Master Lau Kim Hong – Obituary

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1935-2024

Master Lau introduced me to many aspects of taijiquan which I had not before considered as having any connection to the art, let alone being fundamental to it. I first met him in 1987 at his school in Johor Bahru It was evening and a normal training night and at that time Taijiquan was at the height of its popularity in Malaysia. There were more than fifty students in the compound of the bungalow where he lived and taught. What struck me straight away amidst the noise and the heat of the tropical night was the warm smile and gentle handshake of the bespectacled man who was introduced as the Master. My first impression was of a kind, soft-spoken Uncle and it was not wrong. During the course of the nearly four decades that I knew him I gradually learnt that the most important lessons he taught were those conveyed in this first impression. For Taijiquan to be effective both as a martial art and a Dao, gentleness is fundamental, having an open mind and heart too lies at the root of the art and all of these qualities Master Lau exemplified.

For a number of years Fong and I studied with him every time we got the opportunity, which usually meant during the summer months when we were on what became our annual training trips to Malaysia. He also visited England teaching all around the country and later on continental Europe. It is fair to say that his art touched many lives far beyond the borders of his homeland.

During the time that we were fortunate enough to share with him, Fong and I also came to appreciate the needle of steel within the cotton of Master Lau’s gentle and gentlemanly demeanour. His life growing up during the Japanese occupation and then as a young man through the turbulent years of the “Malayan Emergency” played its role in the shaping of the future Master working in the market by day and training martial arts by night. Although already an accomplished exponent of Baihequan (White Crane Boxing) and Wuzuquan (5 Ancestors Boxing), when he was beaten in a challenge match by a taijiquan exponent, honour demanded that he should learn Taijiquan from the Master of the man who had bested him. Honour and a driving need to get to the essence of the martial arts fuelled his single-minded determination to master this art.

This steely determination working in harmony with his gentle, steady approach to walking his Dao, characterized Master Lau’s life as a respected martial artist and teacher. It took him down a path where he took part in competitions that other martial artists of his stature would not enter for fear of losing and it ensured that he would stand up to injustice and unfairness where ever and whenever he encountered it. I was honoured to be present with him on some of those occasions when the steel showed and was once (only once thankfully and to my shame) on the receiving end of it. 

Master Lau was always quick to go to the aid of those in trouble and he taught me that it was a part of our obligation as martial artists to protect those who could not protect themselves.  Master Lau was always there to help and provide support for Fong, myself and our family on those occasions when we needed it. His strong integrity and sense of what was right and wrong led him to be dubbed Southern Malaysia’s Guan Gong (God of War) when he did what he felt was right, ignoring what others might regard as his own self-interest.

As a family man he was always ready to include us, his martial arts family, in the bosom of his actual family. Fong and myself and our two young children attended New Year Family Reunions at his house during the time that we lived in the same town as him. It was during that time also that I learned some fundamental and essential lessons in my martial arts practice. Master Lau lived nearby and every morning came to a public space near us to practice and invited first me then a few others to join him. Here I spent every morning doing the most basic exercises repetitively, in a set sequence that never altered from warm ups to form, five times, always five times, then solo pushing hands exercises, then at least an hour of pushing hands for which he always selected me to be his partner. It was repetitive, boring, painful but also deeply instructive and somehow inspirational. Master Lau would start off the pushing hands doing the four fixed pushes, switching from side to side (usually with a giggle) as the mood took him; then into Da Lu accompanied by even more giggling and the occasional guffaw when I found myself stumbling, dropped into emptiness or gently yet firmly pushed away. The most uplifting things about these sessions was not that I was receiving superb instruction but that Master Lau was engaging in this practice to hone his own skills; ever-seeking to improve.

Master Lau’s expertise in the use of the staff and the walking stick was also exemplary and many came to him to learn these skills for self-protection. Here he blended techniques from White Crane and other arts with the body method of Taijiquan to produce great power and efficiency with a minimum of effort.

His generosity and open-mindedness as a teacher led him to recommend that Fong and myself should go and train with his longtime friend Master Liang He Qing. He particularly advised us to  learn his Fast Taiji and his White Crane staff which we did.

Lest it be thought that he was only a man of physical action, Master Lau, who had only the most rudimentary schooling, taught himself to read to a level where he could read the writings of Master Zheng Man Qing and the philosophy of Daoism and the Yi Jing from which he gained deep insight into how he should practice his art. He had also a devout interest in all things spiritual and on a number of occasions I would meet him to train only to be whisked off to a Daoist or a Buddhist Temple to meet a monk or a teacher with whom Master Lau would engage in deep discussion. From this I learnt that our art, to be complete, must have a spiritual dimension so that it permeates our whole life as Dao!

There is no way to repay the debt one owes to a teacher like Master Lau Kim Hong and all that those of us who were fortunate to have learnt from him can do is to try to embody his virtues and pass on his teachings.

With a deep bow of respect and heartfelt gratitude

Thank you Liu Shifu.