The following is an article for China Travel Newpaper that was written about Jeff.  Please take a look at http://travel.people.com.cn/GB/139035/179636/11466291.html for the full article.

April 27th, 2010 Pictures and Article by Li Peng Chong, China Travel Newspaper

(click photos to enlarge)

April 19^th is Jeff''s birthday.

About five years ago Jeff began studying Chinese wushu at a school in Rhode Island, USA. One day, a student from Wudang came to visit the school that Jeff was studying at. At the time, Jeff did not know that it was possible for foreigners to travel to Wudang to study wushu. Through an introduction, Jeff began a correspondence with Wudang San Feng Sect 15^th generation lineage holder, Master Yuan Xiu Gang. Two years later, Jeff arrived in Wudang at the Wudang Daoist Traditional Kung Fu Academy to study under Master Yuan Xiu Gang.

When bringing up his first experiences in coming to Wudang 3 years ago, Jeff still reminisces of the time excitedly. “Soon after meeting my master and studying under him, I realized that this is where I wanted to be and this is what I wanted to be doing.” Originally, Jeff had planned on studying for 3 months, but he stayed for 6 months. After 6 months, he had no choice but to travel back to the US in order to make money. Upon arrival at the airport back in Rhode Island, the first sentence Jeff said to his parents was that after three months he must return to Wudang. During the three months that he was back in America, Jeff worked 3 jobs in preparation for his return to Wudang.

Three months later, as promised, Jeff returned to Wudang. And has since been back for over 2 years.

Now, Jeff and 16 other foreign students comprise the first foreigner's traditional class. There are students from America, Canada, Australia, and many other countries. Jeff is the eldest kung fu brother of the foreigner's traditional class. The traditional class is different from the health preservation class at Master Yuan's academy as the student of the traditional class are not studying for a short period of time. They will all study and learn together for 5 years, deeply learning the knowledge that Master Yuan has to offer. They all have plans of returning to their home countries to open wushu schools of their own and teach Wudang San Feng lineage wushu.

In mentioning goals of the traditional class, Jeff told me that he wants to study a total of 8 years, afterward returning to America to open his own academy. But he also has another goal in his training: to deepen his personal practice of Wudang San Feng lineage wushu and devote a lifetime to Daoist cultivation in order to genuinely and deeply understand the essence of Daoism.

In focusing on a goal like this, Jeff's life as a student of wushu has become rich and full of meaning. Every morning Jeff wakes up at 4:30 AM, at 5:00 AM he knocks on the doors of the other traditional program students for training. They run, do qi gong, and practice sword techniques. When Master Yuan is not there, Jeff leads the class in training. During rest time, Jeff helps Master Yuan with answering e-mails from students from around the world interested in coming to train and helps with editing new information to put on Master Yuan's website.

The foreigners' traditional class has a one month break every year. Jeff likes to make use of this time to travel around China. After three years, Jeff has already traveled to Chendu, Beijng, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, etc. "Regardless of where I go or when I am having fun, I still conduct myself as a Daoist, I cannot be too loose. Do you understand?” 'Do you understand,' is something that Jeff asks people often. When asking Jeff why he asks people this question so often, he replied: “Although here my Chinese is considered not bad, sometimes there are certain words that I don't know how to accurately express, also if I am trying to accurately explain to foreigners a certain movement, etc. I want to make sure that they fully understand.” Although Jeff and his kung fu brothers and sisters are all foreigners, Jeff already considers himself a person of Wudang.

That day at the conclusion of my interview with Jeff, I asked him to join me for lunch at a small restaurant in town near Master Yuan's academy. It was the first time that Jeff had eaten yuxiang rousi (sweet and spicy shredded pork). He asked continuously the names of different dishes and vegetables that came out, nodding his head and repeatedly saying “This is delicious.” Jeff also explained to me that he knows that not only is Chinese food delicious but Chinese cooking also pays particular attention to maintaining a balance in health. It seems that Daoist living has already deeply influenced Jeff's life.