Tien Shan Pai History
Si Jo Wang Jyue Jen, Founder of Tien Shan Pai Kung Fu
Tien Shan Pai is a Northern Shaolin system of Kung Fu founded during the 1940's in Taichung, Taiwan by the late Si Jo (Founder/Grandmaster) Wang, Jyue Jen (1910-1990). It was first taught in the U.S. in 1970 by Si Jung (System Inheritor/Grandmaster) Willy Lin (Lin, Shih Kuang). On this page you will find the factual background information of this now-widely-practiced style of Kung Fu.
Si Jo Wang was born in December 1910 to a wealthy family living in Sichuan Province in central China. His father, a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine and avid martial artist, was the first to introduce him to the martial arts. By the age of 18, Si Jo Wang had become exceptionally talented. He was invited by the newly established Kuo Shu (National Art) Insitute in Nanjing to be a part of a research group of martial artists tasked with the development of a national martial arts curriculum. It was here that Si Jo Wang learned some of the forms he would later incorporate into the Tien Shan Pai system.
Si Jo Wang was also a member of the Nationalist Government (Kuomintang) army, but was too short to serve as a soldier. However, due to his exceptional talent in the martial arts, he was assigned to teach hand-to-hand fighting methods to special forces units. Si Jo Wang made the military his career.
After the fall of the Nationalist Government to the Communist Party in the late 1940's, Si Jo Wang followed Chiang Kai Shek's forces as they retreated to Taiwan at the end of the Chinese Civil War. He settled in Taichung to be near the army base. Si Jo Wang continued working for the army during the day, and taught martial arts from the backyard garden of his home in the evenings. During this time, he would also teach privately in the homes of students. After his retirement from the army in the mid-1950's he officially founded his school, which he named Lei Sheng Wu Yuan (Sound of Thunder Martial Arts Garden), also located in the backyard garden of his home.
Si Jo Wang, Jyue Jen
By this time, Si Jo Wang had formulated a martial arts curriculum which he called Tien Shan Pai (Heaven Mountain Style) and was named for the mountainous region in north-western China situated within Xinjiang Province. The system was comprised of Northern Shaolin material Si Jo Wang had learned as a young man from his father, the Kuo Shu Institute, and some of his own composure. Si Jo Wang is also thought to have had other teachers throughout his childhood and young-adult life who undoubtedly influenced the development of Tien Shan Pai. As there is no documented evidence of his early training available, a lot of source material and inspiration for the system is left unknown in present times.
Si Jung Willy Lin, Inheritor of Tien Shan Pai Kung Fu
In 1957, at the age of 19, Si Jung Willy Lin began his training under Si jo Wang. After training for three years, he was selected along with a classmate to recieve special advanced training by Si Jo Wang. Upon completion of the training Si Jung Lin was appointed head instructor, and remained so until his departure of Taiwan for Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1968. There he taught Tien Shan Pai to the Sao Paulo Police Department and the Sao Paulo Chinese Assocition until he left in 1970 for the U.S.
After settling in, Si Jung Lin opened a school in the Washington, D.C. area and began training the frst generation of American Tien Shan Pai students. During the 1970's, Si Jung Lin also sponsored the relocation of two of his classmates (Liu, Chao Chi and Huang, Chien Liang) and brother, Tony Lin (Lin, Teng Fang), whom all would also become accomplished teachers of Tien Shan Pai Kung Fu in the U.S.
Si Jung Willy Lin Demonstrates Tien Shan Pai
Through Si Jung Lin's efforts, Tien Shan Pai has become one of the most widely practiced styles of Kung Fu in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. Si Jung Lin presently resides in New York and continues his teachings through seminars held around the country. Many of Si Jung Lin's students have also gone on to become respected masters and transmitters of Tien Shan Pai Kung Fu, including Si Fu Dennis Brown, founder of the U.S. Capitol Classics Martial Arts Tournament.
Si Jo Wang taught from his home in Taiwan until he passed away in 1990.