Hi,

I've heard of Choy Lee Fut sifu Yuen Hai of Foshan before and always wondered if he was related in any way to Yuen Kay-San and Yuen Chai-Wan, two prominent Foshan Wing Chun practitioners.

Yuen Kay-San was born in 1889 and was the fifth son of the owner of the Zhanbei (Chang Bak) Street Fireworks store. He was known as Yuen Lo-Jia (Yuen the Fifth). Yuen Chai-Wan was his elder brother, the fourth son, and known as Dou Pei Chai (Pockskin Chai).

Yuen (Ruan) is not a common surname in Guangdong, but is quite common in Vietnam, so there have been rumors that the Yuen's came to Guangdong from there (or in some rumors, from Guangxi) though I believe they had an ancestral hall and had lived there for generations. Wealthy, they lived on an estate on Song Yuan (Mullbery Gardens) Main Street, neighbors of the Yip family.

Their father might have been named Yuen Chong-Ming (though I have heard Yuen Ming was the name of one of Yuen Kay-San's two sons instead.)

Is there any other information on Yuen Hai?

Rgds,

Rene Ritchie