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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.

On December 18th 2008 Chin Woo NZ Life Member Sifu Melissa Chan held the traditional Bai See Ceremony to accept Mr David Chan as her first Indoor Disciple (Yup Sat Dai Gee).

The ceremony was held at the training premises of Sifu Melissa’s kung fu school in Wellington and was witnessed by many friends and family. Several senior students and instructors in the Wellington martial arts community were present to witness the Ceremony including: Sifu Peter Sue (Lam Tong Long), Sifu Peter Yu (Wing Tsun), Sifu Stan Lytras (Hung Gar & Shotokan Karate) and Mr John Duncan (Nan Shaolin Wu Zu Quan).

Sifu Melissa’s daughter Teresa Chan was MC for the Ceremony while her two sons Arron and Michael assisted in the preparation and delivery of the ceremonial tea offering. Chin Woo NZ Chairman Sifu Peter Yu gave an informative address to the audience on the significance of the Bai See Ceremony and following the conclusion of the formalities, refreshments were served.

In traditional Chinese martial arts, the Bai See Ceremony is a custom held when a Sifu accepts a new Todai (Disciple) into the kung fu family. It can be referred to in western terms as an ‘Adoption Ceremony’ as the Student is effectively being adopted into the Sifu’s kung fu family line. Once the Sifu/ Todai relationship is established it is considered to be as irreversible as that of natural family. Legitimate transmission of knowledge from Sifu to Todai is established to pass on the martial and ethical teachings to the next generation in the chain. There are many conditions between Sifu and Todai to be observed including the expectation that the Disciple will not accept teachings from another Sifu without the prior permission of the Sifu.

The traditional Bai See Ceremony is not often seen as the level of dedication, commitment and sacrifice required by both Sifu and Disciple often conflicts with the demands of modern day lifestyle and values. While not verifiable, it is highly likely that Sifu Melissa is the first female Sifu to hold a traditional open Bai See Ceremony in New Zealand.

About Sifu Melissa Chan

Sifu Melissa Chan began her training in the early 1960’s in Guangzhou City, South China. She studied Hung Gar and Hap Gar kung fu from her Sifu Mr Deng Gum To until the early 1980’s when she immigrated to New Zealand. She competed actively in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s in China and in 1980 won the gold medal for traditional southern fist kung fu at the All China Nationals. Since arriving in NZ she has trained on her own and exchanged ideas with long time friend Sifu Peter Sue. In 2003 she was invited by the Chin Woo Athletic Association of NZ Inc to commence classes teaching her line of traditional southern fist kung fu. She is the Chief Instructor of the New Zealand Ling Nan Wushu Association based in Wellington.

David Chan is one of Sifu Melissa’s four original students who started with her back in 2003. He currently holds the post of Secretary General of the Chin Woo Athletic Association of NZ and has been involved in martial arts since 1989.

For more information on Sifu Melissa Chan and the New Zealand Ling Nan Wushu Association please visit the Links section of this website.

All photos courtesy of Keane Chan (Keane Design).

After coming back from the competition it is imperative that I analyze the areas where I underachieved and the reasons, so that in due course I have clear and precise goals to which I can work towards for the next competition.

Looking at other teams from around the world allows us to better understand where we are compared with the rest of the world. In hindsight I believe that we are most lacking in the area of basic and fundamental wushu skills. We have too many “cou fen dian” or places where points can be deducted for simple errors which should not occur. In essence our basic stance work, flexibility, kicks, jumps, and sweeps etc. are just simply not good enough. In order to correct these I will need to pay more attention to these areas while training, as well as simply increasing the number of repetitions in my training. We will also need to increase our conditioning and strengthening exercises to build up the necessary muscles needed to execute the techniques with precision and accuracy.

Another major flaw that I identified was a noticeable lack of speed and flavor in my forms. In order to correct this I will be working on increased repetitions on “combinations” of the form instead of less “parts” of the form.

Last but not least is the fact that I felt extremely nervous upon doing my form while competing. I put this down to 1) a lack of competition and performance experience, 2) a lack of mental and physical preparation before walking onto the arena. Walking onto an arena without both mental and physical preparation is the equivalent of having wasted a full years training in preparation of the competition as you will not be able to give your 100% best when the time comes. When you are nervous it does not allow you to relax and open out the techniques As a result the techniques are shortened, stiff, and ugly. It also means that you will become fatigued quicker.

Self analysis is an important training process that can enable us to reach higher levels of competency. I have recently devised a training programme that will hopefully enable me to address my weaknesses and improve my performance in the next competition.