Master Zhou Qiang
Monkey King Chan Sau Chung’s Journey to the West says Pek Kwar originated in the Ming Dynasty some 1500 years ago. Pek is translated as a chopping motion, or a downward arc of the arm. Kwar translates as attacking with fists.
According to The Monkey, Pek Kwar was founded by Master Ma Chi Ho. As a young man he chopped wood for priests at a Taoist Temple. One day, while chopping wood a priest said to him, “Metal may conquer wood, but the spirit is stronger.”
Ma Chi Ho contemplated what the priest said and decided the priest was referring to man’s spirit being stronger than the metal axe.
To prove his thought he cocked his arm as if it were cutting wood with an axe. He swung his arm at a branch and when it broke he realized the priest was correct.
He incorporated the axe like motion, with other forms of Kung Fu, and Pek Kwar forms became part of Kung Fu.
Tai Shing Pek Kwar
Pek Kwar evolved into Tai Shing Pek Kwar through a street fighter named Kou Sze, who was in solitary confinement serving an eight year prison sentence for killing another villager in a fight.
To pass time he studied a group of monkeys who lived in the trees outside the prison walls. When the monkeys were fighting he discovered they used moves similar to a style of kung fu he knew.
Daily he studied the monkeys, and their moves, and when released he developed Tai Shing Pek Kwar.
Tai Shing Pek Kwar’s Five Fighting Techniques
The Tai Shing Pek Kwar combatant trains to mentally become a monkey.
It is in a Kung Fu class of its own. It has its own moves and a combatant must be adept at upright, tumbling and rolling exercises. A mental attitude of being devious, elusive, unpredictable, sneaky and destructive must be developed.
The combatant’s personality must incorporate being wily and cunning, dangerous like a venomous snake, able to attack and destroy or bluff.
Above all the key is to be unpredictable. Kou Sze learned the different styles of the monkeys and classified them in five categories.
The Drunken Monkey, The Stone Monkey, The Lost Monkey, The Lost Monkey, The Standing Monkey.
by Master Man
