Grandmaster’s visit makes martial arts history

Honorable Grandmaster Wen Hsueh Hung and a delegation of martial arts students and teachers from Taiwan visit the Green Dragon School of Chinese Martial Arts in North Hanover.

By: William Wichert
   NORTH HANOVER — Deep in the heart of farm country, across the street from a Goodyear store and a Gulf gas station, history of an unusual kind was made here last week.
   The magnitude of the event was all captured in the opening ritual. More than 50 students of all ages from around the country were milling around outside the Green Dragon School of Chinese Martial Arts on Sykesville Road on June 23, but when the cars pulled into the parking lot at noon, they sprung into action.
   "Line up! Line up!" someone yelled as the students took their positions. Separated by the color of their belts, from green and yellow to brown and black, the students stood with their clenched fists pointing toward the ground and their eyes fixed forward to form a path for the teacher. The one who started it all.
   A male student bearing the school flag ran down and around the path as the sounds of a drum echoed from within the building. Piercing and slow, the pounding sounds came and the students remained steady. The dancing head of a dragon appeared in the doorway and the procession could now begin.
   Walking past these faithful students for the first time ever was the Honorable Grandmaster Wen Hsueh Hung and a delegation of martial arts students and teachers from Taiwan, where Mr. Hung founded the Green Dragon School in 1970.
   His method of teaching the Chung Kuo Chaun Kuosho (National Martial Art of China) System of the Tiger, Crane, and Dragon has spawned eight U.S. schools and dozens of students — many of whom came to the township last week to welcome the 80-year-old Mr. Hung on his first trip to America.
   "Many of you have come to the school and seen the picture on the wall. Now, you see the man," Grandmaster S.L. Martin, the highest-ranking Kuosho instructor under Mr. Hung, told the audience gathered inside the school after the opening ceremony.
   "This is the first time the group has been in America, and we have waited a long time," he said.
   Once the dancing dragon ushered Mr. Hung and the delegation into the school, Mr. Martin and his students paid tribute to their martial arts brethren through a series of demonstrations.
   Dressed in the red and yellow of a traditional Kuosho wardrobe, Mr. Martin stood in the back of the performance space and oversaw each of the techniques. When students planned on using a weapon, they would present it to Mr. Martin first.
   With his approval, the students, both teenagers and adults, erupted in a graceful show of focus and strength. They moved their arms in fluid motions before the crowd and took easy steps on their toes forward and back, left to right. Legs would fly into the air and come quietly back down to the mat.
   Some students battled each other, others performed alone, and still a few groups presented silent tai chi movements, but the most striking feature on display was their eyes. In transfixed gazes, they stared at nothing in the space before them.
   Once the American students were finished, members of the Taiwan group took their turn before the crowd. Led by Master Kung-Jen Hu, the students presented their own techniques, and a translator speaking on behalf of the group offered a few words: "I sincerely hope this meeting can bring friendship to both of our groups," she said.
   Mr. Martin said afterward that this event is part of a cultural exchange policy that has developed between Kuosho schools on both continents, allowing American students to fully understand the healing powers of martial arts.
   "There’s so many problems with people’s health. We believe martial arts can help you," he said. "It’s part of their natural culture. It’s part of our adopted culture."
   As each of the Taiwanese performers presented that culture, Mr. Martin kept giving them the "thumbs up" sign before reminding the crowd of the significance of this moment.
   "Remember," he told the awed audience, "you are the first people in America to ever see this."
   Before the event ended in bouts of laughter and picture-taking, the American and Taiwanese students tried a few moves on each other. In one case, six Americans unsuccessfully tried to knock Mr. Hu, standing on one foot, off balance.
   Even Mr. Hung approached the performance space to show Mr. Martin, the man he first taught 40 years ago, something new.
   "My back is killing me," Mr. Martin joked a few minutes later. "I thought we were finished with that in the ’60s."