History

History of the Wah Lum Tam Tui System

Grand Master Pui Chan introduced the Wah Lum System to the United States and is currently the only master in the United States to teach this system. He now has over 50 years of experience. He has given many demonstrations worldwide and has appeared on television ... including the Discovery Channel, ESPN, and Pay-per-view. He has been featured in newspapers, martial arts magazines, and his skills and knowledge are highly respected by martial artists and masters worldwide. He has been honored as Inside Kung-Fu's Instructor of the Year several times, and has been inducted in Black Belt's Hall of Fame.

In the early 1900's an already accomplished martial artist by the name of Lee Kwan Shan sought refuge in the Wah Lum Monastery of Ping To district in Shangtung province. There he committed himself to an arduous ten year discipleship in the Praying Mantis system. His teacher, Abbot Ching Yeung, was the fourth generation of the original Praying Mantis system. When Master Lee left the temple he traveled widely, eventually settling down at Sha Cheng village in Shantung province. It was here that combined his Praying Mantis style with his own family system, the Tam Tui (seeking leg) style. Lee Kwan Shan's style was noted for his long fist forms, it's spear and pole techniques, and particularly it's whirling broadsword skills.

Lee Kwan Shan
Fifth Generation Successor of the Northern Praying Mantis System
1888-1948

Before his death in 1948, Lee accepted his youngest and last disciple. This child came to Lee at age six, and when Lee died, the young student continued to learn with the elder students until he mastered the Wah Lum Praying Mantis system that had been combined with Lee's Tam Tui family style. The child's name was Pui Chan.

These events are linked to the development of Kung Fu in America by the fact that Pui Chan grew up to be a very knowledgeable and accomplished martial artist who later, with much difficulty and great courage, made his way to the United States. He accomplished this by moving southward in China to the Hong Kong area. When he got there, he swam from the mainland to the city of Hong Kong. Once there, he got a job on a boat as a seaman, and when the boat arrived in New York harbor, he again swam ashore at night.

Arriving in New York, alone and penniless, he found his way to Boston, where he took a job as a cook. At this time, he had no particular intention to teach Kung Fu. Later on, when Chan could no longer pretend he was nothing more than a cook, he joined a Kung Fu school, began working out and teaching, and eventually opened his own school in Boston, Massachusetts in the late 1960's.

Chan soon became recognized as a legitimate master practitioner, and his knowledge and classical teaching has contributed greatly to the transfer of real Kung Fu to the United States.

In 1980, Pui Chan chose to pass on his knowledge in a way that is very different from most Kung Fu schools. He decided to move his family to Orlando, Florida, and actually build a Kung Fu temple in the Wah Lum tradition, calling it the Wah Lum Temple. He allows instructors from all over the country to live there and undertake intensive Kung Fu training in an atmosphere free of distractions. Chan has done this in order to preserve the traditional ways of Kung Fu training, and to provide an atmosphere of serenity and sincerity in the modern world.

Chan is proud of his students and his modern Wah Lum Temple. He would like to be known, more than anything else, as a man who spent his lifetime promoting and teaching Kung Fu.

Grand Master Pui Chan
Sixth Generation Successor of the Northern Praying Mantis System

Thirty-third generation Successor of the Shaolin Temple, China
Born - October 12, 1938