20 Years of Chinese Boxing: From Shaolin to Wushu, and Back to the Direct-Lineage Schools

About 20 years ago our family began learning kung fu with a teacher who had been a lay disciple (俗家弟子, a disciple who trains without taking monastic vows) of 少林寺 (Shaolin Si, the Shaolin Temple, to which the legend of Buddhist Chinese boxing is tied; see Southern Fists, Northern Kicks: the two lineages of Shaolin). At first I trained in group classes like everyone else, but soon switched to private lessons, which continued for many years. The cost was noticeably higher than group classes, but I felt it was worth it for the one-on-one attention and the freedom to choose the time.

Each lesson took a good while. It opened with thorough stretching and warm-up of the basic postures of Chinese boxing, moved into actual forms for only a short stretch, and closed with a warm-down to relax the muscles. With that ratio, progress felt slow: most of the time went into preparing the body again and again rather than practising forms, and we were not directly taught how the techniques are used.

What I want to stress, as someone who went through it, is that this kind of learning is a private class with no competition behind it. It is an activity for health and self-cultivation, not a path designed for athlete-level precision. Most students learn in order to perform at events. With no stage to measure results, neither teacher nor student is under strong pressure to reach a particular standard. That is not wrong; it is simply the nature of this kind of training, and students should understand it from the start.

I remember it clearly: it was early 2011. Khru Ken, Khru Ryu and TCM Doctor Rain had the chance to train under the line of Ajarn Woranat (Bun) Ditsayabut. The recorded history of wushu in Thailand says he founded the "Wushu-Kung Fu Institute" in 1969 to teach and spread 武术 (wushu, the modern Chinese martial art drawn from many traditional Chinese boxing lineages), and the Wushu Federation of Thailand followed in 1989. I see this as the milestone that clearly opened a new chapter in our family's kung fu path.

The training took place at the Sports Authority of Thailand on Ramkhamhaeng Road, where Ajarn Bun had senior athletes teach directly, and it ran for several months. What Khru Ken, Khru Ryu and TCM Doctor Rain felt at once was the difference between training for competition and the casual training they had known. In competitive wushu every movement has to be correct against criteria that judges can score, and the seniors who taught were themselves athletes competing under the same criteria. The Wushu Federation of Thailand is a national body, not a single school, so athletes in its system have a path onward to the national team at the SEA Games and the Asian Games.

Unfortunately, at the end of 2011 Thailand was hit by a great flood that lasted for months, and training had to stop. Yet those few months were enough to change how my children saw martial training for good. I think this is a lesson for anyone considering kung fu: if you have the chance, try both approaches, because each gives a completely different experience. To see how taolu and sanda differ, read what kind of sport wushu is.

Read next · Chinese WushuWhat Kind of Sport Is Wushu, and Why It Is Not One Single Chinese StyleWhat sport wushu is

After a pause, and after training with several other teachers along the way, Khru Michelle began learning with Khru Tee and Khru Lee. Both are senior figures in Thai wushu who had taught her older brothers, Khru Ken, Khru Ryu and TCM Doctor Rain, before. In Thai wushu, Khru Tee is the name with the clearest public record. The programme Kho Khayap Family on Thai PBS's ALTV invited "Coach Tee, Sujinda Yangrungrawin" to teach its wushu episode, stressing that wushu trains physical discipline and breathing.

Khru Tee's path shows how far serious wushu training can take a person. He won a bronze medal at the 2013 SEA Games in Myanmar, competed at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta in the men's combined daoshu and gunshu, that is 刀术 (broadsword routine) and 棍术 (staff routine), finishing ninth, then won gold at the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia in duilian (对练, a choreographed combat routine) with two teammates, and later served as a Thai national team coach for the Wushu Federation of Thailand at the 2025 SEA Games.

After Khru Michelle had trained with Khru Tee and Khru Lee for several years, Khru Ryu and TCM Doctor Rain came back to train with both of them again, together with Meme. What I see clearly is that the difference between private kung fu lessons and training in a sports system lies in the system behind it. A sports system has competitions, judging criteria, and coaches and referees trained to the same standard, so the standard of teaching does not rest on any one teacher alone, even though teachers of both kinds teach with the same love for the art.

Many people who come to me because they want their child to learn kung fu ask the same question: what is the difference between Shaolin and wushu? I answer plainly that it is not just the name of a school or an organisation, but the "destination" set on the first day. Learning with a Shaolin lay disciple, as our family did, is training for health, culture and performance, with no standard stage to measure results. Training in the Wushu Federation of Thailand's system has domestic competitions, a path to the SEA Games and the Asian Games, and sits within the system of the International Wushu Federation (IWUF, which governs world competition in both taolu 套路 routines and sanda 散打 combat).

Comparison of the Two Kung Fu Training Approaches

This table does not say one approach is better; both have their own value and simply give different results. Someone who wants to relax and experience Chinese culture may be happy with the first. Someone who wants measurable progress and wants their child to build an athlete's discipline will get a much clearer answer from an organisation with a real competition system.

Competitive wushu answered the questions of discipline and precision clearly, but one question had been left open since the Shaolin lessons: what is each movement for, and how is it used? Our family found that answer in direct-lineage schools, where a master accepts disciples formally, records their names in the lineage, and passes the art on from master to disciple. That custom is the origin of Bai Shi (拜师), the ceremony by which a Chinese master accepts a disciple. I call this stage the return to the roots.

Khru Ryu went to Xi'an for his bachelor's and master's degrees and trained Wing Chun with a master there. Today he is a direct-line disciple in Ip Man's (叶问) lineage through his master in Xi'an, and holds master level in Wing Chun. I wrote about it in Lessons Learned from Training Wing Chun in China. TCM Doctor Rain studied Traditional Chinese Medicine in Rangsit University's programme with Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, and is recorded as a direct disciple of Master Zhang Rongliang (张荣亮) in Chen-style Taiji (陈氏太极拳) in Nanjing. Their credentials are on the pages for Khru Ryu and TCM Doctor Rain.

What came back was not a prettier form but an understanding of what the body structure, the delivery of force and the timing of each movement are for, which neither performance training nor training for points emphasises. Returning to the roots did not mean discarding what came before: the precision from competitive wushu is still in each of my children, only now it has roots to hold on to.

Read next · Chinese WushuSouthern Fist, Northern Kick: 南拳北腿, Shaolin Split Into Two Lineages — Was Either Truly Supreme?Northern and southern Shaolin boxing

These 20 years have directly shaped how we teach at IMAC Dojo (International Martial Art Center). I believe good training needs all three sides: the gentleness of training for health, the intensity of training against measurable criteria, and an understanding of where each movement comes from in a real lineage. The same principle holds for children, working adults and complete beginners.

At IMAC Dojo we always put correct fundamental posture first, because I have seen that people who rush into difficult techniques without a solid base tend to get hurt or quit halfway. Discipline and safety therefore come first, just as the senior athletes taught my children at the Sports Authority of Thailand in 2011: correct form always comes before speed and beauty.

The lineage our family received from direct-lineage schools is not kept on a shelf. Khru Ryu's Ip Man lineage Wing Chun is the close-range core of the Wing Chun Sambo course, which is open to the public. The dojo also runs Shinkyokushin Karate, Judo and Wai Kru Muay Thai courses; days, times and fees are on the schedule and pricing page. Shaolin kung fu is still passed on privately and is not part of the public course schedule, and the dojo does not teach competitive wushu.

Looking back over 20 years, I am more convinced than ever that there is no single formula for kung fu. The path that began with a Shaolin lay disciple taught our family gentleness and cultural value. Competitive wushu under Ajarn Bun's line, and with Khru Tee and Khru Lee, taught discipline and precision backed by a real stage. The direct-lineage schools took us back to the roots of the art. The three stages do not conflict; they join into the foundation I use to design teaching at IMAC Dojo today. If you are interested in the courses we run, the details are on the schedule and pricing page. I hope this first-hand story helps readers choose the kung fu path that suits them more clearly.