Si Jo Wong Cheung's
Mong Kok Railway Sidings Gym

Around 1951, Wong Cheung knew a senior employee of the Kowloon and Canton Railway (KCR) and through him, he was hired to train the workers of the Kowloon and Canton Railway Workers Union / 九廣鐵路職工會 (KCR) in Chinese Martial Arts / 武術. This senior employee also had a young son that he wanted to learn Chinese Martial Arts / 武術 (Kung Fu / 功夫). After a discussion, Wong Cheung accepted the son who was a young boy called Seck sau / 石修 (now a Hong Kong television star) as his student and was given the area inbetween Mong Kok Station and its freight railway sidings to use as a training area. This enabled him to set up his own gymnasium in the location next to the railway siding at Mong Kok railway station. At this location he would teach the employees of the Kowloon and Canton Railway (KCR) during the day time. In the mornings he would run a class for his students which ran between 6am and 8.30 am.

The station, initially named Yaumati, was constructed on 1st October 1910 to cope with the opening of the British Section of Kowloon-Canton Railway. Yaumati was the old name of Yau Ma Tei, which is rarely used today. The station was renamed Mong Kok on 31 December 1968 on the grounds that it was actually in the Mong Kok District.

The original station included a freight yard to the north of it for receiving deliveries of livestock from mainland China. The livestock (mainly pigs) were unloaded at the freight yard and then transported to the nearby abattoir for slaughter. 

Next to the railway line is Kadoorie Hill / 加多利山 , which had part of the hillside cut away during the construction of the Kowloon and Canton Railway track through the Mong Kok area next to the station. The typical method in Hong Kong is to cover the cut away slope with concrete to prevent landslides.

 Above is a street map from 1945 showing the area.

Below is an early 1950s aerial map showing the railway sidings area of Mong Kok Station / 旺角站. Although at this period, the station was still called Yau Ma Tei / 油麻地. Near the sidings area is a large building site which would become the Queen Elizabeth School / 伊利沙伯中學.

The map below is from 1957 and shows the railway sidings and surrounding buildings.

                                                                  The red arrow show the location of Wong Cheung's gym 

                                                                    

This aerial photo is from 1963 and shows the station area but not the sidings and gym area.

This map shows the most detail for the railway sidings and surounding area to it. 

 
1967                                                                                        1977

These photos above show Mong Kok station looking down the track towards Prince Edward Road West / 太子道西. Further down the platform are sheltered areas on both platforms and just after on both sides are the Mong Kok station signs. These signs and the shelters can be seen in several photos taken of the gym area by the sidings. From this, it is easier to gauge the gym area and where certain photos were taken. Also in both of these photos at the station area are two places with steps down from the platform to cross the railway track to the Kadoorie Hill / 加多利山 platform.

This photo is taken from under the shelter on the platform and shows a frieght train coming through the tunnel under Prince Edward Road West. The Mong Kok station signs are very prominent in this picture and there are several freight wagons stood in the sidings. 

This photo from 1977 shows the opposiote platform shelter on the Kadoorie Hill / 加多利山 side of the railway track.

This photo above was taken from nearer the station and has the platform shelters in the background. Due to lack of vegetation, this was probably taken around the late 1960s to early 1970s.

  
These photos above all have the Mong Kok Station sign in them.

At this site, Wong Cheung with the help of some of his students was able to build and install several training apparatuses of the Black Tiger / Hak Fu Mun / 黑虎門 system. The first training apparatus installed was the Straight Dummy / Zik Zong / 直樁 sometime in the late 1950s to early 1960s. 

 
Frederick C. Kuen Woo (Fred Woo) performong on the Single Dummy, late 1960s to early 1970s.

 

The second training apparatus was the Nine Pin Grinder Dummy / 九齒磨盤椿, which was installed in the area several feet behind the Straight Dummy / Zik Zong / 直樁.

 

In early 1970s, a senior brother named Yu Kong Yu / 余光宇 was preparing to immigrate to Venezuela and so told Master Wong Cheung that he wanted to learn a unique set of Kung Fu before he left. Yu Kong Yu / 余光宇 informed Wong that he intended to set up a school in Venezuela and so wanted something unique that would make his school stand out from others and so attract more people. Master Wong Cheung then drew a pattern of a nine-pin dummy and organised two of his apprentices to manufacture the dummy. One of these was named Woo Moon Ling / 胡滿凌, and the other was called Chan Fook Sang / 陳福生, who was a skilled builder.  

Initially, the Nine Pin Grinder Dummies arms were made of wooden poles and the body parts of concrete. Once the dummy was manufactured and installed, Wong Cheung only taught it to two of the senior brothers, Woo Moon Ling / 胡滿凌 and Yu Kong Yu / 余光宇. The other senior brother, Chan Fook Sang / 陳福生, who was involved in making this dummy, but did not have the opportunity to learn because he often practiced Wing Chun / 詠春拳 there, and Master Wong Cheung did not like his behaviour.

  
These photos above show Si Jo Wong Cheung performing on the Nine Pin Grinder Dummy just after it was manufactured and installed.

Shortly after the installation of the Nine Pin Grinder Dummy / 九齒磨盤椿, Ho Wai Man / 何偉文 (current internal vice president) was also taught it by Master Wong Cheung.  

The photo above shows Woo Moon Ling / 胡滿凌 (on the left, kneeling) and Ho Wai Man / 何偉文 (on the right, performing a jumping kick). This photo was used in the Real Kung Fu magazine, July 1976 edition.

Unfortunately, because the wooden arms were not hard enough, they often broke during practice. The body section had to be recast to replace the wooden arms. Yu Kong Yu / 余光宇 was given the design so that he was able to manufacture the dummy when he moved to Venezuela. 

After a while, senior officials from the Kowloon and Canton Railway (KCR) came to meet with Wong Cheung and told him that this dummy was too eye-catching and that it should be removed. After some discussion Master Wong persuaded them to allow him to dismantle the top parts of the dummy and hide them when not in use. He and his students would place them in the long grass that grew near the dummy so that they could not be seen and would be difficult to find. When he was teaching the 9 Pin Grinder Dummy, he could put these parts back together for practical use and then dismantle again when finished training.

 

Si Jo Wong Cheung perform the Hak Fu Mun straight sword

The photo above shows both platform shelters and the posts for the Mong Kok station sign. Top right of this photo is the works platform access road

Shortly after the third training apparatus called the 108 Plum Flower Posts / Dummy (known as Mui Fa Chong Plum or Mui Fa Jong / 梅花椿 was introduced to the Mong Kok gym.

In early 1976, one of Wong Cheung’s students asked him if he had any new routines that he could learn, so Master Wong sketched the design of the Plum Flower Posts. This design had six iron pillars forming a circle. Wong Cheung gave the drawing he had done to two of his students to manufacture these Plum Flower Posts. This was built near the works entrance to the railway platform, and they used metal hollow posts concreted into the ground. Originally these metal posts were 3 Chinese feet high (approximately 4 foot tall). Unfortunately, sometime after a manager from the Kowloon and Canton Railway (KCR) noticed them and was not happy. He told Wong Cheung that they were ugly and wanted them taken out as they were in sight of the public from the station platform. After a brief discussion, Wong Cheung persuaded the manger to compromise so the metal post were cut down to one Chinese foot (about 16 inches). When Wong Cheung wanted to use the Plum Flower Posts, he would put wooden poles into the metal base tubes to bring the height back up to 4 foot tall. 

After practicing for a period of time, a senior student named See Tak Wah / 施德華 fell from the posts to the ground during practice and injured himself. Seeing how dangerous this could be falling from the posts, other students were reluctant to learn it and soon no one was interested to learn the Plum Flower Posts.

 

 
Si Jo Wong on the Plum Flower Posts in the 1976

Just to the right of these photos above and before the platform shelter was a works access area to the platform with a gate. To the left of the gate was the area for the Plum Flower Posts (known as Mui Fa Chong Plum or Mui Fa Jong / 梅花椿. The photos below show the location quite clearly.

 

In the background can be seen the signpost and the platform shelter. In the photo on the right, shows a red lorry coming along the entrance road to the gym area. These photos were taken some time around 1976 to 1977. Also, in the photos can be seen the shorter metal bases tudes for the Plum Flower Posts.

 
Where the flatbed truck is parked, is the works entrance to the station platform.

 

This photo above of Si Jo Wong performing the Hak Fu Mun Umbrella has the platform shelter in the background and is taken a bit closer to the station just before the works platform access road.

 

Moving a bit further down in several photos seems to be Wong Cheung's main area. Located here was the Straight Dummy / Zik Zong / 直樁 and behind that the Nine Pin Grinder Dummy / 九齒磨盤椿.

Si Jo Wong Cheung sat under the shelter watching one of his students train.

This photo shows the Single Dummy in background, and only the bottom base section of the 9 Pin Grinder Dummy can be seen several feet behind. It was at this time the repair work to the upper sections has been taken to replace the wooden arms with new wood.

Also in the early 1970s, a lean-to roof was added to create a shelter area against the fence off the main railway line. This shelter can be seen in these photos above and below.

Si Jo Wong Cheung perform on the 9 Pin Grinder Dummy

This photo above was taken in June 1976 by a professional photographer from the magazine Real Kung Fu. The photo and article ran in the July edition of this magazine. In this photo it is clear to see that the arms of the dummy are still made of the wood originally used, but has been repaired once already. Also there has been a lot of vegetation growth against the main fence to the railway lines campared to the first photos with this dummy in them.

 

 

The following pictures are of the area to left of the dummies and facing towards the freight track rail sidings and towards Sai Yee Street / 洗衣街 (clothes washing Street).

  

 

In 1976, the after several repairs recasting the main concrete body section of the Nine Pin Grinder Dummy / 九齒磨盤椿 and replacing the wooden arms, there was a new idea. This was to make a new body with steel tubing for the arms as had been done for the Bute Street rooftop gym / 旺角弼街天台 Nine Pin Grinder Dummy / 九齒磨盤椿.

Below shows both gyms on a map from 1978, and the distance is just over 500 metres or 1/3 mile.

When the decision was made in 1976 to double track the line, it included the reconstruction of the Mong Kok station and provided for a podium for commercial development above. Thus, in September 1977, the freight siding was closed, and the livestock yard moved to the recently opened (October 1976) Ho Man Tin sidings. Work started on the new station in October 1977, along with the double tracking works.

In the earlier photos there is no fence next to the rail track of the sidings, but then a fence appears in the photos from the later 1970s. This was be due to the closing of the freight siding in September 1977 and a wire mesh fence constructed to section this area off.

 

These photos were taken after 1977 when the fence was added to section off the track for the freight rail sidings from the gym.

 

These photos show both the Nine Pin Grinder Dummy / 九齒磨盤椿 and the Single / Straight Dummy / Zik Zong / 直樁. In the far background of these photos is the Queen Elizabeth School / 伊利沙伯中學. These photos are from 1977 to 1978.

This photo above if from around 1977 and show Si Jo Wong Cheung with the straight sword. The location is the access road area to the Mong Kok Sidings gym.

 

The photo above is a clear quality image of the rear part of the Mong Kok sidings gym and show lots of details. The top right hand corner shows part of the shelter, and underneath next to the stool are a few condition tools, such as a stone jar and throwing stone lock. In the background is the single / straight dummy (with a cover) and the Nine Pin Grinder Dummy.

 

 
Si Jo Wong Cheung with students, 1980.

At the front right of this photo in the Single Dummy and just behind the group is the 9 Pin Grinder Dummy.

These photos below were taken around 1978 and show the shelter area but facing the access road area from Luen Wan Street. 

 

There is a lot of training equipment on the floor at the left and on the righthand side are several people around a freestanding punch bag. In the background is the works access to the railway platform and building work was in progress at this time.

The photo above shows a lot of training equipment on the floor in the background.

 

In the background is the area of the old rail freight sidings which have now been fenced off. 

This photo shows the entrance road to the gym area and the track to the left leads to the Mong Kok platform works entrance. Fencing on the left where the freight sidings were.

 

These photos of Si Jo Wong Cheung were taken around 1980, with the entrance road to the gym area  straight behind him. The freight sidings area can also be seen behind the fence.

 

In the late 1978, construction work started to take place around the station area in preparation to build a much bigger new railway station. Part of the rail tracks were taken up in preparation for double tracking the line. These photos below were from a magazine called, “The Essence of Martial Arts”, featuring in issue one of 1979. They were taken next to the Mong Kok railway sidings gym on a section of the railway near Kadoorie Hill / 加多利山. In the background of these, they show where part of the rail track has been removed and debris everywhere during this construction work.

  

  

The photo above was taken around late 1979 to early 1980 and shows excavation work taking place on the side of Kadoorie Hill / 加多利山create move room to for the double tracking.

At 15:00 on 18 December 1980, a contractor building Mong Kok (now Mong Kok East) station accidentally severed signalling cables, disabling the automatic signalling system. At this time, the railway had been only partly doubled-tracked, and still made use of the old single-track Beacon Hill Tunnel. Later in the day, two trains were inadvertently put on a head-on collision course just south of the tunnel. At 18:40, a Lo Wu-bound train carrying about 1,500 passengers reached the point where the double-tracked section of the railway ended ahead of the tunnel, near Yau Yat Cheun. A safety device, a trap point, prevented the collision by forcing the train to derail, causing minor injuries to some passengers. A minute later, a southbound train came to a screeching halt at the accident site.

In 1983, the station was rebuilt and the small freight siding constructed to the west of the station was to follow on, opening on the 23rd October 1986 providing spaces for 45 freight wagons. After the takeover of KCR operations by the MTR Corporation on 2nd December 2007, the station was renamed to Mong Kok East.  

The map below is from 1983 and shows the new station layout and the railway sidings.

The photo below was taken in 1984, which shows the Mong Kok Station completed and construction work is continuing on the bus station next to it. This photo is taken in the direction of Argyle Street (located where the hill finished and the high rise buildings start).

This photo below was also taken in 1984, but in the direction of Prince Edward Road West / 太子道西. The Diocesan Boys' School / 拔萃男書院 is just visible on the hill above the station to the right.

The photos are zoomed in on the area of where the railway sidings gym was located. Just on the left of the photo is the Queen Elizabeth School / 伊利沙伯中學.

 

The picture below is an aerial view from Google maps 2024. The Mong Kok East Station is now covered over. To the left of the train station is the bus station (which was the site of the gym) which is connected to Grand Century Palace.

Grand Century Place / 新世紀廣場 is a multicomplex including a shopping mall named MOKO, two office towers and a modern hotel named Royal Plaza Hotel. It is connected to the Mong Kok East MTR station. The building was completed in 1997.

This modern map below shows the locations of Si Jo Wong Cheungs two gyms. It is a short walk down Bute Street / 弼街 crossing Shanghai Street / 上海街, then Nathan Road / 彌敦道 and finally Sai Yee Street / 洗衣街. 

From the 1950s when Si Jo Wong started to use this area for his gym untill 1980, some building work took place but nothing compared to the last 40 years.

I was first taken to this site in 2015 by my Sifu Alan Low / 盧紹麟 and Si Gung Franco Lok / 駱華輝 accampanied by the president Yeung Wong Hing / 會長 長楊旺興, Vice President Ho Wai Man,  Leung Mei Kit (Maggie), Tse Lai Fun and several of my students from the UK. Obviously, there is nothing of the original site remaining and little recognisable from the old photos and video footage, as the whole landscape has changed.

  

  

 

Sean Krauth, Andy Docker, Paul Cowley, Leung Mei Kit (Maggie), Tse Lai Fun, Ho Wai Man,
Yeung Wong Hing and Paul Burkinshaw