Master Zhang Deshan, Shifu Zhang Yun and
Master Zhao Zeren in Beijing in 1989.

Shifu Zhang Yun began his training in the traditional Chinese martial arts with Master Luo in 1975 in Beijing, China. Master Luo took a liking to young Zhang Yun and trained him very intensively. The young disciple did so well that one year later Master Luo sent him to study with his own master, Wang Peisheng, for further arduous training. This gave Shifu Zhang a rare opportunity to study with one of China's highest level masters. In addition to Grand Master Wang's regular group classes, Shifu Zhang was able to take weekly private lessons for more than ten years from Grand Master Wang in his home. In these lessons, Shifu Zhang studied the internal martial arts of Taiji, Bagua, Xingyi and their weapons. He was also able to study a variety of other martial arts as well as qigong.

With the permission from Grand Master Wang and Master Luo, Shifu Zhang started teaching martial arts in China in 1983. Then he and his elder gongfu brother Master Lu Shengli opened the door�to accept their own in-door disciples. They are the first two persons in their generation to receive this big honor from Master Wang.

When he arrived in the United States from Beijing in 1989, Shifu Zhang began teaching Taiji, Bagua, Xingyi, Tongbei, and Changquan in Reno, Nevada and continued to teach there for about 5 years before moving to Princeton, New Jersey where he taught for another 5 years. He currently resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Since 1993 Shifu Zhang has been the President of the Yin Cheng Gong Fa Association-North American Headquarters (YCGFA-NAH). He was appointed to this position by Grand Master Wang when the Grand Master visited the United States to conduct a series of classes and established this oversea branch of Yin Cheng Gong Fa Association.

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In 1998 Shifu Zhang published his first martial arts book in English: "The Art of Chinese Swordsmanship - A Manual of Taiji Jian" (Weatherhill).

Shifu Zhang is knowledgeable about martial arts history, its various lineages and its many principles and has done extensive research on these topics. As a teacher, he combines rigorous practice with a penetrating exploration of traditional martial arts principles. It is his conviction that only through a profound understanding of these principles can the practitioner efficiently and effectively achieve the highest levels of martial arts skill. For this reason, principles rather than techniques become the primary focus of Shifu Zhang's teaching.

In addition to his vast martial arts knowledge, Shifu Zhang is a scholar of the arts, philosophy, and customs of traditional Chinese culture. He views an understanding of these, too, as crucial and beneficial to a practitioner's ability to master high level martial arts.

Shifu Zhang teaching a push hands class.

Shifu Zhang and Grand Master Wang Peisheng
in Beijing in 1979.

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Shifu Zhang and Master Luo
practicing Dao (saber).

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Grand Master Wang showing
Shifu Zhang a fighting skill.

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Shifu Zhang teaching a Taiji class.

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Master Lu Shengli, Grand Master Wang Peisheng, and Shifu Zhang in San Francisco
in June 1993.

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Shifu Zhang practicing Taiji Jian.

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Shifu Zhang teaching a Bagua seminar.

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Grand Master Wang, Master Luo and some of Master Luo's in-door disciples.

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Shifu Zhang practicing Taiji� push hands
with his gongfu uncle Xu Hanyuan, a
well-known Paochui master, while Grand
Master Wang Observes.�

Master Luo Shuhuan and Shifu Zhang in Beijing in 1985.

Master Luo Shuhuan was Grand Master Wang Peisheng - Yin Cheng's earliest in-door disciple. He began his training with Master Wang when he was thirteen years old. He studied Taiji, Bagua, Xingyi, and some other styles. He remained unswervingly loyal and obedient to Master Wang and to the traditional principles and values of Taiji Quan through many difficult and terrible times. As a result, Master Wang trusted Master Luo more than any of his other students or disciples.� Serving for a long time as the Administrator Disciple of the Group, Master Luo was, and is, respected by all group members. He was also the first person in his generation to be permitted to open the door to accept his own disciples.

Grand Master Wang showed Master Luo some push hands skills with Shifu Zhang observing.

Not only a high level martial arts master, Master Luo was also a well-known master of Chinese calligraphy, a scholar of traditional Chinese philosophy and by trade, a mechanical engineer. He used the techniques and principles of modern science to conduct extensive research into the nature of the traditional martial arts and as a result, was able to analyze and explain martial arts principles and methods to his students in illuminating detail. He was a most patient teacher, greatly respected and loved by his students as well as the disciples, brothers, uncles and masters in his gongfu family.

Unfortunately, prolonged bad living conditions proved to have a deleterious effect on his health. After struggling with his disease for more than twenty years, he passed away in 1987. He was, and is, sorely missed by all.

The martial arts family to which Shifu Zhang belongs is a very traditional one, and the people in it try always in all their activities to conduct their lives according to ancestral customs and rules. All of the in-door disciples must obey and live by the Group Laws and Commandments. It is the family's belief that it is more important to improve one's moral character than his martial arts skill. This martial arts morality (Wu de) is one of the most important aspects of traditional martial arts training.

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Master Luo, Grand Master Wang and
Grand Master Dai during Shifu Zhang's�
Baishi ceremony.

Having taught martial arts for more than sixty years, Grand Master Wang has trained a great many people and has several hundred in-door disciples. He is renowned for his real fighting skills as well as his unflinching moral character. A great many of his disciples, some of whom were already quite famous, originally came from other groups, initially to test his skills. Quickly gaining respect for his unmistakable mastery, they would promptly seek to study with him. Through this process, the family has come to include martial artists from many different styles and backgrounds, and this insures ever interesting and educational demonstrations when the group has a ceremony or a get-together.

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