While Gonzalo hit Bermuda full force!!! I did lots of reading and compiled this history of Grand Master Yim Sheung Mo. This is another account / version of the great mans journey! YIM SHEUNG MO!!! Born 1887 in Ching Hsi Hsien Kwangsi Province. He practiced Hung Chuan before he learned from Wan Li Sheng. Sheng a master of Lui Ho, Six Harmonys and Tzu Men natural boxing.This Hung Chuan was a little known northern style, this Hung Chuan was not one of the five mother styles and had little relation to Hung Chuan of southern origin. This Hung Chuan was that of Lam Sai Wing. Yim Sheung Mo heard that the great master that killed a horse with a single blow was in town. He asked his teacher to introduce him and inquire about lessons from Ku Yu Cheung.Wan Lai Sheng and Ku Yu Cheung were good friends and he was glad to write a letter on Yims behalf. Before Yim could learn from Ku Yu Cheung he to complete an exam compiled by the Government. It is obvious that Yim in his late 30s wasnt the first student of Ku Yu Cheung. Because he was older by 6-7 years then Ku their relationship was more brotherly than teacher student. Yim Sheng Mo trained diligently and mastered Northern Shaolin, Tai Chi Chuan and Lui ho. In the mid 1930s Yim was teaching in Kwangtung Province in a local market place. At the outset of WWll he left for Nanning in Kwangsi the year being 1939. Yim Sheng Mo did not have business or manual skills so he went to the local martial arts academy to apply for work as an instructor. Finding the school was closed and was empty he opened his own school. The war years brought hard times as time elapsed he closed the school for the lack of paying students. He applied and was successful getting a job as a security guard for a protection agency. At the end of the war G.M. Yim left the protection agency and traveled to Kwangchou Kwangtung Province. He taught at the Canton Central Park and had many students. In 1948 - 1949 he had a young disciple Wong Jack Man. Man became a great master and is most known worldwide for fighting Bruce Lee. In 1952 Yim Sheung Mo accompanied by his grandson traveled to British Hong Kong at the insistence of his master Ku Yu Cheung. People of influence were persecuted jailed and killed by the new communist regime. He was aided in his passage by Louhan and Northern Shaolin G.M. Ma Kin Fung. G.M. Ma arranged lodging for G.M.Yim in the same building as his student of 3 years Chan Kowk Wai. G.M. Chan immediately applied for lessons on finding out who Yim Sheung Mo was. He was excepted and became Yims first student in Hong Kong. G.M. Yim Sheung Mo joined up with his former training partner Lung Tze Cheung who emigrated in 1949. They conducted classes until Lungs death in 1963. This scenario where there was 3 students of Ku Yu Cheung networking gave opportunity for students to be exchanged and to learn from the other. Such as the best students of Yim Sheung Mo learning Louhan from G.M.Ma Kin Fung. Being as Lung and Yim were disciples of Ku Yu Cheung Northern Shaolin was the bases of their teaching curriculum. Grand Master Yim strengthened his earning power with his bone setting ability and his herbal medicine knowledge. Daily his students practiced N.S. while he practiced his Qigong. At 65 yrs. he still practiced his iron head technique. He did these by balancing on his head unaided by his hands. At 72 he was still agile doing roles and tumbling techniques. His well known moto was: To Teach Kung Fu Is To Teach Kung Fu!!! Yim Sheung Mo was a very quiet and polite man never advertizing that he was one of three top disciples of the legendary Ku Yu Cheung. After 40 years of teaching he performed a demonstration of Hsing I. The crowd demanded an encore he obliged, overexerted himself took ill and died later in hospital. The date was 12 December 1971 he was 84 years old. He alone had the greatest influence and can be credited with N.S. being so prominent in the western hemisphere. He has as many as six students either retired from teaching or as Grand Master Chan continue to teach to this day. Yim Sheung Mo the master of Chan Kowk Wai, Wong Jack Man, So Bin Yeung, Kwong Wing Lam, Gregory Fong and Lam Kam Cheung. These are the main players of Northern Shaolin kung fu in the west. We praise the great Ma Kin Fung and the work being continued by son Master Danny Ma and other disciples. The lineage of G. M. Lung is also vibrant in Canada with his grandson at the helm there is also The Lai Hung Academy in California and New York. Northern Shaolin has blossomed beyond belief. There are many students of the students of Yim Sheung Mo. Highlighting the work of Grand Master Chan Kowk Wai who has disciples in Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Chile, Hawaii, U.S.A. Canada, and China carrying his lineage. There are schools in other countries like Bermuda and Cheq Republic. I COMPILED THIS DURING THE FIRST HALF OF HURRICANE GONZALO. I finished at 9.26 pm as the calm of the eye of the storm was over us. The second half after the eye would have been impossible to concentrate the wind was so high. Living here I have experienced dozens of tropical systems. But I assure you Gonzalo was fierce!!!!!!
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 04:55:57 +0000
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