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White
Leopard Kung
Fu ( 白 豹 館 ) School began in
September 1958 when Johnny
Lee started learning My Jhong Law Horn Kung Fu ( 迷 蹤 羅 漢 )
from Grandmaster Yip Yu-Ting in
Hong Kong.
Grandmaster
Yip was a
native of Chuong Hsien County in Hebei Province. He was one of the
few truly great masters from the turn of the last century. Yip Yu-Ting
was famous for his fighting and leaping abilities. He could
leap over two ping-pong tables and in his early training days he
would often grab hold of the tail of a horse and run along with it. In
his twenties, during caravan assignments for Ever Victory
Vanguard Company he was victorious in life and death challenges
due to his fighting abilities. He was commissioned as the Chief
Instructor of the Beijing Military Police, then later as Chief
Instructor of the Manchurian army. In 1931 he resigned his military
positions and taught in Shanghai Chin Woo. Two years later, he was
transferred to Hong Kong, at the request of the South China Athletic
Association, to teach My Jhong Law Horn as Head Instructor of the
Shaolin class.
The
fighting prowess
of My Jhong Law Horn is based on mobility and deception, on timing,
distance and multiple angles. Such an unpredictable combination will
leave a defendant confused and vulnerable to My Jhong Law Horn's
deadly blows. After Grandmaster Yip
brought the art from Northern
China to the South, My Jhong Law Horn is now taught in Hong Kong,
Canada and U.S.A. Many world and national champions are produced by
Grandmaster Lee's White Leopard Kung Fu School. For example, 1994
Beijing International Kung Fu Tai Chi Championship, 2002 World Chin
Woo Tournament where we won 4 of the 5 gold medals, and in the 2006
World Traditional Kung Fu Championship in China the gold medal in
Northern Kung Fu went to Lee’s White Leopard Kung Fu School.
Besides
My Jhong Law
Horn, the South China Athletic Association also offered a Wu Style
Tai Chi class. This was Grandmaster Johnny Lee’s first introduction
to Wu Tai Chi, which evolved from the teaching of Yang Lu Chan and
his son, Yang Pan Hou. The distinguishing marks of the Wu Style
teaching were developed by founder Chuan Yu, a Manchurian warrior,
are the medium frame and plow oxen posture. These made Wu Style
externally appear as small yet internally momentum travels a greater
distance allowing one to easily divert incoming force and return with
greater discharging force (fa-ching) – a seemingly impossible feat
from such a small external movement.
Wu
Tai Chi was first
introduced to general public in 1920. Grandmaster Wu Chein Chuan was
invited to teach medium frame at the Beijing Athletic Research
Society along with Grandmaster Yang Chun Fu and his brother, Yang
Shao Hou, who were invited to teach big and small frame under the
same roof. In 1930, Wu Chein Chuan went to Shanghai where he
introduced the style and from there it spread to Hong Kong. In 1942,
Grandmaster Wu Chein Chuan passed away, leaving three main bases upon
which the tradition of Wu Tai Chi was transmitted.
Wu
Chein Chuan’s
early student, Wu Tunam and Chuan Zee Yee, influenced Beijing Wu
Style. The other branch came down from Chuan Yu's student Wang
Muzhai and his disciple, Yang Yutang. The lineage continued in Hong
Kong through Wu Kung Yee, the elder son of Wu Chein Chuan, and Wu
Chein Chuan's student Chain Wing Kwong. In 1950 in Hong Kong, Wu
Kung Yee answered the formal challenge of a much younger White Crane
Sifu in his prime and, despite his advanced age, Wu Kung Yee
demonstrated the effectiveness and prowess of Wu Tai Chi fighting and
is the only Tai Chi master in his level to have a formal record of
effectiveness in fighting. In 1957, once again, Master Chain Ten
Hung, nephew of Chain Wing Kwong, demonstrated Wu Style fighting
ability in a public match in Taiwan, where he defeated a Taiwanese
champion who was famous for his kicking. During the 1970’s, in
international full contact matches popular in Southeast Asia, again
and again Wu Style 5th and 6th generation
fighters have proven superiority by their victories in the ring.
Back
in Shanghai, Wu
Chein Chuan’s daughter, Wu Ying Hua, and son-in-law, Ma Yeh Liang,
led Wu Chien Chuan Tai Chi Association. Johnny Lee is 4th
generation indoor student of Ma Yeh Liang. Grandmaster Ma Yeh Liang
and Wu Ying Hua's ability in forms and push hands is legendary and
was recognized by the Chinese government declaring them to be
National Treasures. Today, Wu Tai Chi has expanded worldwide. In
Canada the teaching is influenced by Hong Kong and in the U.S.A. by
Ma Yeh Liang's 4th and 5th generation students,
and especially in South where it is influenced mainly by Grandmaster
Johnny Lee's White Leopard Kung Fu School.
Grandmaster
Johnny
Lee’s Pa Kua teacher, General Sun Paul Kung, was the Military
Governor of Canton after World War II. General Sun learned Pa Kua
from Grandmaster Fu Zhen Song, one of the five Northern Tigers in
Canton, privately in his governor's mansion and is Fu's eldest
disciple in Canton. Once Fu told General Sun that after he passes
away General Sun's Pa Kua would become the living model. Grandmaster
Johnny Lee is one of the few pioneers today of Pa Kua in the U.S.A.
since early 1970. The most distinguishing techniques in Fu Pa Kua
are the tightest circle of Pa Kua walk by spinning on one foot and
dragon shape body posture.
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