The Big Fight
The Big Warfare between the students of Huang Fei-Hung and Tsai Lee Fo
Lam Chou Stated "His Iron Bridge Broke Staff"

There were more than two hundred people that participated in the huge warfare between the students of Huang Fei-hung and Tsai Lee Fo. The incident happened at Ching-I-Dao. The police had to fire guns in order to gain control of the situation. This battle shocked the world of martial arts. The police had questioned over 20 people. The public relation of the police said this morning: we are still questioning one of them. There is no new information at this time. One was injured critically and remained in the hospital. There were many who suffered minor injuries and were transported to the hospital by helicopters. The others escaped uninjured either by road or by water.

The Hong Kong Martial Arts Association has just been established recently. The first annual meeting and sworn-ins of officials has been planned on the 16th of May. A representative from the Association stated, "We are paying special attention to this matter since it is against the Association's principle of uniting people in the martial arts community." The reporter is still trying to get in touch with the head of the Association, Deng Sheng (Yun-Sai-Pie), but the reporter did talk with the Vice President of the Association, Shia Kuo-Chang (Shao-Lin Ro-Kung "soft/gentle") over the phone. Mr. Shia said "We are saddened by the event. We also worry the authority ight come down hard on us. It might influence the issuance of permits needed for our meetings and performances." Mr. Shia believed none of the people involved were members of his A ssociation. His Association will not investigate this matter.

There Was Never Loathing Between the Tiger/Crane and Tsai Lee Fo. Before giving you details of the incident, lets give you the backgrounds of both sides involved. Sifu Lam Chou is the nephew of Lam Sigh-Wing who was Huang Fei-Hung's pupil. Their form is called Tiger/Crane. It is the Southern Style of Shao-Lin. Sifu Liang Zao-Chuan is Tsai Lee Fo's pupil. This style traces all the way back to Shao-Lin's Tsai Po-Wei and Lee Pa-San. It combines their Chuan (fist) styles and Fo-Zang (Buddha's palm). The most recent forebears are Chang Hun-Seng and Tang San, Iron Bridge.

Today, there is another celebration in Zhang-Chou. Martial arts community is keeping an eye on the event. In view of the fact that before yesterday's huge warfare, there were similar scuffles that happened near the temple of Heavenly Empress celebrating her birthday. In the ancient time because of many scuffles between different schools, they were advised not to participate in the celebrations of gods/Buddha.
This morning, the reporter tried to contact Sifu Liang Zao-Chuan without success.

The reporter has interviewed Sifu Lam Chou and listened to his description of the event regarding his Iron Bridge breaking staffs. (e.g. Bridge is the martial art's terminology for arms). According to Sifu Lam, "we were very friendly to each other. This is purely a misunderstanding." Sifu Lam showed his arms to the reporter. "People attacked me with staffs. I used my Iron Bridge to break their staffs since I didn't have a weapon with me." Both arms are bruised and injured slightly. "We even found two knifes, one sword and one staff from yesterday." (Please note that the knives andsword are only props). During the battle, a pupil of Lam Chou got knife injuries. Lam Chou emphasized that both sides finished the celebration at the temple about 2:05 p.m. yesterday afternoon. They were leaving Ching-I-Dao. The flag of Lam Chou's lion head already entered the main road, but then, the other group rushed right into Lam Chou's group from the side and both groups began to argue.

First, we have to explain one thing about the lion head. In the martial arts community, the lion head represents the strength and supremacy of a school. When met in a narrow road, both sides will first bow to each other. Then according to the level of generations in martial arts, the lower level will step aside and let the other go first. Or, the leaders of both sides will bow to each other and discuss who will go first. The road where they met yesterday was a three way road and there was only about three feet of space around the intersection. Since there was neither prior discussion nor understanding, the argument was unavoidable even though there was never any squabble between these groups before. The some of the pupils started fighting. The Sifus couldn't stop them. Then someone saw boxes of sodas sitting by the road. So, the sodas became flying darts. The props from the schools became weapons, such as swords, knives, staffs, spears, etc.. Two hundred people were involved in this battle. The uproars and noises from the battle shook and woke up the whole Ching-I-Dao.

Lam Chou said, "At the height of the battle, my four sons and I got separated into two groups. You do not mess with father and sons teams when you fight. We were winning the battle big time. If the police didn't interfere, we would have done even better in the battle and inflicted more damage than we had." Since the reporter could not find anyone from the other side to confirm or deny, the reporter could not inform you of the other side's story.

Father and four sons were separated into two groups, fighting knives with their bare hands.
According to the witnesses' accounts however; before returning from the celebration at the Temple, these two groups were already having arguments. When they were leaving, they were arguing who should have gone first. The third argument was very tense and fierce. Some of them were already lining up for a fight to see who was better. Both Sifus tried very hard to calm their pupils down. Both groups left one after the other, but both sides still shouted and screamed at each other.
When the groups got to the dock, some of the pupils were drinking the sodas while the shouting continued. Suddenly, the sodas were flying everywhere. The warfare had begun. Both sides were picking up the bottles and trying to use them as weapons. The people who were waiting for the boats at the dock ran for their lives when the fighting began.

Both schools had brought long range and short range weapons for the celebration including staffs, spears, iron rods, long and short swords, etc.. The pupils grabbed what they could and started fighting. Those who didn't have the weapons , used their fists and kicks. Before long, there were injuries on both sides. The army stationed at Ching-I-Dao saw the fighting and radioed in for assistance. The police couldn't stop the warfare at first. Finally, the police had to fire warning shots to stop the fighting. By that time, there were many who suffered from minor injuries. There were some with major injuries too. There was blood all over the dock.

According to the police, one of the Sifus and his pupils were invited to a meeting hall for a rest. They talked about the event from the beginning to the end. The other Sifu and his pupils were permitted to leave at first on a ferry boat. Then the police suddenly radioed the coast guards. The coast guards intercepted the ferry and escorted it back to the dock. After that, about 20 to 30+ people were escorted back to the police station to continue the investigation. They were all released by midnight.