Did you know that in Singapore, there is this famous Chin Woo Athletic Association (????) made popular by the movie Huo YuanJia and starred by Jet Li? You can find the association in Singapore Chinatown.
Chin Woo (Athletic) Association, Chinese martial arts school was started by Huo Yuanjia in Shanghai with the aim to teach fellow Chinese martial arts or Kung fu for learning the art of defense, improvement of health and mind. Currently there are many Chin Woo (athletic) association around the world. He rose to fame when he won the challenge against a Russian wrestler (between 1909 and 1910) during the time when China was weak. His association was supported by Sun Yat-Sen, the revolutionary Chinese hero.
Coincidently, Singapore Chin Woo association was set up around the time when Dr Sun Yat Sen came to Singapore in the early 1900s with the aim to raise funds from the rich Chinese in Singapore to overthrow the despotic Qing dynasty in China. There was a saying that Dr Sun Yat Sen invited Chin Woo association to Singapore for personal protection as he was worried about assassination by the Qing government from China. During the chaotic time, Qing government who was ruled by the manchus were worried about revolution from the mostly Han Chinese in China.
First posted on 17 Dec 2013
For more information on Chin woo, you can visit http://www.chinwoo.com/
Singapore Chin Woo (Athletic) Association is very near to the Duxton HDB flat. This beautiful shophouse is more than a century old.
Singapore Chin Woo (Athletic) Association
The real Master Huo Yuanjia. Photo from wikipedia
Jet Li starring as master Huo Yuanjia. Photo from google.com
Huo Yuanjia movie theme song sang by Jay Chou
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