Grandmaster Mar Sik

 Special Thanks to Sifu Bob Cook for the movie clip!

  Grandmaster Mar Sik is Grandmaster David Chin's first formal Sifu.  He began his practice with him when he was 13 years old and throughout most of his teenage years.  Grandmaster Mar Sik has another disciple named Lucky Chan.  Lucky Chan inherited the Iron Shirt Chi Gong from Grandmaster Mar Sik.  He is very low key and doesn't like to show up in public much.  Lucky and Chin were kung fu brothers and met often to spar with each other and exchange techniques to improve their skills.  Lucky still lives in the west coast.

  Mar Sik was born in America around 1876 in the Stockton Delta area.  When Mar Sik was a child his parent's sent him to Toy Shan County in Canton China.  He was about 6 or 7 years old when he learned Kung fu from his Uncle.  His Uncle had an alterations business.  Before his Uncle owned the Alterations business, his Uncle was a Shaolin monk (during the Ching Dynasty).  As a monk he was challenged to a fight.  He fought and killed the challenger and was wanted by the government.  He tried to hide away from the police and traveled back to his hometown to assimilate into society and he no longer dressed like a monk.  Everything Mar Sik learned was from his Uncle.  If you look at Mar Sik's movements you can still taste the flavor of history from the old style Shaolin Kung fu.

  Mar Sik was there to witness the 1905 San Francisco earthquake.  Not long after the Earthquake, Mar Sik went to Stockton and worked as a kung fu Sifu for the Chinese Tong.  One time there were two guys fighting and Mar Sik tried to break up the fight.  One of them turned on him.  Mar Sik hit the guy on top of the head with a back fist and crushed the guy's skull and he died.  Mar Sik regretted it and swore that he would never fight again.  He was wanted by the police, so he escaped from Stockton and went to Reno Nevada hiding in a Chinese labor camp for seven years.    After returning to San Francisco he was invited to be a Kung fu Sifu for the Chinese Tong.  One time he was visiting his friend's gambling house and the place was raided by the police.  They arrested him and thought that he was the owner.  Mar Sik stood up for his friend and went to jail for ten years for his friend.  Because of his loyalty he was the most highly respected man in the Tong and Chinese community. 

  David Chin was Mar Sik's disciple from 1955 until 1962 when Mar Sik was 87 years old.  David Chin moved to San Francisco from Stockton and Mar Sik introduced David Chin to the Tai Chi Master Lau Yee Sing.  This is when David Chin first started his internal Kung Fu training.  David Chin had a tight relationship with Mar Sik and Lucky Chan. 

  Mar Sik passed away in 1973.  He did not die of illness.  All of his friends were gone, he was very depressed and he starved himself to death.  When Lucky Chan took Mar Sik to the hospital the doctor put in an I.V. and Mar Sik kept pulling them out so he could die peacefully.  Grandmaster Chin always said that Mar Sik was the most memorable and compassionate person he ever met.  The way that Grandmaster Chin teaches his students today reflects his influence from his master Mar Sik.

 Written by Nick Lamia