The History
San Soo, as taught by Grandmaster Jimmy H. Woo, had its origins in the very basics of Chinese feudal life two thousand years ago. For many hundreds of years, China was divided and subdivided into various warring factions, and each produced many different types of fighting styles. Chinese systematized warfare predates the arrival of the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma, thought to the founder of Shaolin Ch'uan, by several hundreds years c. 200B.C. Exactly how and when these fighting tactics were begun in the Kwan-Yin (goddess of mercy) monastery in the village of Pon Hong, Guangdong Province of Southern China is still unclear, but is in the process of being researched. The main reason the martial arts were perfected by the group of monks was to protect themselves from bandits and outlaws as the monks returned with supplies and donations from the nearby villages.
One of the young monks, names Chin Moon Don, an orphan who had lived in the monastery since the age of 10, (Jimmy H. Woo's Great, Great, Great, Grandfather) decided to leave the monastery when he was approximately 30 years old. Ht took with him two of the Buddhist training texts which probably date back to the late 1500's, during the Ming Dynasty. These Books have remained within the Chin family for five generations and are extremely fragile and rare. All the techniques and forms taught to and by Jimmy came from these two manuals.
Yong Chin Siu Dek (Jimmy's real name) was taught by his Great Uncle Chin Siu Hung who was nicknamed Chin Neow Gee, which means "Crazy Devil." Hung was an extremely large man, 6'5" tall and weighing well over 320 pounds. Following in his father and grandfather's footsteps, Hung became a well known fighter, teaching in his own San Soo school. He was an overlord for the entire province, which at that time, late 1800's and until 1941 was about the size of Orange County, Ca. He has complete control over nearly every aspect of the lives of the people in that area. No one started a business, moved or made any other major decisions without consulting Hung.
From the age five on Dek was to be his Great Uncle's prize student. He learned extremely fast and loved the contact and grueling workouts on hard floors. In his teens, Dek became a traveling teacher of Choi Lee Ho Fut Hung, the official name of the martial art perfected hundreds of years before in the monastery very near his small village. When anyone in the province needed someone to come and settle grievance, Dek was the enforcer. When village elders decided it was time for the young men to learn to defend themselves, Dek would be sent to live there for months at a time to teach them. In 1935, at the age of 21, Chin Siu Dek left mainland China under the passport name Jimmy H. Woo and sailed for the United States. During the early years in this country, Jimmy lived in Chinatown, Los Angeles.
Chin Siu Hung was 73 years old when the Japanese invaded mainland China and took over his beloved province. In 1942 he was forced, against his will, to answer a challenge to fight to the death the regimental karate champion of the conquerors in front of the poor villagers of the surrounding area. Under the threat of death to his people it he did not comply, Hung fought and defeated the Japanese champion. In fact he killed the karate warrior in under 20 seconds. He and most of his students were immediately killed by machine gun fire. This basically ended San Soo in mainland China. It was extremely fortunate that Jimmy had left mainland China when he did, for the Japanese would have awarded him with the same fate as his Great Uncle and the San Soo practitioners rather than allow a possible resistance corps to remain.
Jimmy carried the art to America and kept it alive while many of the other early Chinese fighting systems were destroyed by the Japanese. Mao Tse Tung later eradicated many of the other martial arts styles, training books and monasteries when the communist Chinese took over power from the Japanese at the end of WWII Jimmy traveled several weeks by steamship to the United States, landing in the Port of Los Angeles, California. Jimmy worked many varied jobs as he became acclimated to his new home in Los Angeles' Chinatown District. His love for fresh fruit and vegetables stemmed from his long hours as a produce manager in a market, but his first love was teaching San Soo. He began teaching privately to close relatives and friends; later he was the instructor for several years at the Sing Dang "cousin club" a social/recreational organization. He also acted as security/police for the residents and business owners in the area and some times as a body guard, the only unarmed one in the area.
In December of 1962 Jimmy officially held the grand opening for his martial arts studio on the Midway Shopping Center in El Monte, CA. In the early years he called it "Karate-Kung Fu" because no one knew what kung fu was at that time. In January of 1984, following his retirement from daily instruction, Jimmy H. Woo came Grand Master (Lau Sifu) when his Grandson, J.P. King, earned his black belt. J.P. marks the seventh generation of a San Soo instructor-level practitioner in Jimmy's family. J.P. reached the level of San Soo Master in January of 1993. Jimmy H. Woo taught his instructors' class two Saturday's a month until 1991 totaling nearly 46 years of kung fu teaching in America.
