The county of Kwong Tong has been, at least in the last
centuries, the most fertile soil for the emergence of
styles of Kung Fú, fundamentally family styles which
techniques have been zealously conserved from generation
to generation like a legacy from the ancestors. This is
the case of the Choy Ka Kiin, name that means “Fist of the
Choy Family”. Most of the sources recognize Choy Kau Yi as
its creator, although other experts mention Choy Fook the
Monk of the “Burnt Head” or Choy Pak Tat. It is one of the
styles of the Five Families of the South of China: Hung,
Mok, Lau, Lei and Choy.
Of these five styles only the Hung Ka Kiin was able to
expand considerably due to its close bond with the
revolutions in the south of China against the manchú
dynasty of the Ching in which its creator Hung Hei Kung or
Hong Xi Kuan participated. The other four styles didn't
had the same luck and nowadays it is very difficult to
find them in their original state, such is the case of the
style Lau Ka Kiin which forms have been included in the
Hung style; of the Lei style which techniques have been
included in the Choy Lei Fat and of the very Choy style
which techniques, forms and philosophy have passed to form
part of styles like the Chow Ka, Jow Ka, Choy Lei Fat and
Wing Chung.
At the moment the Choy is a practically unknown style, and
we only have news it is trained as system in Peru (Society
Chung Shan), Sweden (Choy Gar Kung Fú Klubben) and Cuba
(Lei Tchoy Choy Ka Kung Fú). it is wrapped in a mystery
and secret halo, and although it is mentioned in almost
all the stories of the Kung Fú of the South of China
almost nobody has real knowledge of its forms and
techniques.
Technically the Choy is a medium-short style, based on the
movements of the rat and the snake and it is famous for
its agile displacements. Different tendencies and
modalities exist inside the same style, the one that is
practiced in Matanzas is distinguished for its blockades
in " hook ", the fist with the second join of the hand or
“snake fist”, the wide use of the postures Pen Kai Ma or
“kneeling horse”, Sam Ko Ma or “horse of the three angles”
and the preference for diagonal kicks. It was introduced
in Cuba by the Master Lei Tchoy in the first quarter of
the XX century and except for one year in which it was
openly taught to nearly 40 students, it has never counted
with more than five practitioners for generation, what
makes it an exclusive and exotic art for most of the
martial artists.
It is for that reason that without caring in what country
the school is, the teaching of the Choy has always had as
fundamental precept the high moral, the ethics, the
humility and the responsibility towards the other human
beings.
