16/02/2026
My sifu's old website used to host some translations from some old newspaper clippings about the Great Grandmaster Lau Soei of Chow Gar Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu. Unfortunately those pages are no longer viewable since the website got updated. But I managed to find them again and present them here for your viewing.
Follow for more updates and other translation projects.
๐๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ - ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ข๐ฎ ๐๐ก๐ฎ๐ข
The story began at around the 14th & 15th year of Emperor Guangxu's reign in late Qing dynasty of China.
One fine afternoon, a crowd of tens of local residents gathered at the front of a red pillars house in the place called Guรฃn-Yin Gรฉ of the Dรตng Jiรฃng, Hui Yang, Guang D**g province. These people were doing nothing in particular, simply stretching their necks and gazing at a young handsome and talented man, who was demonstrating the well-known 18 styles of martial arts to the students. The crowd broke into rapturous applause and excitement at the peak of the demonstration.
๐๐ก๐ ๐
๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐
This young man, whose name is Liu Shui, is no ordinary fellow but the 3rd generation disciple of founder of the much respected style of the Chinese Martial Art - Chow Gar Tong Long (Southern Praying Mantis style), who had established a reputation in Hong Kong. Liu Shui was originally from Dรตng Jiรฃng area of China.
He was gifted with much talent in martial arts and had inherited the typical characteristics of the people from that area - hard working, endurance and persistence. He had already achieved a lot by the age of 14 and had mastered all sorts of fist styles as well as martial art weaponry within the period of 7 or 8 years which he learned from several well-known shifus.
At the age of 21, there was an incident one evening when he was on his way back from a visit to friend and got to the hill sides of the Hui Yang Province (known to be the habitat of many wild animals), he was attacked by a hungry wolf that suddenly dashed towards him along the grass foot-path and leapt at Liu Shui. Liu Shui reacted swiftly, as he was prepared for it, and by moving to the side avoided the wolfโs initial attack.
Liu Shui was unbelievably calm and when the wolf turned round for another attack he struck back with a powerful side-kick right at the wolfโs belly. The wolf could not withstand the blow of Liuโ, and simply fell down and rolled along the foot-path. Liu Shui saw that there was an opportunity and moved forward swiftly to add another heavy blow with his foot โ the wolf did not stand a chance against Liu Shui.
๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐๐๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐๐๐ง๐ญ
There were actually a few villagers near the scene when Liu Shui was being attacked by the wild wolf. These people were absolutely stunned by the fact that Liu Shui killed the wild animal so quickly with just two kicks (well, two powerful kicks to be precise)! This became a topic of idle gossip among the villagers. They were amazed that Liu Shui, although young fellow, was incredibly skilled in martial art and was of a sifuโs level.
Because of Liu Shuiโ skill, the villagers did not mind that Liu Shui was young and gathered in front of Liu Shuiโs place, hoping to learn from Liu Shui. They all regarded it as an honor to be Liu Shuiโs student. Because of this, each day when Liu Shui demonstrated his skills to his students they also attracted a large crowd as well. By doing this Liu Shui could not only demonstrate the skills and styles of his martial art but the students could also learn by observation. One day, while the crowd was acclaiming at another exciting demonstration, a Taoist priest, who did not appear to be from the local area, greeted Liu Shui with a loud voice.
๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐๐๐๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐
According to this Taoist priest, he reckoned Liu Shui was simply a junior with shallow skill and how dare him teach the people in public! He said it was an insult to the villagers really, and not something a respectful shifu would do! Liu Shui was a little shocked to hear such a comment and stopped and looked at the Taoist priest carefully.
As he gazed at him for a little while, he thought that the Taoist priest appeared to be a very ordinary thin Taoist priest. What gave him the right a judge on martial art mastersโ business he thought! Other martial art practitioners would have simply urged him to leave and not to cause any trouble but Liu Shui was puzzled by the Taoist priestโs act, and acted calmly.
Amongst the great strengths that Liu Shui had been cultivated over the years were endurance, patience and respectfulness, so Liu Shui calmly stepped forward with a gentle smile on the face and enquired to the Taoist priest if he was into martial art specific practice as well, otherwise why he would give such comments openly to another practitioner.
However, Liu Shui judged that by the look and build of the Taoist priest, he did not appear to be a martial art master at all. So, Liu Shui asked politely: โMr. Priest, if youโre the master of any martial art stream, why would you dare give such a comment?โ The Taoist priest replied: โIf youโre discontent, why donโt you try me out?โ Liu Shui was indeed an open-minded martial art learner and wanted to know how skilful the Taoist priest was, so he agreed.
๐๐ข๐ฎ ๐๐ก๐ฎ๐ขโ๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐จ๐ง ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ค๐ง๐๐๐ฌ
The Taoist priest told Liu Shui to strike first as he would fight a real enemy, i.e. at full power. Liu Shui was an innocent minded person, so he thought โYou asked for it!โ, and he then took a breath and struck at the Taoist priest with the similar powerful fist skill. As Liu Shui was about to hit the Taoist priest, something unbelievable happened. As the pair was about to come into contact, the Taoist priest suddenly turned his shoulder a little bit and miraculously Liu Shui missed the target and fell to the floor, several a yards away - just like that!
Liu Shui was able to stand up shortly, but soon realized that the Taoist priest in front of him was no ordinary Taoist priest! He decided that this Taoist priest must be a super talented senior master. So, he stepped forward in front of the Taoist priest and got down on his knees, hoping to learn from the skilled master. However, the Taoist priest said he was an outsider, a traveller with no definite home, and not tempted by wealth and power. And finally, he said: โThe last thing I want is to be the companion of those people who knows a little bit and pretend to be master!โ He then left, leaving Liu Shui on his knees and contemplating his earlier behaviour!
...to be continued....
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Original Translation : Brian Tsang
All names are in Mandarin Pin Yin form.
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