John Chow – master of Tai Chi Chuan, Qi Gong and Arnis

About Master John Chow:

Learning history of Tai Chi Chuan

Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan lineage tree

Teaching history

Also commonly called “Sifu John”, “Master Chow”, “Guro John”.

Master John Chow is a teacher of Arnis, Tai Chi Chuan, Qi Gong, healing and meditation. He has been teaching Yang and Wu styles of Tai Chi Chuan since 1977. 

He is also a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine (herbs, acupuncture, massage, gua sha, cupping).

Based on his experience on the subjects of healing, traditional medicine, martial arts and qi gong, Master John Chow created Amazing Qi Healing Therapy to include Tai Chi Chuan, Qi Gong, Acupressure, Qi Massage, Paida Fa (Patting and Hitting), La Jin Fa (Stretching the Tendons) and many other methods. This combination of healing modalities makes Amazing Qi Therapy particularly effective.

Master John Chow received martial arts training in the traditional way from childhood.  His training started before the 'Bruce Lee fad' and the hippy 'Tai Chi fad'  and the 'Tai Chi/Chi Kung industry' began in the mid 1970s and 1980s.

For all his learning and experience, Master John Chow always stressed to his students that he does not know much martial arts, and is capable of only one technique so far. “I know only 1 technique, but that will do”.

Summary of the Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan masters that Master John Chow had learnt or benefited from:-

Lu Tong Pau (Lu Tong Bao) (Loh Tong Poh) (student of Yap Siu Ting),

Chok Seng Kam (Zhu Shen Jing) (student of Lu Tong Pau) (bashi master of Master John Chow),

Lau Kim Hong (Liu Jin Hong) (student of Lu Tong Pau) (bashi master of Master John Chow),

Ho Ah San (student of Lu Tong Pau),

Wan Kean Chew (Yuan Jian Shu) (student of Lu Tong Pau),

Geong Eng Kui (Jiang Yong Kui) (student of Lu Tong Pau),

Datuk Feng Zai Ching (student of Yap Siu Ting)

Koh Ah Tee (Xu Shu Song), (student of Wu Kuo Zhong, Tan Ching Ngee, Lau Kim Hong)

Chang Chun Foo (student of Yap Siu Ting?),

Wang Yen Nien (student of Zhang Qin Ling – Yang Jian Hou lineage),

Guo Zheng Fen (Yang Jian Hou lineage) (student of Wei Ru San of Beijing),

Lin Kuan Zheng (various Yang Tai Chi Chuan lineages),

Wang Zhun Xiong (student of Huang Shing Shyan?),

Master Fu Zhong Wen (student of Yang Cheng Fu),

Master Chen Fui,

Gao Yun Wu (student of Cheng Man Ching) (bashi master of Master John Chow),

Summary of Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan masters that Master John Chow had learnt or benefited from:-

Loh Kam Choon (early 1970s) (student of Tang Mong Hun), 

Rocky Kwong Ken Yue (boxing skills) (student of Cheng Tin Hung),

Cheng Tin Hung (student of Cheng Wing Kwong)

Master John Chow also learnt Chen Style Tai Chi Chuan from Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang who is the head of the style.

Currently, Master Lau Kim Hong of the Kim Hong Tai Chi Institute is Master John Chow’s principal master.

Master John Chow first learnt martial arts as a young boy under his own father who was rather reluctant to teach him because his father regarded martial arts as an old tradition that has lost its functions due to modernization. The movements that he learnt from his father were very similar to Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan’s 13 Postures (Shi San Shih). A favourite technique of his father is the elbow strike.

Master John Chow also learnt stick fighting and the pole from his father. This pole was inherited from his own father who was a very skilful pole master. The stick fighting became useful when Master John Chow learnt Kalis Ilustrisimo later on.

Master John Chow formally started learning Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan (Yang Shi Taiji Quan) in 1969 from the local Tai Chi school which soon came under the supervision of the great Malaysian master Loh Tong Pau from Penang and his student Jiang Yong Kui. Master John Chow learnt the Cheng Man Cheng 37 Posture routine, traditional 108 Posture routine, Push Hands, Sabre, Sword, San Shou partner set and Nei Gong.

In 1970, Master John Chow also learnt Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan from Master Loh Kim Chan who was from Kuala Lumpur. Master Loh Kim Chan was not a professional teacher and did not really accept students, but accepted Master John Chow and his younger brother Master Robert Chow, and then later 3 more students. Master John Chow also learnt the art of fencing from Master Loh who was a hidden expert in that art.

Besides Tai Chi Chuan, Master John Chow also learnt Shotokan Karate from Master James Lo who set up the local karate school. Master was the OCPD (something like a police chief) of the town of Tawau at that time. According to Master John Chow, he was a small slim man who was extremely fast and accurate in his techniques. A superb and super Karate master. Master James Low later moved to Kota Kinabalu where he was awarded the title ‘Datuk’.

Master John Chow also learn Shaolin Quan under Master Liew Chee Fui who was a senior student of Master Chung Moi Siong.

Besides that Master John Chow also learnt some Indonesian Silat from a Timorese master.

After moving to Australia, Master John Chow searched around, and ripened his experiences visiting other teachers such as Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang (head of Chen Tai Chi Chuan), Master Chen Fui (a student of Master ), Grandmaster Fu Zhong Wen (a student of Yang Cheng Fu), but the master he admired most was the Wu Tai Chi Chuan Master Rocky Kwong who later moved to Perth and then Sydney. Master Rocky Kwong was a very fast and spontaneous master of martial arts. His Tai Chi Boxing was superb.

Master John Chow visited Taipei in 2005 and had some experiences with various Tai Chi Chuan masters, in particular, Grandmaster Wang Yen Nien and his assistant Julia Fairchild, Master Guo Zheng Fen, Master Wang Zhun Xiong, and Grandmaster Gao Yun Wu who was one of his masters by ‘baishi’.

Master John Chow also has at least 5 masters in West Malaysia. In 1988, he ‘baishi’ under Master Chok (Zhu Seng Kam) who was famous as “Tiger of Penang” due to his fighting exploits. Master Chok was a student of Grandmaster Yap Siu Ting (Yue Shu Ding). Master John Chow also learnt under Master Ho Ah San of Penang, especially Nei Gong and Master Loh Tong Bau’s staff. Master John Chow also learnt special Push Hands theories under Master Wan Kean Chew – a formidable fighter. Master John Chow also learnt under Master Datuk Feng Zai Ching, the head of Penang Shaolin Association. Master John Chow also had the benefit of learning a little from Master Koh Ah Tee of Petaling Jaya. Of all of them, Master John Chow is closest to Master Lau Kim Hong who he regards as his ‘baishi’ master.

Master John Chow is now practicing as a spiritual healer, and teacher of Amazing Qi Healing Therapy, Tai Chi Chuan, Qi Gong, and the Filipino martial art of Kalis Ilustrisimo.

Master John Chow demonstrating his Cheng Man Ching Style Tai Chi Chuan (softer and different from orthodox Yang Tai Chi Chuan).

Master John Chow demonstrating his art of the fan. July 2006. Master John Chow demonstrating Yang Tai Chi Sword. July 2006.

Master John Chow coaching Kim Fung of Hong Kong in Tai Chi Boxing.

Kim Fung is also a student of Master xxxxx, the most senior student of Grandmaster Cheng Tin Hung.

Master John Chow presenting ‘bai shi’ application and red packet Master John Chow presenting cup of tea to Master Lau Kim Hong

to Master Lau Kim Hong.

Master John Chow with Master Lau Kim Hong after “Bai Shi”.

Master Lau is a student of Master Lu Tong Bao of Penang.

Master John Chow with Master Ho Ah San of Penang, Master John Chow with Master Koh Ah Tee of Petaling Jaya

who is a student of Master Lu Tong Bao. is a firm believer in the Tao Te Ching and the Tai Chi Classics.

Master Koh Ah Tee emphasises the theory of total relaxation and emptiness.

Master John Chow with Datuk Feng Zai Ching Master John Chow with Master Zhao Wei Dong of Penang and Master Nigel Sutton.

who was also the head of Shaolin in Penang. Master Zhao is one of the promising masters of the future generation.

Datuk Feng is an accomplished and secret student of Master Yap Siu Ting. Master Nigel Sutton is a natural talent in martial arts.

Master John Chow with Master Lin Kuan Zheng of Taipei Master John Chow with Master Gao Yun Wu of Taipei

whose speciality is Fa Jing or the issue of explosive force. (88 years old in 2005 and one of the last remaining students of

Grandmaster Cheng Man Ching at that time).

Master John Chow with Master Guo Zheng Fen Master John Chow in group photo with Master Wang Zhun Xiong

(student of Wei Ru San of Beijing, who is a student of Wong Yong Quan, who teaches Cheng Man Ching Tai Chi most mornings.

who was a student of Wang Zhong Lu, who was a student of Yang Jian Hou. He is a humble master with good pedigree and solid foundation in Tai Chi Chuan.

Master Guo is very talented in Push Hands.

Master John Chow at the premises of Yang Jia Mi Chuan Tai Chi Chuan of Grandmaster Wang Yen Nien,

a contemporary of Grandmaster Cheng Man Ching. They were students of a mysterious and obscure Master Zhang Qin Ling

who won the 1^st Push Hands competition in China. Master Chang Qin Ling defeated Wan Mou, a champion from southern China

who came to Yang Cheng Fu’s premises to challenge him to a duel. Master Chang Qin Ling combined Taoist Qi Gong with

Yang Cheng Fu’s Tai Chi Chuan into a formidable art. The people in this photo were senior practitioners and instructors of the

Yang Jia Mi Chuan in Taipei. Formidable Push Hands practitioners

Master John Chow with Master Lau Kim Hong who he regards as his principal master of Cheng Man Ching’s Tai Chi Chuan.

Master Lau is also a master of Master Koh Ah Tee and Master Nigel Sutton.

Datuk James Lo, Shotokan Karate teacher of Master John Chow in 1970.

Datuk James Lo was also a student of Master Chang Chun Fu in Nei Gong.

A quiet man, but very fast, accurate and powerful in his movements.

Master John Chow in his teenage years in Tawau. Probably 1970 or 1971.

Master John Chow, Tai Chi Push posture, Tawau, 1971

Master John Chow defending against staff and machete with his Guan Dao, Tawau, 1972

Master John Chow launching a kick, Tawau, 1972

Master John Chow with Guan Dao, Tawau, 1971

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Master John Chow practicing Shotokan Karate. Probably 1971 or 1972.

Master John Chow practising the staff. March 1973.

Master John Chow staff vs machete with his younger brother Master Robert Chow. March 1973.

Master John Chow practising double machete. March 1973.