His name is also romanized as: Lam Pak Yim (c) / Lom Ba Flum / Lum Bak Fum / Lam Pak Wing.
Shifu Li Bo Yan was born on 18th. November 1903 in Dayang Village Longyan County Fujian Province. He married the 14-year-old Zhang Ruo Lan at the age of twenty. They have a son and two daughters. Shifu Li Bo Yan was introverted, not sociable and was a person of few words, his only interest for whole life long was Wushu. Shifu Li Bo Yan was a school teacher for a living.
Shifu Li Bo Yan learnt Zi Wu Gun when he was a child, because cudgel, as one of the “18 Arms”, was very popular in Dayang Village at that time. From then on he took more and more interest in Wushu. He studied wushu at Jimei Pedagogical School where he was classmate with Lin Lian Yu (deceased chairman of Malaysian Chinese Teachers Association) and Lin Wie Jue (ex-vice director of Wushu research group of native Guo Shu Association).
After the succeeding of Xinhai-Revolution many elementary schools were set up in Dayang Village. Shifu Li Bo Yan’s father was one of the founders and also worked as teacher. In those days shifu Li Bo Yan was the youngest and the most noticed pupil. Afterwards he studied in Guoming Primary School and Jimei Pedagogical School, who recommended shifu Li Bo Yan to teach at Zunkong Middle School in Kuala Lumpur.
Shifu Li Bo Yan went to Shanghai for advanced study at Jingwu Sport Pedagogical School and graduated two years later. Then he worked as a trainer at Shanghai Chin Woo Athletic Association and was also the part-time Wushu conductor and teacher at Shanghai Tongji University and Guangdong Public College.
During the study at Shanghai Chin Woo Athletic Association School he learnt Wu Style Xiao Jia Tai Ji Quan from shifu Xu Zhi Yi, (student of the lengendary shifu Wu Jia Quan). He also learnt Shaolin Tan Tui from shifu Zhao Lian, chief trainer of Chin Woo Athletic Association, Ying Zhao Gong from shifu Chen Zi Zheng, Xing Yi Quan from shifu Geng Xia Guang, Yang Style Da Jia Tai Ji Quan from shifu Dong Ying Jie and of course Tang Lang Quan from shifu Luo Guang Yu. If you ask which style was shifu Li Bo Yan’s favorite, the answer is Tang Lang Quan. On the 1st. Guangxi Wushu Sport Meeting shifu Li Bo Yan presented his talent for Tang Lang Quan. In the three fight (Du-Ji) competitions he was among the best of the successful candidates.
He spent eight years in Hankou, where he learnt Wu Dang Jian Fa from shifu Li Jing Lin. Afterwards in Guangdong, he saw with his own eyes the performance of Yang Style Da Jia Tai Ji Quan by venerable shifu Yang Cheng Fu. Through the introduction of his best friend Pang Yi Zhi he respectfully offered himself as shifu Dong Ying Jie’s disciple in order to learn Yang Style Da Jia Tai Ji Quan. He learnt the style and experts consider that shifu Li Bo Yan’s attainments of Tang Lang Quan are as well as those of Tai Ji Quan.
Bei Quan master, shifu Xu Xiou Huan suggested shifu Li Bo Yan to dedicate exclusively to Tai Ji Quan and Xing Yi Nei Jia Quan, and from then on he trained Tai Ji Quan hard constantly. The people, who have learned Tai Ji Quan from him, are more than the people who have learned Tang Lang Quan from him.
Shifu Li Bo Yan began to teach boxing at the age of twenty one. In his early years he worked as an instructor in Shanghai, Hankou and Guangxi etc… After 1940 besides Guo Shu, shifu Li Bo Yan taught also Chinese and geography at Zhong Zheng Middle School in Singapore. One year later the Japanese army invaded and occupied Singapore.
In 1952 shifu Li Bo Yan started teaching Guo Shu at Sarawak Chin Woo Athletic Association for six years. In 1957 he came back to Singapore where he worked as Tai Ji Quan trainer at Nanyang University and Singapore University. During that time he set up the Jiulong Tang Tai Ji Quan gymnastic class in Li’s ancestral hall in Guangdongming Road.
In 1967 this class changed its name to Bo Yan Tai Ji Gymnastic Society. Shifu Li Bo Yan had taught boxing for 66 years until he was 87 years old. He educated his pupils with beneficial influence and his pupils are spread all over the world. Shifu Li Bo Yan passed away in 1990.