I thought I started a thread on this already but I can’t find it now.
One of San Francisco’s last martial arts legends dead at 85
Grandmaster Chris Chan training students at his Wing Chun Kung Fu Academy in 1975. Photo courtesy of Darren Chan, n.d.)
AUGUST 21, 2026
By Albert Chang-Yoo
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Every pupil of Wing Chun Kung Fu Grandmaster Chris Chan’s academy knows this phrase: “You can be the strongest man in the world”.
It was something he’d say to encourage his students over a 58-year career teaching the 300-year-old martial art.
Chris Chan passed away on June 29, 2026. He was 85.
Grandmaster Kam Shing “Chris” Chan, better known to his students as Sifu Chan or Sifu Chris, was one of San Francisco’s last remaining martial arts legends. He was a part of a venerated generation of old-school Wing Chun Kung Fu masters, studying under the tutelage of the legendary Ip Man and training with Bruce Lee. The school he started, U.S. Wing Chun Kung Fu Academy, helped introduce the Wing Chun style of Kung Fu to the U.S.
Sifu Chan was part of the “fabric of San Francisco’s Chinatown community,” Darren Chan, his son and President of the U.S. Wing Chun Kung Fu Academy, wrote in a statement. “His school brought together people of different ages, ethnicities, professions, and walks of life.”
Befriending Bruce Lee
Chan was born in 1941 in Hong Kong. During his youth, he began his study of Wing Chun, training under the renowned grandmaster, Ip Man. It was there he befriended another member of Ip Man’s students, Bruce Lee. During his time in Hong Kong, Chan participated in grueling training exercises and frequent street (and even rooftop) fights. In 1959, Lee moved to the U.S. and sent a letter to Chan, encouraging him to come. Chan immigrated to San Francisco the following year.
Chris Chan immigrated to San Francisco in 1960 as a teenager to pursue an engineering degree. (Photo courtesy of Darren Chan, n.d.)
When he arrived, Chan got a degree in mechanical engineering. But his true heart was in Wing Chun, a style of Chinese Kung Fu that had not yet entered the American consciousness, which only knew of Japanese Karate and Judo. Chan began making a name for himself, challenging other masters at martial arts schools across the Bay Area. More often than not, he won. In the 70’s, Chan decided to open up his own Wing Chun school, starting from a garage on Mission Street.
Ken Chun, Sifu of Wing Chun Dynamics, was one of those students. In 1974, on the heels of a wave of kung fu-mania inspired by Lee’s Enter the Dragon, Chun walked into Sifu Chan’s Mission Street studio. It was a bare-bones setup, but the students were impressively strong. And then there was Sifu Chan himself. “He had such a strong and powerful force in his personality,” Chun recalled. “It’s infectious.”
Chun enrolled as a student. He spent the next 50 years training under Chan.
One Inch Power
Grandmaster Chris Chan demonstrating Wing Chun Kung Fu for students in1999. (Photo courtesyofDarrenChan)
One of Chan’s hallmarks was training using a technique called “dynamic tension”, a method of controlling internal pressure through breath, muscle, and tendon control.
“It’s kind of like the art of lifting weights without having any weights in your hands. All the weights create pressure through your imagination,” Chun said.
In a 2002 episode of KRON4 San Francisco’s show, Bay Area Backroads, Chan showcased his “internal power” by having six men squeeze his arms as hard as they could. He shrugged them off easily.
According to Chun, Chan developed this technique in training with Bruce Lee. In various sparring matches throughout the year, Chan and Lee used this dynamic tension method to develop versatile short-distance power. Later, they coined the term “one-inch power”, or “one-inch punch”.
Building A Family
Over the course of half a decade, hundreds of students walked through Chan’s door. For many, it was not just a way to learn kung fu. It was a way to be strong and find a place of belonging.
“It was more of a family community than it was a business or commercial martial art class,” Chun said. For Chan, “it was his lifestyle. It wasn’t something he was teaching for money – it was his passion.”
Sifu Gordon Leong was another of Chan’s students. In 1990, Leong suffered a horrific back injury while doing full-contact Taekwondo. Seeking physical and mental healing, Leong sought out a way to rebuild his body. He found that at Sifu Chan’s Wing Chun academy.
“Through my studies and exercise with Sifu Chris, I was able to heal my broken back,” Leong said. “And I have him to thank for giving me strength.” Leong spent 30 years studying under Sifu Chan and eventually became a Sifu at the U.S. Wing Chun Kung Fu Academy.
Sifu Gordon Leong (left) and Sifu Ken Chun (right) were longtime students of Sifu Chan. (Photo by Albert Chang-Yoo).
In 2021, Leong suffered another medical scare; he underwent both a kidney transplant and lung failure. During that time, Leong used qigong breathing and meditation exercises to heal his body. More importantly, he had to rely on Chan’s teaching of Nim Lik – or inner strength. He healed, in part due to what he had learned in Wing Chun. “That will stay with me forever. My whole life,” Leong said.
Chan wasn’t just an instructor, he was at times a mentor and father figure. Ken Chun grew up in the Excelsior neighborhood of San Francisco in the 1960’s, at the time a rough neighborhood. Chun often turned to Chan for advice.
“He would say ‘You gotta be strong about it’, turn it around and defeat it. You don’t give up,” Chun reflected. “That’s the one thing I gained from him that I try to promote to my students as well: how you think is more powerful than what you can physically do.”
“Through Wing Chun he created relationships that crossed generations, cultures, and backgrounds. Many of his students remained connected to him for decades. To me, that says more about him than any title like ‘Grandmaster’,” Chan’s son Darren said.
For Chun, Sifu Chan’s legacy can be distilled into the mantra he told all who wanted to learn Wing Chun Kung Fu:
“When you say ‘the strongest person in the world’, that means there’s only one person. But what he was really saying is that you can be the strongest person in the world as far as how you deal with life.”
A celebration of life for friends and family is being held 1:30-6:00PM August 22 at the Lion’s Den Bar and Lounge in Chinatown.
