Su Yu-chang

Su Yu-chang (; – ), was a Taiwanese martial artist, scholar and practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine who devoted his life to teaching kung fu, traditional Chinese philosophy and medicine all over the world.

Life and career Su's father, (蘇正生), was one of the members of the legendary Taiwanese Kano baseball team. Su started his studies of kung fu at the age of eight under Praying Mantis Master Chang Tekuei, who came to work as a foreigner from mainland China and taught him mizongyi and Pimen Northern Praying Mantis. After studying with other famous masters, he became from 1963 a notable disciple of Liu Yunqiao, founder of the Wutan Center for the Promotion of Chinese Wushu (武壇國術推廣中心), an institution to which he gave international continuity in the form of the Pachi Tanglang Martial Arts Institute (八極螳螂武藝總舘), with branches worldwide.

In 1976, Su travelled to Venezuela, where he settled in Caracas. He started a practice of Chinese traditional medicine and started teaching several styles of kung fu. Initially he taught jointly with fellow expatriate Dai Shizhe (戴士哲) at La danza del dragón school, and some time after he founded the Instituto Pachimen (八極門). During this period, he served as vice-president of the South American Martial Arts Federation. In 1989 he travelled to Mallorca, where he founded the first European branch of his institute, now rebranded Pachi Tanglang Martial Arts Institute. Shortly thereafter a Barcelona branch opened, and in 1992 Master Su was hired to train special security teams for the Olympic Games in Barcelona.

In later years, Su returned to his native Taiwan, where he strengthened the Taipei and Kaohsiung branches of the school, and from where he would continue to travel extensively. He died in La Palma, Canary Islands, in April 2019.