Lee Wah Yook Qi Quan History and Lineage

Lee Wah Yook Qi Quan

Mark met Lee Wah Yook (see testimonial from Billy Lee, son of Sifu Lee, for background information on Lee Wah Yook) in 1980 when he was employed as a wholesale meat delivery person (and struggling musician - his internationally successful 45 Why/The Sack was released in 1982). He delivered meat to Sifu Lee's Chinese Restaurant. Mark's boss frequently relayed to Sifu Lee Mark's desire to learn Kung Fu. Mark was respectfully persistent, and after a while Sifu Lee took him out to the parking lot and tried to discourage him by putting him through some very rigorous tests. After Mark passed all of these tests, Sifu Lee decided that it was time to teach him. Mark learned Kung Fu for a year. When he developed hypoglycemia, Sifu Lee decided to teach him Tai Chi Chuan. When Mark responded "But that's old men in the park. I want to learn Kung Fu!" Sifu Lee, although much smaller than Mark, knocked him across the room. Sifu explained that if he had used muscle, he would not have been able to move Mark. But using just a tiny bit of Chi, he sent him flying into the cooler of the restaurant. Mark, feeling like he'd been hit by a bolt of lightning in the chest, was sold.

After Mark became proficient at Yeung (Yang) style Tai Chi Chuan, Sifu had him do certain Kung Fu excercises, but with a Tai Chi mentality. He kept experimenting, capitalizing on Mark's strengths, building a distinct martial arts form. This form (click here to see animations of the form and push hands, or click here to see videos of the form, push hands, sticky hands, and sparring), which Mark inherited from and named after Sifu Lee, was later recognized as Lee Wah Yook Qi Quan. By adding the various training forms of Kung Fu back into Tai Chi (including Chi Gung), the form became a throw back to, or reconstruction of the original Tai Chi, which was based on Kung Fu.

In 1995 Mark was named grandmaster of the form Lee Wah Yook Qi Quan by the World Headfounders Council after much review and testing. He was only the 13th person to be named grandmaster by this orginazation.

Lee Wah Yook Qi Quan is based in Providence, Rhode Island.

Yeung Kin Hou Yeung Siu Hou Yeung Ching Po Yeung Sau Chung