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Growing up in the Bay Area, Jacob Brinnand spent a lot of time in the Asian and Pacific Islander community where martial arts was a big part of the culture.

"I became really interested in martial arts when I was a kid. I loved it," Brinnand said. "I always watched kung fu movies growing up. Drunken Master II with Lau Kar-leung and Jackie Chan was one of my favorites."

He took martial arts classes, but had never found the kind of legacy he saw in those kung fu movies. "I couldn't find a good teacher. I couldn't find authenticity."

A lucky star shone upon him in early 2005 when he met Y.C. Wong, a fourth-generation disciple of direct lineage from grandmaster Wong Fei-hung when he was going to college.

Wong Fei-hung (1847-1925), a legendary figure, was famous for his superb martial arts skills in hung gar and drunk boxing as well as his practice of dit da (traumatology and bone setting in traditional Chinese medicine). More than 100 films have been made about his life.

"I was a young man that didn't have a lot of direction in my life. I was living in inner-city San Francisco at the time, a colorful neighborhood with different personalities. I was on a self-destructive path," Brinnand said. "Going to Chinatown was a way of finding a remarkable human being. In 2005, I met with great-grandmaster Y.C.Wong and I became obsessed."

At that time, Wong was in his 70s and had dedicated his whole life to kung fu. He's been teaching kung fu in San Francisco since the 1960s.

"He decided to take me, a young kid, on, and show me the ways of this ancient art … There were times where I didn't have money, and my old shifu (master) would pay for my meals. He would tell me, don't worry, keep coming to class, keep training. There were many times he showed us incredible amounts of kindness and strength without asking for anything in return."

Brinnand witnessed how Y.C.Wong modeled his life after Wong Fei-hung and also practiced dit da. "So, not only was he a master of fighting, but also he was a healer."

In 2007, Brinnand went to China to take part in the 160th anniversary of Wong Fei-hung's birth as one of his lineage disciples, among whom only a few were Westerners.

"For 12 days we traveled on a bus with masters and living legends together all over Guangdong. I got to sit shoulder to shoulder with people who were born in the early nineteen hundreds and they got to see us demonstrate."

Helping community

From Wong, Brinnand said he learned that kung fu isn't just about beating somebody down. "It is for health, it is for strength, it is for longevity, it is for healing, it is for helping the community, it is for being a part of the community," Brinnand said. "I've never seen that before."

Wong sent him Chinese classic texts from time to time. "I've got them all translated and when you read it, it is profound. It's profound in the sense where it really makes you stop and observe deeply." He got hooked on the Tao Te Ching and has listened to it day in and day out, hundreds of times so far.

He later quit his marketing and advertising business to devote his life entirely to kung fu.

The new path took him to Houston, Texas, about three years ago to teach and practice kung fu full time. Besides teaching young kids basic skills, he also trains about 50 teenagers and adults, who are serious about learning kung fu.

"Now my biggest passion is helping others succeed and watch them blossom," he said.

mayzhou@chinadailyusa.com