Some time ago, I posted a clip of Grand Master Ark Yuey Wong. Recently, there was an article about him at the excellent blog, Kung Fu Tea. Below is an excerpt. The full article may be read here.
1965 was a pivotal year for the traditional Chinese martial arts in
North America. Simply put, it was the moment when everything changed.
While a handful of non-Chinese students had been studying these
fighting systems in the US since the late 1950s, most western martial
artists got their first detailed look at Kung Fu in January of that
year. Ark Yuey Wong, an established master of Guangdong’s southern
Shaolin methods, was the one who declared that the door was open.
While it is often debated
which instructor was the first to teach non-Chinese students, for most American martial artists the dawning of the new era was announced on the cover of the
January 1965 issue of Black Belt magazine.
Wong, dressed in a black Kung Fu suit, was the first Chinese martial
artist to grace the cover of what was then the “publication of record”
for the US martial arts community.
Nor would readers seeking a more detailed discussion of the Chinese
martial arts be disappointed by the volume’s contents. The tone of the
issue was set by the very first letter to the editor requesting more
information on the Chinese martial arts. In retrospect this growing wave
of interest is understandable.
By the early 1960s the Japanese arts (Judo, Karate and Akido) were
becoming established as respectable athletic endeavors in the west. Judo
had even been admitted to the Olympics. As American students became
more deeply versed in these arts they increasingly encountered stories
and lineage histories suggesting that the ultimate origins of their
practice might be found in China. Many martial artists wanted to know
more.
While a small number of western individuals had studied the TCMA prior to the early 1960s (
Sophia Delza,
R. W. Smith and Jim Anestasi to name a few examples), it was actually
the media that would first bring most martial artists into contact with
the Chinese styles. To understand the significance of 1965 it might be
useful to think in terms of information “push” and “pull.”
Prior to this point individuals who wanted to know more about these
subjects had to work hard to discover or “pull” this information towards
themselves. After 1965 the media (first the publishing industry, then
TV and finally movies) increasingly began to integrate the Chinese
martial arts into their narratives. These were then “pushed” into the
homes of consumers, regardless of their preexisting level of interest.
The January 1965 issue of
Black Belt represents the
beginning of a sustained wave of medialization of the Chinese martial
arts which would extend through the era of Bruce Lee to the current day.
Prior to that time the magazine had focused almost exclusively on the
more popular Japanese styles.
There were a few exceptions to this trend. In 1962 Prof. William C.
C. Hu, who would later become a regular writer for the magazine,
introduced the terms “Kung Fu” and “Shaolin” during the course of his
discussion of the historical origins of Karate. Two years later in 1964
there was a short profile of a “Shaolin” school in Connecticut. But it
was not until the January issue of 1965 that the Chinese martial arts
started to receive sustained coverage.
This seems to have been thought of as something of a “special
edition” for readers who might be interested in the Chinese martial
arts. Pride of place was given to an exploration of Ark Yuey Wong’s
school in Los Angeles. In an interview the master discussed both his
background and philosophy of the martial arts. The magazine’s editors
put great emphasis on the fact he was both metaphorically and physically
opening the doors of instruction to all students.
The same issue also featured an extended profile of Zheng Manqing
(Cheng Man-ch’ing), the renowned master of Yang style Taiji (and
instructor of R. W. Smith) who had recently moved from Taiwan to New
York City. While stories circulated about
Zheng defending the honor of the Chinese martial arts back on the mainland, in New York he accepted a diverse student body that included a large number of western students.
There was more. The same issue also featured a detailed article by Prof. William C. C. Hu about
the meaning of “Kung Fu.”
His discussion delved into the etymology, popular usage and philosophy
of the term on a surprisingly nuanced level given that for many of his
readers this might be their very first exposure to the word. Lastly
there was the latest installment of a multiple part series on the early
history of Taijiquan.
Prior to 1965, one had to search for any sort of reliable information
of the Chinese martial arts. After that time it would increasingly be
delivered to your door (or television) for a nominal fee. This single
magazine issue introduced readers to important Chinese martial artists
on the East and West coasts, to the rich traditions of Yang style
Taijiquan and Southern Shaolin, and to both the scholarly examination of
the TCMA and some well-worn historical legends.
In my view this document is a time capsule, capturing the moment when
the Chinese martial arts in America started to change. What had once
been esoteric and private, hidden behind the walls of the various Tongs,
was coming out into the open.
Black Belt had determined that
the Chinese fighting arts could be marketed to mainstream martial
artists. It was Ark Yuey Wong who both verbally and symbolically opened
the doors.
This was all the more interesting as Wong himself was very much the
product of the previous era.
Over the course of his life he saw immense
changes in the nature of the Chinese martial arts, and how they were
presented to the public, both in Guangdong and California. As someone
who lived and taught in both places, Wong was a critical bridge helping
to convey the innovations that were sweeping through China to diaspora
communities on the other side of the Pacific.
While Wong is often remembered as the first (or one of the first)
teachers to open his school to westerners, in truth his contributions to
how the martial arts were taught and thought about within the Chinese
community more generally may have been just as important. For all of
these reasons Wong was a true pioneer of the Chinese martial arts in
America.
Before moving on to a more detailed discussion of Wong’s life I
should offer a few disclaimers. First, I am not a student of his style
or connected with his lineage. Nor do I claim any special or secret
knowledge about his life history. This short profile relies on a number
of publicly available biographies (most of which are generally in
agreement with each other) and published statements made by Ark Yuey
Wong himself.
My goal in writing this is to illuminate the context of Wong’s life
and career to better understand his contributions to the spread of the
Chinese martial arts. Additionally, a detailed study of his early years
(something that I can only touch on here) may also help to add nuance to
our understanding of the evolution of hand combat within Chinese
popular culture during the early year of the Republic period.
