Our Story

Capitalizing on the global kung fu craze of the 1970s, Sifus Yip of Dragon Style Kung Fu and Lee of Pak Mei 白眉 Kung Fu co-founded the Wah Tung Geen Sun Hok Yuen 華東健身學院 (Eastern Chinese Fitness School) in New York City's Manhattan Chinatown.  Sifu Yip is the first instructor to teach traditional Dragon Style 龍形 Kung Fu publicly in the United States.  

Our organization teaches traditional kung fu and lion dance.  Since the opening of our Club, Sifu Yip has hosted training sessions with Dragon Style Kung Fu practitioners from Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom.  He maintains close collaborations with Dragon Style practitioners in Australia, China, and Hong Kong. 

With the lack of public content on Dragon Style, Mr. Yip produced two Dragon Style Kung Fu educational videos in collaboration with ESPY-TV Martial Art Videos.  His Club has appeared in numerous public performances, including the 1982 Miss Universe and more recently, at the New York Stock Exchange for HSBC Bank USA.  Our team was featured in Netflix's Iron Fist (Season 1, Episode 1) in 2016 and in Celebrate with Me: A Chinese New Year.  In 2018, the New York City Council awarded a municipal proclamation to Mr. Yip for his civic contributions to both journalism and Chinese martial arts.

Our Legacy

We are excited to announce our upcoming book, Dragon of Concrete Jungles, that will be available in May 2024 during Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage (AAPI) Month.  The approximately 248-page hardcover book beautifully captures the multifaceted life of Sifu Yip and his son Jeffrey.  The narrative extends beyond martial arts, offering a deep dive into the cultural, historical and political nuances of their Hong Kong and American identities.  We carefully craft personal family stories during the seven years spent working on our book.  Featured with over 200 photographs, the book provides a vivid portrayal of life, resilience and the art of kung fu.  Above all, this book is a social history, tracing the arc of Manhattan’s Chinatown from gangs to gentrification, in addition to telling a moving story of love, family and loss.  

Brief Book Description:

The book is on one level the story of Sifu Wing Hong Yip and his 50 years of teaching Dragon Style Kung Fu in Manhattan's Chinatown. On another level it is the story of an immigrant who used his kung fu and journalism backgrounds to start a new life in the United States.  Of interest to the non-martial artist will be the exposition of Chinese culture and the exploration of Chinatown over the decades from gangs to gentrification.  Our story weaves these seemingly disparate threads into a rich tapestry of life, loss and martial arts. Language learners will be drawn to the authentic Chinese language materials included in the book, as well as the proverbs which appear throughout the text.  This publication reflects our efforts to cement the history, politics and culture of our dual British Hong Kong and American heritage.

Details to purchase a copy of the book will be given in May 2024.