Hoy K. Lee

Senior Grandmaster, 2018

Hoy K. Lee, considered the Father of the Jow Ga system in the United States, began training at age 9 in Canton Province, China, studying Hung Gar, a southern Kung Fu system that emphasizes strength and stability. His family moved to Hong Kong, where he learned survival tactics on its streets like so many young men, including his friend Bruce Lee. During this time, Hoy Lee studied White Crane, Tai Chi, Karate, Judo, Thai and Burmese boxing from several masters. He immigrated to Washington D.C. and encountered Jow Ga Kung Fu through his work partner, Gee Do Po, who had been the senior Jow Ga instructor in Shanghai. Later Hoy Lee met Dean Chin, a student of second generation Jow Ga Grandmaster Chan Man Cheung. At age 20, Lee opened Lee’s Kung Fu and Karate School in Washington, the first martial arts school to teach the Jow Ga system in the U.S. Now relocated to Virginia Beach and Yorktown, Virginia, Lee has continued to keep the Jow Ga tradition alive by training many notable instructors and outstanding champions. In 1979 his school was chosen to represent the U.S. at the First Asian Kuoshu Tournament in Taipei, Taiwan. The mayor of Washington, D.C. proclaimed a special Kung Fu Day to celebrate Jow Ga’s accomplishments.