Grandmaster Galen Fok

Grandmaster Galen Fok was born in Hong Kong, 1953. His father was a fishery accountant and he was the eldest among four brothers. At the age of fourteen, Galen’s father wanted his second youngest son, who had always been weak, to train his body. So he took Galen along to accompany his brother in exercising at Chow Hon Hing where they began learning Hung Gar. Next year, Galen’s younger brother felt that kung fu was not for him so he decided to quit. Galen got addicted to kung fu and could not stop training. In the same year, Master Chow Hon Hing passed away so Galen learned from his Si-Hings who were instructing at the time. After two years of training, he learned all he could from his seniors and then he began instructing and teaching at the Chow Hon Hing training centre. Soon after Galen realized this was not enough so he went to find his Si-Bak Lao Sing in Guang Zhou to learn more about Hung Gar and to refine his techniques. His goal was to find a good instructor, so no matter how far the distance, he would travel it to find his teacher. He studied under Si-Bak Lao Sing for a few months before returning to Hong Kong. It was during the Revolution and the process of learning was so tough that no words could describe it.

In the early 70’s, Galen graduated from Form 3 and started working as a car mechanic during the day and at night he was a kung fu assistant instructor teaching in Chow Hon Hing training center in Aberdeen. In 1974, he became a firefighter and was stationed at Central Fire Station. He met Yao Tim during a demo at the fire station who later became his Tai Chi Praying Mantis Si-Hing. He watched Si-Hing Yao Tim teaching and later asked him where he learned and wanted to see his Sifu. After work that day, Yao Tim took Galen to see Chiu Chuk Kai. Chiu Chuk Kai’s school was located in Causway Bay, Tian Hou Temple area in Hong Kong. There he sat at the Kwoon for the afternoon watching Grandmaster Chiu teaching. Upon his first look, Grandmaster Chiu Chuk Kai was wearing a suit, tie and leather shoes while teaching Tai Chi Praying Mantis to his students. Grandmaster Chiu was already over 70 years of age. He saw that Grandmaster Chiu’s techniques were very precise, accurate, smooth and very fast. Thus he decided to follow under Grandmaster Chiu Chuk Kai’s teaching. He told Grandmaster Chiu that he has learned Hung Gar and was still currently teaching. Telling him this, he told him that it would be hard to change in the style due to the different nature of Praying Mantis being Northern Style and Hung Gar being Southern Style. So he requested to learn weapons first. Grandmaster Chiu agreed, and firstly taught him the basics of Tai Chi Praying Mantis, which consisted of kicks, single moves, eight basic stances and Gung Lik Kuen. After learning and continually training in these basics for 2 weeks, he was taught the 7 section chain whip as his first weapon. For three months he practiced, without any acknowledgment from Grandmaster Chiu. He was ignored for these three months and continued to pay the regular student fee of $60/month. The three months was a test from Grandmaster Chiu to see his patience and learning ability.

After these three months, he began to learn the Tai Chi Praying Mantis System. He was taught Iron Body which involved training using four arm width canes strapped together to beat the body. This training was carried out for one hundred days followed by three to four times a week for three years. [During the three month testing period, Galen wanted to see his own learning ability. He asked one of his Si-Hings to teach him a Praying Mantis form, just to see how fast he could learn it. He was taught the first Praying Mantis form, Bung Bo which he finished learning and was able to reproduce in thirty-five minutes.] After the three years, Master Chiu formally passed on all his kung fu knowledge to Galen. His daily training schedule consisted of practicing each form three times, one after another. After finishing every form, he would use his remaining energy to practice one of his chosen form. He learned under Grandmaster Chiu Chuk Kai for seven years and completed his training in Tai Chi Praying Mantis. During this time, Galen was also studying acupuncture at the Chinese Institute of Acupuncture.

(1980) Galen went to Canada with Manson Wong. He was an assistant instructor at Manson Wong’s Praying Mantis Club (Kwoon).

Galen began to compete in the local open competitions in the forms division. (West-Can-Am Championships). Galen gave his first Grand Champion Trophy/Award to Master Chiu’s Club in Hong Kong as a token of appreciation to his Master for all his teachings. After seeing the competitions in local tournaments, he began to change the Tai Chi Praying Mantis system by adding rhythm to the forms. In 1981, Galen graduated from the Chinese Institute of Acupuncture. He went back to Hong Kong and showed Grandmaster Chiu his addition of rhythm to the system and Grandmaster Chiu approved this. Grandmaster Chiu certified Galen to teach the Tai Chi Praying Mantis system. He taught Galen that he must also remember and respect the teachings of his previous Masters and so gave him a name for his school so that he could teach both Hung Gar and Praying Mantis. In 1983 he immigrated to Canada and lived in Vancouver.

With only $600 Canadian and some lion dance equipment and weapons he started his own school. He and the local sifus worked together and organized the Western Canada Chinese Martial Arts Association. He later went to into the city of Surrey to start his school. He trained several students and had them go out to tournaments as well.

In 1990, he got married and left the position of the North American Lion Dance Judge and Western Canada Chinese Martial Arts Association to find a higher level. He travelled back to Hong Kong, and later went to Europe, Japan, and South East Asia seeking more knowledge and exploring other religions around these areas. He searched in Christianity, Daoism, Buddhism and religions in Tibet. In China and Taiwan he also pursued and learned more Qigong, staying at temples and mountains during his search and practice. In 1995 he travelled across many mountains, rivers and temples to find the meaning of life. He learned the Taoism motto of selflessness and adopted it as part of his beliefs. In 2000, he returned to Hong Kong, there upon he saw an advertisement on TV by Wudong San, so he decided to travel up to Wudong San and pursued more of his tai chi and qigong practice. During his stay at Wudong San he taught English to the kids to pay for rent and have a place to stay. He acted as a translator to students who could only speak English, and also learned tai chi during that time. Later on, due to his background in both Northern and Southern Kung Fu styles, he became the Wushu Instructor of the Wudong Wushu Performance Group.

In 2003 he returned to Hong Kong and lived in Chang Zhou. In 2004 he went to Canada for vacation with Si-Hing Roger as well he visited the Tai Chi Praying Mantis School in Edmonton where he helped in teaching and now currently resides in Edmonton. In the summer of 2004, he opened his own school there teaching Tai Chi and Qigong. He searched out the forms that Grand Master Chiu Chuk Kai had taught in Vietnam but not in Hong Kong and incorporated them into the Tai Chi Praying Mantis system that he teaches. Currently Galen has the complete system of Tai Chi Praying Mantis passed down by Grand Master Chiu Chuk Kai. A few months later he began to teach Praying Mantis and Hung Gar openly again holding classes for children and adults.

From 2005 to 2007, Traditional Kung Fu Training Center’s Edmonton branch was established by Grandmaster Galen Fok. He also formally accepted his young student, Andrew Yuen, as his first disciple in recognition of Andrew’s dedication and excellence in the practice of Kung Fu. A public ceremony was held following the traditional protocol to announce the discipleship and officially introduced Andrew to the greater Kung Fu community worldwide.

In 2006, Grandmaster Galen Fok’s experience and achievements in Traditional Chinese Martial Arts were being recognized and was entered into the Chapter of “The Name List of Contemporary Chinese Elites in Martial Art Field” in “The Canon of Contemporary Chinese Wushu” published by the “International Martial Arts Culture Development Research Center of China”.

In 2008, while en route from Shanghai to Hong Kong for his semi-retirement, Grandmaster Fok was invited to host several seminars on Taijiquan and Qigong. Grandmaster Galen Fok was awarded the title of Top 100 Wushu Extraordinary Prominent Representatives of Well Known Wushu Styles by the World Culture and Science Research Institute, owing to his contribution in preserving heritage and popularization of Wushu and included in the publication “In the spirit of the 2008 Olympics Extraordinary Chinese Martial Artists of the World”.

In 2008, Grandmaster Galen Fok’s experience and achievements in Traditional Chinese Martial Arts were being recognized and was entered into the Chapter of “Contemporary Chinese Masters of Traditional Wushu Dictionary” in “The Canon of Contemporary Chinese Wushu” published by the “International Martial Arts Culture Development Research Center of China”.

And in In 2011, due to Grandmaster Fok’s continued research and dedication to the Traditional Martial Arts he has been added into the Chapter of “Contemporary Chinese Masters of  Wushu Dictionary” published by the “International Martial Arts Culture Development Research Center of China”.

2008 – 2016 Although semi-retired and living in a remote area in Hong Kong, Grandmaster Fok still received visiting martial artists who have admired his Kung Fu practice. He was pleased to share his knowledge with those who were keen and eager to learn. Grandmaster Fok decided to settle all his affairs in Hong Kong and fully retired in Vancouver, BC, Canada in 2016. Since then, he’s only hosting special classes for a few elite students including his disciple, Andrew Yuen. He also feels that the teaching and promotion of traditional Kung Fu can benefit from the internet media; hence, he and Andrew established a website for the Traditional Chinese Martial Arts Institute to promote and share his wealth of Knowledge with the general public.