Grandmaster Wai Yan
In Honor of, and respect for, Grand Master Wai Yan, we dedicate this page.
With heavy heart the Chi Sim Weng Chun Kung Fu family informs the martial arts community that Grand Master Wai Yan has passed away. He departed this world in early 2004 at over 90 years of age. Grand Master Wai Yan lived in Mei Foo Sun Chuen, Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon in Hong Kong and is survived by four sons and one daughter.
His life celebrated Weng Chun with a brilliance and humility rarely seen in the martial arts world of today. Grand Master Wai Yan gave a home to Weng Chun when he established Dai Duk Lan by bringing together three Grand Masters of Weng Chun, Lo Chiu Woon, Chu Chong Man and Tang Yick. With these three Grand Masters passing their knowledge to him, while simultaneously living and training for over 20 years with Chu Chong Man, the late Wai Yan worked for unity in the Weng Chun kung fu system. Grand Master Wai Yan became the first practitioner of Chi Sim Weng Chun to unite the three major families in one person.
Ever modest and mindful of the debt he owed to past generations, he organized a yearly celebration of Damo's (Bodhidharma) birthday in the Dai Duk Lan as a reminder of the Shaolin roots of Chi Sim Weng Chun. He shared his passion and joy for Weng Chun through his ability to show us the nature of Mind by using the reality of combat, keeping with the traditions of Shaolin kung fu. While preserving the ancient Shaolin teaching methods of the system, his teaching was also scientific and contemporary in approach. The key to his teaching was always found in his heart-to-heart transmission, a treasure of Shaolin martial arts, showing his students the nature of their heart with humor and compassion.
Grand Master Wai Yan's dedication to training and experiencing energies enabled him to develop great skill over his lifetime. Whenever students came to visit (especially students from great distances), regardless of what the Grand Master was wearing or the time of day, he would immediately want to play Kiu Sau to test the student's skill and development while away.
Grand Master, the words "Thank You" cannot even scratch the surface of the debt we owe you. It is our sincerest hope that we can share our art with the passion, dedication, and character that you showed in your life.
Energy comes, energy plays, and energy goes. Even as this energy goes on to a new form, its impact will always stay in our lives. It will live on in the hearts and minds of the people who experienced the man, the Sifu, and the Master, known as Wai Yan. We miss you. Your spirit will live with us, always as Weng Chun - an eternal season of rebirth - in our hearts.
- Andreas Hoffmann