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GREAT GRANDMASTER LAU FAT MANG

Great Grandmaster Lau Fat Mang was the 7th generation Eagle Claw descendant. Born in 1902 in Tung T'o village,he was the nephew of Eagle Claw descendant Lau Si Chun. Lau Si Chun was well a well known martial artist in Beijing, and was considered to be one of Beijing's Four Heroes.This close family relationship with his teacher provided the young Lau with a great opportunity to learn the inner most secrets of the Eagle Claw system,that are not taught to the average student.

Lau built an outstanding reputation in the martial arts, and his achievements at an early age were far from typical. He showed great promise and skill when at the age of 19 he captured grand champion at a competition in Shanghai. His form,Eight Drunken Fairies-T'sui-Pa Hsein,modeled its techniques after the Eight Immortals of Taoist mythology.While doing this extremely difficult form, in which balance and body control are critical,Lau would appear to be tripping and falling. Extraordinary balance and body control are but one of the many martial disciplines that the young Lau had begun to mastered. In 1921 at the age of 19 he became associated with the Jing Wu Academy in Shanghai.

At the age of 24,Lau was sent to work at the Jing-Wu Academy in Canton.When his teacher's classmate Chung-Tzu Chung went to Hong Kong Lau became the schools chief instructor in his style.Three years later in 1929,Lau immigrated to the British colony of Hong Kong. It was there that Lau Fat Mang would come to know his full potential as a martial artist.

It was not long before Lau became one of Hong Kong's most recognized and popular boxers.Of all of the boxers to come to the south from northern China his legacy stands out. Lau became well known and well liked and respected for his good and kind nature.Along with his fellow extraordinary marital artist Yeh-Yu Ting and Kung-Te Hai his martial skills began to excel. The three of them soon became famous and were known in Hong Kong martial art circles as The Three Heroes from Hopei.

By 1931 Lau was doing very well for himself in Hong Kong. It was that year that Lau was asked to move to Chaing Mien town to open another Jing-Wu school. He was very disheartened by this news. Despite his love for Hong Kong and his friends and activities,he followed instructions and moved to Chaing Mien. Soon after moving to Chaing Mien Lau received an offer that he could not refuse.He was offered a good position with the Chung-Nan Athletic Association.This gave Lau the opportunity to go back to his home in Hong Kong. His happiness in Hong Kong was short lived. In 1933 Lau was requested by the government to be the chief instructor in hand to hand combat training for the Chinese army. He taught the Chinese troops hand to hand techniques from 1933 through 1936. In 1936 Lau was able to return to his quite life in Hong Kong. Once again his peaceful life would be short lived as the Japanese soon invaded China and Hong Kong.

Historically there have been hostile relations between Japan and China,and during World War II the hostilities continued to grow. Many skilled kung fu masters lost their lives fighting the Japanese. This included the founder of the Jing-Wu Academy, Ho-Yuan-Chia. Ho was said to have been poisoned by a group of Japanese.The Japanese were said to be furious after Ho had easily defeated their challenges to his fighting skills.

The war continued to get closer and closer to Hong Kong.When Japanese soldiers kicked down the front door to Lau's home he had had enough.The grandmaster closed his martial school and went to join the army. Lau Fat Mang would make World War II history. As an officer in the 19th Regiment he founded a special unit that would become a legend by the end of the war in China. By the end of the war every one in China would know of the daring heroism of the Ta-Tao Brigade.Ta-Tao means "Big Sword" and the brigades symbol was a big sword. Lau personally trained and lead this Green Beret style fighting force into Japanese camps.The brigade soon built a reputation for being very deadly.The story is told that the brigade once slit the throats of an entire company of Japanese soldiers,and no one in the Japanese camp heard a sound. It was not long before the Japanese feared Lau Fat Mang's Ta-Tao Brigade.

When the war ended Lau returned to Hong Kong and once again began to teach kung fu. Once again he quickly became a popular figure in Hong Kong martial arts circles,judging several martial arts competitions. Just before Grandmaster Lau's retirement,he moved his family to the Hong Kong New Territories.There he taught only his family. He also did a great deal of writing. His youngest daughter Gini began her study of Eagle Claw at the age of four. He trained her very hard,without mercy for many hours every day. Lau sensed that he was dying so he had little time to pass his knowledge on to his young daughter. Grandmaster Lau Fat Mang passed away in 1964.Today Master Gini Lau continues to teach the Eagle Claw system that her father spent his lifetime teaching and perfecting.

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