Barry Pang

Barry Pang, 吴国树 (born 11 August 1951) is a martial arts instructor who was involved in the development and growth of kung fu in Australia.[1][2][3] He is a Melbourne Australian Chinese entrepreneur.[4][5] The Barry Pang school has been in operation since 1974 and was one of the earliest kung fu schools in Melbourne. Pang is involved in the Australian horse racing industry and was the first Chinese Australian owner of a Melbourne Cup Winner, Fiorente.[5][6][7] His son is actor Chris Pang.

Barry Pang
Born11 August 1951
OccupationMartial Artist
Spouse(s)Anne Pang
ChildrenChris Pang John Pang
Barry Pang
Traditional Chinese吳國樹
Simplified Chinese吴国树

Early life

Pang was born in Melbourne to immigrant parents from Canton. He was raised in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, where he attended St Kilda Park Primary and Elwood High School. Pang studied mechanical engineering at Monash University.[8]

He began studying Tae Kwon at high school and continued practicing until leaving university. Pursuing his martial arts interest in 1973 he travelled to Hong Kong to study Wing Chun kung fu under Wong Shun Leung. Upon returning to Melbourne he opened a Wing Chun school in Australia alongside William Cheung.[5][3]

Martial arts career

Pang's early martial arts training began in high school with Tae Kwon Do under Jack Rozinszky and then at university where he trained with Yong Dai Cho. In early adulthood Pang began training Chinese kung fu with the martial artists who practiced in Melbourne who had learnt in Hong Kong. In 1973 Pang travelled to Hong Kong to train with Wong Shun Leung. Whilst in Hong Kong he also studied Choy Li Fut with Hom Keung.

In the early 1990s Pang met Wu Hua Tai, a Southern Dragon Kung Fu (Lung Ying) practitioner who was a senior student of Grandmaster Lam Yiu Gwai.[9] Barry Pang and his wife Anne Pang began practicing Lung Ying, Liuhebafa and Tai Chi in addition to Wing Chun. They trained under Wu Hua Tai until his death in 2002.

Wu Hua Tai, Yip Chun and Barry Pang in 1994

Early 1976 Pang participated in the formation of the Australian National Kung Fu Federation (ANKFF), as vice president along with William Cheung as the president. However by the end of 1976 A feud between Barry Pang and William Cheung erupted publicly[10]. The conflict was over membership in the Kung Fu Federation of Australia and the rights to run kung fu schools in Melbourne. Cheung, the then chairman of the the ANKFF, expelled Pang from the organisation and confronted Pang in person and in a series of newspaper articles.[11][12] Described by the 'Sunday Observer' as a "Kung-Fu War"[11] Cheung challenged him to a 'duel in unarmed combat' to which Pang replied 'It all sounds like a cheap HongKong Movie'.[11] The ongoing conflict continued for a month with further demands and challenges from Cheung. Eventually the matter was settled without a fight.[12] Barry was allowed back in the KFA later in the year. The two schools continued to operate in Melbourne and their respective students continued to compete against one another in the full contact tournaments that ran into the 1980's.[13][14] The organisation ran the Australasian Kung Fu Championships from circa 1977/1978. These were the earliest Australian full contact tournaments open to all styles of martial arts. Barry Pang was the Championship Director and a referee at these tournaments.[14] [13] Pang was also the first official referee for the Australasian Professional Karate tournaments, which were the forerunner of the open style full contact kickboxing tournaments in the late seventies and eighties.

The Barry Pang Kung Fu Schools expanded rapidly in the 70s in Melbourne CBD and decentralised into the suburbs in the 80s. Students of the school successfully participated in the open tournaments of the period. Barry Pang Schools were also established within Victorian universities. RMIT in 1975[15] and Melbourne University in 1976. The university clubs expanded into the other Victorian universities in the 90s and branches were opened at LaTrobe, Monash Caufield, Monash Clayton and Swinburne. In 1998 he established the Southern Universities Sports Association (SUSA) Kung Fu championships, which opened martial arts competitions to Victorian universities. The organised tournaments were opened to all styles of martial arts and ran from 1998 to mid-2000s. In 2001 the actor Chris Pang won his weight division in the tournament. In 2002 Pang's student Alastair Boast, helped thwart the Monash University shooting and received a gold medal from Royal Humane Society of Australasia. In 1996 Pang was awarded the Blitz Hall of Fame Kung Fu Tribute Award.[16]

Horse racing career

Pang is involved in Australian horse racing[17][18] and is an owner of horses who have won group 1 races. Marwong won the Caulfield Guineas in 1987. Pang was a part owner of the Melbourne Cup 2013 winner horse Fiorente[19] under trainer Gai Waterhouse. In 2019 Cape Of Good Hope won the Caulfield Stakes with trainer David Hayes.

Australian art career

In the late 90s, Pang and Anne Pang began an art consultancy firm dealing in Australian fine art called Artpreciation. It dealt primarily with Australian paintings and focused on growing a burgeoning Australian art market.[20] Upon retirement from the art market, The Barry & Anne Pang Collection was auctioned off in 2015.[21]

Awards

1996 Blitz Magazine Hall of Fame Kung Fu Tribute Award.

References
  1. "Sparring tips". Impact Magazine: 7–8. April 1992.
  2. 2013 Yearbook of Chinese in Australia. Australia: China Yearbook Association Inc. 2014. pp. Pages=9, 112, 255, 277. ISBN 9780646923376.
  3. Gambordella, Ted (2020). The World's Greatest Martial Artists, Volume 24. USA: Independent. pp. 10–11. ISBN 979-8684462290.
  4. "How the Pangs found a long term plan for Success". The Asian Executive. Third Quarter Edition. 2012.
  5. Yearbook of Chinese in Australia 2014. Australia: Chinese Yearbook Association of Australia. 2015. pp. Pages =37, 248. ISBN 9780646941707.
  6. Hutchinson, Tracee. "ABC Inside Story - Video". Youtube. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  7. Hutchison, Tracee (8 November 2013). "Inside story from the winning Melbourne Cup camp". Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Inside Story. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  8. "Barry Pang, Alumni".
  9. "Kung Fu of the Dragon". Real Kung Fu. 1 (6): 30–45. 1976.
  10. Stewart, Alan (19 December 1976). "Kung Fu Duel - Let's fight challenge from school boss". The Sunday Observer. p. 5.
  11. Stewart, Alan (26 December 1976). "Kung-Fu Duel". The Sunday Observer.
  12. Stewart, Alan (2 January 1977). "Cheung Wins the Day". Sunday Observer.
  13. "1st Australasian Kung Fu Championships". Australasian Fighting Arts. 3, Num 1: 22–24. 1977.
  14. "Australasian Kung Fu Championship & Demonstration - Booklet", The Australian Kung Fu Federation, 14/03/1981
  15. "RMIT Kung Fu Club". Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  16. "1996 Masters of their Art". Blitz Magazine, Australasian Martial Arts Magazine. 10. No. 11: 10–15.
  17. "GAI WATERHOUSE'S MIGHTY FIORENTE ON FORM AND ON TRACK TO TAKE ON THE 2013 EMIRATES MELBOURNE CUP". The Asian Executive. SPECIAL SPRING RACING CARNIVAL EDITION 2013: 20–25. 2013.
  18. "Barry Pang Interview". A Turf Fascination. 28 January 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  19. King, Martin (1 November 2019). "What's it like to win the coveted Melbourne Cup?". 9 News, A Current Affair. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  20. "Art tipped to be the next big commodity". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 December 2005.
  21. O’Sullivan, Jane (7 October 2015). "Pangs to offload art collection dominated by Australian blue chips". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.