What is Hung Fut?
Shaolin Hung Fut Kung Fu (洪佛派, Hung Fut Pai) is a Southern Shaolin style built on two older traditions: Hung Kuen (洪拳), the Hung Fist, and Fut Jeong (佛掌), the Buddha Palm. It isn’t Hung Gar mixed with Fut Gar. It’s its own system, handed down from master to disciple for nine generations.
The story starts at the Shaolin Temple. Hung Hei Goon (洪熙官), a student of the Shaolin elder Ji Sin Sim Si (至善禪師), escaped the burning of the temple and fled south, where he taught a young man named Lei Jo Foon (李祖寬). Lei later became the monk Wun Lei (雲彌). After watching two eagles fight above his temple, he joined the Hung Fist with the Buddha Palm, and Hung Fut was born. Bak Mo Chiu (白毛照) brought it to Hong Kong in 1921, and Grandmaster Tai Yim (閻泰來) brought it to America, opening the first Hung Fut school in the country in Wheaton, Maryland, in 1979.
GRANDMASTER TAI YIM ON THE TEN ANIMALS
“Every one of us has the ten animal styles inside us.”
Kungfu Qigong magazine, 2001
The lineage
1st Generation: Wun Lei (雲彌) · Sin Sin Tong (善善堂)
2nd Generation: Wong Tong Kae (黃同祺) · Yee Yee Tong (怡怡堂)
3rd Generation: Lei Tong Foon (李同寬) · But But Tong (拔拔堂)
4th Generation: Ho Do Don (何道旦) · Sang Sang Tong (生生堂)
5th Generation: Ng Hoi Tong (吳海通), known as Bak Mo Tong · Shing Shing Tong (成成堂)
6th Generation: Bak Mo Chiu (白毛照), 1865 to 1944 · Po Po Tong (寶寶堂)
7th Generation: Hung Yiu Chung (洪耀宗), about 1921 to June 27, 1975 · Fa Fa Tong (化化堂)
8th Generation: Grandmaster Tai Yim (閻泰來) · Yung Yung Tong (用用堂)
9th Generation: Ying Ying Tong (英英堂). Seven of Grandmaster Tai Yim’s senior disciples, made masters in 2006, and James E. Whitley III and Philippe Prosper, made masters in 2026
The Ten Animals
Hung Fut trains ten animals: Dragon, Snake, Tiger, Leopard, Crane, Lion, Elephant, Horse, Monkey and Eagle. Each one fights differently. The tiger is power, the snake is soft and precise. Learning all ten makes you harder to read and gives you an answer for any kind of fighter.
Classical Weapons
Hung Fut trains in classical weapons, from the staff, spear and broadsword to the Kwan Do, hook swords, three-section staff and chain whip. Our signature weapon is the staff, and like every long weapon in Hung Fut, it’s held with the left hand leading.
Practical Combat
Hung Fut has always been a fighting art. Its masters took on challengers, and Grandmaster Tai Yim fought in the ring as a young man in Hong Kong. That’s still the standard. Every form is there to teach you how to fight, and you find out what it’s worth by testing it against someone who’s trying to stop you.