In Memory of William Wu

It is said by Taoist that while our bodies will grow old and pass on, our actions and thoughts will live on forever.   Bill was such a person, he was a friend to China and to Art.......and he included Wushu as art!  Bill helped bring the Beijing Team to the US in the 80's.  In l980 he worked with the SF Chamber of Commerce to bring the Canton Trade Fare to Fort Mason in San Francisco.  That in of itself was already very exciting, as this was the opening of China and it's products to the West.  Many Chinese Americans looked foward to having contact with China again.  But the high light of this event was the Beijing Wushu Team, they were to perform for audiences in San Francisco daily for an entire month.  Our San Francisco Wushu Team was very excited with a chance to meet them and talk to them about wushu.  Bill made this all possible for us.  It is an experience I will not forget...I made many of my Beijing Team friends during that time.....Yu Shaowen(monkey king), Zhao Jing Ping(my taiji comrade), Hao Zhi Hua(Patti Li of  Wushu West), Jet Li(the One and Only!), Li Zhi Zhao(eagle claw champ),Lu Yan(3 sec cudgel), Tsui Ya-hui(Beijing Team Manager), Wang Je(drunken).......anyway you get the idea.  Everyday and for as many shows as we could,  our team members hung out and watched wushu.  It was a blast, and it was the first time we could see this quality of wushu on a daily basis.....it certainly helped us improve.  I should mention very important to these events was sifu Anthony Chan, he was one of Bill's best friends and was our wushu coach at the time.  Anthony helped produce the wushu team show and took many of the best photographs ever taken of Wushu.  Bill continue to be a friend of Wushu for the rest of his life.  He was Jet Li's friend and Patron.  I remember Bill calling me up one summer asking me to go pick up a guest from China.  I asked him who it was he said casually: Oh, it's just Jet Li!...........well heck why didn't you say so........he always liked to be understated........Bill also worked with the City of San Francisco to set up a sister city program with Shanghai.......he called me up again...knowing that I had studied Chen Style Taiji.....he said I've got a Master from Shanghai who wants to meet you......Master Zhou En Loong.......one of the great Chen Taiji Teachers of Shanghai......even tho he was busy with art projects for the City he never forgot his connection to wushu.  After, I picked up Jet, I dropped him off at Bill's home.......this was also kool...as it meant I could hang out with him...and he could teach at SF  Wushu Team practices....which was a great opportunity for many of our younger members to get personal instruction from him...and inspire another generation of students.  Bill was always a great supporter of our team.......when he found out that I did Lion Dancing....he would call me up to perform at joint San Francisco and Shanghai art events....When his niece, Rebecca, wanted to learn martial arts he sent her to me to be trained.....Overall Bill was a Patron of the arts who shared his knowledge and friendship easily.  He will be missed but not forgotten.  Taoist say to spend your day meeting three new people and learning three new things and your life will always be fruitful and you will always have friends.  Thanks for reading!!