Category: News

The 28th of May 2009 marked a very special day for the history of Chinese Martial Arts in New Zealand, the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Chinese Martial Arts Association (aka CMAA 中武会) in Wellington.

Chin Woo NZ was honored by the invitation extended by CMAA’s current head Sifu Stan Lytras. Peter Yu represented CWNZ as one of the two speakers in this landmark celebration and remembrance of the association’s founder and Chief Instructor Sifu Bill Young on 28th May at the Chinese Anglican Church Centre, Glenmore Street, Wellington.

The evening kicked off with the first speaker Sifu Stan Chun, one of the founding members of CMAA back in January 1968 and is affectionately known as the 大师兄 (number one Kung Fu brother) to generations of members within this association. He spoke candidly of some of the amusing moments of training in the past and recollects some of the rather novel training ideas then.

The second speaker Peter Yu, representative of CWNZ who also happened to be a member of this association back in 1968, congratulated CMAA for it’s longevity and complimented the dedication and commitment of the many who had a hand in assisting and to continue this legacy started by Sifu Bill Young four decade ago and reflected on how Sifu Bill had touched many lives amongst this gathering.

After the two speeches, all the guests were treated by a video presentation, a compilation of the trainings and gradings as well as showing the people who played important roles in the continuance of the CMAA over the past four decade. Rare footage captured the intensive concentration of Sifu Bill’s training under a waterfall and the training and sparring of the club members in the river in the late 70s looked both fun and painful at the same time.

Thos present were then treated to Chinese martial arts demonstrations given by five local schools.

Demonstrating were:

NZ Wing Tsun Association
NZ Ling Nan Wu Shu Association
NZ Chinese Kung Fu Association
Sifu Stan Chun’s Martial Arts Group
Chinese Martial Arts Association

Gifts were presented by CMAA to each of the above groups and other guests with lots of posing for photographs during supper. One has not seen these many genuine and sincere martial arts people under the same roof since CWNZ’s own 10th Anniversary celebration in October 2008.

The guest of honour during the evening was Simo, Lily Young, wife of the late Sifu Bill Young.

CWNZ would like to thank CMAA for their inclusion of this milestone event and sincerely wishing CMAA a bright future and many happy returns.

Chin Woo NZ is deeply saddened by the passing of our Honorary Life President, Madam Jasmine Tung, on Friday 06/03 in Hong Kong.

Madam Jasmine Tung is the daughter of the world renowned Taichi Master Tung Ying Kit, an influential contemporary teacher of the Yang Style Taichi Chuan. Born in 1940, she trained extensively first under her famous father Tung Ying Kit and later with her equally eminent older brother Tung Fu Ling, before becaming an assistant instructor at her father’s school in her teens. After the death of her father and with her older brother Tung Fu Ling who spent much of his time in propagating Taichi Chuan between Europe and North America, Jasmine took over the role as the Headmaster of the Tung Ying Kit Taichi School in Hong Kong in 1966.

Photo: http://www.tungyingkit-taiji.com

In 1986 Madam Tung successfully became one of the first Wushu Judges under IWUF (International Wushu Federation) outside of China. In 1987 she was invited by the Hong Kong Wushu Union to become the Director of Referees and currently as Honorary Chairperson. In 1988, she was invited to be a Taichi Referee at the All Japan Wushu Taiji Tournament. She is the founder and Chief Instructor of the Jasmine Tung Taichi Academy of Australia in 1988. At the 11th Asian Games 1990, she was one of the judges for the Taichi Chuan event. In 1996 she took on the post of Honorary Advisor & Instructor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Taichi Chuan Association. 1997 as Chairperson for Hong Kong Chin Woo Athletic Association. 2001-2002 as the Representative for Traditional Chinese Martial Arts of OWUF (Oceania Wushu Federation). In 2006 Madam Tung was appointed Honorary Life President of Chin Woo NZ.

In January 2008 , Madam Tung passed the Wushu Duan Wei Examination and achieved Duan Wei 8. At the time she was only the second person in Hong Kong to have been awarded 8 Duan by the Chinese Wushu Association.

A long time propagator of the Yang Style Taichi Chuan within Hong Kong and abroad will be sorely missed by Traditional Chinese Martial Artists all around the world.

Executives & members of Chin Woo New Zealand mourn for the loss of a good friend and mentor and we wish to extend our deepest condolences to her family.

纽西兰精武体育总会永远荣誉会长董茉莉女士不幸于本年3月6日在香港辞世，本会仝人深为哀恸。

董女士乃杨式太极名宿董英杰之千金。董英杰大师在世界太极拳发展事功上举足轻重，蜚声四海。

董女士出生于1940年。幼承庭训，随父习艺，由于聪慧过人，幼年已尽得乃父太极精粹，父殁则转随长兄董虎岭深造，太极造诣更上一层，故年青时已在乃父创办之太极学院教习。继英杰大师仙逝，长兄虎岭又专注于往返欧美等地宣扬国粹太极拳。董女士乃于1966年毅然肩承任重道远之香港英杰太极拳健身院院长一职。董女士毕生献身于推广太极事功，不违余力。

为纪念董女士毕生辛劳奔走，传扬国粹，本会乃将此一代宗师史绩略述，俾我辈后学知所遵循：

1986年荣任中国国际武术协会在中国以外首批国际裁判之一
1987年接受香港武术联合会委任为该会裁判主任，现任名誉会长
1988年被邀请到日本担任日本全国武术太极拳比赛太极裁判
1988年创立澳洲董茉莉太极拳武术学院，任院长
1990年担任第十一届亚运会太极拳裁判
1996年奉邀为香港中文大学太极拳学会名誉顾问兼导师
1997年被选任香港精武体育会会长
2001-2年为国际武术联合会大洋洲传统武术委员会代表
2006年接受纽西兰精武体育总会聘任为永远荣誉会长
2008年获中国武术协会授予武术八段

董女士毕生锐意献身于推广杨式太极不违余力，具承先启后精神，实乃我等武术界仝人之楷模典范，更对世界中国武术界带来深远影响，对推广 中华文化，写下辉煌一页，功不可没。今遽然皈依极乐，令世界中国武术界顿感哀伤，悲痛与失落。纽西兰精武体育总会上下仝人为失去会内一位良师益友深为哀恸惋惜。谨向董府上下致以深切慰问。

NZ Chinese Kung Fu Association under the guidance of Sifu Peter Sue in Wellington feel that his students have made satisfactory progress in the past 12 months and therefore is prepare to accept new students once again.

Anyone who is over the age of 15, self motivated and prepare to train hard and is interested in the Kung Fu styles of Southern Praying Mantis, Pak Mei (White Eye Brow) and Hung Gar (Tiger & Crane) please contact Teresa Chan 021-0752838 for more information.

Above: Sifu Peter Sue at the Chin NZ Woo 10th Anniversary Festival in October 2008. Check out the 10AC Section of this website for more photos and information on the festival.

Mr Paul Downey is a 15yr Practioner of Yang Style Tai Chi and Jian Style Bagua Zhang. He teaches Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan (Yang Cheng Fu’s Long Form) with many supplementary exercises such as Chi Gong, Post Standing, Da Lun and power release exercises.

He also teaches some exercises from other internal systems such as Bagua, Xing Yi, Chen Tai Chi and Yi Chuan (also known as Da Cheung) as a way to speed up progress and understanding.

He is currently accepting students.

For class venue and times please contact Mr Paul Downey on 021 056 1009/ 04 380 1500 or email him direct jianfa@vodafone.net.nz.