'You wouldn't mess with him' - Liverpool's Kung Fu Master

In a small restaurant in Liverpool's Chinatown in 1975, tables and chairs were pushed to one side to clear space for Jimmy Chan.

He had been working in the city's factories and casinos since arriving off the boat from Hong Kong ten years earlier, but at that moment, this "mean-looking, muscular" man was ready to realise a dream he had since the age of 8, and start teaching Kung-Fu.

That year, in that small restaurant, Master Jimmy Chan founded Liverpool Hung Gar Kung Fu Club, which continues to teach the martial art to children and adults to this day.

Stephen Ornellas, who took over the running of the club after Chan's death in 1989, said his mentor was "a hero and role model who taught me everything I know".

More than 120 people are part of the club, which leads Chinese New Year celebrations in Liverpool and holds regular Kung-Fu display shows in schools in the city.

Liverpool has one of the oldest established Chinese communities in Europe as it was once a major international port with strong links with China through trade and shipping.

Ming Wang, secretary general of Liverpool Chinese Business Association, said many people came from China and Hong Kong to work for the Blue Funnel Line, a company that recruited thousands of Chinese seafarers from the late 1800s.

Over time, people chose to settle in the city as they found steady work, built families, and joined an already growing Chinatown community.

Chan was among those who decided to set sail on the Blue Funnel Line to settle in Liverpool for work in a Chinese community was "bustling" at the time, Ornellas said.

Originally from China, Chan had been taught Hung Gar, a style of traditional Kung Fu from south of the country, from the age of eight.

He learned from his uncle Law Keung, a successful Chinese orthopedic surgeon and Kung Fu Master and then when he moved to Hong Kong, from Chan Hon Chung.

After he arrived in Liverpool, he began to work as a host in a casino, and then in a factory, where he met the manager James Ho.

They quickly became firm friends, and Ho ended up as one of Master Chan's first students.

The 78-year-old who is an honorary consultant at Hung Gar, recalls those early sessions at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown before the school's official opening.

"We would push the tables and chairs back before training. Then we would move them back afterwards."

The word 'Gar' means 'family', Ornellas said, and the school was set up to "promote Chinese culture and the ancient art of Kung Fu to all".

Ornellas said the result was he "brought cultures together in unity and friendship".

Now 62, Ornellas met Chan when he was 17 in 1980 when his cousin took him along to the school.

He said he was immediately in awe of him; "He had this persona. He had a mean look; you wouldn't mess with him.

"He was small but he was very muscular," he said, adding Master Chan had a physique similar to Bruce Lee.

"But he was so nice and always calm. He never lost his temper or swore and he never bragged about anything either."

When Chan died at the age of 48 in 1989, mourners at his funeral told stories of how he defused fights and handled people being racist in the casinos he worked in, Ornellas said.

But Chan never spoke of this as he was "very modest", he said, adding his "world collapsed" after his master's death.

Ornellas remembers the emotional moment when Chan met his own father, and "he told him I had two fathers, which meant a lot to me".

After Chan's death, Ornellas, at the age of 25, stepped up to run the club, and also said he helped raise the three children his mentor left behind.

"They are grown up now but they still call me little dad."

But not everyone was happy with someone who was not Chinese taking over Hung Gar, Ornellas said.

But Ornellas said Chan's friend Mok Jun, the club's lifetime honorary president at the age 97 and from the same Hong Kong village, "guided" him to help gain the trust of the club.

"He advised me on all the things I needed to know about the Chinese way/culture.

"He was my rock. They are all 100% behind me now. I have shown them I am reliable."

The club, based on Bridport Street, continues to promote Chinese culture, through Kung Fu and displays of the lion and dragon dances.

Ornellas, whose day job is as an estate manager at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts received a Certificate of Recognition from the Lord Mayor in 2024, and a Points of Light award from the then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Last year he received a British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to charity and the preservation of Chinese Martial Arts in Liverpool.

He said he was "blown away that a person like me, from a working-class family from Dingle, would get this award" although he said it was all down to Master Jimmy Chan.

"He taught me everything I know," he said.

Billy Hui, High Sheriff of Merseyside and BBC Radio Merseyside presenter said the Hung Gar was "synonymous" with Kung Fu and Chinese New Year celebrations in the region.

"They have led the way over the decades not only with the art form but they have also formed and maintained connections with local communities and its people."

Chan's school even helped bring Ornellas and his future wife, Sheryl, together.

The couple met when Sheryl started training there, and after marrying in 2004, they have gone on to have three children together, with their son, Francis, being one of the group's lion dancers.

What does Ornellas think Master Chan would think of his legacy?

"I hope Master Chan would be proud," he said.

Ho said Ornellas was the perfect person to carry on his teaching.

"[Master Chan] would be very proud if he was here. He couldn't have done a better job."

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