SI-FU DANA WONG MELBOURNE
AUSTRALIA
Si-fu Dana Wong was born in America, growing up in Boston, Massachusetts in
the 1950's. Being slight of build and of Asian descent, he was an easy mark for
the school bullies. At an early age, he learned of racial prejudice and
small-minded people.
After growing up with constant taunts, threats and schoolyard scuffles, he
saw the late Bruce Lee on television in "The Green Hornet". Like so many who
were influenced by Lee, Wong made his way to a karate school to begin training,
dreaming someday of being a confident and self-assured martial artist.
Finding karate not to his liking, Wong drifted around in the martial arts,
dabbling in various kung fu styles. They suited him better than karate did, but
something still seemed to be missing.
 So
it was that Wong jumped at the chance to learn Wing Chun when a high school
classmate offered to get him into the class. This was during the late 1960's and
kung fu was still a bit secret, even to some Chinese. This Wing Chun class was
thus, with only a handful of students, and any prospective newcomers had to be
accepted by the rest of the classmates.
Having been accepted after 10 months of waiting, Wong found Wing Chun Kung Fu
to be superior to the other arts he'd learned earlier. Its effectiveness was
tested in the training sessions, and on the streets.
 Time
passed, and Wong put martial arts aside as he attended Boston University.
Studies in advertising and public relations replaced Wing Chun and martial arts.
Upon graduation, Wong began a successful career in graphic design. After years
in the graphics field, he longed to complete his martial arts training and
wanted to resume his childhood dreams of being a martial artist.
It was then that he read a magazine article on Grandmaster William Cheung.
After reading the article, he wrote the Grandmaster a letter, describing his
earlier training in Wing Chun, and asked if there was a student or friend of his
in America under whom Wong could train. Fate stepped in when the Grandmaster
wrote back to say he would come to America to teach him personally. That was
1982.
For the next five years, the Grandmaster did just that, coming to America to
teach Wong while he was travelling on his world tours. Finally, in 1988, Wong
came to Australia seeking his Instructor's level, hoping to return to America
and open his own Wing Chun school.
But he liked Australia, and the Grandmaster offered to teach him further, and
so Wong stayed. One year ran into another, and for the last 10 years, Si-fu Dana
Wong has himself taught thousands of Australians, and others, the art of
Traditional Wing Chun as the Chief Instructor at World Headquarters in
Melbourne.
His desire to teach others, and to spread the art of Traditional Wing Chun,
has led him to produce his own instructors. His childhood dream of someday
becoming a martial arts influence himself was realised in 1997, when Blitz
Magazine named him their Hall of Fame Kung Fu Instructor of the Year.
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