On April 4, 2023, the Kung Fu community lost one of the true connections to Hong Kong’s golden era of Kung Fu with the passing of Grandmaster Chiu Wai (趙威). Born on Oct 10, 1931, in Hong Kong, GM Chiu Wai started learning Hung Gar Kung Fu (洪家) from his father Chiu Kao (趙教) and mother, Wong Siu Ying (黃邵英), at a young age. The lineage stems through the famous Hung Gar masters, Lam Sai Wing (林世榮) and Wong Fei Hong (黃飛鴻). In 1957, he opened his own school and bone setting (dit da 跌打) clinic. Since then, he has had several hundred students with affiliations in Asia, Europe, North and South America and Australia. He leaves behind his wife Law Sui Lin, sons Ambrose and Dennis, and a large and lasting legacy.
Throughout his life he has many great achievements in Kung Fu, Chinese medicine, and life. Too many to list here but to name a couple of highlights, in 1970, he was the martial arts instructor at Shaw Brothers Studio in Hong Kong. In 1985, he achieved 1st runner-up at the 2nd International Wushu Competition in Xian, China. He was 54 years old while the Champion from China was only 20! In 1993, he retired and moved to Calgary, Canada where he continued to participate in the local community and the greater kung fu community at large.
GM Chiu Wai's style of Hung Gar is living through teachings from his disciple Chiu Wah (趙華), his son Dennis Chiu (趙國基) and most senior student Master Fung Kan Chi (馮鏡池) who are all actively teaching in Hong Kong. His eldest son, Ambrose Chiu (趙國強), not only teaches Chiu's Hung Gar in Calgary, Canada, but also carries on leading the Sunday morning Yik Sau Kuen (益壽拳) class. In addition, his legacy is carried on by countless other Hung Gar practitioners around the globe.
My relationship with GM Chiu Wai comes through my Sifu, Lam Kwong Wing (林光榮). That makes him my Sigung (師公) and I will refer to GM Chiu Wai as Sigung for the rest of this memorial. When Sifu heard Sigung would be in town, he invited him to visit our kwoon and share his thoughts and experiences on lion dancing. This would be the first time they had seen each other since Sifu left Hong Kong.
If you ever had the fortune to meet Sigung Chiu Wai, you can't help but feel the energy and life he exuded. But don’t let his charismatic smile fool you. He would tell you what you needed to hear whether you wanted to or not.
Since I had passable Cantonese, I was given the honor of being Sigung’s host during his visit. He arrived directly from the airport and after a few introductions, went immediately into a changing room. My first impression of Sigung was seeing him enter as a mild-mannered grandfather in slacks and a sports coat and coming out as a super Kung Fu man. From bottom up; Kung Fu shoes, Kung Fu pants, Kung Fu studded belt, Kung Fu studded arm bands and no shirt! At 70 years of age, he put all our students to shame with his physique alone.
He was ready to go and proceeded to share his insights, not only on lion dancing but kung fu in Hong Kong. He also taught us Yik Sau Kuen (life prolonging fist 益壽拳), a form he created that embodies Hung Gar concepts but practiced slowly like Taiji. He had just gotten off the plane from Canada but had the energy to teach us through the night.
The next day, we met him in San Francisco and got some tough love. He asked my sifu, “Why don’t you have my picture on your kwoon wall?” Sifu answered, “We didn’t have a good picture of you”. Sigung immediately donned his sport coat and said, “Take a picture now!”
Impressed with our meeting with Sigung and with the blessing of my Sifu, my Kung Fu brother Onassis Parungao and I set off for Calgary to pay our respects. During that time, we trained both at his house and at the community center. I have so many fond memories from that visit and one that sticks out was training with the Calgary Elderly Chinese Citizens Association. Sigung wore a Janet Jackson style headset microphone and barked out Kung Fu moves from Yik Sau Kuen while 40+ seasoned citizens followed along. We ended the session with 5 minutes of horse stance while Sigung told stories. Imagine those scenes in the old movies with the entire school reciting the poetry of the set. For the most part, the group stayed in stance. Looking around and being one of the youngest participants, I was not going to lose my stance. Once again, Sigung did not hold back on his thoughts. He even told our wives that they should learn Kung Fu like his wife so we could train together.
The next time meeting Sigung was a few years later when he returned to Lam Kwoon to teach a weekend of seminars. Once again, I had the honor to host and chauffeur him around the various events. It was a special time and reinforced my impressions of his passion and enthusiasm for life. Although he was busy with the seminars and sightseeing, he still took every opportunity to give me both Kung Fu training tips and life lessons. I still remember him commenting that, not only was he teaching me Hung Gar but Cantonese as well.
A few of my si-hing/dai (Kung Fu brothers 師兄/弟) talked about another visit to Sigung when the pandemic shut all those plans down. Now we won't have the opportunity. It’s another life lesson for us to live in the moment and give your all today. That was how GM Chiu Wai lived and we should remember him and his legacy that way.
