Lai Tung Pai History

The history of Lai Tung Pai (Puhn Kyuhn) reaches far back to the Siu Lahm (Shaolin) Temple located in the Sung Saan Mountains. The style was created by a monk Chi Sen and propagated through Yuen Kok and Yuen Mau who were ordained monks. It is said that there were also two other monks named Yuen Cheuk and Yuen Sing that were taught the Lai Tung Pai style.

Let's talk a little about the history of China at the time Lai Tung Pai was created. In the beginning of the Tang Dynasty (618-905 AD), there was an army general Hwang Shih Chung, who came to Szechwan Province, only to rebel against the government. He occupied a place called Tingchow. Between the troubles caused by the general and marauding hordes of bandits, many of the Siu Lahm monks decided to leave the temple for safer shelters elsewhere. Included were the four monks of Lai Tung. It is believed that the four monks never saw each other again.

To trace our history, the focus will remain with Yuen Mau. He traveled down south to the Kwangsi Province. At the end of his journey, he found shelter in a monastery located in the village of Lai Tung. However, trouble soon made its way south, but rather than run, he decided to teach all the other monks the Lai Tung Pai style. They in turn protected the village. To hide the fact they were Siu Lahm and to honor the village that helped hide Yuen Mau from those searching for Siu Lahm monks, Yuen Mau decided to change the name of style from Puhn Kyuhn to Lai Tung Pai, meaning, the Lai Tung village family system.

Lai Tung Pai was never allowed to be taught outside the monastery walls until the late Ching Dynasty (1644-1912 AD) when the monastery's abbot Fa Hoi decided to travel south to Canton in the Kwangtung Province to oversee the Hoi Tung Monastery. This monastery, located on the south bank of the Pearl River, was a famous edifice in Canton. The monastery still stands today. That is where Kong Ki, the first layman to ever learn the style, was taught the style by Abbott Fa Hoi. Kong Ki then taught his son, Kong Hoi. Kong Ki, upon becoming ill, decided he could no longer teach Kong Hoi, so he sent him to the monastery to train directly with Fa Hoi. All this took place in the late 40's and early 50's. Hong Hoi trained with Fa Hoi till he died and then left Canton in 1955.

Kong Hoi began teaching our Li Chi Keung in the late 1960's at the Kong Hoi Kung Fu Association - Hong Kong when Li Keung was in his early teens. Li, (August 27, 1954 - March 10, 2017) later on in his training, became Kong Hoi's last closed-door disciple and trained under him several hours a day, exclusively, for several months. Li decided to join the merchant marines and pursue his dream of traveling the world and after his tour of duty, in 1978, settled in America. Li taught a few students here and there till he decided to settle down in Charlotte, NC where Lai Tung Pai is now taught. 

Li, in 1987, accepted a young man, Anthony Stephenson, who dreamed, from an early age, of learning kung fu. In 1993, Li granted Anthony Black Sash and Instructor status at the branch he and his younger kung fu brother Chris Facente operated for Sifu Li in Mint Hill, NC a small suburb town just on the east side of Charlotte, NC. In 2002, Anthony was granted permission to expand the art by opening a school in Kings Mountain, NC. There he built a following in a local park and eventually opened a business location in downtown named Kong Hoi Kung Fu Association - Kings Mountain at the suggestion of Sifu Li. In 2004, Sifu Li sent Anthony and his Si Dai Chris to Hong Kong to study directly under Kong Hoi. There, they received the title of Sifu and International Instructor and became direct students of Kong Hoi, as well as Sifu Li. After several training trips to Hong Kong over the years, the art grew in size to the full system it was known for in Hong Kong. 

In 2013, Sifu Anthony moved to Ohio and there opened the Ohio branch of Lai Tung Pai named Kong Hoi Kung Fu Association - Troy. Today, only Thundering Wave Martial Arts in Mint Hill, NC and Kong Hoi Kung Fu Association - Troy are the only schools in the world where you can learn the style of Lai Tung Pai. Kong Hoi has been retired for many years now in Hong Kong and no longer teaches publicly but does continue to teach his elder disciples Sifu Anthony Stephenson and Sifu Chris Facente privately. They currently carry on the Lai Tung Pai tradition, but new instructors with the desire to continue the art are within their midst. Look for more locations to spring up in the future.