Iron Palm

Grandmaster Ku Yu Cheung 1894 - 1936

Grandmaster Ku Yu Cheung was born in the Northern China Province of Jiang Su in 1894. Master Ku Yu Cheung could break a stack of 12 bricks with one slap (See above). He also killed a horse once with the invincible Iron Palm Skill! This is a very famous story that actually happened. Another famous Master of the Eagle Claw school, Master Lau Fat-Man, was there to witness the event in 1928, in Kuangtung Province, Southern China (Canton). As the story goes, a Russian circus strongman had a wild Siberian horse (probably a "prezywlaski" breed) that was trained to fight, and the man was challenging all comers to accept the match between anyone who could "tame", or beat the horse. There was a reward, of course, but that was not Master Ku's motivation, however. The reason he accepted the challenge was because other masters and their students were being beat up by the horse quite badly, acquiring some serious injuries. Ku wanted to end the shame of his colleagues, so he accepted the challenge himself. When Ku got into the ring with the horse, he got kicked several times, but he received no injuries at all, due to his internal iron body skill (gold bell, i.e. iron shirt). Ku then managed to slap the horse with one palm slap. The horse gave out a loud whinny and dropped dead with blood coming out of the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth and died instantly. An autopsy was performed and they found out that the horse had died of internal massive bleeding, due to ruptured blood vessels and organs, yet there was no sign or external mark of any injury on the outside of the horse's body.

Grandmaster Ku Yu Cheung breaking a stack of 12 bricks with one slap.

SPECIAL NOTE: The chi created during Iron Palm exercises is a tool, and can be used for medical or martial purposes. For those who are familiar with acupressure and Chi Gung, this art can be used for healing as well. Master Ku was also appointed as a one-star General. He taught the army, as well as at the Government Martial Arts Association, the famous old "Nan Jing Kuo Su Guan". He, along with five hundred other masters were invited by the Kuo Su Guan to their first annual tournament. Only seventeen participants were left out of three hundred who had fought, who were selected to be teachers at the Kuo Su Guan.

Master Ku was also called one of the "Five Northern Tigers", who went South, as he and four other Masters were sent by the Kuo Su Guan to set up a new Kuo Su Guan in Canton. While Master Ku was in Kuangtung, he had a neighbor friend who was a Choy Li Fut Master. The two of them got along well. Tam Salm had a challenge match with Ku and it ended in a draw. The two of them agreed to teach each other's styles. So, Master Tam Salm learned Master Ku's secret skill and passed them down to Master Wong. Master Ku, while in the Military, was sent to a remote area and he became ill and died around 1934.

Iron Palm, "The Invincible Iron Ore Palm Skill

The "Invincible Iron Ore Palm Skill", otherwise known as the Iron Palm, or "Wu Di Tieh Sha Chang Gong", is an ancient Chinese method that has been passed down from generation to generation for about 15 centuries. Monks and priests and martial arts masters have closely guarded the secret of this skill for reasons that will become apparent. Letís start with the meaning. Translated, Wu Di means invincible, or matchless. Tieh Sha means ìIron Oreî, or iron, as in metal. Chang means the palm, and ìgongî means skill, merit, or achievement. This information is written for the purpose of exposing the misconceptions of what this skill is and what it is not.

There are two types, or methods, of the true authentic iron palm. One method is called ìexternal- gongî; it uses muscle and brute force to accomplish the feats of strength, such as breaking stacks of bricks, boards, etc. The other method is called ìinternalî and uses no external force or power to accomplish its feats of strength. The internal method is what we will discuss. The internal or ìnei chiaî method is classified as a ìsoftî gong. It uses the Chi Gong as its base, but also uses Tai Chi Chuan, considered the ìqueen of internal methods in Chinaî for soft fist arts of self-defense and is consistent for the promotion of health and prevention of disease. The external, or hard, practitioners use beating of the hands on hard objects. This can disrupt the flow of blood to the organs due to the fact that each finger has a meridian that corresponds to an organ (i.e. the heart, small intestines, triple heater, pericardium, large intestines and the lungs). These are all located on the hand. Any damage done to these meridians, freeways, or paths, can cause arthritis, bone cancer, blood clots and even death. Whereas the internal method is not only a much safer method, it is the highest-level method as taught in the Buddhist and Taoist monasteries in China. The monks always safeguarded these "Yin" or internal methods, so that the general population would not have access to them and become a society of killers. However, the external method is much simpler to learn, and although more painful, it became popular with the regular folks. The internal iron palm is not without danger, as the exact methods must be employed, or bad habits can result and even cause internal damage to the organs. Both internal and external methods are very dangerous. One of the easiest methods to learn is the Taoist Wu Dang Pai method of iron palm.

Medically, what happens to the hands and the body is a process called tempering. The bone marrow "sweats" and cools repeatedly. The result is that the bones become as resilient as steel. There are also official grades, or ranks, called "Dengs" in this system. The first five levels are Deng ranks and all are considered professional ranks.

There are ten-degree ranks called "Duans" for the complete system. It is important to note that only Chief Instructors of Chin Woo member schools will be allowed to progress to the first-degree level and beyond. Once this is obtained, an Instructor's Rank may be issued after being tested. For information concerning this system, please contact Rainig Sun Temple Arts.