Dragon Style Kung Fu
Dragon Style Kung Fu draws from the essence and symbolism of the celestial Chinese dragon, which embodies immense power, transformation, and the union of heaven and earth.
In Chinese culture, dragons are revered as life-giving beings that command the clouds, rains, and waters. They are symbols of vitality, protection, and spiritual authority, capable of nurturing growth or unleashing formidable natural force.
To the Chan Buddhists, the dragon was more than a bringer of rain: it represented hidden wisdom and the sudden, fleeting revelation of Enlightened Truth. To the Taoists, it symbolised the mysterious, transformative nature of the Tao itself, appearing without warning, vanishing without trace, and impossible to grasp.
These qualities – power, fluidity, transformation, and the balance of creation and destruction – lie at the heart of Dragon Style Kung Fu.
Origins
The roots of Dragon Style Kung Fu (Lung Ying / Long Ying, 龍形拳) are traced to the Wah Sa Tsoi temple on Mount Luofushan (羅浮山) in Guangdong. Monks at this temple practised martial arts for spiritual cultivation, internal refinement, and self-defence.
One of the important figures associated with this tradition is the monk Tai Yuk (or Da Yu; 大嶽禪師). Tai Yuk is said to have been a highly skilled martial artist whose teachings incorporated strong internal principles.
Lam Yiu Gwai
Lam Yiu Gwai (1876–1966) began learning Hakka kung fu as a child from his father. Gifted and diligent, he became capable of besting adult practitioners while still in his teens. Concerned that Lam’s skill was advancing faster than his emotional maturity, his father encouraged him to deepen his moral and spiritual grounding.
At sixteen, Lam opened his own small school in Dongjiang. Later, while teaching in a village below Mount Luofushan, he was invited to give a public demonstration at the local temple.
By chance, a disciple of Tai Yuk was present. Noticing similarities between Lam’s techniques and those linked to the Wah Sa Tsoi temple, he encouraged Lam to travel there and meet the monks.
At the temple, Abbot Gao Xiong-Wen (高雄文) was impressed by Lam’s eagerness to learn and tested him through friendly sparring with resident students. Lam first defeated a student named Ma Chen-Jie, but when Gao Xiong-Wen sparred with him personally, Lam found himself unable to counter the abbot’s superior skill.
Recognising the depth of their art, Lam sincerely asked how the abbot had overcome him so easily. Moved by his humility, Gao Xiong-Wen and Tai Yuk accepted him as a student and began teaching him Dragon Style.
Lam trained intensively for several years. Upon returning to his village, he had fully integrated what he had learned and could demonstrate Dragon Style at a very high level.
In the early 1920s, Lam moved to Guangzhou, where he established several Dragon Style schools. His senior students, most notably Ma Chai, his son Lam Woong Gong, and Tsoi Yiu Cheung, played a significant role in spreading the art.
During this era, Lam became recognised alongside Lin Yum Tong (Mo Gar) and Cheung Lai Chuen (Bak Mei) as one of the “Three Tigers of the East River”, a title given to the region’s most formidable martial artists. Lin Yum Tong later introduced Lam to General Lee Yum Chu, who appointed him chief martial arts instructor for military troops.
Lam Yiu Gwai continued to teach throughout his life and passed away peacefully in 1966 at the age of 90. He is regarded as the founder of modern Dragon Style.
Dragon Style Kung Fu
“Control yourself, let others do what they will. This does not mean you are weak.
Control your heart, obey the principles of life. This does not mean others are stronger.”
Dragon Style is a close-range fighting system known for its powerful strikes, rapid footwork, and continuous attacks. Although the movements appear externally strong and dynamic, they are deeply rooted in internal method that blends mind intent, fascia development, and chi control to allow softness to overcome hard force.
The practitioner maintains a distinctive ‘dragon body’ shape: rounded, coiled, and alive with elastic energy through the body’s five centres and nine joints. The style is quick and flexible, with fluid movements and a sticking/striking energy that is powerful, fierce, and unpredictable.
Dragon Style’s strategy is based on a relentless forward-pressing step and the principle of ‘touch, blend, disperse, add power, and strike.’ It uses core methods of advancing and retreating, floating and sinking, substantial and insubstantial, tall and low, flexible and rigid, yin and yang, and inflation and deflation. These completement the five internal forms (heart, spirit, will, energy, and power) and five external forms (body, hands, waist, legs, and feet).
Dragon Style is a complete and highly practical fighting system that cultivates the spirit, will, Qi and Jin (power), and externally trains the body. It builds mental focus, ethical behaviour, emotional balance, and physical resilience.
The DMAA teaches the complete Dragon Style syllabus, including hand forms, weapons, 2-person forms, method, and application. Sifu Braithwaite is a 4th generation lineage disciple under Grandmaster Lam Yiu Gwai and a closed-door student of Grandmaster Cheung Kwok Tai, who was the senior student of Lam Wun Gong (Lam Yiu Gwai’s son).
Sifu Braithwaite is the only westerner to have been approved by the Cheung Kwok Tai Wushu Association to teach Dragon Style, and has been named a foreign president of the Dragon Sign Athletic Association (the governing body for the style). He is certified at ‘advanced level’ by the University of Hong Kong in Dragon Style, and is one of the world’s few western practitioners who have been taught the most advanced forms in the system, including the 9-foot heart piercing pole, trident, and Seven Flowers Of The Plum Flower Fist.
Codes of Dragon Style
- The seeds were first planted from Haufeng
- The essence were gained later at Haushou
- Retrain one’s self and yield to others not because one is weak
- Uphold the ethical Tao and let the others have their claim
The four rules
- Focus to learn and condition the body; one must not have any act of laziness
- Be righteous and uphold your honour; one must not have any act of hypocrisy
- Respect your parents, honour your teacher; one must not have any act of defiance
- Treat others with honesty, treat your friends with loyalty; one must not have any act of arrogance
