So Chan (Su Can), also known by his nickname Beggar So (So Fa-tsz or So Hut-yee), was a Chinese martial artist and folk hero who lived during the late Qing dynasty.
Born during the late Qing Dynasty, So Chan was from Nanhai District, Foshan, Guangdong, or Hunan according to one source,[1] he was skilled in unarmed Chinese martial arts skills, Drunken Eight Immortals Boxing (醉八仙), Shaolin staff (少林棍棒) said to be taught by the Shaolin monk Chan Fook,[2] and also brutal boxing (殘拳).
[3] He was a wanderer and made a living performing martial arts and acrobatics with his younger sister in the streets of Guangdong.
He also taught martial arts at Sancheng Community Training Centre (三聖社設教館) in Guangzhou and would later be known as one of the Ten Tigers of Canton.
[4] So exchanged ideas with So Hak-fu (蘇黑虎), a fellow martial artist of the Ten Tigers of Canton, and imparted the technique of Golden Bowl and Iron Chopsticks along with some of his drunken boxing skills to him.
Yuen Siu-tien reprised the role for the last time only as a cameo in the opening credits of the 1979 film World of the Drunken Master, with Lee Yi-min and Yu Chung-chiu portraying young and old versions of Beggar So respectively.