Master Lee Shiu-pak was born Lee Chew-ng in 1910, in a small town in Guangdung Province, China. Later he moved to Shanghai where he studied Yang Family T'ai Chi Ch'uan with Chen Wei-ming at Zhi-rou Quan-she, the school founded in 1925 by Chen. Chen Wei-ming was himself a senior student of Yang Cheng-fu, grandson of Yang Lu-chan the founder of the Yang school of T'ai Chi Chuan.
He became one of four leading disciples of Chen Wei-ming and was considered one of his favorite students. From the depth and breadth of his Master Lee's teachings it is clear that Chen Wei Ming must have trained very him thoroughly and that he studied with diligence.
At some point, he took for himself the 'Tai Chi' name of Lee, Shiu-pak which translates as: "Lee of small knowing or knowledge" -- taken as a perpetual reminder to himself, and to us, how much there is yet to learn in T'ai Chi and all things.
He was a high school principle in Guangdung Province at the time of the cultural revolution and was like many educated people removed by the communists from his job and "sent to the fields" to do labour as a process of 're-education.' He escaped from mainland China and for some time lived in Hong Kong.
About 1960, he emigrated to Montreal where he founded the The Monteal T'ai Chi Ch'uan Society and began to teach T'ai Chi. There he lived and taught until his passing in 1982. He was an accomplished Chinese Water Colour artist and exhibited in a show at Place Boneventure. He used to teach chinese painting periodically in Montreal during the 1970's. He also taught a T'ai Chi Medicine course about once a year which included massage, traumatology and the uses of herbs for common maladies.
In the area of Chinese Medicine Master Lee was quite capapble in the area of injuries, common maladies and a good general sense of what maintains balance from the point of view of herb and food natures (Yin, Yang, Hot, Cold, Organ affected, taste, etc.) He received some of this training from Chen Wei-ming and acquired other knowledge elsewhere along the way.
His many students continue to practice his teachings in many centers throughout North America, adding to it their own insights and practices. We are all grateful for the knowledge he passed on to us and continue to be inspired by his humble motto, moved to realize how much there is to learn and how little we all know.