History of the KFA
Master Kwan is a 9th generation Successor Master of the Seven Star Praying Mantis System, having been taught by John Chung Lee (Chen Zhen Yi), Grandmaster of the Hwa Yu Tai Chi style, and 8th generation Successor Master of the Seven Star Praying Mantis style. Master Kwan is involved in youth intervention on behalf of the Chicago Police, runs and oversees schools in Chicago, New York, Mexico, and the Far East, and is a founding member of the Traditional Chinese Martial Arts Coalition.
Master Kwan has been actively involved in Chinese Kung-Fu since the seventies. Traveling to and from British Hong Kong during that era, he returned to the United States specializing in the martial arts style of Northern Shaolin Seven Star Praying Mantis Kung-Fu. However his goal of establishing a traditional martial arts school in America did not stop him from training with Grandmaster Chung-Lee in Asia. During the creation of the Kung-Fu Academy his knowledge of Kung-Fu flourished while remaining an assistant to Ming-Choy-ly.
While teaching for several years at a “Closed Door” school in the Chicago Argyle Street area, Sifu Kwan and others hosted and assisted Taiwan Tai Chi Master Hsu Fun Yuen—who subsequently founded his own Chicago Tai-Chi school. Later on, he and Sifu Donald Moy assisted the late Sifu Ming Choy Ly in founding and operating a nearby ‘Open Door’ Praying Mantis school. Since the 1980s, Master Kwan has devoted himself to operating his own school, which has now been established for almost three decades at 6751 North Sheridan Road
A gracious host to teachers of other martial arts, Sifu Kwan has over the years opened his school for seminars taught by such luminaries as Eagle Claw Master Grandmaster Leung Fu, Grandmaster Ming, Serrate Eskimo Penang-Guru, Jimmy Tacosa, and other Senior practitioners of authentic and venerable martial arts, such as Ju-Jitsu, Taekwondo, and Wudang Chuan. Master Kwan has received numerous awards in martial arts competition, both as competitor and in recognition of his sponsorship.
At a ceremony in San Juan, attended by numerous Senior Martial Arts Masters, including Jedan Figueroa, 10th dan, the late Shih an Moses Powell, and Professor Francis (of Trinidad), with dedication to the memory of the late Professor Vie (Floored Visitation). In large thanks in part to the gracious Sifu Ruben Torres (who received his first black sash from Master Kwan and is now Professor Torres, Vee Arnis Jusitisu 7th dan, and 9th dan founder of his own KiDo [Chi Dao] style.
Sifu Kwan was deeply honored to be inducted into the international Ju Jitsu Hall of Fame, and the receive its Golden Life Award, in recognition of his unwavering devotion and dedication to his own marital art tradition and of his hospitality and fostering spirit towards exemplars of other martial traditions