Born
in year 1908, Sifu Mai Zhi was from Kwangtong Province, Soon Tat
Village.
As a minor, Sifu MaiZhi was very active and had very high interest
in Wushu, therefore, together with his elder brother, MaiLiang,
they reached a decision to join the famous ZhouJia Wushu School
in and came under the personal instruction of one of the Five Tigers
of Zhou family, Grandmaster ZhouBiao.
In 1920, two years after ZhouJia Wushu Founder Grandmaster ZhouLong
had passed away, activities in the headquarter school were flourishing.
As other brothers of Grandmaster ZhouLong realized that the disorganization
of the headquarter school could not function well, a new leader
was needed. Thereby, after a family meeting Grandmaster ZhouBiao
was chosen to take over the Zhou Family new leadership.
Grandmaster ZhouBiao
resigned his post as the Chief trainer in General He army. He recommended
his youngest brother, ZhouTian, senior student, ZhuHua (alias Big
Thunder) and MaiLiang to take up his post as instructor in the army.
As Sifu MaiZhi was
young and only 12 years old, Grandmaster ZhouBiao had a special
liking for him. Having the opportunity of being always at Grandmaster
ZhouBiao side, Sifu MaiZhi had a very close relationship and learned
most of Grandmaster teaching in Martial Art and philosophy.
In 1936, The Martial
Art Community in Hong Kong invited the ZhouJia Wushu School to participate
in a Wushu festival.
Grand Master ZhouBiao and Master ChengHua and a few handpicked students
among them were the brothers of MaiLiang and MaiZhi.
In Hong Kong the Wushu Demonstration was held at Kowloon, ¡°Dongle
Cinema¡±.
After the festival, a Wushu School was set up in Kowloon, ¡°Zhou
Ren Yi Tang¡±. The Mai¡¯s brother stayed behind to take charge of
the school.
The same year, Grand master ZhouBiao decided to change the Hong
Kong school name to ¡°Zhong Wai Zhou Ren Yi Tang¡± which means: Outside
China Zhou Family School.
As life became monotonous, Sifu MaiZhi decided to leave Hong Kong
to seek fame and fortune overseas.
In 1940 after reaching
Singapore, he adopted a new name Muk Chee Cheong and found work
in Pulau Bukom, a Singapore Island.
As Sifu Mai Zhi had nothing to do in the evening, he decided to
take in a few students on the island. Later in the mid fifties,
Sifu Mai Zhi was invited to teach in the Chinese YMCA at Palmer
Road on every Monday and Wednesday.
As Sifu Mai Zhi needed
to take a boat trip to and fro to the mainland, Singapore he decided
to change his job, whereby he stayed and worked in ZhiLi Meats Store
in Syed Awi Road as a butcher.
Small built, timid
and always keeping to himself, he did not mix around or talk, therefore
nobody knew anything about his past.
One day, four local gangsters came for protection money. As all
the other hawkers and butchers had paid up previously to avoid troubles,
only Sifu Mai Zhi refused to do so. He tried to reason with the
gangsters calmly. He explained how he had to leave his hometown
to work in Singapore for some extra money, and that most of his
earning had to be sent back to his family. Therefore he did not
have much money left to give and begged the gangsters to leave him
alone.
This made the gangsters very angry and mad that they threatened
to teach Sifu Mai Zhi a lesson by beating him up for his disobedience.
The gangsters started pushing him around then hitting Sifu Mai Zhi
a few times. Sifu Mai Zhi begged them to go away as they had their
fun but the gangsters laughed and continued to bully him.
Finally Sifu Mai Zhi retaliated. The small Sifu Mai Zhi moved like
lightning, punching and kicking away that in no time the four gangsters
were lying on the ground the fight was over.
All his fellow workers
saw the fight and how Sifu Mai Zhi moved. Nobody believed that the
timid Mai Zhi was a Wushu expert. After the incident, all the fellow
workers praised Sifu Mai Zhi for his courage and wanted to learn
Wushu from him. Giving lost of excuses, saying that it was just
luck and that he had nothing to do with Wushu although he defeated
the gangsters. Not believing Sifu Mai Zhi they kept pestering him.
Finally, Sifu Mai Zhi gave in and began to teach them Wushu after
work. Starting with only a handful of students, news of Sifu Mai
Zhi¡¯s abilities and teachings traveled widely. Slowly, people from
all over Singapore came looking for him to be their teacher. Some
even invited him to their schools, villages, clubs and associations
to teach.
As the years passed,
Sifu Mai Zhi popularity grew, and the number of his students increased.
There were no specification on the teaching fees, Sifu Mai Zhi took
what students could afford.
As Sifu MaiZhi had to travel to different places to teach, he decided
that a permanent place was needed for him to promote and teach Wushu.
In 1961, Mr. Lim Liang
Gee was generous to offer Sifu Mai Zhian the open area next to Tai
Sun Temple at Ghim Moh village as training ground.
The years passed and popularity grew, the students now wanted like
seek recognition and belonging.
Therefore, in 1964 with permission given by Sifu MaiZhi, Nia Kwang
Physical School was born, and the promotion and expanding of Zhong
Wai ZhouJia Wushu followed.
Sifu Mai Zhi was indeed
the pioneer who spread and promoted Zhong Wai Zhou Jia Wushu in
Singapore. Unfortunately, Sifu Mai Zhi passed away peacefully after
a brief illness in late 1978, aged 70.
On 14th March 1961,
Grandmaster ZhouBiao passed away after short illness.
ZhongWai ZhouJia Wushu may have only a short history but today,
there are schools or associations in China, Hong Kong, South East
Asia, America, England and Western Europe promoting and spreading
ZhongWai ZhouJia Wushu.
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