Shaolin Wahnam Institute

Lineage

Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit is the founder of the Shaolin Wahnam Institute.

Grandmaster Wong One Finger

The school’s lineage can be traced back directly to the two southern Shaolin Temples, as shown in the family tree.

Not many people realize there were two southern Shaolin Temples, one in the City of Quanzhou, and the other on the Nine-Lotus Mountain, both located in Fujian Province of South China.

First Southern Shaolin Temple

During the Ming Dynasty (14th to 17th century) a Ming emperor built a southern Shaolin Temple in the City of Quanzhou in Fujian Province as an imperial temple, to replace the northern Shaolin Temple in Henan Province. This temple was burnt by the Qing Army around the 1850s, led by the crown prince Yong Cheng with the help of Lama kungfu experts from Tibet.

Second Southern Shaolin Temple

The Venerable Chee Seen escaped and built a secret southern Shaolin Temple on the Nine-Lotus Mountain, also in Fujian Province. This temple was also soon burnt by the Qing Army, this time led by Pak Mei, a classmate of Chee Seen in the southern Shaolin Temple in Quanzhou.

Northern Shaolin Temple

The northern Shaolin Temple on Song Shan or Song Mountain in Henan Province remained throughout the Qing Dynasty. In fact, the Chinese characters, “Shao Lin Si” which means “Shaolin Temple” at the Main Gate of the Temple were written by the Qing Emperor, Qian Long. This temple was burnt in 1928 by rival Chinese warlords, 17 years after the fall of the Qing Dynasty. It was destroyed by cannon fire and had nothing to do with kungfu.

Lineage of the Shaolin Wahnam Institute

Grandmaster Wong’s Teachers

Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit learned from four sifus or teachers.

Grandmaster Wong’s first sifu was Sifu Lai Chin Wah, more widely known by his honorable nickname as “Uncle Righteousness”.
His second sifu was Sifu Chee Kim Thong, regarded during his time as the living treasure of the People’s Republic of China.
Grandmaster Wong’s third sifu was Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, the third-generation successor from the southern Shaolin Temple at Quanzhou.
His fourth sifu was Sifu Choe Hoong Choy, the patriarch of the Choe Family Wing Choon.

It was no coincidence that all of Grandmaster Wong’s sifus were patriarchs of their respective styles because Grandmaster Wong sought the best available teachers.

Our school, Wahnam, is named after Sifu Lai Chin Wah and Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, as much of our instructional material came from them.