Our Story

In Kung Fu, having a distinguished lineage is of utmost importance.  By joining the Nam Yang Kung Fu Family, you become part of this lineage. Our story is a living story that unfolds day by day, and by joining our Kung Fu family, you become part of this story and the new chapters to come.

Nam Yang Pugilistic Association was founded in 1954 by Great Grandmaster Ang Liang Huat. He was born in China. He travelled with his parents to Southeast Asia in search of fortune. By the time he was 10, they had returned as a wealthy business family. The young Ang Lian Huat was passionate about Chinese Martial Arts and their surrounding culture. 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 other necessary things.

Great Grand Master Ang had many tutors, but there were only three whom 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.

Second was Great, Great Grand Master Tan Kew Leong (陈九 龙 Chen Jiu Long). Master Tan Kew Leong was from Taipei, 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 weapons, and Chinese herbal medicine. 

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 Japanese Occupation of China during WW2 and served as a non-commissioned 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 the Nam Yang Pugilistic Association in 1954 and 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. 

Master Iain Armstrong is a two-time world kung fu champion, and is the founder & current Kung Fu Master of the world's first 'Kung Fu Retreat' known as the Nam Yang Kung Fu Retreat in Pai, Thailand. He is the inheritor of one of the world’s most respected Chinese Kung Fu lineages, which can be traced right back to the founding Masters of Shaolin Kung Fu 1,500 years ago! Master Iain is the first non-Chinese Master in the ‘Nam Yang’ lineage. 

Master Iain Armstrong began training with Nam Yang’s branch in London 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 Nam Yang Kung Fu Retreat.

The arts taught at Kung Fu House are the arts that have been passed down to us in the Nam Yang Lineage. 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 was practiced by the Shaolin monks. They were the arts practiced by secret societies that overthrew the last Chinese emperor.

Our martial arts were not invented by a government-controlled body to reflect communist ideology and prevent them from being lethal. Nor have they been mixed with gymnastics.

Our arts are what set 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.

To experience the art yourself and turn over a new leaf, contact us and book your place at our Kung Fu House, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India