Simon Lau
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Simon Lau was born in 1951 in mainland China and was originally educated by Buddhist monks. He began martial arts training at the age of seven. Later, he was educated at a Lutheran school in Hong Kong and studied martial arts and Chinese philosophy at the famous Yip Man Martial Arts Academy. The school was made internationally famous by the late Bruce Lee.
He studied at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. He later opened the Simon Lau Centre in London in 1990 and in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1995. He launched anti-bullying training for schools in 1999 as featured in the Mirror newspaper and The Guardian Educational supplement. Other press accolades include full-page front covers and main features for ‘Combat’ magazine (January 2000 Millennium Edition) and Sweden’s best selling ‘Fighter’ magazine in 2001. TV career highlights include the seminal BBC martial arts documentary ‘'The Way of the Warrior’' and ‘'The Living Body'’ for Gold Crest films on Channel 4.
In 2003, Master Simon Lau featured as the Grand Master in Sky One's blockbuster, martial arts actioner, Fight School which was shown in Canada in 2005-2006. More episodes were planned, but were delayed due to SARS. In September 2000, he became the first martial artist to attend the Cambridge University Union as a guest speaker. In 2000 and 2001, Combat magazine awarded Simon Lau for his contribution and development of the martial arts in the United Kingdom and abroad. He is almost solely responsible for the introduction of the, now hugely popular, Chinese martial art of Wing Chun Kung Fu in the United Kingdom.
He learned traditional Chinese herbal medicine at the Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine (R.C.H.M), Hong Kong Institute of Chinese Surgery, NHS Directory of Chinese Herbal Medicine, and the World Academic Society of Medical Qigong China. He participated in martial arts at the Yip Man Martial Arts Athletic Association Ltd., United Chung Wan Martial Arts Athletic Association Ltd., and the Martial Arts Development Commission UK. He was awarded the Combat Hall of Fame Award 2000 and the Combat Lifetime Achievement Award 2001.
