masters: liu-yun qiao

one of the major figures in the kung fu i'm learning was a man named Liu Yun Qiao (alternative English spellings include Liu Yun Chiao, Liu Yun Chow, and Liu Yun Qao).

Liu Yun Qiao is a bit of a legendary figure, and his history is shrouded in as much mystery as it is fact. in terms of facts, he was renowned as a prolific grandmaster of several different styles: baji, piqua, bagua, tai chi, tang lang (i.e., praying mantis), and chang quan (i.e., long fist). he was also famous for being a senior military leader in the Kuomintang (KMT) and the instructor for the personal bodyguards for Chiang Kai Shek. in addition, during his years in Taiwan, he rose to international prominence for his dedication to preserving traditional chinese martial arts. towards this goal, he founded the Wutan organization in Taiwan, from which my Sifu received his martial arts education.

beyond this, there's quite a bit of mystery. there's not much detail about his adult life prior to the KMT's overthrow--for much of this time, Liu Yun Qiao was heavily involved in military secret operations, and so his exploits and martial prowess was intentionally obscured by official records. there are stories of his single-handed escape from a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, as well as his missions into enemy territory during Japanese occupation, but there is not much more.

you can see a brief biography of him at:

• http://www.bajimen.com/?page=home&lang=ch
• http://www.wutangcenter.com/wt/photos/LiuFuneral/grandmaster.htm
• http://www.oslowutan.com/index.php?page=LiuYunQiao&lang=en
  

Liu Yun Qiao had several different generations of students, with the first two being perhaps the most significant to American audiences. the initial generation included names that are well-known in current kung fu circles: Su Yu Chang and Adam Hsu. the second generation included names such as John Hom, Kurt Wong, Tony Yang, and Jason Tsou (my instructor). all these individuals have since gone on to pass Liu Yun Qiao's lineage to other parts of the world, including not only North America, but also South America and Europe.

with respect to what i'm learning, my instructor learned (to my knowledge) baji, piqua, bagua, tang lang, and chang quan from Liu Yun Qiao. Sifu Tsou notes that Grandmaster Liu made it a point to refer lessons in tai chi to Du Yu Ze (for chen) or Chang Dong Sheng (for yang), and similarly lessons in shuai jiao to Chang Dong Sheng. he would also even refer lessons in chang quan to Han Ching Tan. apparently Grandmaster Liu maintained a network of fellow masters that he respected, and was not afraid to defer training in their respective kung fu styles to them. my Sifu, for example, at Liu Yun Qiao's direction, studied chen tai chi from Du Yu Ze's lineage.

i managed to locate videos of him on Youtube, although they're somewhat hard to come by:

• interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVVuwJdH4Kc
• bagua: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYQOLWeS30Y
• baji 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9-jge2Wk4k
• baji 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL831v6FrzA
• baji 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE0zSNng2Zs
• baji 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtDGokMHCeI
• yin shou w hook swords: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km8a8RZ3C-U

on an interesting note, Liu Yun Qiao is apparently also quite famous in Japan (yes, i know, talk about one of the supreme ironies of history...). his baji is admired by Japanese karate circles for its projection of power. you can see the depth of the fan-dom by looking at the following:

• japanese video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pRepVNFolo

again, i suspect there's more about him on Chinese-language websites and Youtube videos, so i'm hoping anybody who knows Chinese can probably help me locate more materials about him.