I’ve often considered myself to be this character in my kung fu life. Do you recognize him? From "Once Upon a Time in China"? The student who stutters in Cantonese, but speaks fluent English? He enjoys the best pedigree, one of Wong, Fei Hung’s students (Huang, Fei Hong; 黃飛鴻 ). However, his work and studies also take him far afield. Away from Hong Kong and China, away even from martial arts. However, he works to perfect all his pursuits, is loyal and ultimately plays important parts for betterment of the school, the city and more.
I have focused on my work and career, choosing not to make martial arts my full-time career, but I’m certainly no slouch in the practice. Especially when considering my studies in the kung fu’s history and relationship to Chinese culture overall. My translations and articles can be found plagiarized all over the internet in fact (e.g. on Damo and Southern Shaolin). Like that fictional film character, I have had the very good fortune to enjoy among the very best pedigrees.
My first training was in Shito-ryu karate, at the Washington Karate Association. This well-known association, found around the Puget Sound, was founded by Julius Thiry. He was famously involved in the Hungarian anti-communist movements and escaped to the US. He opened his association in 1966 and was influential as the USA National Karate Referee Chairman.
I found my way to the school almost by accident. I was enrolled in my first quarter of college and realized that tuition fees for 17 credits was the same as for 15, so I added a two-credit karate course to my full-time load. It was taught by black belts from Thiry’s association. Once that quarter was over, I joined full time at the Kirkland location nearby my home, and started training every day. Eventually, I achieved a blue belt, about half-way through the curriculum.
More importantly though, the experience inspired me to take a Japanese history class the next quarter. I quickly realized that many of the things I found the most fascinating were actually from China. This insight was further confirmed in the next quarter with a more general Asian history course. I decided to attend Fairhaven College at Western Washington University, and this opened up two questions. How might I best pursue my martial arts, and how far was I willing to go to study China?
The answer quickly came together in Bellingham, when I discovered Eddie Lane’s hung gar school. I had taken a few tentative classes on campus where there was a northern style club, as well as checking out a few other karate and even taekwondo schools. However, after observing a class at Lane’s Tiger Crane Academy it was easy to see that beginner students were practicing things beyond even the karate black belts I’d come to respect[i]. I signed up at once, naturally.
I trained every day for four years with Sifu Eddie. Whenever I had extra money, I took private lessons. The school was always hard working, yet fun. A serious education in physical fitness with a mix of kung fu calisthenics, practical applications, Hung Kuen and Choy Lay Fut sets, and sparring. Along the way I tested for three of the four certificates, marking me as a senior student pretty quickly. Sadly, for quite a while Sifu Eddie moved south to Mount Vernon and left many of us to train on our own. This was to be foreshadowing for much of my kung fu life.
Simultaneous to training at Lane’s Tiger Crane, my Chinese studies at Fairhaven had taken shape. My Mandarin Chinese was picking up, my history becoming solid. I had decided my concentration would be in Chinese history, language and martial arts. As I wrote at the time, “history is the skeleton, language the nerves and martial arts the muscles – all work together to move culture along.” How far was I willing to go? All the way!
Ultimately, I was introduced to National Cheng Gong University in Tainan, Taiwan. I attended their language center and earned a certificate in Chinese and Chinese history. Of course, Hung Gar wasn’t far from my mind and while in Taiwan I also took time to study with Sifu You, Shao Lan (尤少嵐). (Yes, that's Sonny Yu of movie fame.) This was an eye opening experience, as it was truly special to see the two huge, yet very different kinds of Hung Kuen up close and personal. You can compare for yourself by checking out James Yeh's work. Even so, I had met Sifu You in Kaohsiung, and traveling from Tainan was difficult. I wound up training on my own much of the time.
Due to some administrative issues at Western, it took me a long time to finally get back to finish my degree. The original plan had been to study in Taiwan for two years, then return all those credits to Fairhaven and graduate. Due to the “lid law” red tape, it was closer to six years. To be sure, I didn’t waste much time. I continued studying Chinese and started my own business. Still, it was a long time to wait!
When I did return for that final quarter, I was once again at Tiger Crane Academy. I met some of my deepest kung fu brothers then: Dave Fogg, Steve Whitacre, Robin & Leslie Yates, and of course Michael (you all know Michael!).
This chapter closed with the finish of my Western quarter. I had finished my bachelor’s, and it was time to get back to business in Taiwan. Once again, I was training on my own, but found some folks happy to train with a senior student, as they felt my teaching was a cut above the other options in town. What a compliment! More personally, as we considered building our family, we looked back to Washington and finally made the move. When possible, I visited Sifu Eddie in Bellingham, often with babes in arms. Literally! Training with my daughter napping in a kiddie backpack. No kidding!
Not long after my return, Sifu Eddie joined in welcoming the preeminent master Lam, Chun Fai (林鎮輝) to the US for his first tour in many decades. Sifu Chun Fai had visited and demonstrated Hung Kuen in Hawaii and California in 1974. You’ve probably seen some of the film shot back then, when several of the Lam brothers performed with Y.C. Wong. In fact, Bellingham was the first stop on this modern tour. It was a mighty experience, meeting Sifu Chun Fai, plus George Kikes & Ben Hunter who went with and assisted him.
Why “mighty”? An entirely new dimension to Hung Kuen opened up before us. As a school, we all learned War Palm together, which would have been mind-blowing enough. The demonstration quickly revealed how to generate a more fluid and fluent power, from a base of solidity. I felt like I was seeing Hung Gar for the first time (all over again). As senior students several of us also had opportunities to learn one-on-one with Sifu Chun Fai. In those sessions we saw how to extend that solidity, fluidity and power into weapons by (re-) learning sets like Double Dragon Swords and Lau Gar Pole. It was amazing, to say the least. Indeed, Dave, Steve, Robin and I were so impressed we immediately made plans to hot foot it down to San Francisco to continue. There we met an even larger Hung Kuen community, including Sifu Michael Goodwin. (Although, funny enough - we'd met electronically on the Sourthern Fist Forum many years before this!) The following Chinese New Year we had joined in on the annual Lam Cho (林祖) birthday parties in Hong Kong.
During this time a few others had come from Bellingham to Seattle, and we got together at my new job at Wizards of the Coast (WotC) to train. These folks had also come to the Sifu Chun Fai event, and it was great to keep the energy going. While working WotC I was regularly travelling to China to set up Magic: The Gathering, especially with events and tournaments. I often travelled through Hong Kong and made sure to meet Sifu Chun Fai for one-on-one lessons for several years. Those were great kung fu years, studying, practicing and spreading the good news.
As our family grew, we decided Hong Kong would be a great bi-cultural place to raise the kids. I have to admit, there is a twinge of regret in that at this same time, with this same decision, family and work began to take over. For work and family reasons, we chose to live in Taipo (far to the north of the main city, and nearly an hour to get to North Point). As many know, work demands in the S.A.R. are high. Hours are long. I found time to practice on my own but could not muster the gumption to continue formal learning.
Still, I found other ways to contribute to the Lam Family Hung Kuen legacy. While working at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, managing the Masters of Science (MSc) in Multimedia program and related innovation center “Playlab,” I was introduced to Hing Chao and his efforts to digitize traditional martial arts. The initial tests and development were done at the PolyU motion capture lab. For my contributions, Hing was kind enough to add me on the Editorial Board and mention me in the acknowledgement to the first modern Lam family Hung Kuen book by Lam, Chun Fai, “Hung Kuen Fundamentals, Gong Gee Fok Fu Kuen.” You may have seen some of the output of this work at the Hong Kong Cultural Museum displays, or around the internet. The research was eventually used to bring the Lam, Sai Wing (林世榮) books to life! (Although the final work was done at CityU with another team ensuring it was all ready to go.)
I was also able to attend major events like the birthday parties for Lam Cho (林祖), where I met many of the other international community including Cathy Johnston and Andres Garski. Many years later, humbly and sadly, I met many more of the European teachers when I was the only American to attend Lam Cho’s funeral. For example, this is when Mattias Lindh and I met. (Continues below.)
Regret for lost training, surely. But when weighed against family and career? It’s balanced, I suppose. Especially with the other contributions.
In any case, while living in Hong Kong, I continued travelling across the mainland and often had chance to visit many important martial arts and ancient military sites. This deepened my academic studies of course and created opportunities to build a collection of military science books and histories. They are the pride of my library today! Perhaps I should add “regret for no time to translate” to my list?! (Continues below.)
As the kids got older, it was time to head back to the USA. I found myself in the Bay Area and took good advantage to begin studying with Michael Goodwin. Since then, I’ve become increasingly moved by Sifu Goodwin. He is among the few foreign teachers who is fluent in Chinese (Cantonese, even!), understands the Lam family and its system of Hung Kuen. Furthermore, he’s well versed in what it takes to apply it, whether in personal security and self-defense or in the ring. As if that wasn’t enough, he also is well connected in the wider martial arts community, ensuring that our Hung Kuen is constantly compared and sharpened.
He's also super generous with introductions and community. Fun fact! I didn't meet Sigong Buck, Sam Kong until Michael introduced us in 2021. He's introduced me to dozens of excellent martial artists, and just generally great people since I've known him. And I have him to thank for making the most out of some recent Hong Kong trips by suggesting I meet Simon Lam too. Indeed, I've met Michael all over the world: San Francisco, Seattle, Hong Kong, Florida. And often with Sifu Nigel Goodwin (yes, related). It's always a treat to meet up and work out with them.
With all this knowledge, it would be easy for him to be stand-off-ish. Yet, he’s very generous in his teaching and insists on spending as much as time as possible in training and teaching. In other words, the students wear out and give up long before he does! I came to this as an early conclusion training one-on-one and in small groups in San Francisco, then had it completely confirmed when we invited him to lead workshops around Puget Sound. All the students came away with a ton of knowledge, worn out by the workout. All in the best way, if you know what I mean. (Continues below)
Currently, I find myself in Sweden. Mostly, continuing to ply my career. Even so, I made sure to stay involved by helping as the editor of the worldwide newsletter for many years. I was also invited to help at the worldwide tournament in 2019. Sadly, I wasn’t able to attend the next one in 2022. Here’s hoping I can make it this year!
Perhaps more interestingly, I have begun teaching some colleagues and am considering expanding the classes. I'm always looking to train folks to work on the two-person sets especially. That's always been a challenge, and the antidote is obvious, no? In any case, there’s more than one way to be Breaking Impossible. Who knows? Maybe you’re interested and nearby. Reach out! Join in!
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A note from above, on sets being "beyond" another style. Please don't message me about it! I'm more at a loss for words than actually trying to compare one art to another!
[i] This isn’t to say I lost respect, or that I don’t think other martial arts are good and strong. I simply mean, the richness of the sets and nuances of the techniques stood out immediately. Side by side comparisons speak volumes, take a look below
(A black belt set from shito ryu)
The first set taught at Lane's Tiger Crane (and many Hung Kuen Schools in USA at the time)
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