The Chinese Shao-lin Centers trace their lineage back to the Southern Shao-lin Temple (Nan Shao-lin) located in Fujian Province North of the town of Putian, through a succession of three remarkable Shao-lin Grandmasters...

Grandmaster Su Kong T'ai Djin (1849 - 1928)

Known throughout China as "the Hairy Master", Grandmaster Su Kong T'ai Djin was a martial artist of extraordinary ability. He was born with a rare condition causing him to be covered with hair from head to toe. Believing him to be a demon, his parents abandoned him as a baby in a forest near the Southern Shao-lin Temple. A passing Shao-lin discovered him there, and he was taken back to the temple and raised by the monks. From childhood on, Grandmaster Su pursued his martial education with a rare diligence, leading the Fujian masters to stray from the traditional method of teaching with his instruction - normally students were assigned to a single master to learn one specific branch of the Shao-lin art. Instead, Grandmaster Su studied with the full range of Masters at the Southern Shao-lin Temple, so that by the time he was appointed Grandmaster he had learned and mastered the whole of the Shao-lin repertoire! This was an unparalleled historical achievement which would eventually lead to the survival of the art as we know it today...

Grandmaster Ie Chang Ming (1880 - 1976)

Grandmaster Ie Chang Ming was admitted to the Fujian temple as a young boy, and like Grandmaster Su poured all of his time and energy into his martial training, studying under Grandmaster Su both at the Southern Shao-lin Temple and in the Fujianese mountains following the burning of the temple early in the 20th century. One evening while Grandmaster Ie was traveling through the country side he decided to take a short cut through an apparently abandoned military encampment, only to be accosted by a pair of sentries. Eventually the group of soldiers surrounding Grandmaster Ie grew to 11, and the situation escalated into a fight resulting in the deaths of all 11 soldiers. A price was put on Grandmaster Ie's head, so he fled mainland China to Indonesia, where he lived and taught the Shao-lin art until his passing in 1976.

Grandmaster Sin Kwang Thé (1943 - Present)

Grandmaster Sin Kwang Thé was born in Bandung Indonesia, and began training with Grandmaster Ie at the age of seven. As did the two Grandmasters before him, Grandmaster Thé pursued his martial education with an intense dedication, studying daily with Grandmaster Ie until leaving Indonesia in 1964 to study physics and engineering in Lexington, Kentucky. While studying in the United States he would return to Indonesia whenever possible to continue his training with Grandmaster Ie. In 1968 he was awarded his 10th degree Grandmaster's Red Belt by Grandmaster Ie, making him the youngest Grandmaster in the history of the art. After Grandmaster Ie's death, Grandmaster Thé realized that the very survival of the Shao-lin art depended on his sharing it with a new generation of students, so on the verge of finishing school he dropped his academic studies in order to devote all of his time to teaching Shao-lin Kung Fu.

Elder Master David N. Soard and Elder Master Sharon H. Soard

Elder Masters David and Sharon Soard have studied Shao-lin Kung Fu for over 30 years under Shao-lin Grandmaster Sin Kwang Thé. They opened and began teaching at the first Chinese Shao-lin Center in Denver, CO in 1979. They are the first Masters to be hosted in China by the Hunan Martial Arts Association, and have been honored by the monks at both the original Shao-lin Temple (Honan Province) and the Southern Shao-lin Temple (Fujian Province) with stone tablets in the courtyards of both temples. In 1996 they led the first group of foreign students to visit and perform at the Wu Tang Temple. They hold the highest rank awarded to date by the Shao-lin Grandmaster (8th Degree Black Belt Elder Master), and are currently continuing to teach the full range of classes and festivals at the Denver and Boulder Chinese Shao-lin Centers as well as continuing their advancement under the guidance of Grandmaster Thé.