The Venerable Chi Sin Sim Si is a legendary Chinese martial artist, said to have been one of the Five Elders, survivors of the destruction of the Shaolin Temple by the Qing Dynasty (16441912). He is linked to many southern Chinese martial arts including the five major family styles of Hung, Lau and Choy gar, Lee gar and Mok gar, Ng Ga Kuen/Ng Gar King and Wing Chun.
Chi Sin is said to have originally been a resident monk of the Original Northern Song Shan Shaolin Temple, in Henan. He was a survivor of the destruction of a Southern Shaolin Temple, situated in Fujian.
Others say that Chi Sin and the other Five Elders escaped the burning of the temple at Quanzhou æ³Âå· in Fujian. They went their separate ways and Chi Sin built the second southern temple at Jiulian Shan ä¹Âé£山 (Nine Lotus Mountain), also in Fujian. Chi Sin was a revolutionary who planned to overthrow the Qing Government. However two of the Five Elders, Bak Mei and Fung Dou Dak joined forces with the Qing army and destroyed the second southern Shaolin Temple with a huge army outnumbering the monks 10 to 1. Chi Sin, the Abbot of the temple, was killed by Pak Mei in a duel during the attack.
Chi Sin features prominently in "Legends of Southern Shaolinâ åÂÂå°ÂæÂÂå³奠written by Chiew Sek (Cantonese) and published in 1993. All of the legendary figures of Southern Shaolin and more widely, southern Chinese martial arts ('Nanquan/Nam Kuen') Ã¥ÂÂæ³ are in some way associated with the legendary figure of Chi Sin such as Fong Sai-yuk æ¹ä¸ÂçÂÂ, Ng Mui, Luk Ah-choié¸é¿éÂÂ, Lei Jou-fan æÂÂç¥Â寬, Wu Wai-kin è¡æ 乾 and Hung Hei-gun æ´ªçÂÂå® to name a few. Chi Sin has been portrayed in many Chinese martial arts movies.