Ng Yiu 吳耀

Chinese: 吳耀
Simplified Chinese: 吴耀
Cantonese: Ng Yiu
Jyutping: Ng4 Jiu6
Mandarin Pinyin: Wú Yào
Also Romanized: Ng Jiu, Wu Yao
Dates: c. 1907 to after 1977

Overview

Ng Yiu was a senior disciple of Cheung Lai-chuen and an important fifth-generation figure in modern Pak Mei, or White Eyebrow, martial arts. Lineage sources identify him as a native of Nanhai, Guangdong, who began studying under Cheung at about age fifteen and later taught in Guangzhou before following Cheung to Hong Kong in 1949.

He is remembered both as a Pak Mei instructor and as a herbal practitioner with a business in Sham Shui Po. His 1977 book, Pak Mei Tiger Fork, is a surviving published record of his weapons teaching. No reliable public source for his death date has been found.

Early Life

Pak Mei lineage sources give Ng Yiu’s birth year as approximately 1907 and identify Nanhai District, Guangdong, as his birthplace. One source states that he became Cheung Lai-chuen’s student at about age fifteen, around 1922 or 1923. Another says that he studied under Cheung from youth. The age-fifteen account is the more specific claim.

Branch history describes Ng as tall, strongly built, loyal, and notably diligent in practice. It says that Cheung Lai-chuen gave him additional instruction and came to regard him as an important disciple. These character details come from lineage biography rather than independent contemporary records.

Martial Arts Background

Ng Yiu trained in Pak Mei under Cheung Lai-chuen, the martial artist most associated with establishing the modern public form of the style. Pak Mei is generally characterized by compact power, forceful short-range striking, angular body mechanics, and the principles commonly translated as swallowing, spitting, floating, and sinking.

A fifth-generation Pak Mei source states that Ng was among Cheung’s early students permitted to open a school under Cheung’s supervision in the second half of the 1920s. This places him among the generation that helped Pak Mei move from a smaller local network into a broader public teaching tradition.

Teachers and Lineage

Ng Yiu’s principal teacher was Cheung Lai-chuen.

The traditional Pak Mei lineage commonly presented by modern schools runs through the legendary monk Bak Mei, then through secular transmission figures including Kwong Wai, Juk Faat-wan, and Cheung Lai-chuen. This early lineage is part of Pak Mei oral tradition and cannot be established as a complete documentary chain.

Ng Yiu’s direct connection to Cheung Lai-chuen is consistently maintained by Pak Mei organizations and is the strongest part of his lineage record.

Career and Major Events

Pak Mei sources state that Ng Yiu taught in Guangzhou during the late 1920s and 1930s. A branch biography says that Cheung appointed him to lead the first Lai-chuen Kung Fu Association branch on Kwei-tong Street in Guangzhou and that he also taught at a military academy. The same account describes the Lai-chuen organization as having eighteen Guangzhou branches. These organizational details have not been independently confirmed through period records.

Pak Mei branch and organizational sources also state that Ng assisted Cheung Lai-chuen with military instruction during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The reported training included rifle-charging and big-saber methods. The claim is plausible within the wartime martial-arts environment, but surviving public institutional documentation has not been located.

In 1949, Ng Yiu reportedly followed Cheung Lai-chuen to Hong Kong. A Pak Mei lineage source records that he operated an herbal shop or business in Sham Shui Po. This is supported by more than one lineage source, although the available evidence does not establish the exact nature or scope of his medical practice.

In 1977, Ng published Pak Mei Tiger Fork, a bilingual book on the tiger-fork weapon. It remains the clearest independently traceable record of his teaching activity.

Teachings and Methods

Ng Yiu taught Pak Mei as a close-range Southern Chinese martial art emphasizing structure, short power, coordinated stepping, bridge control, and decisive striking. Like other disciples of Cheung Lai-chuen, he represented a public teaching generation that helped establish Pak Mei in Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

His surviving book focused on the tiger fork, a long-handled multi-pronged weapon traditionally associated with hunting and martial training. The publication is important because it documents a weapons curriculum connected to Ng Yiu rather than relying only on oral transmission.

Lineage sources also associate him with herbal knowledge. It is appropriate to describe him as an herbal practitioner or shop operator, but stronger claims about formal medical credentials or clinical work should not be made without further evidence.

Students and Influence

A complete verified list of Ng Yiu’s direct students has not been located. His influence is nevertheless visible through Pak Mei organizations that identify him as a senior Cheung Lai-chuen disciple and a key contributor to the expansion of the style.

His role as an early instructor, his reported Guangzhou school activity, his Hong Kong herbal business, and his published weapons manual all contributed to his standing in later Pak Mei memory. His tiger-fork book remains particularly relevant to practitioners studying Pak Mei weapons.

Legends and Controversies

Pak Mei branch history preserves several stories of Ng Yiu confronting gang members or rival martial artists. These accounts should be read as oral lineage history rather than independently verified historical events.

One account places him in Guangzhou in 1930, defending a student’s shop in the Long Beach dock area against local gangsters. It says he used consecutive side kicks to drive off attackers.

A second account places him in the Honam area of Guangzhou around 1932, where he allegedly confronted gang leaders connected with an amusement park near Hoi Tung Temple.

The branch history also recounts two Hong Kong confrontations with martial artists who had allegedly challenged or insulted the Pak Mei school. In one story, a proposed challenge ended with an apology. In another, Ng is said to have knocked down a boastful instructor with a characteristic Pak Mei punch.

The same tradition says that he served in a commando intelligence role late in the Sino-Japanese War and received awards for his work. No independent military record confirming this service has been located.

These stories are valuable as records of how Ng Yiu has been remembered within his branch. They should not be presented as confirmed history without contemporary documentation.

Legacy

Ng Yiu occupies an important place in Pak Mei history as a senior Cheung Lai-chuen disciple from the Guangzhou generation who continued teaching after the move to Hong Kong. His life connects Pak Mei’s Republican-era expansion, wartime lineage memory, Hong Kong transmission, weapons practice, and herbal tradition.

His 1977 Pak Mei Tiger Fork book is his most durable documentary legacy. It provides a concrete link between Ng Yiu and the preservation of Pak Mei weapons material.

Related Encyclopedia Entries

Cheung Lai-chuen
Pak Mei
Pak Mei Tiger Fork
Kwong Wai
Juk Faat-wan
Southern Chinese Martial Arts
Tiger Fork

References