When I First met Lu Wen-ching, I was less surprised by what I saw than by what I didn't see. Here was one of the great living masters of the Chinese martial art known as yung chun chuan, a man whose uncle had been kang-fu Film starBruce Lee's teacher. No one in the ROC compares with him when it comes to mastery of the art, I was assured; indeed.he was the only person qualified to teachit. So I expected to meet something like a cross between a Surno wrestler and Rocky Balboa.

　Not true－Lu Wen-ching, or shih-fu ("fatherly teacher") as his Chinese students respectfully call him, is the mostunassuming man you could imagine.Short, balding, and favoring heavy-frame glasses, the 50-year-old Lu looks more like he belongs in a bank than in a train-ing hall.

　But don't be fooled by appearances. Lu is quite qualified (if not willing) to rip apart anybody twice his size. He regularly spars blindfolded with open-eyed students (some of whom weigh half again as much as he does). And even if you have never looked upon chopsticks as deadly weapons, you might care io step aside when Lu hurls one with enough force to pierce a piece of board an inch thick.

　However, showmanship is not the point of vung chun chuan. " Kung-Ju (Chinese martial arts) consists of two parts : an and technique," explains Lu. '"Art' means the gracefulness of the move-ment; 'technique' means you can use the kung-fu to protect your life or attack an enemy. In order to shorten the time of study, yung chun chuan does not stress gracefulness."

　What yung chun chuan does stress is aggressive Fighting. "If you're standing on a beach and are constantly on the defensive (against an opponent), perhaps you'll be thrown into the sea," Lu illustrates. "But if you keep attacking yourenemy, maybe you can force him away from the beach to a more favorable location . "

　Yufig chan cfman has a short, but distinguished history. The First master (or mistress) of the discipline was a woman named Yen Yung-chun, who lived toward the end of the Manchus" rule. Reportedly very beautiful, the youthful Yung-chun was constantly beingharassed by unwelcome mates. A Buddhist nun is said to have taken pity on her and taught her the essentials of thekung-fu variation which later came to bear her name.

　As in many Chinese disciplines, the masters of yung chun chuan have been reluctant to spread their highest teaching to more than a few trusted students, partly for fear that it would be misused by people with bad intentions. Until the last several decades, yung chun chuan remained a largely unknown discipline practiced by a tiny cadre of dedicated enthusiasts. But when Lu's uncle. Yen Wan, started accepting students in Hongkong, and especially when Bruce Lee started making his famous kung-fu films, yung chun chuan gained a world following. Now, Lu estimated, there may be as many as 400,000 students around the world.