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Pek Bin Kim Kong (The angel with the white face)



SinShe Lo Ban Teng died at the age of 72 years in Jakarta (Indonesia) on 27.07.1958. His body became incinerated on 01.08.1958 in Muara Karang (Java). He wasn't only a respected healer of the Chinese medicine but also a confessed and respected master of the Chinese fighting art.

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In 1885 Lo Ka Liong moved from Eng Teng (Hok Kian) with his wife and two daughters to Tjio Bee (province Hok Kian, China) and opened the arrack shop Kim Oen Hap in the district of Tang Oa Bee Kee. He was a simple, modest man who did not like to argue and who was just happy to be in this town. On 01.06.2437 (1886) his wife gave birth to a healthy son, they called him Ban Teng and he became all the devotion. As a child, Ban Teng caused a lot of worry to his parents. He was impudent and not easy to be controlled. After three years of school he wanted to quit. At that time he had to help the father in the business. The local people from Tjio Bee were very much distrustful about strangers and they also felt this about Ka Liong and his family. Ban Teng was often annoyed and slogged by the children of the town.
One day the neighbours attacked the business and destroyed the arrack vessels. Ka Liong was about to give up. Ban Teng was furious and angry because he could not do anything. He decided to learn fighting at the age of 14. After two years of lessons in Tjio Bee however he had no success. He was still slogged. He was not discouraged however and went on practising. The inhabitants of Tjio Bee disturb Ka Liong more frequently, which in Ban Teng strengthens the wish to study the fighting art.
To distract Ban Teng from these ideas, at the age of 19, his father made him marry a girl from Eng Teng, named Lie Hong Lan. Together they have a daughter, Lo Lee Hwa. Ban Teng practises every day in the fighting art and with the customers of the business he speaks about nothing else. His mother and also his father died in succession in his 23rd year of life. He kept on running the business, Kim Oen Hap, of his father. Since his marriage was childless except for Lee Hwa, he adopts a boy and gives him the name Siauw Eng.

One day Ban Teng goes down town to a stonecutter and orders a pair of shoes made of stone. Ban Teng later learns that he was no less a man than Yoe Tjoen Gan, one of the five best students of Tjoa Giok Beng from Tjoan Tjiu, master of the Siauw Lim Ho Yang Pay. The next day Ban Teng went again to ask the stonecutter to accept him as his student, however he was declined. Ban Teng did not give up and this went on for one year, till the business decreased and Tjoen Gan had to give up. Ban Teng offers him to live at his place. Ever since the old stonecutter lived with him. He gets the best room and a servant. Ban Teng practises daily and he gathers friends and acquaintance and they practice together. Every student pays 12 Kouw of which he gives his teacher 2 Kouw daily.
One day, when Ban Teng was a little late and Tjoen Gan conducts the exercises alone, the four largest and strongest students want to practise Ngo Kie with him, but however, no one can even keep up twice against him.
With an employee who works in his arrack shop of which Ban Teng knows that he also deals with fighting arts, Ban Teng wants to compete, however he is subject to him. A day Ban Teng has to go to Amoy and Tjoen Gan asks him to greet a con-student (Su Heng) of him who lives there and the name is Goei In Lam. Ban Teng is introducing himself as a student of Tjoen Gan and bringing the greetings he asks him if he would check his techniques. While Ban Teng shows him his techniques, In Lam shakes his head but says nothing. In Lam gives Ban Teng a message for Tjoen Gan at his departure, saying that he shall come to Amoy as soon as possible, because In Lam wants to speak to him absolutely. When Tjoen Gan reads the message, his features change to a gotten face. As soon as possible he travels to Amoy getting the rebukes from In Lam. Tjoen Gan had to listen to the reproach, that he hasn't taught right and not seriously his hardworking, interested and quick learning student Ban Teng and that he shall teach him all he knows, if he doesn't want to harm the good name of Ho Yang Pay.
Three months later Ban Teng fights with his employee again and he defeats him this time. He demands his opponents from the youth one after another for a fight and wins. At that time the name Lo Ban Teng becomes famous in Tjio Bee and the residents are pondered hostile opposite him but they were afraid of him.
Ban Teng is 27 years old and his technique is still not quite perfect when his teacher and master Tjoen Gan dies. Shortly before his death, he handed over a belt and 2 books to his student. The belt which accompanied him always on his migrations, a book about medicine and one about the Ho Yang Pay. Ban Teng furnished him a worthy ceremony.
Goei In Lam as well as Liem Kioe Djie and Ong Tjian Pwee two other masters of the Ho Yang Pay are very much impressed by the behaviour Ban Teng was showing to his master. They often go to see him and enlarge his knowledge and dexterities.
Liem Kioe Djie is expert in hand and arm techniques, as well as in medicine. Ong Tjian Pwee (also called Ong Tiauw Gan) expert in leg techniques has a very hard shin and the hardest kick. His favourite technique is Tjeng Hong Kui Tie. He is also expert in Bong Meh, he treats different inner and outer illnesses.
Goei In Lam is expert in the cutting techniques, in exact timing as well as in Lay Kang. Liem Thian In, son of Kioe Djie and Ban Teng are equal strong. He is young, large, firm, has a violent voice and is a master of the fighting art. No-one can defeat the other.

At the age of 29, Ban Teng receives the permission to open a house of medicine and becomes Sin She. He gives up the arrack business in favour of the healing- and the fighting art and fast attains local celebrity, because he can cure many people fast.

A day Ban Teng hears that Heng Goan Say, the leader of several fighting schools in EngTeng, is in Tjio Bee and speaks bad about the Ho Yang Pay. He is famous for his lightning kick. He announces that the opponent will spit blood after only one kick and who doesn't believe it shall try it.
Ban Teng reaches Goan Say with 12 Kouw and a visiting card. He says he wants to become his student, however he wants to see his technique before. Goan Say attacks with lightning kicks. Ban Teng however can evade each of these firm kicks. Goan Say changes his tactic and attacks Ban Teng with a fast and powerful punch towards his chest. Ban Teng defends himself with the technique In Thien Shou and with a firm kick under the shoulder Goan Say collapses yelling. Lo Ban Teng leaves his visiting card, takes his 12 Kouw and goes. Goan Say grabbed his stuff, went back to his village and never again said something against the Ho Yang Pay.

One day Ban Teng hears that a salesmen tells that he had knocked down Goei In Lam. Ban Teng becomes furious and goes to see him. When the salesmen recognizes Ban Teng he is frightened and denies it. Ban Teng calls him a liar and wants to fight with him. He wants to defeat him with three techniques but the salesmen already gave up after two techniques. Ban Teng takes the weapons of the salesmen and brings them to In Lam to Amoy. Ban Teng lets the salesmen know, that he can collect his weapons from Goei In Lam in Amoy.
When he gets there ashamedly, In Lam pretends he doesn't know what had happened. Goei In Lam shames the salesmen still more by telling him that Ban Teng is still green and inexperienced. The salesmen asks for his weapons and disappears.

A quality of Lo Ban Teng was always, to help or defend others if necessary. One day Lim Kiang, a training comrade from Tang Bwee, tells him that he had quarrel with a teacher of the Yao Tjong Pay. Ban Teng accompanies his friend.
A fight shall take place in the temple in which a stage was set up already. When Lim Kiang and Ban Teng arrive, the supporters of the Yao Tjong Pay were already present. However for their surprise many of them were armed with guns. The teacher of the Yao Tjong Pay is very much surprised when he recognized Ban Teng, he fears that Ban Teng wants to interfere in the fight. Ban Teng recognizes that this quarrel is not just any trifle. The crowd is very outraged and he fears riots in view of the guns but thinks that the fight shall take place since a stage is already built up. The local police suddenly appears, forbids the fight and lets dismantle the stage.

Lo Ban Teng became always more famous and acquires always more respect in Tjio Bee, Eng Teng, Amoy, Tang Bwee and Tjoan Tjiu and he gets the title Pek Bin Kim Kong of Ho Yang Pay.
He is respected in circles of the Ho Yang Pay. In the meantime his abilities had progressed so much that he could be a good match for his teachers.

As long as he was in south China, he couldn't find any opponent who could beat him. He has found and defeated all fighting experts who gave themselves airs and spoke badly of him or of the Ho Yang Pay.

1927 in his 41 year of life Ban Teng gets an invitation from Jo Kian Ting, a Chinese resident of Indonesia, to come to Semarang. Since he knew that Ban Teng doesn't have any opponent in south China, he wanted to arrange a fight between Ban Teng and a Coloured which organizes in Indonesia events to demonstrate his.
Lo Ban Teng comes together with Lim Tjoei Kang to Indonesia, who later on gets famous in fighting art. Lim Tjoei Kang is student of Sim Jang Tek which is very respected as SinShe and fighting art teacher in Singapore. The arrival of Ban Teng in Semarang and the rumour, that possibly a fight with the Coloured will take place, causes excitement with the Chinese. Since the government refuses the permission however the fight had to be cancelled.

Lo Ban Teng likes to return to China. Acquaintance and people Ban Teng helped to get healthy, ask him to stay in Semarang. He remains, opened a medicine house and practises there as Sin She. In his spare time he practices with Tjoei Kang.
After a short time in Semarang he gets to know a young woman named Go Bin Nio. Ban Teng feels attracted by her. By arrangement of relatives and friends the wedding took place soon and she became the second Mrs Lo. A son gets born after a year. They call him Siauw Hong. The second son, Lo Siauw Gok is given birth in 1931 to whom Ban Teng has bequeathed his complete abilities of the fighting art and the knowledge about the medicine.

In the same year Lo Ban Teng organizes a feast at which much fighting art is shown. Lo Ban Teng wants to state, whether there are other capable masters of the fighting art at Java. The events take place in Semarang, Solo and Jogja and are well frequented.
Also posters were stuck for these events, with the contents: Tjing Pie Pek Bak Pay, Bwee Pa, Tju Li Lay, Kia Sia Em Tang Lay, Pa Sie Ka Tie Tay. These impudent and provocative posters did not find any consents with the fighting art experts living at Java at that time.
On these Barongsay events Lo Boen Lioe showed his abilities with a particular weapon, the Siang Gan. Sin She Lim Tjoei Kang demonstrated the energy Lay Kang by lying down on his back weighted with four sacks of rice on which still stood five persons swinging triangular flags with which they wrote Giok Beng into the air, the name of the Grand Master of the Ho Yang Pay.
Sin She Tan Hoei Liong demonstrated his power, by having his stomach beaten with a large Chinese stone. In addition he swallowed a sword, which came back out only with the power of his breath. SinShe Lo Ban Teng held lectures on the essence of the Chinese fighting art of which Tat Mo Tiouw Soe and Thio Sam Hong are considered as the founders. Furthermore he gave demonstrations over training methods.
Because of the high costs of the event and that the aim wasn't reached, to find out whether there are any good masters of the fighting art, the events were cancelled uncompleted.

At that time the first wife of Lo Ban Teng heard that her husband in Indonesia have got infatuated of a beautiful woman in China. This news was even still exaggerated.
Insecure by this, his first wife decides to travel to Indonesia together with the adopted son Lo Siauw Eng, her daughter Lo Lee Hwa and their husband, to free Lo Ban Teng from the claws of this woman. Lo Ban Teng who had already enough sorrows together with the difficulties with the Barongsay events and because of the anonymous insults, feared to be insulted by his wife coming from China.
When his first wife (Lie) wants to return to China with her children again she invites the second woman (Go), to come to China with her. So Ban Teng goes back to China with both women, the two little children, Siauw Hong and Siauw Gok furthermore Siauw Eng, Lee Hwa and her husband. The Indonesian mother-in-law asks Ban Teng not to let the two children in China but to bring them back to Indonesia again.

When Ban Teng arrived China he went straight to the grave of Yoe Tjoen Gan with his family. He introduced his son (Siauw Hong) to his deceased teacher, whom he dedicated to him. After approx. seven months, Ban Teng wants to return to Indonesia again with his second wife and the two children. Since the two women in the meantime get on well, Mrs Lie asks Mrs Go to let one of the children stay with her as her old-age provision and also for another possible meeting. It is difficult for Mrs Go to decide which of the two children shall remain in China. Ban Teng and she decide to let Siauw Gok there. Shortly before the departure Siauw Gok gets ill and the medications cannot help him. After that, they decided to let Siauw Hong in China. Strange is that when the ship leaves the port Siauw Gok gets healthy again.

The marriage with Mrs Go didn't bring out less than 12 children, not counted Lee Hwa and Siauw Eng.
The children are Siauw Hong, Siauw Gok, Siauw Bok and Siauw Tiauw. All of them were born in Semarang.
In 1938 family Lo moved, together with Lo Boen Lioe from Semarang to Jakarta, where Siauw Loan and Siauw Gim got born. When Japan attacked Indonesia in 1941 family Lo moved to Solo, at first into the house of Sin She Lim Tjoei Kang, later into an own one. While the Japanese army came into the country, Siauw Tjoen got born. Later Siauw Ling, Siauw Tjiok, Siauw Tjioe, Siauw Koan and as twelfth child, Siauw Njo. Some children of the family Lo have good knowledge of the fighting art.
Lee Hwa, the daughter of Ban Teng in China, got instructed since she was 14. She was very talented and learned very fast. As a child, she had a plait and her blow was so hard, that her plait would deal around her own forehead like a whip.
It is told that at a street party in Tjio Bee to which also many people came from other towns. Many young people came not only because of the celebration but also because of the many pretty girls. When the young men saw the pretty Lee Hwa which only came for this feast in company of her mother they got courageous and made indecent remarks. Lee Hwa stayed cool, however when the young men became more courageously and one even tried to touch her chest, with a lightning blow she beat against his ribs that made him fall down moaning. Lee Hwa kept on going as if nothing happened.

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The heirs of the HO YANG PAY

The fighting art was passed on to the children of the died Lo Ban Teng and additional the knowledge of the medicine, to his son Lo Siauw Gok. He ran the business from the father of the Chinese medicine and because of his abilities in the fighting art, he took the heir of the Ho Yang Pay in Indonesia. Siauw Gok started to practise more seriously in the 17. year of life to the delight of his father.

At that time SinShe Lo was already 60 years old and because he wanted to teach everything to Siauw Gok as fast as possible, he gave him a hard time.
Within the first two years Siauw Gok merely became instructed in the bases of the Ho Yang Pay. Of prime importance he got taught to breathe right. In addition to this he studied the exercise Tjing Tjio Tan Kie, also Kao Ta and Tjeng Tjeng, how one develops a hard blow as well as the ability to bear the hard blow of an opponent. Furthermore the feeling for speed and timing, the ability to move arm and leg simultaneously, to throw Tjio So and to toughen up the arms with the method Ngo Kie.

In the meantime Lo Siauw Gok who made good progress in the fighting art and had control of the Chinese medicine that he was able to cure illnesses went to Bandung in 1952. There he opened a Toko Obat however since he wasn't very successful, he went back to Jakarta in 1954 and helped since then in the Toko Obat of his father.
Besides Siauw Gok also Siauw Tjoen had great abilities in the fighting art.

During conversations, Sin She Lo frequently had with his children and friends, he could speak for hours about his experiences with the fighting art and he answered all questions.

Somebody wanted to know whether it is true that masters of the fighting art can not have children. He answered that he has many children. Whether one shall urinate before the morning training he affirmed obviously and added, that it is important not to eat much before the training.

Sin She Lo was asked if a man can jump on a roof how it often occurs in the stories. He explained, that a man without aid, no matter how intensive he practises, cannot jump higher than his own body size.
An acquaintance of Sin She Lo asked the question whether it is true that a fighting art teacher, who is really good, cannot get hit at the Twi Tju (training) and if he gets hit, that one can say that he still isn't good. Sin She Lo answered that every teacher who teaches his student really seriously and gives him the opportunity to attack him, that it can happen to get hit. In boxing there is not any master, who never received a punch. The difference lies in the temper of the blow and the one with the harder blow wins.

As somebody wondered, whether it is meaningful to master Thiam Hwee Kin, SinShe Lo replied that after a blow on these specific points to particular times, according to Chinese medicine teaching, it will have heavy consequences in the blood circulation of the man. However one cannot pay attention to the time and line up his blows after this during a fight. Because if it is not exactly the time, the desired effect can not be reached.

Sin She Lo also explained, that it isn't true that somebody can fight incessantly for hours and that it is not correct either that somebody can run as fast as a horse.
Sin She Lo always told the truth about the fighting art to withdraw misunderstandings from circulation, by classifying the stories, like jumping on roofs, beating on veins etc., as untrue. But he also said, that one have to master the knowledge of the Chinese fighting arts to be successful in this art. He listed the following at this:

1. determination/fearlessness,
2. intelligence,
3. a hard punch,
4. energy, to receive a hard blow of the opponent,
5. speed and a sharp eye,
6. good timing (to anticipate the opponent),
7. to assess distance exactly, whether the blow can reach the body of the opponent,
8. sharp senses to know on time where the opponent will move arms or legs,
9. tranquillity/calmness
10. self-confidence.

During his whole life Sin She Lo permanently deepened his knowledge in the fighting art. Some of his techniques had their origin in the movements of the animals. The manner of receiving a blow by toughening up the body or pulling it together. By tensing the tendons, it is comparable with the reactions of animals if they are attacked suddenly.

Besides Lo Boen Lioe and Lim Tjoei Kang, SinShe Lo had accepted still other students in Indonesia. He trained Tan Tjoen Siang during the Japanese occupation, for which he was very grateful to Sin She Lo. He set up an altar for the ashes when Sin She Lo died and contributed much to the smooth course of the ceremony.

Another student was Lie Kim Bie, but because Sin She Lo already could not see so well at that time, Lo Siauw Gok trained Lie Kim Bie further for six months.
In 1955 the eyes of Sin She Lo became always weaker and he got cataract which he had operated in 1957. A year after he came back, he got a bad illness which also had to be operated. When he was dismissed after 46 days staying in the hospital, physically he was very much weakened. He got another illness at which he died on 27.07.1958 in the age of 72 years. During the cremation of Sin She Lo once again they had to put on more wood because the body still had not become ashes, everybody wondered whether this is because of the powerful trained body during all the years, which should be submitted to the fire.


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