Su Yu-chang (; – ),

was a Taiwanese martial artist, scholar and practitioner of

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...

who devoted his life to teaching

kung fu Chinese martial arts, commonly referred to with umbrella terms Kung fu (term), kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (sport), wushu (), are Styles of Chinese martial arts, multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater Ch ...

, traditional

Chinese philosophy Chinese philosophy (Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 中国哲学; Traditional Chinese characters, traditional Chinese: 中國哲學) refers to the philosophical traditions that originated and developed within the historical ...

and

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

all over the world.

Life and career

Su’s father, (蘇正生), was one of the members of the legendary Taiwanese

Kano baseball team The , officially the , was a Taiwanese baseball team established in 1928 in Japanese Formosa. The team was a motley crew that consisted of Han Chinese ( Hoklo and Hakka), Taiwanese indigenous people, and Japanese players. The high school baseball ...

. Su started his studies of

at the age of eight under

Praying Mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate ...

Master Chang Tekuei, who came to work as a foreigner from mainland China and taught him ''

mizongyi Mizongyi () is a style of Chinese martial art based on deception and mobility. As an external northern Chinese style, Mizong belongs to the " Long Fist" family of martial arts although in some traditions Mizongyi is considered an internal art ...

'' and ''Pimen''

Northern Praying Mantis Northern Praying Mantis () is a style of Chinese martial arts, sometimes called Shandong Praying Mantis after Shandong, its province of origin. It is one of the best known styles of Northern Shaolin kung fu, "Northern" kung fu and it encompass ...

. After studying with other famous masters, he became from 1963 a notable disciple of

Liu Yunqiao Liu Yunqiao (劉雲樵, 1909 - January 24, 1992) was a Chinese Army Colonel and a martial artist from the Republic of China. He was born in Jibeitou Village, Cangzhou, Hebei Province and is most famous for his martial arts prowess. He was a clo ...

, founder of the Wutan Center for the Promotion of Chinese Wushu (武壇國術推廣中心), an institution to which he gave international continuity in the form of the Pachi Tanglang Martial Arts Institute (八極螳螂武藝總舘), with branches worldwide. In 1976, Su travelled to Venezuela, where he settled in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

. He started a practice of Chinese traditional medicine and started teaching several styles of kung fu. Initially he taught jointly with fellow expatriate Dai Shizhe (戴士哲) at ''La danza del dragón'' school, and some time after he founded the ''Instituto Pachimen'' (八極門). During this period, he served as vice-president of the South American Martial Arts Federation. In 1989 he travelled to

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

, where he founded the first European branch of his institute, now rebranded Pachi Tanglang Martial Arts Institute. Shortly thereafter a

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

branch opened, and in 1992 Master Su was hired to train special security teams for the Olympic Games in Barcelona. In the following years, new branches of the school were opened in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and the UK. Master Su would spend time doing the rounds of his institute's branches around the world, securing the transmission for posterity of the wealth of knowledge he had accumulated.''The Invisible Web: A Taichi Chuan Manual'', p.6
Bio page
at the Mallorca site. In later years, Su returned to his native Taiwan, where he strengthened the

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

and

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung, officially Kaohsiung City, is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsiung City has a population of approximately 2.73 million p ...

branches of the school, and from where he would continue to travel extensively. He died in

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. La Pa ...

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

, in April 2019.

Works

Master Su published a number of well received books on martial arts, mostly compiled from his lessons in Spanish, Japanese and English, as well as several video recordings on teachings of Bagua Quan, Baji Quan and several Praying Mantis substyles.Bio at Wutan Alaska

Bibliography

* ''Pachi Tanglang Chuan: Eight Ultimate Praying Mantis'', Pachi Tanglang International, 2014. * ''I Ching: el oráculo'', Madrid, Visión Libros, 2012. * ''Taichi Chuan to Awaken the Power of the Qi'' (気の力を覚醒させる太極拳), Tokyo, Budo-RA Books, 2009. * ''Secret Method of Praying Mantis Style'' (螳螂拳秘法), Tokyo, Budo-RA Books, 2007. * ''Pachi Tanglang Chuan'', Madrid, Visión Libros, 2006. * ''Yang Taichi Chuan'', Madrid, Visión Net, 2005. * ''The Invisible Web: A Taichi Chuan Manual'', Palma de Mallorca, Asociación Europea Pachi Tanglang Chuan y Tao, 1998. * ''El tejido invisible: Manual de Taichi Chuan'', Palma de Mallorca, Prensa Universitaria, 1995. * ''Pachi Tang Lang Chuen'', Barcelona, Alas, 1990.

References

External links

at Wutan Alaska.
Main English-language page
of Pachi Tanglang International.
Main Spanish site
of Pachi Tanglang International. {{DEFAULTSORT:Su, Yu-chang 1940 births 2019 deaths 20th-century Taiwanese physicians Chinese male martial artists Chinese baguazhang practitioners Chinese bajiquan practitioners Chinese piguaquan practitioners Chinese tai chi practitioners Chinese Táng Láng Quán practitioners Chinese xingyiquan practitioners Martial arts school founders Martial arts writers People from Tainan Taiwanese expatriates in Spain Expatriates in Venezuela Taiwanese male martial artists Taiwanese philosophers Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners