Chee Soo

Chee Soo (1919 - 1994) was the grand master of the Lee style of T'ai Chi Ch'uan and the Lee style Taoist Arts.

Early life
Chee Soo was born of a Chinese father and an English mother, and as they died when he was only a very young child, he was brought up in a Barnardo's home, which was and still is a charitable orphanage.

Meeting Chan Kam Lee
He started his first job as a page boy in a nursing home in Earls Court, West London, and in his spare time he used to go to Hyde Park to play. One time he accidentally hit the back of an elderly gentleman who was sitting on a park bench with a ball. Having recovered his ball, he went up to the gentleman to offer his apologies, only to see that the man was also Chinese. They began to talk together, and even arranged to meet again. So the two began to meet fairly regularly and a very strong friendship developed between Chee Soo and the gentleman, who was Chan Kam Lee.

Starting to learn the Taoist Arts
In the summer of 1934, Chee Soo was invited to Chan Lee's class and that was the beginning of the training to start his learning of the vast range of the Taoist martial,- kung fu, Tai Chi Chuan, Chinese wrestling, philosophical, healing and cultural arts that he has maintained ever since, however Chee decided to join the army Tank Corp in 1937.

Chan Lee, who had no family of his own, earnestly desired to keep the Taoist arts alive, and he adopted Chee Soo as his nephew, and taught him the arts whenever his work and time permitted, the difficulties in finding time to train and teach would have been very stress full in the light of the political events of that time. For Chee Soo it meant that he had someone on whom he could rely, and to advise him, and to teach him the fundamentals of the Taoist philosophical attitude to life and all that it meant.

Training
In 1939 the Second World War broke out, and Chee Soo did his share of the fighting in France, North Africa and Burma. After the War, he was discharged from the forces and took a course in book-keeping, stock control, commercial history and sales promotion. After the war in which he was held prisoner by the Japanese and narrowly avoided death and beheading Chee began training in Kendo, Judo and more importantly Aikido, an art in which he became one of the highest dan grades in Great Britain 7 years before Kenshiro Abbe arrived to teach Aikido having received permission from O sensi in 1955, and 4 years ahead of Minoru Mochizuki who introduced Aikido to Europe in Paris in 1951, and trained in Kendo 10 years before training resumed under S/Ldr R.A. Lidstone and Roald Knutsen in 1957 after the Kendo Dojo was bombed in 1940, leaving a 17 year gap in British Kendo history, Chee Soo had already opened his school in 1947, however there is no evidence as to who graded him to 4 dan at that time. Truly remarkable achievements in the martial arts history of England. Chee Soo has declared that he became great friends with Kenshiro Abbe often entertaining him as well as the Otani brothers at his home.

A legendary event took place at around that time when Chee Soo was challenged by 4 high dan grades in Karate. Apparently all 4 karateka launched a simultaneous attack but all came off the worse as Chee Soo beat them all single handedly. This incident may have happened after the introduction of Karate to England by Vernon Bell in 1956.

Teaching
He managed to make contact with Chan Lee, and the class in Holborn was restarted. In 1950, Chee Soo, with Chan Lee's permission, formed his own class in Manor Road School, West Ham, East London. This period of Chee's life is probably the most complex and busy as he is teaching Aikido, Judo, Kendo, Kung Fu, and Tai Chi Chuan all at the same time as well as having a full time job.

Direct contact with Chan Kam Lee was between 1934 and 1937, and 1950 to 1953, a total of 6 years to learn an entire family system of martial and healing arts, and being allowed to teach the family system in 1950 after such a long break. The significant gap of 13 years, between his first and second encounter with Chan Lee, saw Chee fight in the second world war, being captured for four years, then repatriated to mainland Britain in 1944/5, but it remains unclear as to when he learned Aikido, Kendo and Judo, and subsequently becoming graded to be allowed to teach those arts, which he apparently was doing whilst training and learning with Chan Lee during their second encounter.

In the winter of 1953 - '54, Chan Lee died, off the coast of China, near Guangdong, when the ship that he was travelling in sank in a severe storm. Chee Soo was asked to take over the leadership of the Association but declined at that particular time. By 1959, groups and clubs were being formed all over the world and they were asking for leadership. For this reason, Chee Soo decided to accept the post of President of the Association. Since then the Association has grown in the British Isles, Australia, South Africa, France, Germany, Holland, Mauritius and New Zealand.

During the 1960s Chee Soo taught kung fu and T'ai Chi to Diana Rigg and Patrick MacNee on the set of the cult television series 'The Avengers'

In 1982 Chee Soo moved to Coventry in the West Midlands where he set about training the next generation of Taoist teachers to continue his work. He devoted a great deal more time to writing and completed the publication of his series of five books about Taoism and The Lee style. Here he was remarried to Marilyn Perkin who was to become the Honorary Secretary of the Association. For many years they taught classes in the local area which are still running today, as well as many courses throughout the country and also overseas. Eventually they moved to Ebbw Vale in South Wales to be near Marilyn's elderly mother where Chee Soo died in August 1994. Chee Soo wrote a letter before his death specifying that all matters relating to his organisation, the International Taoist (Daoist) Society, were in the hands of one of his senior students, Mr Desmond Murray. However,a large number of Chee Soo's students were unhappy with this arrangement and in January 1995 persuaded another of Chee's senior students, Tony Swanson to form a new society, the Taoist Arts Organisation.

Books written by Chee Soo
The Chinese Art of T'ai Chi Ch'uan - The Taoist Way to Mental and Physical Health. (ISBN 0954524403)

The Taoist Art of Feng Shou- 'Hand of the Wind' kung fu. (ISBN 095452442X)

The Taoist Art of K'ai Men - Open the door to the Inner Self through Chi Gung. (ISBN 0954524411)

The Tao of my Thoughts - The Thoughts of a Modern Taoist Master. (ISBN 0954524454)