About Teachers and our lineage

Grand Master Su Li Zhi (苏立志)

Grandmaster Su Li Zhi was borned in December 11th, 1948. He started martial arts career when he was six years old, and as today, grandmaster Su had more than fifty years martial arts experiences in Xing Yi, Taiji and other style of traditional KungFu. Grandmaster Su is a well respected martial artist in China. He taught numerous seminars, classes in many countries around world such as Japan, Russia, Korea etc. He also wrote and published many books such as Shang style Xing Yi, National Competition rules for TaiChi Pushing Hands, National competition forms for Xing Yi, His name has been recognized as Great WuShu Master in China, The Dictionary of Traditional Martial Artists in China, and other encyclopedia for Chinese Martial Arts.

Grand Master Kwak Wah Ping （郭运平）

Kwok Wan-Ping (Guo Yunping 郭运平) was born in the late 1939. He studied for 4 years at the Guangzhou and Wu Han Sports Institutes (武汉体育学院) and went on to win the All-China lightweight wrestling championship during that time. At the institute, he studied Mongolian, freestyle, and Greco-Roman wrestling. He also learned weight lifting, fencing, and other Chinese martial arts.

In the mid 1960s, he began studying Guang Zhou Wing Chun (广州咏春) under grandmaster Sum Nung (岑能). He also studied the internal styles of Taijiquan, Baguazhang (八卦掌), and Xingyiquan (形意拳) under Fu Wing-Fay (傅永辉), son of the legendary Fu Zhensung (傅振嵩), as well as a myriad of other forms, such as Wuzuquan (五祖拳).

In the late 1960s, Kwok Wan-Ping moved to Hong Kong and began the Guangzhou Wing Chun/Taiji School (咏春太极学院), located in Kowloon (九龙).

He has gone on to become one of the most sought after martial arts coaches in Hong Kong and several of his students and decendants have become highly respected instructors in their own rights, such as Tse Chung-Fai of British Columbia, Chow Gwok-Tai of Toronto, Lee Chun-Ming of Virginia, and Fung Yoy-Gin of Hong Kong.

Riley Smith

Master Rick Smith, a resident of Washington DC, has started his Chinese Martial Arts in training in 1975 with Wing Chun Kung Fu （广州咏春）, Yuen Kay San (阮奇山) lineage, because of its effectiveness in combat by relying on structure instead of strength. He's trained under the Yuen Kay San lineage holder Master Lee Ming Chun and Grand Master Kwok Wan Ping （郭运平）, and occasionally visits him in Hong Kong.

He has a solid background and more than twenty five years experience in Chen style Taijiquan under the lineage holders Grand Master Chen Zheng Lei （陈正雷）in his school in Zhengzhou （郑州）, and Grand Master Chen Xiaowang （陈小旺）.

Master Rick is also a disciple of Grand Master Su Li Zhi （苏立志） in Shang style Xing yi quan （尚氏形意拳）.

He also trains and teaches Qigong （气功） under Mr. Ma Shuren （马树人）since 1980's.

Master Rick is currently 4th Dan (4th degree 四段) in Chinese National Wu Shu Dan Ranking (中国国家武术段位).

Han Yang（杨涵）

Master Han Yang (杨涵), originally born in Beijing China, and has started his Chinese Martial Arts training with Yang Style Tai Chi （杨氏太极）. Through almost thirty years of his training in Tradition Chinese Martial Arts, he met and studied under many great internal Martial Arts Grand Masters, such as Chen Zheng Lei （陈正雷）, Chen Xiao Wang （陈小旺）, Chen Yu （陈瑜）, Sun Zhi Jun (孙志君) and Ma Lin Cheng （麻林城）.

Twenty years of training under variety Grandmasters, he has a solid background in Chen style Tai Chi （陈氏太极拳）, and Cheng style Ba Gua Zhang （程氏八卦掌）.

In 2009, Master Yang met his life teacher--Grandmaster Su Li Zhi (苏立志), an extraordinary internal martial artist, a grand student of Shang Yun Xiang (尚云祥) , the founder of Shang style Xing Yi (尚氏形意拳). Master Han started following and learning Shang style Xing Yi system from Grandmaster Su since then. In 2011, Master Yang is admitted as third generation of internal disciple (内传弟子) of Shang style Xing Yi.

Master Yang is currently 4th Dan (4th degree 四段) in Chinese National Wu Shu Dan Ranking (中国国家武术段位).

Master Yang also had more than ten years background of Japanese Martial arts, he has 1st degree black belt in Aikido from United States Aikido Federation.

Shang Style Xing Yi Lineage