Sifu Fiedler three months after starting lessons in the martial arts in Edmonton, 1974

Grand Master Chow took these pictures of Sifu Fiedler after Sifu Fiedler moved in with him and his family. Sifu Fiedler was still going to the Hung Kuen School, "Kempo", because he had paid in advance. This was exactly three months after moving to Edmonton, Sifu Fiedler was already living with GM Chow. In the pictures above is Hung Kuen, " Kempo", lessons in black, Lesson taught by Grand Master Chow with shirt off, another Hung Kuen picture, "Kempo", and the last another lesson from Grand Master Chow's teachings. However all of the pictures were set up by Grand Master Chow. Sifu Fiedler knew nothing of the Tiger Claw as in the first picture, and in the third, there might have been a technique like this in the Hung Kuen that GM Chow knew, but not in the Style where Sifu Fiedler went. Not only learn from him, but live with him in the same house. It was fantastic for the young Sifu Fiedler. Not only to learn a martial art, but to learn a new culture. In time Sifu Fiedler started to speak Chinese, and even learned to write some words. What freaked Sifu Fiedler out was when he seen the word, "love", in fact in the Chinese word for love, the word heart is inside of it. And these are all pictographs, to the young Sifu Fiedler he thought this was all absolutely amazing. Sifu Fiedler loved living with the Chinese family. He was able to learn so much from them, and as time went by, more and more of their cousins, and aunts, and uncles, grand parents, and parents, and sisters, and brothers, they all started to come over from Hong Kong. The first to come to Canada was GM Chow, his older brother, and his sister. With in two years, all the brothers and sisters were in Canada, and GM Chows parents came over. Only one of the brothers, and one of the sisters stayed in Hong Kong because they did not want to leave to live in Canada. Everyone in these families became very successful, because they all helped each other, and they all worked very hard. It was amazing to watch. One of the brothers, built high rises in Hong Kong, projects that made the buildings in Edmonton look small. No one would give him a good job, even the place that hired him, would not allow him to build the blue prints, or how ever that works. He went back to university, got his degree to develop large buildings on his own. He started his own company in Edmonton, and with in a few years, the people who would not give him a job, were all working for him, when they got sub contract through him when he had to much work. He loved to see stories unfold like this around him.

Back with more soon"

Much more about GM Chow and Sifu Fiedler in the first few years.

GM Chow teaching the long pole from Wing Chun, and White Eyebrow

 

Two months into training for Sifu Fiedler, GM Chow told Sifu Fiedler how to stand, Sifu Fiedler was so nervous

First winter getting to know each other. They got along so well, it was as if they were best of friends when not training. However Sifu Fiedler gave GM Chow the greatest respect when they were training. In the picture above, Grand Master Chow told Sifu Fiedler to hold up his arm, then he would pretend to kick it, while one of our friends took the picture. In reality, had the kicker truly kicked my arm, had I held my arm up to block it in this way, it would have been broken. However GM Chow was getting the young Sifu Fiedler used to his way of teaching. All of the pictures that they took for those first few months were for memory sake. There are many places that Sifu Fiedler tells his students to make sure to keep notes while learning Chinese Kung Fu. He also tells the students to make sure to always take pictures. The reason for this is that they will always be able to look back and remember their first days together as Grand Master and Student.

Flying Kicks are Neat. If you have a light body, you will have no problem getting off of the ground.

After around two years time, Sifu Fiedler found that he loved being in the air, as much as he loved to do ground techniques. If you would like to be a student of the martial arts that is good at flying kicks, then make sure to practise your power of the instep right from the day that it is taught to you, this is very important.

Every morning before going to work at the Hung Kuen school, Sifu Fiedler would do all of his forms

Two years after 1976

When he came home from work, GM Chow would be standing there asking him to hurry to get ready for their lesson in the basement. After a few years, more of GM Chow's relatives came over from Hong Kong. They rented a house, and Sifu Fiedler was asked if he wanted to move in with them to the new place. Sifu Fiedler was so happy because the last few years with GM Chow, living with his brother and sister in an apartment were the best years of his life to date. When they moved to this house, it had a very large basement and that was where Grand Master Chow and Sifu Fiedler made their private training area. Every one of the teachers from the Hung Kuen school wanted to come home to learn from Grand Master Chow, Sifu Fiedler always told them that GM Chow would not want to teach anyone else, which was the truth. You see Grand Master Chow did not like to teach at all, in fact he found that he was very impatient. He always had Sifu Fiedler teach the classes once he opened his own school, and that was the arrangement that they had.

Three years after

Part of Grand Master Chow's first club, Sifu Fiedler was finally allowed to leave Hung Kuen

Kick to groin from Grand Master Chow

Kick to the groin, Oh Boy did I hate this, at first it scared the heck out of me, later I found if I listened to Grand Master Chow's instruction properly, it would not affect me at all, but I would not do this at home if I were you, not unless you are being taught by a master in Chinese martial arts and he or she teaches you how to do certain things. Everything seems to have a trick to it, not a phoney trick, but something in the line of slight of hand. You really had to train these things for six to nine months every single day before they would start to kick in, before that, you bet there were a few large, Ouch's.

Back in 1977

 

A Green Black Belt Sifu Fiedler, with GM Chow

A young Black Belt Sifu Fiedler, he had just received his black belt test, and was asked by Grand Master Chow to spar with him in front of one of the classes they taught in and around Edmonton. Sifu Fiedler told us that he was hit so many times it did not matter what he did, it was blocked so fast, and then he was hit but never hard. However as soon as they were in front of others, Grand Master Chow always had to make an example of Sifu Fiedler, not brutalize Sifu Fiedler in any way shape or form, but to make sure that everyone knew who was boss. This was never a problem for Sifu Fiedler, for the simple fact that everything that Grand Master Chow told Sifu Fiedler came true, everything. It was amazing to see how fast Grand Master Chow's art worked, and amazing to see how hard it was for anyone fight against it, it was truly an amazing thing to feel. However Grand Master Chow did hate to fight with boxing gloves on, at least when it meant something anyway. He did work with Sifu Fiedler with gloves for a conditioning exercise, this way they could fight for hours and never get hurt with an eagle claw, or tiger claw, or crane's beak, you could make all of the hand formations inside of the gloves and never hurt who you were sparing with, that is something that I will never forget learning from Grand Master Chow, he was incredible.

 

Crossing boarder to British Columbia from Alberta

Going to BC to visit Grand Masters that Grand Master Chow sent Sifu Fiedler to meet and train with, in fact GM Chow sent Sifu Fiedler to many clubs to join for the month. However the circumstance was not for learning technique or form, what it was for was to teach Sifu Fiedler how to spar with different systems. It's easy to talk about it, or to watch it, but to actually fight a style, or system that you are not familiar with, that is sometimes not very easy. Later on once one finds that style or systems weakness, is when it all plays out exactly how GM Chow wanted it. In fact he told Sifu Fiedler he had to do the same thing back in Hong Kong. He even had to buy a white karate gi to go to join Karate schools to pretend he wanted to learn from them.

However his teachers plan was the same as Grand Master Chow had for Sifu Fiedler. It was for Grand Master Chow to go and learn how to truly defeat a Karate style, a judo style, a Tie kwon do style, a Jujitsu style, even a western boxer, and once that was accomplished, he moved onto the different Chinese Kung Fu styles. The true reason for this was for Grand Master Chow's teacher to prove to Grand Master Chow that what he was learning was not something the same as what everyone else was being taught, it was very rare, and very unique. Most people like to say that no one style is better then the other. I would have to say that this is being kind to others, not wanting to ruffle feathers. But that is not the truth, there are many types of styles for many reasons, some are made for sport, and are not as good for the street. Others are created for police officers and security for protection, which are not very good for sports. One is better then the other in one area, the other better in another area. That makes one better then the other, and the other better then the other in another area, do you see my point. Now if we take that other step farther. That is exactly what the Ying Yee masters of Grand Master Chow's linage did, they went out and traded techniques with Wing Chun Masters, with Choy lay fut. masters, with Northern Long Fist Masters, with White Eyebrow masters, and so on, each one of these systems is known for something very unique in their training. That is exactly what the Grand Masters of Ying Yee wanted, the trade mark techniques from each different style or system. To make this more clear, if you take a look at Wing Chun, what is it known for. Wing Chun is known for it's trapping techniques, for it's sticking techniques, for it's one inch punch, for it's centre punch, and so on. Once these were brought to an expert level, they moved onto Tam Tiu, they took all of the trade mark techniques of this art, and Choy Lay Fut., and so on, until they had the trade mark techniques from all of the special styles of Chinese Martial arts. To make sure you are following me, they do not have to learn all of Wing Chun, only the techniques that made Wing Chun different, not only different, but so successful in battle on the streets of Hong Kong. Again they would learn the same type of techniques from White Eyebrow, from Choy Lay Fut, Tam Tiu, Northern Long Fist. The Grand Masters of Ying Yee would teach their students all of these techniques for the first two years of training. They had to learn these techniques before they were allowed to start the Ying Yee. By the time they learned these things, they had knowledge that was twice to three times more then the average Chinese Martial arts student. Yes it took a few more years of education in martial arts, but that was the way that they did it, and that was the way that they became so successful to this very day. Ying Yee or at least the version of Ying Yee that Grand Master Chow teaches is one thousand years of age. There are many stories as to where it came from, and who, many tell the same story, some different. All I have to add to this is that I was not there, I can not tell anyone for fact what happened back at that time, but I do have to say that it was developed from another art, which one, that is something I am still working on to this very day. When Grand Master Chow started to teach Sifu Fiedler the upper stages of Ying Yee, he told Sifu Fiedler he was starting to learn Luk Hup Bah Fah, this was an art that was kept secret even in China. If someone in China wanted to learn this form of Chinese Martial art, they had to already be a master in two other martial art systems. Again this is the same reason why Sifu Fiedler had to learn all of the signature techniques from those arts that were so different from each other. There are many Chinese Martial arts that look so much the same. But at the same time on the other end, there are many many Chinese Marital arts that are completely different, completely unique from each other. It is those arts that are so unique that win many battles. The reason for this is how can any one defend against something they are not familiar with. That was another one of the reasons given to Sifu Fiedler, to know your enemy, and to make sure he does not know you.

Sifu Fiedler, with his very first student back in 1976, in Chilliwack British Columbia. He moved there for a six month period to work on a farm, then go back to Edmonton Alberta where he lived to be hired right away to work eight hours a day teaching Hung Kuen Chinese Martial arts. Once GM Chow above opened his first school back in 1978, that was when Sifu Fiedler started to work for GM Chow, after that both Master Chow and Sifu Fiedler were asked to do a Demonstration for a Grand Master Tallbear in Vegas Nevada. It was one of the most memorable times in Master Fiedler's life as he told us all, which I will talk about below in depth. His student in the picture above with him was a fellow by the name of Danny, he came all the way from Pembroke Ontario, three thousand miles away to learn from Sifu Fiedler at the time.

 

Getting ready to go to Vegas

GM Chow met someone in Edmonton that asked GM Chow to come down to meet with their teacher in Vegas. His teacher was Grand Master Tallbear. Grand Master Chow came home and asked Sifu Fiedler if he wanted to go to Vegas with him, he was so excited, saying lets go. They planned to go with in six months. At that time Sifu Fiedler had stopped working at the Hung Kuen School, because Grand Master Chow finally opened up his school. At that time both Sifu Fiedler and Grand Master Chow were training six to eight hour days, you would have thought that was enough. Not for Grand Master Chow, he told Sifu Fiedler that they would have to stay after the class closed, after they had taught the last class to start working on other types of technique, and that is when Grand Master Chow started to teach Sifu Fiedler the Ying Yee Animal forms, and Luk Hup Bah Fat, and Sum yee. Sifu Fiedler said that it was totally amazing, he could not believe what he was finally learning, to date he had only been taught Wing Chun, Choy Lay Fut, White Eyebrow, Tam Tiu, Hung Gar, Northern Long Fist, the fact was that Sifu Fiedler was so satisfied with what he was already being taught, he did not know that Grand Master Chow had another very secretive system up his sleeve. He was keeping it for the day that Sifu Fiedler had passed his master test, but now that they were going to go to Vegas to meet with Grand Master Tallbear, GM Chow started to teach this amazing system to Sifu Fiedler to get ready for Vegas. He knew it would give Sifu Fiedler that extra urge to train harder then ever, the thing is, it worked.

 

Real fight on week ends

This fight above was a real fight. The guy with his feet off of the ground was flying backwards in the air. He had steel toe boats on, and wanted to beat Sifu Fiedler up the night before in a bar where Sifu Fiedler worked at the door. He started a problem in the bar, and Sifu Fiedler told him if you want to fight, lets take it to the park on the week end where we go to train, he agreed and came with four of his friends. The thing was, Sifu Fiedler never hurt him with this kick, it was more of a push as he was already flying backwards from Sifu Fiedler's hand techniques. From that day on, this guy was a believer in Kung Fu and joined the group every week end.

 

Private club in Edmonton for only best students at that time, he was going to Vegas to learn from GM Tallbear.

 

Side Kick day and night

Sifu Fiedler working on his side kick day and night, especially after finding out they were on their way to Vegas to meet Sigung Tallbear. Even though their training schedual was already above and beyond what most would do, they still turned up the pace and trained their hearts out. By the time they went to Vegas six months later they were ready for anything. Aside from that, it was an excellent feeling to have something to train for. Grand Master Chow sent Sifu Fiedler to every school in Western Canada to learn how to defend himself against other styles. Grand Master Chow would pay Sifu Fiedler's tuition to join what ever school he would think would help the young Sifu Fiedler learn the most from. Once Sifu Fiedler had his fill from a certain school, he was off to another one. Every single school that Sifu Fiedler went too, he defeated the top instructors from each and everyone of them. And it is not what you are thinking, he did not go in and challenge the students, or instructors of that other style. What happened was Sifu Fiedler was told to wait, to wait until one of the students or instructors from the other school asked Sifu Fiedler to spar. And that is when it would happen, that is when Sifu Fiedler would be able to test what Grand Master Chow taught him against other styles, each and every time, it would work far better then Sifu Fiedler ever dreamed. After a few years of this, Sifu Fiedler knew that every thing Grand Master Chow told him had to be true. From the start, it sounded a little odd to Sifu Fiedler, it sounded like GM Chow had a chip on his shoulder, it sounded like GM Chow was saying that his system of kung fu would defeat anyone at anytime. The whole thing was it ended up being the truth, not once did Sifu Fiedler loose to any of the other styles of Kung Fu, Karate, Judo, Jujitsu, or Boxing, GM Chow's art worked against every other system. When the students from the other clubs started to see this, they all wanted to go to learn from GM Chow. So by the time GM Chow opened his club, he did not allow any new students to join. The only students allowed to join, were the top students of every other master in Edmonton. There were instructors in Hung Gar, instructors in Wing Chun, who had just came in from Hong Kong, there were instructors from Bok Hok Pai, instructors from a Northern Long Fist, and instructors in Tam Tiu. Grand Master Chow had twenty to thirty students that were all instructors from other systems. Because Sifu Fiedler was allowed to leave the Hung Kuen finally, he had to teach these students for GM Chow. He got along with everyone of them, except for one. One of the students was a very large man, he was from the Bok Hok Pai school, and fought wild with long swinging motions, with great power and speed. He had long arms like a gorilla, and short little legs, but he moved very fast and had great hand techniques for his size. This man from the Bok Hok Pai system wanted to be under GM Chow's wing. Each and every time they had a sparring session Sifu Fiedler had trouble with this man. He would charge in like he wanted to take Sifu Fiedler's head off, the thing was, he really did want too. Some of the blocks that Sifu Fiedler used, had they not worked, Sifu Fiedler said his head would have been taken clean off his shoulders. This guys arms were so powerful, plus because of the system of kung fu he learned, it was perfect for his size. They say that for every man or women's size, their is a perfect system or style of kung fu to learn. Small people are better for some systems, tall people are better at others, and people that are in between these sizes can actually train both the styles for large and the styles for little people. That is why they say the best height for a martial artist is between five ten and five six, one hundred a forty pounds to one hundred and eighty pounds. This is the absolute best size if one wants to learn and be great at most of the Kung Fu sets of motion. As you know large people are not that great at a style like Monkey, but small people can do a monkey style with ease. That is another reason I would try to find a teacher like Grand Master Chow, because he does not teach everyone the same, he looks at your body size and fits you to a system that will fit your body better then anyone else. After a few years, if he sees that this man or women might look like he or she would become a great teacher, is when he would start to teach this man or women all of the different methods for each type of person. At first it sounds like it is complicated, and it is at the start, but later as you become familiar with all of the phrases and terms, it starts to become part of your life. The longer you are involved in the Chinese Martial arts the more you will start to understand. Really it is like anything, the more you work at it, the better you will become. Also remember not everyone wants to go all the way to the top, or make Kung Fu a way of life. However if that is something you want, make sure you look up what you want to learn first, make sure you look up the teacher, look up the linage, and make sure that the style or system is one that really catches your eye. One of the best sure fire ways to start out properly, is to find an art that you love right from the beginning, the more you like that art, the better you will do at it. Last but not least, to end this, many instructors and teachers will tell everyone that there is no style or system better then another. The reason for this is two fold, first it could be that they do not know any better. The second is that they do not want to rock the boat, they know that it is the truth, but will never admit it because they do not want to fall out of the good books of the other styles and teachers. What struck me the most is everything that Grand Master Chow told me came true, and everything that he taught me worked like magic. He never had to worry about not making enough money if he said this or that, he never had to worry about falling out of the graces of other styles and systems, because he did not care one bit what anyone thought, this is what I liked about Grand Master Chow the most, his honesty, even if it did hurt the feelings of others, the thing was he was telling the truth. In this day and age, is it not the truth that is most important, no matter what.

Before going to work to teach for eight hours a day, Sifu Fiedler would still go outside to do his forms before going to work.

 

Sigung Tallbear, Sifu Fiedler, Saul Ricardo, GM Chow

This was the first picture that was taken of Sifu Fiedler, and Grand Master Chow when they came to visit Sigung Tallbear. As soon as they got out of the car, they took some pictures together, and right away Sifu Fiedler had to go into Sigung Tallbear's school and spar with the students of the class that was already started. At first Sifu Fiedler was a little angry because they had driven for a day and a half to get to Vegas, with no sleep, and no rest at all. Now Sifu Fiedler had to spar with Sigung Tallbear's students. Once they started Sifu Fiedler seen that it was an older children's class. Don't get me wrong, the students were excellent, but they were teenagers, and Sifu Fiedler once he started, was having fun with them. Once Sigung Tallbear seen enough he told Sifu Fiedler he could stop and that was when he brought both GM Chow, and Sifu Fiedler to their hotel rooms. Sifu Fiedler walked around the room not believing what he was seeing. The wash rooms were marble, the rooms had bars and fridges with food.  it was something that Sifu Fiedler said he could get used to in his life, Grand Master Chow agreed before they fell asleep for the first time in two days.

Friends in Vegas

While in Vegas, Sifu Fiedler made many friends, standing to the right is Master Mc Neil, an amazing marital arts teacher friend of GM Tallbear, every one in the picture is a police officer. Sifu Fiedler told us when these guys would come into the club, it was like watching a movie he had seen when younger called Super Fly, it was so cool, these guys would come in with fur trimmed coats, with wide brimmed hates, and looked exactly like the criminals that they worked against. They were all undercover police officers.

 

Sifu Fiedler, GM Chow, Sigung Tallbear 1977

This was the very first week that Sifu Fiedler and GM Chow drove to Vegas to meet Sigung Tallbear.

Coming home from Vegas to teach Tai Liu Chuan Fa

Sifu Fiedler in Blue, met many great friends from the Tai Liu Chuan Fa family

From the notes of Sifu Fiedler

Sifu Dee

Much more to come soon

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