Michael A. Brown
Founding Board Member

Michael Alan Brown is a recognized master of the Ching Yi Kung Fu System, and has been practicing and teaching the martial arts for 40 years. Brown was the First Student of Ching Yi Kung Fu Association Founder Dr. Her Yue Wong, served as CYKFA President for 20 years (1973-1993), then again from November 1999 to the present. He has taught Kung Fu professionally in Oklahoma, California, Colorado and Maryland. In addition to running his own schools, he was also the Hsing Yi and Pa Kua instructor at the prestigious Aspen Academy of Martial Arts in the 1970s. He has been featured in Black Belt, Inside Kung Fu, and Karate Illustrated magazines, and the books Secret Worlds of Self Defense; Who’s Who In American Martial Arts; and Masters, Founders and Leaders of American Martial Arts.

Prior to learning the Ching Yi system, Brown served in the military in Vietnam, then as an undercover narcotics and weapons investigator on the Oklahoma City Police Department. Beginning in 1964, he trained in several other martial arts styles, as well as military and police defensive tactics. Of note, after graduating from the Oklahoma City Police Academy in 1972, Brown was presented with a letter from the Department citing the fact that he had achieved a perfect score in the Academy’s unarmed Defensive Tactics Course. Among his previous teachers were Lou Angel of Japanese Goju-ryu, John Robertson of Chuck Norris’ Tang Soo Do organization, Robert K. Ahia of Chito-ryu, Eddie Delacruz of the Philippine arts, and Okinawan Goju-ryu master Akira Kawakami. He also learned the basics of Shotokan Karate from Shodan Sam Bigknife; Judo from Nidan Robert Lawhon; Taekwondo from members of the Republic of Korea White Horse Division in Vietnam; police hand-to-hand combat and control tactics from Judo Nidan Richard Boyd; freestyle wrestling and self defense from his grandfather Emerson Elliott “Red” Woolman; and boxing from Oklahoma welterweight John Brewer. In 1984, Brown also became friends with noted Chinese stylist Kenneth John Fish, a direct disciple of the legendary Chang Chun-feng and several other renowned Chinese masters, and learned his method of Hsing Yi Ch’uan.

In addition to being awarded CYKFA Black Belt certificate #1, Brown was certifed as an Instructor of the Shihan-Ryu Chinese Arts by the American Martial Arts Society in 1973, then as an International Master by the International Martial Arts Association in January 1984. Brown has traveled throughout East Asia, and lived in Korea for more than 12 years. He is a Senior Analyst with the Department of Defense, and holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of the State of New York and two Master’s Degrees, from the University of Southern California and the University of Oklahoma. He now lives in Columbia, Maryland with his wife Sunja, a Defense Department Computer Scientist. Sunja also practices selected forms of Ching Yi Kung Fu, as does the Browns' young nephew and Taekwondo champion, Sean Michael Dyer.

Michael and Sunja Brown are both Dao Li Shi (Scholars of the Tao) in the Dao Li Jiao, the "Way of Reason" school of Taoism, founded by Dr. Wong at the beginning of the new millenium. Also, Michael Brown was elected to the position of Zhu Li Zong Shi, Assistant Interpreter, for a term of eight years at the first meeting of the Dao Li Jiao in China in 2002.

Despite a busy schedule with work and family life, Brown still practices all of the forms from the original Ching Yi Kung Fu System as often as possible (see "About the CYKFA" for a description of the original System). However, over 30 years ago he selected one art, Hsing Yi Ch'uan, as his lifelong specialty - a common practice encouraged in the Ching Yi Kung Fu Association - and Hsing Yi remains the central focus of his training and research.