About Nam yang

Nam Yang Pugilistic Association was founded in 1954 by Grandmaster Ang Lian Huat, who had emigrated to Singapore in 1947 from Quemoy (now Kinmen), an island off the coast of Fujian province, China.  He was greatly respected throughout the Singapore martial arts community and trained many students.  Master Tan Soh Tin was one of the most senior of these students and he took over the running of NYPA from Grandmaster Ang’s death in 1984, until his own in 2019.  You can learn more about these two influential Masters here.

Nam Yang has a long history of welcoming and uniting people from diverse cultures, bringing them together as part of our kung fu family.  Inevitably, members have different cultural expectations, depending on where they have originated.  In any Nam Yang club, however, the culture of Chinese Kung Fu takes precedence.  This provides a level playing field on which all members can relate equally and, most importantly, train to the best of their ability. 

The essence of this Kung Fu culture is central to Nam Yang’s ethos.  Roughly speaking, it means living as part of the Nam Yang family, treating all your colleagues as you would family and making all newcomers welcome.  It means not letting your ego get in the way of training constructively.  It definitely does not mean that you can’t have fun – our members are usually extremely good at this.