Our Story

In Kung Fu, nothing is more important than having a distinguished lineage. It sets apart the people who have learned the genuine arts and secrets from the brawlers, con men, and those who have just made something up. By joining our Kung Fu Family, you become part of this lineage. Our story is a living story which unfolds day by day and by joining our Kung Fu family you become part of this story and help write the future chapters.

Nam Yang Pugilistic Assocation was founded in 1954 by Great Grandmaster Ang Liang Huat. Born in China, he travelled with his parents to South East Asia in search of fortune. At age 10, they returned as a wealthy business family. The young Ang Lian Huat was passionate about Chinese Martial Arts and their surrounding culture - he wanted to do nothing else. So, as was the custom in those days, his family hired tutors for him. Being wealthy, they were able to afford the very best and provide them with accommodation, food and whatever they needed.

Great Grand Master Ang had many tutors but there were only 3 who he considered real masters. The first was Tee Hong Yew also known as ‘Sim Pik Lao Lang’ - ‘the mysterious old man’ - due to his habit of appearing and disappearing without a word. He was a Master of the Eng Chun (Wing Chun) White Crane art.

Great GrandMaster Ang Lian Huat

Second was Great, Great Grand Master Tan Kew Leong (陈九 龙 Chen Jiu Long). Master Tan Kew Leong hailed from Tapei, Taiwan. He used to travel between TaiPei (台北) and Zhang Zhou (漳州) and established a shop as a bone setter. Zhang Zhou was famous for the Shaolin "Tai Zu" style of martial arts, and also the "Shaolin Song Jiang Weapons", which comes with the "Fighting Green Lion", which Grandmaster Tan Kew Leong trained in. It was from Grandmaster Tan Kew Leong that Grandmaster Ang learn the Tai Chor "Tai Zu" (Tiger) System, the famous "Song Jiang" traditional weaponsand Chinese herbal medicine.

Great, Great Grandmaster Tan Kew Leong with two huge granite basins piled on his body and looking absolutely untroubled using the art of Qi (Chi), Iron Shirt Qigong

Third was the monk Miao Sian Meng from the Shaolin Temple in Quan Zhou, Fukien. This monk was a student of Xiao Dan Qing and taught the Shuang Yang ‘Frost Sun White Crane Soft and Gentle art’ as well as external Chinese medicine.

Great Grand Master Ang survived the Japense Occupation of China during WW2 and served as a non-commisioned officer in the Nationalist army during the ensuing Chinese Civil War. When the Nationalists were Defeated, Kung Fu Masters were often summarily executed by the victorious Communists so Great Grandmaster Ang left China for Singapore, where he formed Nam Yang Pugillistic Association in 1954and taught there until his passing in 1984.

Great Grandmaster Ang was greatly respected throughout the Singapore martial arts community and trained many students. One of whom was Grandmaster Tan Soh Tin. Grandmaster Tan was born to Chinese immigrants during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore in the second world war era. He began training in the Eng Chun White Crane Art at age 8 under his uncle, who was a famous bone setter, continued under the former bandit Tan Heng Hang and finally became a senior student of Great, Grandmaster Ang lian Huat at Nam Yang Pugilistic association. Master Tan's life was built around Kung Fu and Nam Yang. He sacrificed a great deal for his association and his Kung Fu Family. He took over as Master in 1984 and continued until his passing in 2019.

Grandmaster Tan Soh Tin

Master Iain Armstrong began training with Nam Yang’s branch in London in 1981 and In 1981, and began training directly under Grandmaster Tan in Singapore in 1987. He was promoted to head of the UK branch in 1994 and in 2007 founded the world’s first ‘Kung Fu Retreat’, deep in the forested mountains of Thailand’s most remote province: the Nam Yang Kung Fu Retreat. He is also the first non-Chinese Master in the 'Nam Yang' lineage. You can read Master Iain's official biography here

Master Iain Armstrong

The arts taught at Nam Yang Kung Fu Retreat are the arts that have been passed down to us. They are the genuine arts of the Fukienese Shaolin Temple (which inspired so many martial arts, including Karate). They are practiced and taught in the same way that our founder, Great Grandmaster Ang, taught us. These are not competition, gymnastic or demonstration arts but genuine Kung Fu that made the Shaolin monks so famous. They were the arts practised by secret societies which overthrew the last Chinese emperor.

Our martial arts were not invented by a government controlled body so as to reflect communist ideology and prevent them from being too lethal. Nor have they been mixed with gymnastics. Nor were they made up by someone who had watched one too many low budget Kung Fu movies!

Our arts are what sets us apart.

We are on a mission to bring the benefits of our arts to as many people as we can and teach the world what real Kung Fu has to offer.