Like all Chinese Martial Arts the origin of San Soo is mired in a mixture of truth, folklore and strategic fabrication to mystify the art. The history I am about to talk to you about comes from two sources. The first is Jimmy himself, from talks I had with him at his home as well as a seminar he gave to my students during a belt ceremony at my studio in Los Angeles. The second source is the International Kung Fu San Soo Association's "official" history of San Soo.

Kung Fu San Soo is a fighting Art. It had its beginnings in the very basics of Chinese feudal life some two thousand years ago. Long before the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma founded the art of Shaolin Ch'uan, different fighting styles were being developed by different warring factions in China.

Five of these styles of fighting found their way into the Kwan-Yin (goddess of mercy) monastery in the village of Pon Hong, in the Guangdong province of southern China. How this happened is not clear; usually fighting arts are introduced to monks by military men or government officials who retired to the Monastery.

The five styles were named Tsoi, Lee (Li), Ho, Fut, and Hung, for the five respective families from which they came. These are the five families of Kung Fu San Soo.

Over the years the monks perfected and united these styles to protect themselves from bandits and outlaws. One of these monks, Leoung Kick, was an orphan who had lived in the monastery since age ten. When he was approximately 30 years old he decided to leave the monastery. He took with him two of the Buddhist training texts, which probably date back to the late 1500's, during the Ming Dynasty.

How and why he took the books is unclear; some say they were "taken," others say they were given to him. However these book were obtained, they have remained in Jimmy H. Woo's family for five generations: from Leoung Kick, to his son Chin Moon Don, to his son Chin Siu Don, to his son Chin Siu Hung and finally to his nephew Chin Siu Dek. His nephew Chin Siu Dek, which is Jimmy H. Woo's real name.

All the techniques and forms taught to and by Jimmy came from these two manuals. Jimmy's Great Uncle Chin Siu Hung 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. From the late 1800's until 1941 he was an overlord for an entire province, with complete control over nearly every aspect of the lives of the people. No one started a business, moved or made any other major decisions without consulting Hung.

From age five, Chin Siu Dek was his Great Uncle's prize student. He learned extremely quickly and loved the contact and grueling workouts on hard floors. In his teens, Dek became a traveling teacher of Tsoi Li Ho Fut Hung. When anyone in the province needed someone to come and settle a 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 name of Jimmy H. Woo and sailed to the United States. During his early years in this country, Jimmy lived in Los Angeles' Chinatown. 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 from the regimental karate champion of the conquerors. This challenge was to fight to the death in front of the poor villagers of the surrounding area. The military commander reasoned that having his champion kill Hung in hand to hand combat would show the locals that the Japanese were superior and must be obeyed.

Hung fought and defeated the Japanese champion. In fact he killed the karate warrior in less than 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 subjected him to the same fate as his Great Uncle and the other 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. Mao Tse Tung then unified the arts into one style called Wushu.

Jimmy traveled several weeks by steamship to the United States, landing in the Port of Los Angeles, California. He 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 local residents and business owners, and was the only unarmed bodyguard 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. Jimmy later changed the name to Kung Fu San Soo which has various meanings. Roughly translated; Kung Fu meaning Professional; San Soo meaning Fighting or Sparing; Kung Fu San Soo meaning Someone who is proficient in the Art of Fighting.

In January of 1984, following his retirement from daily instruction, Jimmy H. Woo became Grand Master (Lau Sifu) when his Grandson, J.P. King, earned his black belt. J.P King 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 Saturdays a month until his death in 1991, totaling nearly 46 years of teaching Kung-Fu San Soo in America.