HONG YING "LION STYLE" CHINESE BOXING

BACKGROUND

The Hong Ying School was established in the 1970’s in Hong Kong by the late-Grand Master LI HE HUANG (1921-1985) who had studied his whole life in the Chinese Martial Arts, specializing in the styles of Mei Hua Zhuang (Plum Blossom Boxing) and Choy Li Fut (Kung Fu style). HUANG was also a very accomplished SANDA/SANSHOU fighter and coach who had served as a combat instructor for some years in the Army, where he gained his nickname of ‘shizi’ or lion. The name of the school HONG YING means, roughly translated: "unbeatable heroes".

In the late 1970’s Li He Huang travelled to Europe and taught for some time in the UK where he met a young English martial artist who had studied Wushu (Chinese Martial Art) and Taekwondo (Korean Martial Art) since the age of eight. This young man was Mark Horton who had spent his childhood years in Malaysia where he had first begun martial training in Taekwondo and then later Tsai Lee Fo/Choy Li Fut Kung Fu. The time in Malaysia was due to his fathers’ work as a Royal Air Force instructor to the Malay Airforce.

These years in the far east were an excellent basic training for the years ahead and when the family returned to the UK in the mid 70’s Mark was already an accomplished teenager in his "Kung Fu" and when he met Master Huang was immediately taken on as a student. Mark was already attending a school which was practising the LAU GAR style in Liverpool as he had not been able to find a Choy Li Fut school. The Liverpool Lau Gar school went on to great success in later years and produced one of the greatest Martial Artists ever to come from England, Alfie Lewis (5 time World Champ) !
However, back in the late 70’s Alfie too was a teenager and the school was then run by the late and great George Wellington.

After 2 years in the UK it was time for Master Huang to return to China and so he suggested that Mark, who had attended lessons almost on a daily basis from him, should continue the work and open a small school where the focus would always be on only one thing: ..a high level of ‘kungfu’ skill and a spiritual balance.

And so it was that in 1979 in Chester, England the first Hong Ying School was opened with a syllabus of work which included all the major principles set down by Master Huang and many of the principles taught in the Lau Gar sysytem. In fact later, during a trip to Hong Kong, Master Huang introduced Mark Horton to members of the Lau family from the mainland who were on holiday in HK. After Master Huangs’ death in 1985 an invitation arrived to visit the Lau family in China and so Mark visited three times over the next ten years to stay and learn from the various members of the family who are skilled in the family system of Wushu/KungFu, which differs greatly from the ‘commercial’ style taught in Europe.

By the end of the 1980’s the school had expanded South through England and had 5 training centers which together had a total of 6 national champions and 2 European champions. The tournament Team was extremely hard-working and this resulted in many trophies for the "Fighting Lions" !
The team of 1990-1992 did particularly well winning a straight series of Team competitions, constantly travelling and being regularly featured in Martial Arts magazines. This team was made up of ....Mark Horton, Leo Alderman, Stuart Holland, Michael Hucey, Jay Clayson, John Smirsley and Tim Underhill, who are all, of course nowadays Black Sash Instructors, most of them with their own schools! ....but all still as competitive as ever!

In 1991 Mark Horton was asked by Alfie Lewis to manage and coach the ‘Elite F.S.K.A.’ TEAM which had brought together some of the best Freestyle fighters in the world (Bryce/Findley/Brown/Harrison,etc,etc) and was therefore a ‘must’ for all the big titles. This proved to be true and for the next 3 years the FSKA team ruled supreme in the UK. The same team later went on to become the Hayashi Pro-Team.

The HONG YING school meanwhile kept going on from strength to strength and then one evening in 1995 a meeting was called of all Senior students. At this meeting Mark Horton announced that he was going to move to The Netherlands where he hoped to open further schools and train with certain friends/teachers who were very strong in the Dutch Wushu/Kung Fu world.

In Holland the first school was opened in late 1995 and today is open 7 days per week! In late 1996 Mark was appointed to select and coach a Dutch National All-style Team who then went onto the WKA World Championships in Prague to win 7 medals!

In 1999 Mark Horton continues to teach the Hong Ying system, assisted by Jay Clayson (who moved to Holland in 1997) and senior student Han Do Hong and there is constant contact between the schools in Holland and UK. Mark Horton continues to study Choy Li Fut Kung Fu & Tai Chi Chuan under Grandmaster Doc Fai Wong.

As we move into the new millenium the Hong Ying Chinese Martial Arts Association continues to grow with Sifu Leo Alderman building the English schools currently to 6 , and bringing on a new generation of highly skilled English instructors such as Nathan Ellis, Will Saunders and Mark Harris. These young instructors are all learning to keep the 'family' alive for another 20 years !

Meanwhile, in Holland, the Hong Ying Martial Arts Centre in Leiden is now open 7 days a week ,covering everything from Yang Tai Chi through to Lion Dancing and Full Contact San Shou. Sifu Jay Clayson is these days responsible for passing on ChinNa, San Shou and extremely realistic Groundfight technique, whilst a new generation of instructors have come through in the classical styles of Choy Li Fut Kung Fu and Tai Chi Chuan. These include Tony Wittebol, Maarten van Zeijl , Mark N. Holmes and our first female International Forms Champion, Vuong Nguyen.

Sifu Mark Horton is kept very busy travelling and teaching as often as possible in all the Hong Ying schools and also giving Tai Chi & Chi Kung workshops in Hospitals,usually helped by one of the Assistant Instructors. Even though he has been training for over 30 years ,Mark Horton continues to learn as much as possible from his teacher , Grandmaster Doc Fai Wong, who also tries to visit the Hong Ying schools at least once a year from his base in San Francisco,USA. There are also annual European Instructor Weeks where all instructors under Doc Fai Wong> come together to train. So with all of this the future looks bright at Hong Ying Chinese Martial Arts !

Mark teaches in Leiden, The Netherlands, the following disciplines:

• Choy Li Fut Kung Fu
• Meihuazhuang Chinese Boxing
• Sanda
• Wushu weapons
• Tai Chi Chuan / Qi Gong

Mark continues to train with and learn from certain leading Chinese instructors and the school is actively linked with the Plum Blossom Federation which is headed by Grandmaster Doc Fai Wong.

Training in Kung Fu/Wushu:

When a student wants to begin training he should first choose the School very carefully. He should visit some schools in his area and find the one which suits him best. A good Martial Art school can be hard to find ! Try to find a school which offers a complete system of unweaponed and weaponed skills, and also cultural aspects of the sport, with opportunity to compete if that is where your interest lies. Unfortunately there are many schools who are nowadays only focused on one or two small parts instead of on the whole Martial system.

Joining a martial art school does not mean that you are joining the army and in many 'traditional' Chinese schools the focus is more on a 'family' training together to push their collective skills higher and higher. This, rather than discipline and money, should be the principle of a good school.

When a student begins to train he will need to begin by learning to condition his body and then begin with simple unweaponed forms. As the student develops he will learn more dynamic and complex forms gradually developing to a higher level. Those students who wish to can later go into competition for "forms" or "sparring" to test those skills. Some students however will NEVER enter competition, after all, the major principle behind the Chinese Martial Arts is NOT competing but actually, 'personal development' to enhance your life and achieve 'balance' in all.

After many years of training the body the student can begin to really focus on the 'internal' body through the practise of Qi Gong which means literally "air exercise". Qi Gong is perhaps the greatest single aspect of Martial Arts development and has been proven to aid illness, old age and physical injuries. Also many amazing feats of strength and endurance have been performed through the practise of Qi Gong. Also one very famous Wushu teacher 'rebuilt' his life through use of Qi Gong following a nearly fatal car accident and his recovery amazed Doctors and friends !