In Memoriam◆Sifu Tony Lau · 1946–2025

Sifu · Teacher · Founder

Sifu Tony Lau

February 20, 1946 — August 22, 2025

A pioneering presence in East Coast kung fu, founder of Ying Yee Kwoon, and a demanding teacher whose standards continue to live in the students he formed.

洪家拳 · Hung Gar虎爪派 · Fu Jow Pai剛柔流 · Goju

Tribute portrait of Sifu Tony Lau in a Tiger Claw stance before a moonlit temple with a spectral tiger — Sifu Tony Lau · the spirit of the tiger · tribute artwork from the Jack Yee collection

A teacher remembered

His legacy is not held in a title. It lives in the discipline of those who continue.

The life and the work

A builder of martial community.

Grandmaster Tony Lau was remembered by his students as one of the great pioneers of kung fu on the East Coast. Beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he helped create a place for rigorous Chinese martial training in New York at a time when these traditions were only beginning to become visible to a wider American public.

His education crossed several demanding systems. He trained Hung Gar with Chan Tai Hing, became one of Grandmaster Wai Hong’s leading Fu Jow Pai students, and earned recognition as a top black belt under USA Goju founder Peter Urban. That breadth did not make his teaching casual. It sharpened a direct, practical standard centered on fundamentals, effort, and martial character.

As founder of Ying Yee Kwoon, Sifu Lau taught countless students at the Chung Shan Association in New York’s Chinatown and through schools in Brooklyn and Long Island. His influence extended beyond weekly classes: he promoted open competitions for forms, weapons, and fighting—sometimes holding three tournaments in a year—and helped knit together a wider East Coast martial community.

From the personal archive

Before the legend, there was the work.

Printed programs and school photographs preserve the quieter record: the early demonstrations, the long hours in the kwoon, and the students learning together under Sifu Lau’s eye.

Archival printed photograph captioned Tony Lau in Boston, Massachusetts, 1970 — 1970Tony Lau in Boston, Massachusetts · archival print

Archival program photograph of Sifu Tony Lau teaching a group at Ying Yee Kwoon — The kwoonSifu Tony Lau teaching the next generation

Archival program biography of Sifu Tony Lau with a martial arts silhouette — The recordAn early printed biography preserved in the Jack Yee collection

Personal archive photographs supplied by Jack Yee

Hung Gar

Sifu Lau studied Hung Gar under Chan Tai Hing, carrying forward the branch that descends through Dong Fong from Wong Fei Hung.

Fu Jow Pai

He was remembered as one of a small group of leading students of Grandmaster Wai Hong, founder of the Fu Jow Pai tradition in the United States.

USA Goju

He also became a top black-belt student of Peter Urban. American Goju records identify Anthony Lau as the founder of Ying Yee Kwoon.

Archival television still from Martial Art World’s 1988 Kung Fu Masters exhibition — Martial Art World, 1988 · Sifu Tony Lau, Ying Yee Kwoon, and New York’s traditional kung fu community

Seen in motion

The art was meant to be lived.

Archival footage from the 1988 Kung Fu Masters exhibition preserves Sifu Lau speaking and demonstrating alongside other senior New York teachers. It offers more than a record of technique. It captures the public work of a generation determined to make traditional kung fu visible without separating it from discipline, lineage, or responsibility.

Watch the archival program

A life in practice

Five markers in a living legacy.

1946

A life begins

Tony Lau was born on February 20, 1946.

1960s–70s

An East Coast pioneer

He emerged among the early generation that established serious Chinese martial arts practice in New York and along the East Coast.

1980s

Ying Yee Kwoon

His teaching reached students through Chinatown, Brooklyn, and Long Island. Jack Yee began training with him in 1987.

1988

The masters assemble

Sifu Lau represented Ying Yee Kwoon in the celebrated Kung Fu Masters exhibition in New York’s Chinatown.

2025

The legacy continues

Sifu Lau passed on August 22, 2025. His teachings remain alive in the people and schools he shaped.

A tradition in the street

Lion Dance, community, and the living school.

Lion Dance carried the kwoon beyond its walls. Amid drums, firecrackers, banners, and crowded Chinatown streets, students learned that martial culture was not only practiced in private—it was shared, witnessed, and offered back to the community.

Ying Yee Kwoon Lion Dance procession moving through a crowded Chinatown street — Chinatown · personal archiveThe school in motion.Lions, students, firecrackers, and community gathered in one living tradition.

Sifu Tony Lau standing before a decorated Chinatown doorway during a Lion Dance celebration — Sifu Tony Lau at a Chinatown Lion Dance celebration

Ying Yee Kwoon students gathered with staffs and other competitors at a martial arts tournament — Ying Yee Kwoon students gathered at a martial arts tournament

A Lion Dance team carrying a large red, white, and black lion through Chinatown — The lion moving through the street

Ceremonial banners carried through a Chinatown street after a Lion Dance procession — Banners, firecrackers, and procession

Young Ying Yee Kwoon students walking beside a green, red, and white lion — Jack Yee carrying the tradition into the street

A green, white, and red lion head with Sifu Tony Lau standing behind it — Sifu Lau beside the awakened lion

A green, white, and red lion rising at the entrance of a Chinatown association — The lion’s blessing at the doorway

A public martial arts demonstration with Sifu Tony Lau watching from the doorway — Public demonstration with Sifu Lau looking on

Sifu Tony Lau standing with folded arms as he watches a Chinatown demonstration — The teacher observing the celebration

Sifu Tony Lau moving rapidly through a martial arts demonstration — Sifu Lau in motion

Sifu Tony Lau demonstrating an open-palm movement before a Chinatown crowd — Open hand, rooted intention

Sifu Tony Lau demonstrating a Tiger Claw hand position — Tiger Claw in public demonstration

Sifu Tony Lau holding a low, rooted Hung Gar stance before a crowd — A rooted Hung Gar stance

The Chinatown Lion Dance archive · photographs by Michael Sparks from the Jack Yee collection

In the words of his students

The measure of a teacher.

“I was given my martial name Jack Yee from Sifu Tony Lau after entering into advanced studies with him.”

Jack YeeStudent · One of Sifu Lau’s Last Dragons

“One of the best Kung Fu Master in Chinatown”

Sifu Tak Wah Eng

“Old school and hardcore…a strict adherence to the martial code of virtue.”

Master Paul KohRemembering Sifu Lau’s teaching

The Last Dragons

A name given with responsibility.

Jack began Hung Gar training with Sifu Lau in 1987. After entering advanced studies, Sifu Lau gave him the martial name Jack Yee. Sifu Lau called Jack’s generation the Last Dragons—a designation carried as an obligation to practice carefully, protect what was entrusted, and pass the tradition forward with integrity.

That teacher-to-student bond is the human foundation beneath this Heritage Collection. The Hung Gar lineage comes through Sifu Tony Lau; the documented Ying Yee Kwoon Dit Da Jow heritage practice begins with Jack Yee and is carried forward in Sifu Lau’s spirit of exacting work, patience, and stewardship.

Read Jack Yee’s story

Sifu Tony Lau and Paul Vizzio standing together before a stage curtain in 1992 — Sifu Tony Lau and Paul Vizzio 1992

Jack Yee holding a Hung Gar hand position beside the water in the Berkshire Mountains — Jack Yee · carrying the practice forward in the Berkshire Mountains

In gratitude

Sifu Tony Lau

February 20, 1946 — August 22, 2025

Teacher to many. Founder of Ying Yee Kwoon. A legacy still in motion.