Your Voices: Seattle Kung Fu club celebrates 60th birthday

The Seattle Kung Fu Club in the Chinatown International District is celebrating its 60th birthday this year!

Thousands have entered the door at 656½ South King Street, to learn Kung Fu.

85-year-old Grandmaster John S. S. Leong, founded the club, way back in 1963, and he still practices and teaches there.

KIRO 7 recently visited the club and met the Grandmaster, and his biggest fan, his son, Master Robin Leong.

Grandmaster Leong’s Hung Gar Kung Fu is a style that dates back to the 1700s and has roots in the ancient Shaolin Monks of Southern China.

His mastery of both Hung Gar Kung Fu, and extreme breathing exercises (called Chi Gung), have given him the body control to bend steel rods with his throat and have a granite block broken on his back while a sharp sword is against his throat.

VIDEO: Grandmaster Leong demonstrates dangerous moves

The shouts you hear Grandmaster Leong make while practicing are not for dramatic effect.

He is following a traditional belief that the sounds and exhalations he makes condition five major organs: the liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys.

He is conditioning his body both internally and externally.

VIDEO: Grandmaster Leong demonstrates centuries old forms

Further information can be found at http://www.seattlekungfuclub.com/ and https://www.chi-life.com/.

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