Media

A local kung fu legend aims to take the study of martial arts to a higher level
By Kevin Galvin, Boston Globe Staff | August 16, 2005

An ancient Chinese proverb holds that boasting about wealth or virtue will bring your demise.

Maybe that explains why one of the top martial artists in America has operated in Forest Hills for two decades without attracting much attention around town.

Inside Kung-Fu magazine inducted Yang, Jwing-Ming into its Hall of Fame in 1990, calling him ''one of the most respected kung fu practitioners in the world." His Yang Martial Arts Association has 60 affiliated schools in 18 countries, from Argentina to Poland to Iran. In 1983 he founded YMAA Publication Center, which has since published two dozen martial arts authors.

Yang's own books about chi kung, tai chi chuan, and kung fu -- he's written 32 of them -- bear the organizational rigor of a man who also happens to hold a doctorate in mechanical engineering. Seminars he conducts at his dojo on Hyde Park Avenue draw students from the world over.

"He's one of the greats of all time," said Dave Cater, editor of Inside Kung-Fu, which also placed Yang on its list of the 100 most influential martial artists of the 20th century, along with Jackie Chan, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Bruce Lee. ''Because he has published so much and his business acumen is so great, many people forget he's such a great technician and clinician."

Boston hasn't so much forgotten as it has never really noticed. The only time Yang remembers being contacted by the local media was for an interview with a Chinese language newspaper.

Now, at the age of 59, Yang has an ambitious plan for the final stage of his career that he hopes will help restore the study of martial arts to the level of an earlier generation.

"When I come here, I have big hopes -- I say, maybe I can teach foreigners to reach the level. They try. It's not easy. And then finally, I wake up," Yang said in an interview at the spartan offices of YMAA headquarters. ''Society is too much a distraction. Their mind cannot concentrate. Their life is not easy. So that's why I say, OK, to train, I need to be like ancient times. Take them to the mountains."

"Take Them to the Mountains" isn't one of those evocative descriptions of a tai chi move, like ''Grasp Sparrow's Tail" or ''White Crane Spreads its Wings." Yang has sold his publishing company, purchased 240 wooded acres in California's remote Humboldt County, and built a cabin. He has formed a private foundation and, if all goes as planned, two years from now the master will lead a small group of students into the mountains to study. For 10 years.

Explaining ancient secrets