School History

1980 – A Beginning in Vancouver

Tai Chi Praying Mantis Group

In the early 1980s, Master Manson Wong began teaching Tai Chi Praying Mantis in Vancouver. While teaching a core group of students in various locations, in 1981 he called upon his kung fu brother Master Galen Fok to travel from Hong Kong to teach along side him in Vancouver. With two skillful teachers, they taught classes diligently and the following three years later were able to establish a permanent location on Hastings Street Vancouver. During this period of time, Master Galen Fok had entered various local tournaments, and gained many experiences that later built the school through its infancy.

1983 Establishing the first Kwoon

Master Galen Fok later returned to Hong Kong to see his master Chiu Chuk Kai to tell of his experiences in Vancouver. Later in 1983 he immigrated to Vancouver and together with Master Manson Wong established the school at a location on Hastings Street Vancouver. A grand opening ceremony was held where many of the local Sifus and other martial artists came to give support to Master Galen Fok and Master Manson Wong’s new beginning. Here they held regular classes, examinations and prepared students for more demonstrations, lion dances and also coordinated an all weapons demonstration at the University of Victoria.

Tournaments, Demonstration and Vernon B.C.

As the years went by, many students both kids and adults have been trained and participated in various local tournaments. Being a part of the Western Canada Martial Arts Association, the school gave its support to the association in performing lion dances and kung fu demonstrations during Chinese New Year and other variety of events. The school also traveled up to Vernon in British Columbia to do a demonstration.

1988 Relocating to Surrey

In mid 1988, Grandmaster Galen Fok needed to expand the Martial Arts Hall into one that would accommodate the demand of the flowing students into his school. Therefore, he found a suitable location in Surrey of British Columbia that would meet these needs. As he taught more students, a senior student his were able to take on the leadership of instructing classes and assisting in other organizational matters. This allowed the school to continue growing and expand over the years into other locations.

2005 Edmonton, Alberta

In 2005, Grandmaster Galen Fok, returned from China and Hong Kong after years of travel to open another branch of his school in Edmonton, Alberta. Here began another era of students eager to learn the many styles of practice that Grandmaster Fok has brought back including Kung Fu and Tai Chi from the WuDang Mountain. Here many students also competed at the local tournaments and also traveled to Vancouver to participate in the events there. The group prepared and demonstrated at the Edmonton  annual Heritage Day Festival to support the Chinese Cultural community. At this very location he officially accepted Andrew Yuen as his indoor disciple, in which Andrew assisted in instructing students and also continued to compete in Tournaments.

2016 Surrey

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.