Dr. Daniel (Chi-hsiu) Weng

The Shuai Chiao Kungfu Club at The Ohio State University was founded by Dr. Weng over thirty years ago. All of the current club instructors studied under Dr. Weng and received their black belt rankings from him.

Dr. Weng was born in Taiwan, Republic of China, in 1948. Due to his small stature, his father encouraged him to begin the practice of Judo when he was only ten or eleven years old. It was not until he enrolled in the National Taiwan Normal University as a Physical Education major, however, that his interest in the martial arts became a major focus of his life. As a freshman on the University Judo team he won the inter-collegiate white belt championship -- an open contest with no weight restrictions and over one hundred contestants. He earned his second degree black belt in Judo, and began to seriously study the Chinese Kungfu styles of Shuai Chiao, T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Praying Mantis, Pa Chi, and Shaolin.

Dr. Weng was already a black belt in Judo when he was first introduced to Shuai Chiao in 1968 by Grandmaster Ch'ang Tung-sheng, the famous "Flying Butterfly" of Shuai Chiao. Grandmaster Ch'ang was a large and powerfully built man, and yet he moved with the quickness and fluidity of a butterfly amongst the flowers. Dr. Weng studied Shuai Chiao and T'ai Chi Ch'uan diligently under the Grandmaster, and his skills improved rapidly. He won the Shuai Chiao national championship in his weight division in 1970 and 1971, and was three times the collegiate champion of his division. Grandmaster Ch'ang was so pleased he recommended Dr. Weng as an Assistant Instructor. Dr. Weng continued his academic studies as well, progressing to graduate school at the National University and earning his Master's degree in Education. He also continued to teach as an assistant to Grandmaster Ch'ang at the Central Police College and several other universities. After obtaining his Master's, Dr. Weng entered military service, and taught for two years at the Military Police College. During this time he produced the one of the first Shuai Chiao video tape texts, which was accepted as a standard reference text for the Taiwan military. After his service, Dr. Weng returned to the Central Police College as a guest instructor of Shuai Chiao. He produced another Shuai Chiao video text for police training.

Dr. Weng was invited to Mexico City by the President of the Chino-Mexicano Kungfu Association in the late seventies, but only taught there briefly before taking a Teaching Associate position in the Graduate Division of the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. At Ohio State, he established four Physical Education courses in Shuai Chiao and T'ai Chi Ch'uan, and founded the Shuai Chiao Kungfu Club. He also founded and taught at the independent Ho-I Martial Arts Academy. He helped in the founding of Grandmaster Ch'ang's International Shuai Chiao Association, and was promoted to 7th degree black belt in 1982. In 1984 he completed the first English text on Shuai Chiao, Fundamentals of Shuai Chiao. In 1986 he founded the United States Shuai Chiao Association. After earning his Doctorate in 1987, he published Ch'ang Style T'ai-Chi-Ch'uan, and returned to Taiwan to take a position as Chairman of the Kuo-shu (Chinese martial arts) Division of the Physical Education Department at the Chinese Cultural University in Taipei. During this time he made many trips to mainland China and established his international credentials as a Wu-shu tournament official and certified judge. Dr. Weng returned to the United States in the Fall of 1991, and took a teaching position at San Jose State University.

Dr. Weng currently resides in Cupertino, California, and is very active in the Chinese martial arts. He has produced a Shuai Chiao instructional set of four videotapes, and regularly publishes instructional articles in Wu-shu Kungfu magazine. He travels extensively, and has established international branches of the United States Shuai Chiao Association in South America, Africa, and Eastern and Western Europe, and is a certified international Wushu judge.  Most recently, he has developed a simplified teaching methodology for Tai Chi known as the "Tai Chi Monkey" system.  He is also one of the founding members of the World Cardio Tai Chi Association, an educational organization promoting Tai Chi as cardiovascular training by performing simplified movements at a faster pace.

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The United States Shuai Chiao Association

After the death of Grandmaster Ch'ang in 1986, the International Shuai Chiao Association suffered from internal political struggle when the first vice-president of the organization assumed the presidency. Although he was an established fighter and martial artist, the new president's actual Shuai Chiao study had been brief. Several of the ISCA founding members, who had been direct disciples of Grandmaster Ch'ang and had studied Shuai Chiao for many years, were not happy with the new leadership. Eventually, most left the organization. Dr. Weng was one of the first to leave, and founded the United States Shuai Chiao Association (USSA) to carry on the the work of teaching and popularizing the style of Shuai Chiao Kungfu. Several disciples of Grandmaster Ch'ang founded the American Combat Shuai Chiao Association (ACSCA) a few years later.

Currently, the USSA and ACSCA are the only two national Shuai Chiao organizations that sponsor regular traditional Shuai Chiao tournaments and clinics. Shuai Chiao divisions are becoming more common in the larger Kungfu tournaments however, as more people begin to appreciate the realism and action of sport Shuai Chiao. As Sanshou ("freestyle") full-contact Kungfu contests become more popular it has also become apparent that Shuai Chiao grappling skills have great value in a clinch.

The United States Shuai Chiao Association has a standardized and well documented course of study leading to the rank of black belt. The Shuai Chiao Kungfu Club is affiliated with the USSA, and all higher belt ranking tests are performed under the aegis of the national organization. Membership in the USSA is not required for any Shuai Chiao Club member, but those who want a nationally recognized certificate of rank should join the USSA before testing.

USSA Headquarters
P.O. Box 1221
Cupertino, CA 95015

www.shuai-chiao.org