Stephan is a Chinese-style martial arts researcher, creator and martial culturalist. He pens a two-part article, an autobiographical account of his journey as a martial arts expert – an exclusive for Different Truths.                                                                   

Being: Martial Art gives me the Power to be

I was in elementary school when the first Hong Kong martial arts movies appeared in the United States. It was called ‘Five Fingers of Death’. The protagonist in the film had a unique technique where he trained his hands in an ancient toughening regimen called “Iron Palm”. I remembered how everything changed from then on. Soon after, Bruce Lee became a superstar, which fueled many, including me, to become martial artists. 

The year before Bruce Lee became a star, the pioneering U.S. television show, ‘Kung Fu’ debuted. It followed the journey of a bi-racial Shaolin Buddhist warrior monk who travelled through the American West in the 1800s. (It was based on an idea Bruce Lee proposed in Hollywood before he returned to Hong Kong to become a star. His original idea was recently made into the much-loved HBO series ‘Warrior’.) ‘Kung Fu’ was a required viewing for my family. My father made sure we all watched because of the show’s life lessons and humble heroism. We loved it at home.

My father saw through the hype that emerged back then about marital arts. He searched for teachers for me. But what he did first gave me books to read. The books were the best of the few English works by the top Western scholars on Asian martial arts at the time – Robert Smith and Donn Draeger. Their book, ‘Asian Fighting Arts’, was crucial. It put me on the right path, educating me on martial arts from East to South Asia.

Most of my friends did martial arts, having fun sparring and imitating what we saw in movies. That was my passion, my play. And under my father’s guidance (who even made training equipment for me I keep to this day), my course was set. He supported me in martial arts to be who I am.

Seeing: Martial Art gives me the Power to See

After a few years of training in Japanese Karate, my father found an amateur practitioner from Taiwan, training in North China-style martial art. He taught me privately in the back of his beer and soda store in Queens, New York (N.Y.). I got my first close-up view of authentic Chinese martial arts from him.

Then in 1980, the Beijing Wushu (“war arts”) martial arts team embarked on a historic global tour. When I first saw them in N.Y. as a teen, I was speechless at their skill and style. My vision of what a martial artist must be was set.

I was awarded an international leadership training scholarship for teenage boys at Camp Rising Sun. I created and staged a martial arts-based dance and music performance featuring boys worldwide. It was performed outdoors, at a rural location, with the performers emerging in and out of a forest. A single conga drummer from Egypt played the music, and the performance was only torch-lit.

The following year, I was an exchange student in Japan, where I performed traditional Chinese martial art at public venues when Chinese martial arts were not widely practiced there. When I returned from Japan, I began picking-up other martial styles. Better quality schools were emerging, so I decided to attend college in a city with good teachers.

I chose Boston University to join one of the best martial arts schools in the country at the time, the Chinese Wushu Research Institute, headed by the pioneering Bow Sim Mark. She was the first person in the U.S. to teach martial art as trained in contemporary Mainland China.

I spent so much time at her school that I dropped out of college, walking away from a full scholarship. All I wanted to do was to train. I took security jobs at night to train during the day. My dad was torn about it because he championed my doing martial arts. When I dropped out of school to follow my vision, we hardly spoke for a year. Still, I knew for the future; I had to practice hard while young.

Transforming: Martial Art gives me the Power to Transform

At Bow’s school, I learned traditional martial arts and contemporary wushu that mesmerised me a few years ago. I wanted to train at her school because I saw her son, Donnie Yen (Asia’s top action-film star), win a national tournament at N.Y.’s Madison Square Garden. Donnie was the first American to train full-time in China with the Beijing Wushu Team, which also produced the film star Jet Li. He won the N.Y. tournament dressed in the contemporary athletic garb preferred by China’s national martial arts teams. That was so ‘cool’ to me.

I was at the school for under a year when Donnie returned to Boston from Hong Kong. His second film, ‘Mismatched Couples,’ was the first Breakdance film made in Asia. But the film didn’t do well at the box office, so he returned to the States. About a week after his return, he came to the school and saw me alone practicing jump spinning kicks. He asked how long I’d been at the school without introducing himself. He said, “I’ve never seen anyone at my mom’s school kick like you.” We instantly bonded.

I learned a lot from him, especially what he learned in China. We were weightlifting, boxing, and kicking. He later organised a team of the younger students at his mom’s school. 

He wanted to return to Hong Kong to resume his film career. Donnie insisted I go with him. He said some film directors wanted to find foreign martial artists to play urbane villains. The director he was connected to was the famous, Yuen Wo-ping, of Jackie Chan’s first hit film and the action director of the ‘Matrix’ films.

When Donnie made it clear to me it was Yuen, I said, “Okay, maybe.” I just wanted to train and improve my martial arts. But I knew I had to do something more with all that training. So, Donnie took action photos of me in the picturesque South End of Boston and sent them to Yuen. He told me, “Remember, I took these pictures. No one else can take pictures like these.” It was hard to believe I would ever be in martial arts films. 

Growing: Martial art gives me the Power to Grow

I spent a month training full-time with one of Bow’s early students, Richard Cesario (among the few Americans who trained in China after Donnie). Bow then urged Donnie and me to go to China for intensive training. He felt that if he were to do that again, it would be to learn the rarely seen – Chinese two-Hand Long Sword. He was also interested in training with China’s most decorated wushu champion, Zhao Changjun, renowned for his explosive, classical technique. His coach was Bai Wenxiang, one of the first traditional martial artists who transitioned to contemporary wushu and was a master of the two-Hand Long Sword. They headed the national team of Xi’an, the ancient capital of China.

Donnie’s parents set it up for us. From 1987-88, we were the first Americans to train at the Sha’anxi Athletic Technical Institute in Xi’an, which had a particular speciality in martial arts. We lived and trained there full-time, graduating as certified instructors.

We then travelled with Zhao to Beijing to train and confer with the national team assembled to compete in the Asian Games that featured wushu for the first time. We stayed in Beijing for a month, spending close time with China’s most elite, young martial artists of the era. We spent much time with Li Xia, the female champion who inspired my later study of the classical straight sword.

Donnie wanted to return to Hong Kong because Yuen was planning a contemporary film in the style of the 1980s T.V. show ‘Miami Vice’. Called ‘Tiger Cage’, it would be Donnie’s comeback film. He insisted Yuen would be interested in me for a role. We departed for Hong Kong and stayed at his uncle’s home outside the city. We were skinny, ragged, and exhausted after our life as martial artists in China.

At his uncle’s, we rested, ate nourishing food, and cleaned up. We then met with Yuen, who liked the pictures Donnie took of me and was interested. He asked me to demonstrate precisely targeted high kicks with both legs to see if I could perform on film as Donnie captured in photos.

But I told Donnie, “I need to get back home. I need to finish college. I promised my parents.” He said, “If you go back, just be ready because Yuen may send you a contract.” I returned home, and sure enough, they sent me a plane ticket and contract with one of Hong Kong’s well-established studios back then, D&B Films. It was the studio that made Michelle Yeoh a star. I returned to Hong Kong (with an early Bow student, Michael Woods and later, joined by another of our Boston training brothers, John Salvitti) to work for two years as a martial arts film actor.

(To be continued)

Photos by the author

Stephan Berwick

Stephan Berwick is a Chinese-style martial arts expert, researcher, and creator. As a martial culturalist, he was hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia to present a public diplomacy lecture. He also writes and narrates the Tai Chi performances of the NY Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Lou Reed festivals. Berwick also co-produced ‘The Art of the Straight Line’, a book about Reed’s love and dedication to Tai Chi, to be published by Harper Collins.

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