1940 � 1989

Sigung Tin Wai � He later chose the name Jimmy Chan � the teacher of our Sifu, John Tjia and Liverpool Hung Kune�s Steve Ornellas, was born in Hong Kong in 1940. He was a small child and looked, to his parents, quite weak and so he was sent to study Kung Fu with his uncle, Sifu Law Keung at the age of nine. He remained a dedicated student of Law Sifu�s Bak-Siu-Lum (Northern Shaolin Boxing) and Nam-Siu-Lum Hung Gar (Southern Shaolin Hung Family Fist) for a subsequent nine years until he was sent to learn from Law Sifu�s brother � and also his senior student � in Mainland China.
He then returned to Hong Kong to study under the famous Chan-Hong Cheung - the best student of Lam Sai Wing - before flying out to England in 1965.
The late sixties and early seventies posed a difficult time for England�s Chin Wu Association. The traditional martial arts academy�s Sifu suddenly left leaving its students, who had started learning the ways of various martial arts, with no way of learning. By 1975 there remained only a small handful of dedicated students who practiced three days a week in the Chinese restaurants of Liverpool�s China town. But even they realised that without a Sifu, they could never truly reach their potential, nor expand on the techniques that they had been taught before. It was one day in that year when a 35-year old Jimmy Chan, watching them train whilst eating in a restaurant, remarked that their stances were not too good.
This chance encounter marked the salvation of the England Chin Wu Association and the settling of Sifu Jimmy Chan. In the beginning he taught his students Bak-Siu-Lum as a pre-requisite for Hung Gar, being itself an easier and less rigorous training syllabus than the Hung Family�s methods. He then taught Hung Gar as a separate art and made sure that his students realised the differences between the two systems. This, he felt, expanded their knowledge of the Chinese Boxing systems that he had learned as a child. He also taught his students the traditional Lion Dances of his country, which, to this day, are still practiced every Chinese New Year in his honour. Chan Sifu also performed Kung Fu demonstrations to raise money for various charities (Local and National.) This was only one aspect of his social awareness.
Chan Sifu refused to teach those who did not demonstrate a good moral character. One of the main principles of studying Kung Fu is to develop a good sense of morality and to react correctly to this morality. Chan Sifu�s main motivation was the joy he got from watching his students grow and learn from him. His main goal was to develop in his students a clear social conscience with which his students could take an active part in the community � Whichever community they were in! - whilst not flinching in the face of danger, but prevail over the situation.
His attempts to reach this goal included opening the Liverpool Hung Kune Kung Fu Association in April 1978. This was the first Martial art�s school known to be open to the Bitish public at that time.
Jimmy Tin-Wai Sifu was an inspiration to all he taught and all who understood what his goals were in life. Even now, his legacy lives on in the students who study the Kung Fu that he set up for us here. It is up to us now to ensure that it will live on through us and our students.

The stories of Chan Sigung's history that have been told to me by Tjia Sifu, Ornellas Sifu and Berry Sihing are nothing short of inspiring; filled with what seems almost fantastic - though this is definitely not the case - romance and courage, I could easily write a best-seller with only half of the limited knowledge I have...

Chan Sigung always searched to expand and refine his noble art of Hung Gar. He changed the Mui Far Kune (Plum Blossom Fist) into a more feasible style, demanded complete dedication of his students - mainly in the area of stances, the foundations are, after all, the most important point of the construction - and studied other arts in order to learn their strengths and weaknesses.
For instance, one day he met a pair of Chinese sailors in a harbour who were skilled in the Choy family fist (Choy Gar - another of the five family fists.) Rather than challenging them, he asked them to show him their highest form in exchange for him showing them the Mui Far Kune. They showed him what has come to be known as the 'Choy Gar Kune' at Seel Street, a complex set involving strong dynamic tension, good technical understanding and excellent kicking ability, including a static butterfly kick. He copied it exactly on his first attempt and remembered it, along with EVERY other form - and there were a lot - that he had ever learned.

Whilst working in a chip shop in China-town upon arriving in Liverpool, he tended to carry 400lb bags of rice in each hand... - You can see why he's such an inspiration - But he always knew that strength called for responsibility and so he was always just and fair in his actions. One night he was serving some customers when a group of bouncers barged in and began shoving and pushing their way to the front of the queue. The 5'6" Chinese man was sneered at by the large - as bouncers are wont to be - men and they threatened him. With a cheeky smile he took his staff from under the counter and proceeded to beat six men outside and around the street until the police arrived. When taken to court, the judge took one look at the defence and another, longer look at the prosecution and warned the bouncers' lawyers never to waste his time again.