Cheung Lai-Cheun 張禮泉

Chinese: 張禮泉

Simplified Chinese: 张礼泉

Cantonese: Cheung Lai-cheun

Jyutping: Zoeng1 Lai5 Cyun4

Mandarin Pinyin: Zhāng Lǐquán

Also Romanized: Jeung Lai-chuen, Chang Lai-chuan, Zhang Liquan

Birth Name: Cheung Ching-mo, 張清茂

Also Known As: Dongjiang Tiger, Fierce Tiger of Dongjiang, Cheung Lai-tsuen

Dates: c. 1882 to 1964

Overview

Cheung Lai-cheun was a Guangdong martial artist widely regarded as the central founder and systematizer of modern Pak Mei, also called Bak Mei or White Eyebrow Boxing.

He came from Huiyang in the Dongjiang region of Guangdong. He studied several local Hakka and southern Chinese fighting systems before becoming associated with the White Eyebrow tradition attributed to the monk Juk Faat-wan.

Cheung taught in Guangdong during the Republican era and moved to Hong Kong after the Communist victory in 1949. His teaching helped establish the large Pak Mei family now found in Hong Kong, Macau, Guangdong, Southeast Asia, Europe, North America, and elsewhere.

The strongest historical claim is that Cheung organized and publicly transmitted the modern Pak Mei system. Claims about ancient Shaolin origins, secret temple transmission, miraculous powers, and an unbroken monk lineage should be treated as Pak Mei lineage tradition.

Early Life

Cheung Lai-cheun was born in Huiyang County, Guangdong, in the Dongjiang region. Huiyang is now part of Huizhou.

His original name was Cheung Ching-mo, or Zhang Qingmao. Sources generally describe his family as poor or of modest merchant background. They agree that he grew up in a region with strong Hakka martial culture.

His birth year is disputed. Many sources give 1882. Some give 1884. A family tradition preserved by one of his sons gives 1889. Because the evidence is inconsistent, c. 1882 to 1964 is the most responsible date format.

Accounts also differ on when he began martial study. Local histories often say age seven. Some Pak Mei family histories say that he began serious study at about thirteen. These differences likely reflect the difference between early exposure to martial arts and later formal study.

Martial Arts Background

Cheung studied several local Dongjiang martial traditions before becoming known for Pak Mei.

His early teachers are commonly identified as Lam Sek, a teacher of Vagabond Boxing, Lee Mong or Lee Yi-sze, a teacher of Lee family boxing, and Lam Hap, associated with Dragon Shape Boxing. Some records also connect Cheung with Lam Yun, the father of Dragon Shape master Lam Yiu-gwai.

These systems influenced the later Pak Mei curriculum associated with Cheung. Modern Pak Mei reflects local Hakka boxing, short-range southern fighting methods, bridge-hand training, weapons practice, and Dragon Shape influences.

Pak Mei lineage tradition states that Cheung met a monk named Lin Sang in Guangzhou. After Lin Sang defeated him in a friendly exchange, Cheung was introduced to Lin Sang’s teacher, Juk Faat-wan, also written Juk Fat-wan or Zhu Fayun.

The tradition states that Cheung studied under Juk Faat-wan at Guangzhou’s Guangxiao Temple for roughly two or three years. It says he learned the core of White Eyebrow Boxing and later combined it with his earlier martial knowledge.

This account is central to Pak Mei identity. It cannot be fully verified as history. Juk Faat-wan has left little independent documentary evidence. The story may preserve a real teacher-student relationship, but its details should be presented as lineage tradition.

Teachers and Lineage

The traditional Pak Mei lineage commonly appears as:

Pak Mei, or White Eyebrow, in lineage tradition

Kwong Wai

Juk Faat-wan

Cheung Lai-cheun

This is an important family lineage. It should not be treated as an independently documented chain reaching back to the Qing dynasty.

Pak Mei tradition describes Pak Mei as a Shaolin elder, often one of the Five Elders. Other accounts place the art’s origin in Emei, Wudang, or different southern Shaolin traditions. These versions conflict and lack reliable early documentation.

The claim that White Eyebrow Boxing remained entirely within Buddhist monasteries until Cheung Lai-cheun received it is also a lineage claim. It gives the system an important spiritual and cultural identity. It cannot be independently established as fact.

Cheung is the first central modern figure whose role is consistently visible in local history, martial-arts memory, school records, and the surviving Pak Mei family. He should be understood as the central organizer and public transmitter of modern Pak Mei.

Career and Major Events

Pak Mei sources strongly associate Cheung with anti-Qing revolutionary activity.

Some accounts state that he joined Sun Yat-sen’s Revive China Society in 1900 and participated in the Huizhou Uprising. Other branch histories connect him with revolutionary activity in Guangzhou and the Huanghuagang area.

These accounts conflict on dates, places, and named revolutionary leaders. The available evidence does not establish Cheung’s exact role in a specific uprising. It is responsible to say that Pak Mei oral history places him within anti-Qing revolutionary networks during the late Qing and early Republican era.

After the founding of the Republic of China, Cheung taught in Jiangmen, Xinhui, and Guangzhou according to branch history. His family narrative includes several challenge fights, police assistance, and conflicts with local criminals. These accounts explain his growing reputation as a martial artist, but their details cannot be independently verified.

In 1912, Cheung established the Lai Tsuen National Arts Society in Guangzhou. Its Chinese name, 勵存國術社, uses the name Lai Tsuen, also written Licun. The school became an important center for Pak Mei teaching.

Local histories and lineage sources state that Cheung later taught at the Guangzhou Police Training School, Yantang Military Academy, and Whampoa Military Academy. These claims are repeated across Pak Mei sources. Detailed employment records have not been located, so they should be described as established local and lineage history rather than fully documented government appointments.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, sources state that Cheung trained anti-Japanese forces in the Dongjiang region. Pak Mei tradition credits him with developing Lai Tsuen bayonet methods and big-saber methods for close-range military training. The precise scope of his wartime work remains unclear.

Cheung moved to Hong Kong in 1949 with his sons and some disciples. He continued teaching Pak Mei there until his death in Kowloon in 1964.

Teachings and Methods

Cheung Lai-cheun’s Pak Mei is a southern Chinese fighting system centered on close-range striking, bridge-hand contact, forward pressure, footwork, timing, conditioning, and coordinated whole-body power.

Pak Mei’s traditional body-method vocabulary includes swallowing, spitting, floating, and sinking. These terms describe changes in structure, direction, compression, release, rising, dropping, and body coordination. Their precise meaning differs by branch and teacher.

Pak Mei schools also use concepts such as the Six Powers, the Eight Methods, and the Three Shapes. A commonly taught presentation of the Six Powers includes neck, shoulder, back, waist, hand, and leg power. Other branches use somewhat different terms or group the body differently.

Common Pak Mei forms include:

Jik Bo Kuen, Straight Step Boxing

Sup Jee Kuen, Cross-Character Boxing

Gau Bo Tui, Nine-Step Push

Sap Baat Mok Kiu, Eighteen Rubbing Bridges

Sam Mun, Three Gates

Sei Mun, Four Gates

Dei Saat, Earth Fiends

Different branches preserve different forms and form names. Pak Mei does not have one universally agreed list of twenty-four sets, four compulsory forms, or fixed wooden-dummy material. Regional branches in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Foshan, Macau, Southeast Asia, and the West have developed different curricula.

Pak Mei training commonly includes forms, partner exercises, bridge-hand drills, weapons, conditioning, and application practice. Some lines also include iron-body, iron-palm, meditation, and dit da, or trauma-treatment practices.

Cheung is often described as skilled in bone-setting and trauma medicine. This is a recurring lineage account. The available record does not establish the extent of his formal medical training or professional practice.

Students and Influence

Cheung trained a large number of students in Guangdong and Hong Kong. The full list varies by branch and cannot be reconstructed with complete certainty.

His sons Cheung Ping-sam, Cheung Ping-lam, and Cheung Ping-fat became important family transmitters.

Cheung Ping-lam, Cheung’s second son, became especially important within the Lai Tsuen family branch. Branch history states that he trained from childhood, assisted his father’s later Hong Kong teaching, and became head of the Pak Mei Clan after Cheung Lai-cheun’s death.

The Pak Mei Lai Chuen Martial Arts Association was established in Hong Kong in 1988 by Cheung Ping-lam’s students. This branch history is valuable evidence of how the Cheung family line understood its own succession and teaching culture.

Frequently named early disciples include Wu Yiu, Wu Wah, Lai Choi, Hau Hon-hung, Kwok Chi-cheung, Chiu Yan-wo, and Ha Hon-hung. Romanization and seniority vary across sources.

Cheung’s descendants and students helped spread Pak Mei through Hong Kong, Macau, Guangdong, Southeast Asia, Europe, North America, and other regions.

Foshan Pak Mei is a later regional development within the wider Cheung Lai-cheun tradition. It developed through Cheung’s disciples and later descendants, including teachers associated with Ha Hon-hung and Chou Tai-sang. Foshan branches added their own forms, teaching methods, and local adaptations.

Claims that one named student alone brought Pak Mei to Southeast Asia or the Western world are too broad. International transmission occurred through many students, family lines, migration networks, and later schools.

Legends and Controversies

Pak Mei’s origin story is historically uncertain.

The common story says that Pak Mei was a Shaolin elder who betrayed the temple or created a distinct system after leaving it. Other versions place the art’s origin in Emei, Wudang, or southern Shaolin. No version can be confirmed as historical fact.

The story of Juk Faat-wan, Lin Sang, and Guangxiao Temple is central to Cheung’s lineage. It may preserve historical memory. Its specific events, including challenge exchanges, secret teachings, and complete transmission in a few years, remain unverified.

Cheung is often called the founder of Pak Mei. This is accurate if founder means the person who organized and publicly transmitted modern Pak Mei. It is less accurate if it means he created every method from nothing or that no earlier White Eyebrow material existed.

Pak Mei family histories contain many challenge-fight stories. These include accounts of Cheung defeating local masters, criminals, smugglers, and assassins. Such stories are culturally important. They demonstrate what later students admired in Cheung, including courage, skill, loyalty, and practical ability. They should not be treated as independently proven fight records.

The title Dongjiang Tiger, or Fierce Tiger of Dongjiang, appears in martial-arts history and regional reporting. The Five Southern Tigers title is a later honorific that groups Cheung with several prominent Guangdong martial artists. It was not a formal official rank.

Legacy

Cheung Lai-cheun was the key figure in the transformation of Pak Mei from a claimed private Buddhist or local tradition into a public southern Chinese martial art.

He combined local Dongjiang systems, Dragon Shape influences, training methods attributed to Juk Faat-wan, weapons work, conditioning, and close-range fighting principles into a coherent teaching system.

His Guangzhou school helped establish Pak Mei across the Pearl River Delta. His move to Hong Kong after 1949 gave the system a new base of transmission. From Hong Kong, Pak Mei spread internationally through migration, family branches, and schools.

Pak Mei remains diverse. Different lines preserve different forms, body methods, applications, medical practices, and historical stories. Cheung Lai-cheun remains the central figure in nearly all modern Pak Mei branches, even where those branches disagree about how his system should be taught.

Related Encyclopedia Entries

Pak Mei

White Eyebrow Boxing

Juk Faat-wan

Cheung Ping-lam

Lam Yiu-gwai

Dragon Shape Boxing

Hakka Martial Arts

Jik Bo Kuen

Sup Jee Kuen

Gau Bo Tui

Sap Baat Mok Kiu

Sam Mun

Sei Mun

Dei Saat

Whampoa Military Academy

Lai Tsuen National Arts Society

References