Meet the Kung Fu Master of North-West London
Yoke Wan Lee, also known as Master Lee to his pupils, has been practising Kung Fu since his youth. The Chin Woo Kung fu style was passed on to him by his family and now he’s been passing on his knowledge to all his pupils for over 41 years.
Master Lee starts his day at 5am. He begins by drinking two litres of water in the morning, a green smoothie and a Chinese natural drink to strengthen his bones. He may be a 67-year-old man but has the strength and mobility of an 18-year-old boy. He has such wisdom in his way of life, the habits he follows are those that everyone should aspire to have and as he told me his story, his achievements and about his Chin Woo community, I couldn’t help but be massively impressed.
Master Lee took me back to the 60s by telling me about his grandfather. He was a Shang chi man who taught in Ipoh, Malaysia. For him, that’s where he inherited the talent and although at first, he never took it seriously and only viewed Kung Fu as a sport, it took him to be slapped by two youngsters asking for money to change his outlook completely. “I promised myself no one was ever going to lay a hand on me.” Since that day his love for Kung Fu has taken him beyond just a sport.
His way of training goes like this: First you work the body, then mind, then spirit. “By combining the three you become whole. You can live your life to the fullest with these three things. You’re calmer and live your life full of wisdom”
He’s won many competitions and as a result in the 1980s was invited to come to England to teach as a professional instructor. It’s been over 40 years since that proposal and hasn’t stopped teaching since. “My biggest achievement here is to be able to train very young children and seeing them become adults, also starting with very shy and introverted people and seeing them become confident and extroverted,” he says.
Throughout his life he’s come across many people, he vows himself to build character and self-esteem in those who lack confidence. He tells me that for him Kung fu is not about fighting, it’s more about not having to fight, and Master Lee always believe that “when you have high self-esteem and you’re confident, you can face many hurdles in life”.
He’s teaching discipline, respect and morals to troubled kids, not only through Kung Fu but also teaching about the Chinese culture.
When I asked him, what was the most fulfilling thing about passing on his craft to others, he started by telling me his drive derives from teaching young children how to be good citizens.
He teaches them how to listen and they’ve learnt from him that when you respect others and learn to listen, others will respect them. For Master Lee, the most rewarding feeling is changing others way of life.
His community is diverse, he’s gone to train incredibly unfit people, to those who think they’re fit, then attend his lesson and realise they have a lot to learn. But his most impressive trainee must be actor Ray Park who starred in Star Wars.
His way of training goes like this: First you work the body, then mind, then spirit. “By combining the three you become whole. You can live your life to the fullest with these three things. You’re calmer and live your life full of wisdom”.
These past 12 months of lockdown restrictions have been exceedingly difficult – being unable to teach seems so foreign to him. He’s finding that all his pupils are keen to start and one discovery he has made is the power Kung Fu has on your mind and physical body.
He’s hoping this will be the last lockdown and looks forward to imparting his knowledge to those he teaches in hopes that they will pass it on to friends and members of society.
Feature image courtesy of Yoke Wan Lee.
What a lovely profile feature! It’s short but sweet, and I would have happily read more about him. I think you captured him beautifully and I think using a personal, conversational tone works for this. I’d only be careful when proofreading, as I feel like there are a few erros with punctuation and grammar, and I think I would have mentioned Star Wars earlier as it’s so impressive – but otherwise this is a really well-produced piece and the ending has a nice sense of closure!
I think this news piece about your Kung-fu teacher is a very original idea, as well as very sweet.
The reading has become very enjoyable and the title manages to attract the readers attention.
Hi Bella, this is a nice portrait of your kung fu teacher. Your own experience of being taught by him might have fed into the piece: e.g., how patient is he when teaching, how does he make his classes interesting, how do others in your class respond to his approach? I get the impression he may be a man of few words, so these additional insights would help to make up for any deficit of quotes. I was interested to know why he decided to make London his home: did he just end up staying for longer than he thought he would then the years flew by? Does he ever return to Malaysia to see family? Overall, though, your profile of Master Lee works well.