The Roots of Eagle Claw Kung Fu

The Eagle Claw Story - The roots of Eagle Claw reach far back in Chinese history to the Shaolin temple of Northern China, founded during the Sung Dynasty it has travelled down through the ages reaching the 21st century in its entirety.

A blend of three ancient kung fu styles; Yeuh Fei Ying Kune, FaanTzi Boxing and Shaolin, Eagle Claw is a classical system of Kung Fu, a complete and rounded, encompassing increasingly difficult free hand forms, martial tumbling, gymnastic routines, and numerous weapons.

Master Gini Lau is the daughter of the late Great Grand Master Lau Fat Mang, a famous Eagle Claw Master and honoured war hero from China, who was probably one the greatest Eagle Claw exponents of this century.

Today's Eagle Claw descends directly from three systems of Northern Kung Fu, the first being Chin'na (joint locking) developed by the famous General Yueh Fei (1103 - 41) of the Sung Dynasty. The General Yueh Fei, although not himself a product of Shaolin Temple, was extensively trained by the Shaolin Priest Jao Tung.

During the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) one of the great periods of Chinese cultural history, a Shaolin martial monk named Li Chun famous for his abilities in Faan Tzu (martial tumbling). Li Chun chanced upon a demonstration of General Yueh Fei's Chin'na. Li Chun saw the power of Eagle Claw hand techniques as well at the beauty of the form and was determined to combine it with his own Faan Tzu. In time the monk Li Chun combined the two systems creating Northern Shaolin Ying Jow Faan Tzu. (Eagle Claw as we know it today.)

The monk Li Chun passed Northern Shaolin Ying Jow Faan Tzu to the monk Tao Chi of the Li Chu'an monastery Pao Tin in the Hopei province, an area famous for its martial arts. The Li Chu'an monastery maintained the system as the Ming Dynasty gave way to the Ching. Near the end of the Ching Dynasty a Confucian scholar named Lau Shr Chien (already accomplished in Ba Fan Shou) entered the Li Chu'an Monastery and studied the Eagle Claw system. Lau Shr Chien then moved to Peking and gained great fame as a martial artist, especially with the staff, becoming known as Ta K'an tse Lau (Master Lau of the Staff). Master Lau passed Eagle Claw to his third son Lau Chung Yao who in turn taught Lau K'ai Wen and nephew Ch'ung Tzu Chung.

An interesting side note that while in Beijing Lau Shr Chien taught Liu De Kuan, who later went onto learn Ba Gau Zhang , Liu De Kuan influenced the Ba Gau Zhang system by incorporating his Eagle Claw knowledge to create a form/routine called the 64 Palm linear line form for Ba Gau practice, based on the principals found with two core routines of eagle claw; ‘Hun Kune Sup Loh’ and ‘Lin Kune Ng Sup Loh’.

Later it was Ch'ung tzu Chung who took the system to Shanghai, becoming an instructor at the famous Ching Wu academy of martial arts. The Eagle Claw form became very popular and one instructor of the Eagle Claw system was too much to handle for one man. Ch'ung Tzu Chung returned to Hopei province and convinced Lau Tzu Chang, Lau Chan We and one another Eagle Claw artist, destined to become one of the most famous martial artist of the era Lau Fat Mang, to return to Shanghai and assist in teaching of the Eagle Claw system.