Master · Choy Li Fut Lineage
Li Yau San
Li Yau San: Li Family Fist and the Choy Li Fut Lineage
- Period:
- Late 18th – mid 19th century
- Tradition:
- Li Gar (Li family fist)
- Region:
- Guangdong
Who was Li Yau San?
Li Yau San (李友山) was a nineteenth-century master of the Li family fist, a southern method known for stable stances and mobile footwork. He accepted Chan Heung as a student, trained him for several years, and is honored as the second teacher named in the system's title Choy Li Fut.
Li Yau San is the second name in Choy Li Fut. Between the monk’s Buddhist boxing and the uncle’s family fist stood the Li family method — and Li Yau San, the master who taught it to Chan Heung.
The Li family fist
The Li family fist (李家拳) is one of the recognized regional boxing traditions of Guangdong, a province whose martial culture produced several distinct family systems. The method is characterized by solid rooted stances joined to mobile, evasive footwork — a combination that supplies the stepping patterns visible in Choy Li Fut’s forms today. Li Yau San trained in and taught this tradition in the early nineteenth century.
Teacher of Chan Heung
Chan Heung arrived at Li Yau San’s door already trained, having studied from boyhood under his uncle Chan Yuen Wu. Li accepted him and trained him for several years in the Li family method. King Mui lineage histories credit this period with the footwork, body evasion, and bridging mobility that distinguish the system from its harder-angled Choy component.
The teacher who sent his student away
The most telling fact recorded about Li Yau San is what he did at the end of Chan Heung’s training: he directed his finished student to another teacher. Recognizing that the young man’s path required the Buddhist boxing traditions he himself did not carry, Li sent Chan Heung to the monk Choy Fook. A master who completes a student and then names his own limits is rarer than a master with famous techniques, and the lineage is right to preserve the act.
The system’s second character
When Chan Heung synthesized his three inheritances in 1836, the name he chose — Choy Li Fut — placed Li Yau San’s contribution permanently in the middle of the art’s identity. The Li component contributed the mobility; the Choy component contributed the power; the Fut element contributed the frame of Buddhist discipline and compassion that Chan Heung’s teaching manuals emphasize.
The record continues
The founding synthesis is documented on the Chan Heung and Choy Li Fut pages; the other teachers are recorded at Choy Fook and Chan Yuen Wu.
References
[1] Li Yau San’s role is preserved in King Mui lineage histories and standard Choy Li Fut genealogies; precise dates for his life are not established by surviving documents.
Historical Timeline
The Li family fist tradition
Li Yau San trained in the Li family boxing method, a Guangdong tradition associated with Li Yau San's own lineage of teachers.
Accepts Chan Heung
Li Yau San took the young Chan Heung — already grounded in his uncle's family fist — as a student and trained him for several years.
Directs his student onward
Recognizing that Chan Heung's development required the Buddhist boxing he could not provide, Li Yau San directed him to the monk Choy Fook.
The system takes its name
When Chan Heung founded his school at King Mui, the Li in Choy Li Fut fixed his teacher's name into the art's identity.
Related Knowledge
People
- Chan HeungChan Heung (1806–1875) founded Choy Li Fut in 1836, combining the teachings of Choy Ah Fook, Li Yau San, and Chan Yuan Wu. His life, teachers, and lineage.
- Choy FookChoy Fook, a Chan Buddhist monk of the Shaolin tradition, taught Chan Heung the Choy family fist methods honored in the name Choy Li Fut.
- Chan Yuen WuChan Yuen Wu, Chan Heung's uncle, gave him his first training in the family fist and started the path that produced Choy Li Fut in 1836.
Traditions
- Choy Li FutChoy Li Fut is a southern Chinese martial art founded by Chan Heung in 1836. It blends northern and southern methods; its history, lineage, forms, and weapons.