolences, that's a tragic memory.

Hi diego,

Perhaps, it is because that time period falls just before March 15, the Ides of March. It was on Ides of March in 44 BC that the Roman Senate assassinated the dictator Julius Caesar.

In a way, my grandfather was assassinated.

Thank you for the condolences. Yes, it was a tragic memory. For many years, I would not talk about my grandfather with my family. I would not even say the Cantonese Chinese word for maternal grandfather, gung, or any word that sounded like it.

But my family was not the only one touched by violence at the time. Several of my grandfather's students were also killed or their friends, including my youngest aunt's boyfriend Anton Wong.

San Francisco's Chinatown in the early to mid 1970's was a violent place. I am glad that is over. It is not good for children, even adults, to be exposed to this level of violence.

Lawrence

[ljeung]

Sifu Ng Yim-Ming used to teach kungfu in San Francisco, Chinatown. But he was killed during 1960 SF gang war, soon after that his students all disappeared and the only one loyal student by the name of * Tony * , he might be still around somewhere in New York, hop gar kungfu was gone with sifu Ng forever... at least in this side of Pacific ocean!!!

The Tony that you mention is probably Tony Galvin. He last visited my grandmother and parents in the mid to late 1980's, when they still lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. I did not know that Tony moved to New York.

Lawrence

[ljeung]

at least tell me how you know that,david chin says he was taught by ng yim ming,i think he teaches in new york, i read he was killed in 1972,and alexander "kaito"polintain learnt from him,now in kaitos bio it states he moved to sanfrancisco in 1968 so how long he studyied from harry????????????????and kaito would have been 24 at the time of harrys death.kaito was killed in the late 80s i think,same situation kaidos students as harry....i have had some kaito trix for the last 8yrs if you could give me any info of the historical characteristics of hopga,,much apreciated....my techniques are a mix of i think 7* mantis and hopga from a kajukenbo perspective with a bit of philipino flavor.....

I do not recall hearing of a David Chin or an Alexander "Kaito" Polintain. I do remember a George Long and Jack Hoey, besides Tony Galvin. I will ask my parents about David Chin and Kaito.

Lawrence

[ljeung]

I used to live in SF, many of Sifu Ng's students were into gang war and this was a well known history in chinatown community. If you wish to know more about Sifu Ng's pass. you may contact Sifu Ng 's famous movie star student by the name of * Kim Tung *, He was a hop gar student under Sifu Ng... Kim Tung might be still living in Hong Kong, there're no one teaching hop gar kung fu in SF and I have talked to some of my kungfu friends there!!!

Yes, many of my grandfather's students were into gang war (but some of them were probably just unwittingly caught up by it.) Some of them were killed. The first that I know of was a young man named Gary (I unfortunately do not know his last name). He was shot to death while working on his 1950's-era car. Before he died, I had asked either him or my family why his car had mag wheels and a jacked-up rear axle. He was the first person I knew, who died, but murder is a very bad way for children to learn about death. Dying of old age is a better way.

You can also ask me about my grandfather's past, but only with regards to his immigration to and departure from the United States, his youth, marriages, family, acting experiences, military service, and the times he read Old Master Q magazines to me while hanging out with his associates very late on weeknights at the Golden Dragon Restaurant (the sight of the Golden Dragon Massacre of 1977, but now the site of the Imperial Palace Restaurant) on 816 Washington Street in San Francisco (I do not know what my parents were thinking, but I should have been at home in bed.)

I do not recognize the name Kim Tung. I will ask my parents.

Lawrence

[diego]

http://www.hygeia-design.com/Kaido

This is the article that mentions the link between the two...any thing look familiar?

[ljeung]

http://www.hygeia-design.com/Kaido

This is the article that mentions the link between the two...any thing look familiar?

Hi diego,

Thank you for the article. I don't recognize Kaido, but some of the positions of his hands and arms seem familiar. Perhaps, I don't recognize him, because I was in school whenever he went to my grandfather's studio.

Lawrence

[diego]

Hi diego,

Thank you for the article. I don't recognize Kaido, but some of the positions of his hands and arms seem familiar. Perhaps, I don't recognize him, because I was in school whenever he went to my grandfather's studio.

Lawrence

if you have some family photo's you care to put online...that would be awesome. There is a few members on this forum who would love to even see some vintage Chinatown pictures you may have in storage...to martial artists these things are priceless like your nephew birthday cards... just for inspiration keep you happy training and such.

Do you have any classic pic's of Bruce Lee dressed up as the Green Hornet signing autographs when you were a shorty?

[diego]

Do you know if your GF had any links to Kajukenbo out of Hawaii?...I think Kaido may have been in the army out there...

[ljeung]

Is he a kung fu or just general asian movie star,havnt heard of him,can you think of any keywords besides that name so i could general search and find an email address hopfully.
thaanx.....do you think he would know english,do you have any idea what harry studied and how old he was at his passing..thanx

Hi diego,

According to my grandfather's early immigration records, he was not sure of his birthdate. However, his headstone gives his birth year as 1908 - unfortunately, I cannot remember the rest of his birthdate, as I have not visited his grave for a while. I think the discrepancy arose, because when he was young, he did not know how to convert dates on the Chinese calendar to dates on the Western calendar. And when he got older, more financially stable, more mature, and more interested in his past, he probably asked a Chinese scholar to determine his birthdate. So if we go by his birth year on his headstone, then he was 63 or 64 at his passing, depending on the month and day of his birth.

By the way, dates on the Chinese calendar were either the number years into the reign of an emperor, like 光緒 (Kwong Seoi/Guāngxù) 34; or a name, like 戊申 (mou san/wùshēn) - both examples correspond to Chinese New Year 1908, to just before Chinese New Year 1909. I discovered this from researching my genealogy.

And the words in parentheses are the Cantonese and Mandarin transliterations of the Chinese characters.

Lawrence

[ljeung]

if you have some family photo's you care to put online...that would be awesome. There is a few members on this forum who would love to even see some vintage Chinatown pictures you may have in storage...to martial artists these things are priceless like your nephew birthday cards... just for inspiration keep you happy training and such.

Do you have any classic pic's of Bruce Lee dressed up as the Green Hornet signing autographs when you were a shorty?

Hi diego,

I have hundreds of family photos, but you are probably only interested in the ones with my grandfather. Unfortunately, I only have a few photos of him: one when he was a teenager; one when he was young man, with three of his buddies; one when he was in his Chinese Army Air Corps. uniform, with my grandmother, oldest aunt Virgilyn (his stepdaughter - my grandmother was previously married, too), and oldest uncle (the rest of the family was yet to born); one when he was an old man, with my grandmother, the two uncles, two aunts, and my mother (Aunt Virgilyn, sadly, had died of what my grandmother said was leukemia in Macau around 1940.) All of these photos were taken in China or Hong Kong, and all, except the last one, were taken in studios, so unfortunately, I do not have any photos of vintage Chinatown. My parents might though, unless theirs were lost, when moisture leaked into their storage place and destroyed their photo albums. To my family, all those lost photos were priceless, so losing them was really, really heartbreaking.

I will think about putting the existing photos online.

Since you mention Bruce Lee, some of these photos included friends of my grandfather and mother, including the man who portrayed the villain in "Enter the Dragon", Shih Kien. In fact, my mother and oldest uncle told me that my uncle and Bruce Lee used to roam the streets of Hong Kong to get into fights on purpose. I was shocked when they told me that.

While my family knew Bruce Lee, I personally never met him. And unfortunately, I do not have any classic pics of him dressed up as the Green Hornet.

Lawrence

[ljeung]

Do you know if your GF had any links to Kajukenbo out of Hawaii?...I think Kaido may have been in the army out there...

Hi diego,

No, unfortunately, I do not know if he had any such links.

Lawrence

[ljeung]

Kim Tung was a famous kungfu star back in 1970-80, I dont know if he hnows English or not and I dont really know who's harry??? There're only one person left in SF , name Liu Kua-Wai, he might be the only one hnows more about Sifu Ng and hop gar, but he wont talk to no strangers... also he was a very secret person himself. sorry , cant help you anymore!!!

Harry is my grandfather's American name.

I am not familiar with the name Liu Kua-Wai. I will ask my parents about him, too.

Actually, there are still many people who know about my grandfather, and they are the members of my family who still live there. However, most of us do not know much about Hop Gar.

Does Mr. Liu not talk to strangers, because he fears for his life?

Lawrence

[ljeung]

man this is gonna be a journey i have bin studying these methods since i was 14 am 23 now,its my thinking im not evn financially secure so these next twenty years are gonna be hella interesting first im lookin for harrys student and im getting links to his students in ottawa and montreal then im looking for general ma that relate to lama
now you got me emailing hong kong and knowing without a doubt the gentleman in sf most definatly probably wouldnt talk to me.....

from what i gather harry was ng-yim-mings nickname...thanx again hope to chat soon.....

Hi diego,

Who is General Ma?

As I mentioned one of my earlier posts, Harry was my grandfather's American name. It was used on his Social Security card, headstone, and death certificate.

Lawrence